Közösségi fogadalmi szokások Nyugat-Bácskában
Customs of Community Vows in West Bácska

Summary/Abstract: The lives of people, farmers and stock breeders, the inhabitants of West Bácska, as well as their cattle and crops in our lowland climate, have always been in close connection with unstable weather conditions and infectious diseases, which have often spread among the inhabitants of this region. In order to avoid these disorders or troubles, people in those times sought help using well-known religious actions: vows to the supreme powers. Their knowledge about the changes in everyday life and their connection with religious traditions were so deeply rooted in their lives, that communities, inhabitants of entire villages, members of various ethnic groups swore to respect the specific saints or days of the year, in order to prevent disasters by taking dedicated vows. Thus, from the end of the 17th century, in the ethnically heterogeneous West Bácska almost every village developed various customs od commitment: protective procession, non-working days, strict fasting, worship services, apotropaic prayers, etc.

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