Dragaera

Taltos Notes

David Silberstein davids at kithrup.com
Tue Jan 7 01:23:38 PST 2003

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.