Nyíracsád Summary
Nyíracsád
Summary
Summary
The first mention of Nyíracsád is known from 1312. It is a Hungarian village from the age of the Hungarian settlement, lying in the southern part of the small region – the Nyír or Nyírség, a sandy table-land with groves and forests - stretching in the North-East of the territory east of the river Tisza. It was the holding of the Gut-Keled dynasty, and then through a longer period of time, it belonged to the Dobi family among many other owners. Its church, still existing today, was probably built in the XII century. During the reformation, the whole settlement accepted the Calvinistic line of reformation. It was not destroyed in the fights of the XVII century, although its population had to hide away for shorter or longer periods several times mostly from the alien mercenary troops attacking Transylvania. Although the number of the population declined continuously, they did not leave their village behind, on the contrary, after the fall of the freedom fight by Ferenc Rákóczi II (1711), those who survived, came back and settled permanently. The court, which expelled the Turks, and brought an end to the independence of Transylvania, first transferred it to the hands of the chamber, and then gave it to the main nobility loyal to the dynasty.
The Vécsey family was the most prominent one of the new owners. Their lords brought in a large number of Rumanian serfs in the first decades of the XVIII century to settle with the low number of the Hungarians who returned, and some Ruthenians also came to join them. The orthodox Rumanian and Ruthenian serfs were here when their churches unified: in the second half of the XVIII century, both the Rumanian and Ruthenian settlers became Greek Catholics. The Rumanian and the Ruthenian population got fully assimilated in the second half of the XVIII, and during the XIX century.
The plague, which was the most destructive, and most contagious disease of the past centuries, also called the black death, caused a level of destruction within the population, unparalleled in the history of the settlement. It caused the deaths of 481 men, and 423 women, altogether 904 persons between November 9., 1739 and May 1, 1740, and after a short break of four month, having regained its strength, between September 1, and December 7, 1740. The names, ages, and family statuses of these people are known from the plague-related census at the time. Some say that the plaque caused a 76.6 percent decline, others that it caused a 53.5 percent decline of the population, which was much higher than the average of the country. The image of the settlement of Nyíracsád was determined by traditional building. Geographic conditions played an important role in its arrangement. The areas in the south, east and north are mainly covered by wind-blown sand, loess sand, and sandy loess. These rather loose types of soil require special building techniques, the static solidity of the walls had to be ensured by the use of wood: the framework did not only reinforce the wall itself, but also served to support the ceiling and the structure of the roof.
The nature of farming in Nyíracsád was mostly determined by the quality and quantity of the land as land was the most important production factor. Viable peasant farms could be found here only in a sporadic number as two third of the land area was taken up by the large estate. The way of arable land use was characterised by fallowing that came together with three-course rotation. The production of rye was most significant among cereals, and tobacco out of the hoed plants could gain terrain on the farm of the estate, while maize and potato provided the necessary fodder and food-stuff for the farms of the peasants. The set-up of the animal herd changed significantly within the peasant system of farming, when there was a change in the species of cattle, and parallel to that, horse became the number one draught-animal. Every farm had swine and poultry, mainly to satisfy the demand of families for meat. Farming also played a role in the way of folk clothes. The raw material of home-made linen, woven from hemp, could be found in women’s and men’s clothes even at the end of the XIX century. It was used to make the women’s wide, pleated petticoats, which they wore in the summer, painted in brown as an over-wear, the cooking apron for weddings, and the men’s wide summer pants, and thicker winter pants, and their shirts used in work. The raw materials and designs of women’s over-wear usually followed the changes of fashion: two-part dresses with a wide skirt were in fashion until the 1930-ies, and then dresses tight in the waist until the 1950-ies, and later one-piece dresses with a tight skirt and with an apron before it. As a characteristic piece of garment, the blue sleeveless waistcoat and short overcoat with sleeves made by seamstresses were worn both by men and women in cooler weather.
Dishes and food were made in a traditional way. In Nyíracsád, people are still happy to adhere to the eating habits and foods of the past, regardless of the financial conditions people live in. The flavours and tastes created by the mothers and women of Nyíracsád, resulted in a rich cuisine. The basic elements of the Nyíracsád cuisine are the rye bread, the Passover cake, the special pasta of an unparalleled flavour, the tiny stuffed cabbage of the Nyírség, the different types of soups, and the corn-cake with lots of other delicious dishes. They have the most rich and most beautiful Easter tables, and the most spectacular eating habits.
A very high number of children was characteristic of the settlement in the past, which, however, due to underdeveloped health conditions, went together with a tragically high number of deaths among the new-born babies and children. In the circle of Greek-Catholics, the in-law relations played an outstanding, and dominating role at important critical times in the life of families, but also during their everyday lives. The Greek-Catholic ceremony of the settlement used at funerals today also preserved lots of archaic features.
Religion played an important role in the life of the population of Nyíracsád through many centuries. In the settlement, which consists of several religious affiliations, the role of the Greek-Catholic church has been dominating up till today since the XVIII century with most of the population belonging to it.
The settlement re-organised the school of its reformed church after 1711, and its teacher was first mentioned in a census in 1785. We only know of the teaching activity of the priests in decades before it. The extremely poor church school with a low number of pupils did not become part of the College of Debrecen in spite of its closeness. Until between the two world wars, it operated with one single classroom and one teacher, when it received a new school building with one classroom, and a second teacher. The Greek-Catholic school with a Ruthenian language, founded in 1740 seems to have operated since earliest times, on the basis of a survey in 1770/71. Its twenty pupils learnt reading and writing. We do not know when the language was changed, but the use of the Ruthenian language in parallel to Hungarian could still be traced, although to a lessening extent, at the end of the 1880-ies.
