US-China Foreign Language, March 2019, Vol. 17, No. 3, 125-140
doi:10.17265/1539-8080/2019.03.006  Wooden Grave Posts of the Hungarians: A Hungaricum
László Ferenc Novák
Arany János Muzeum, Nagyk őrös, Hungary
The wooden grave-marker cult, which has evolved in the Protestant burial ritual, is characteristic of the Hungarian
folk culture. Protestantism took root in the middle of the 16th century and its Calvinist branch, that became a
Hungarian religion at the age of Turkish subjection, guaranteed the survival of the Hungarian nation. Protestants
did not use crosses as grave-markers; they set up carved wooden posts instead of them from the end of the 17th
century. The system of decorative elements illustrates the ancient culture of the Hungarians. This is proper
anthropomorphism: The primary statue set up on the grave mound symbolizes human life and a secondary
manifestation of it, i.e., a sphere motif symbolizes the human head; the trunk is decorated with star-, tulip-, and
ring-shaped and even jardinière motifs. These decorative carvings change the carved wooden grave post into a “tree
of life symbol”. The grave post cult of Protestant folk art flourished at the end of the 19th century and at the
beginning of the 20th century. The use of “wooden headboards” and the masterpieces of folk art have spread since
the middle of the 20th century. The decoratively carved wooden headboards were decorated with the decorative
motifs on the wooden head posts. Wooden headboards appear at historical memorial places throughout the country
and they symbolize various historical events. However, they are not identical with the wooden grave posts, which
are the local specific manifestations of folk art: They are Hungaricum.
Keywords: grave-markers, carved wooden grave posts, wooden headboard as national commemorative post, tree of
life, Hungaricum
Introduction
The carved wooden grave post is a characteristic of the Hungarian Protestant (Calvinist, Unitarian, and partly Lutheran) cemeteries. After the funerary liturgy, a simple or an exuberantly carved wooden
post is erected on the head side of the grave, which is not simply a wooden post but it is a fancy wood carving whose system of motifs is anthropomorphic and an iconic replica of the human body. As the manifestation of authentic folklore, it is a characteristic and imposing representative of folk art.
subjectionDifferent designations are used for carved wooden grave posts in various areas of the country, like “fejfa-fejefa ”(Transtibiscan territory, Upper-Hungary), “f őt ől-f űt űlvalófa ” (Szilágyság-Transsylvania), “gombosfa ” (the Danube-Tisza interfluve), “gombfa ” (Kalotaszeg, Háromszék-Transsylvania), “epitafa ” (Ordas ―territory near the River Danube), “sögfa ” or “süveg-fa ” that refers to the headgear of a man  (Őrség ―the South-Western part of Transdanubia) (Kós, 1972; Novák, 2005, 2011). The carved wooden grave post is not merely a simple grave-marker but it is also an imposing objectivised memory of folk carving art. Although the reformation had spread in Hungary in the middle of the 16th century, Protestant grave-markers (other than crosses) appeared
Prof. Dr. László Ferenc Novák, DSc (Doctor of Hungarian Academy of Science), honorary director of the János Arany Museum, honorary president of the János Arany Society, Nagyk ő
rös, Hungary.