Ballads of Belief

Ballads attached to folk beliefs, or emphasizing the epic role of such beliefs, can be found in many groups, which makes their classification difficult. Thus the ballad of Kata Kádár contains more than one belief (bloody kerchief signalling trouble, the flower that grows out of the grave and begins to speak; both motifs are frequent in other ballads and tales), although the style of this ballad puts it more naturally among the songs of romance. Belief-like and story-like motifs both help the escape of “Gorgeous Kata Bán” (Gyönyörű Bán Kata) and explain the “Complaints of the Three Orphans”, and such motifs appear even in the outlaw ballads, reflecting many centuries of observation of nature and beliefs. All of this proves that a rigid division is difficult, and that folk poetry can bring to life ancient motifs and fill them with new content.

Ballads containing religious motifs also belong to the rank of ballads built on motifs based on superstition. We can find ballads of arresting beauty among these also, such as the ballad “Julia, Fair Maiden” (Júlia szép lány), certain of whose motifs remind some Hungarian researchers of the religious images of the pagan period, others of the religious images of the Christian era.

Julia, fair maiden, walked abroad one morning,

Cornflowers to gather out the fields of corn in,

Cornflowers to gather, garlands for to bind there,

Garlands for to bind there, for a while amuse her.

High above in heaven as she looked up sunward,

There a pleasant pathway came a-winding downward,

Curly milk-white lamb came down upon it frisking,

Lo, the sun and moon he mid his horns was bringing;

On its brow it carried, ay, a shining starlet,

Hanging from its horns each, ay, a red-gold bracelet,

Both its sides bedight with two fair lighted candles,

Hairs as many had it, all were sparkling spangles.

Curly milk-white lamb did speak to her and say then:

“Dont’t be frightened of me, Julia, fair maiden,

Holy host of virgins fell by one short lately,

If thou wilt not say nay, I anon should take thee

Up to Heaven’s choir of saintly virgins thankful,

{528.} Lead thee there amongst them, with thee make their ranks full,

Heaven’s key I’d give thee, there to enter freely;

At the cock’s first crowing I should come and see thee,

At the second crowing ask thee me to marry,

At the cock’s third crowing off I should thee carry.“

Julia, fair maiden, turned she to her mother:

“Mother dear, my mother“, these words she did utter,

“As I walked out one day, cornflowers to gather,

Cornflowers to gather, for to bind some garlands,

Garlands for to bind and play amidst the corn lands,

High above in heaven as I looked up sunward,

There a pleasant pathway came a-winding downward,

Curly milk-white lamb came down upon it frisking,

Lo, the sun and moon he mid his horns was bringing;

On its brow it carried, ay, a shining starlet,

Hanging from its horns each, ay, a red-gold bracelet,

Both its sides bedight with two fair lighted candles,

Hairs as many had it, all were sparkling spangles.

Curly milk-white lamb did speak to me and said then:

‘Don’t be frightened of me, Julia, fair maiden,

Holy host of virgins fell by one short lately.’

If I wilt not say nay, he anon should take me

Up to Heaven’s choir of saintly virgins thankful,

Lead me there amongst them, with me make their ranks full,

Heaven’s key he’d give me, there to enter freely;

At the cock’s first crowing he should come and see me,

At the second crowing ask me him to marry,

At the cock’s third crowing off he should me carry.

Mourn for me, my mother, let me hear it living,

Living let me hear it how you mourn my leaving.“

“O my daughter, dear one! Honeycomb so tender

Made by bees not swarmed yet*‘Virgin-honey’, gathered by young bees before they have swarmed, is finer than honey from old hives. from my flowers’ nectar,

Yellow beeswax of my honeycomb so mellow,

Shroud of smoke a-spreading of the beeswax yellow,

Shroud of smoke a-spreading, flame that leaps to Heaven!

All the bells of Heaven, unrung, they were ringing,

Heaven’s gates wide open, unflung, they were flinging,

There, alas, they just now led my little girl in.”

We know this ballad, singular in its religious rapture, in relatively few versions. Its roots reach back to medieval poetry. This type of ballad is frequent and manifold in Western Europe, but those versions resemble the Hungarian version only in the taking of a girl to heaven for a bride. {529.} However, alongside certain elements of the Christian system of symbols (the lamb of God, candle of the Mass), the elements of the earlier world of belief can also be found in it (mythical stag, a guiding light). It may have been born in the Middle Ages, so that the possibility existed for uniting the two symbolic systems in one marvellous ballad.

The songs reminiscent of medieval Latin kinds (disputatio) also belong to this group, such as the Disputation of the Flowers (Virágok vetélkedése). However, this latter, with is conclusion, is not exactly sacred but rather like a secular love song. Less valuable, epic religious songs, which were sold in broadsheets or chapbooks, also belong here, and more remotely, the similar songs sung by beggars.