Some notes concerning the /taltos/. The following is an summary of a description of folklore surrounding the taltos in Hungarian culture. It's an extract from a much longer compare-and-contrast of the taltos with similar entities from other European cultures, which I scanned in, complete with endnotes, for another listmember (waves to Holly) who was kind enough to send me her grandfather's translation of a webpage that was also about the taltos. I doubt this has anything to do with SKZB's take on the taltos in any of his stories, but I thought it was interesting nevertheless. Source: "Ecstasies : Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath" (Original Title: "Storia Notturna", literally: "Nocturnal History") ISBN: 0140158588 (PB), 0394581636 (HB) Author: Carlo Ginzburg ; translated by Raymond Rosenthal. (http://www.history.ucla.edu/ginzburg/) Chapter: To Combat in Ecstasy, paragraph 9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- In the throng of witches and enchanters who populate Hungarian folklore there stand out, owing to their singularity, a number of figures who have been linked to Oriental, and probably extremely ancient, traditions. The most important is the táltos. This name, possibly of Turkish origin, designated the men and women tried for witchcraft as early as the end of the sixteenth century. [40] But the táltos strenuously denied the accusations leveled at them. A woman, András Bartha, tried at Debrecen in 1725, declared that she had been named leader of the táltos by God himself: because God forms the táltos when they are still in their mother's womb, then he takes them under his wing and makes them fly through the sky like birds to fight against male and female witches 'for the dominion of the sky'. [41] A number of later testimonies, collected almost down to the present day, confirm and enrich this fundamental juxtaposition. They also modify it: women táltos become increasingly rare. The táltos are chiefly men, marked since birth by some physical peculiarity, such as being born with teeth, with six fingers on one hand, or, more rarely, with the caul. [42] When very young they are silent, melancholy, extremely strong, greedy for milk (then, as adults, for cheese and eggs). At a certain age (usually seven, sometimes thirteen) they have a vision: an older táltos, in the shape of an animal - invariably a stallion or bull. A struggle begins between the two: if the youngster succumbs, he remains half a táltos; if he prevails, he becomes a full táltos. In other localities it is said that the male táltos initiates the girls (provided they are virgins) and vice versa. As a rule, the initiation is preceded by a 'sleep' that lasts three days; during this time the future táltos 'hides himself'. At times he dreams that he is being chopped to pieces, or he passes extraordinary tests (climbing very tall trees, for example). The táltos go into combat periodically (three times a year, or once every seven years, etc.) in the shape of stallions, bulls or flames. Usually they engage each other, more rarely male and female witches, sometimes enemies of alien origin, for example Turks or Germans, who are likewise transformed into animals or flames, but of a different colour. Before hanging into an animal, the táltos is overcome by a sort of heat and babbles disconnected words, entering into contact with the world of the spirits. Often the battle takes place among the clouds and to the accompaniment of storms; whoever wins ensures abundant harvests for seven years or for the following year for his side. As a result, when there is a drought, the peasants bring money and gifts to the táltos so that they may cause rain to fall. For their part, the táltos extort milk and cheese from the peasants, threatening to unleash a storm or boasting of their feats: discovering hidden treasures, healing those struck by evil spells, identifying the witches in the village by banging a drum (or alternately, a sifter). But theirs is a vocation they have not elected: they cannot resist the call. After a while (at the age of fifteen, but often much later) they cease their activities. ------------- [40] For linguistic reasons, the bibliography in Hungarian has remained inaccessible to me. See, however, on the analogy between benandanti and táltos, the excellent essay by G. Klaniczay, 'Shamanistic Elements in Central European Witchcraft', and (more generally), M. Hoppál, 'Traces of Shamanism in Hungarian Folk Beliefs', in Shamanism in Eurasia, pp. 404-22, 430-46 - both overlooked by A. M. Losonczy, 'Le chamane-cheval et la sage-femme ferrée. Chamanisme et metaphore équestre dans la pensée populaire hongroise', L'Ethnographie, 127 (1986), nn. 98-99, pp. 51-70. These studies complement the bibliographic review by J. Fazekas, 'Hungarian Shamanism. Material and History of Research', in Studies in Shamanism, C.-D. Edsman ed, Stockholm 1967, pp. 97-119. In Italian cf., besides M. Hoppál, 'Mitologie uraliche', Conoscenza religiosa, 4 (1978), pp. 367-95, the booklet by A. Steiner, Sciamanesimo e folklore, Parma 1980. Still fundamental, although contentious in part and outdated, are G. Róheim, 'Hungarian Shamanism', Psychoanalysis and the Social Sciences, III (1951), pp. 131-69, and V. Diószegi, 'Die Ueberreste des Schamanismus in der ungarischen Volkskultur', Acta Ethnographica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, VII (1958), pp. 97-134, which summarizes longer works that appeared in Hungarian in 1926 and in 1958, respectively. On the ethnographic researches of Diószegi, see T. Dömötör in Temenos, 9 (1973), pp. 151-5; E. Lot-Falck, in L'homme, XIII (1973), n. 4. pp. 135-41; J. Kodolányi and M. Varga, in Shamanism in Eurasia pp. XIII-XXI. For other indications, see M. Sozan, The History of Hungarian Ethnography, Washington 1979, pp. 230-45 (on Róheim), pp. 327-30 (on Diószegi). On the etymology of táltos, cf. B. Gunda, 'Totemistische Spuren in der ungarischen "táltos"-Ueberlieferung', in Glaubenswelt und Folklore der sibirischen Völker, V. Diószegi ed, Budapest 1963, p. 46, which recalls (in the wake of a study by D. Pais) the Turkish*taltis-taltus - i.e., 'he who hits', 'he who clubs until the loss of the senses' - seeing in this an allusion to ecstasy (or perhaps to battles?). Another etymology, from the Finnish tietaja (wise man, sorcerer), has been proposed by Róheim, art. cit., p. 146. On Hungarian witchcraft, one can also consult with profit V. Klein, 'Der ungarische Hexenglaubem', Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 66 (1934), pp. 374-402. [41] The passage from the trial has been translated by G. Ortutay in Kleine ungarische Volkskunde, Budapest 1963, pp. 120-2 1. Cf. also T. Dömötör, 'The Problem of the Hungarian Female Táltos', in Shamanism in Eurasia, pp. 423-9, especially p. 425 [42] Ibid., p. 427.