Pestvidéki Ásványbánya Vállalat



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Sun CultThe honoring of the Sun, as the most important heavenly body, has played a very important role in all celebrations since ancient times. The ancients had long observed that the Sun is that star, which by its “rotating movement”, causes the four seasons, through the rhythmic variations of light and dark hours within a day. This is very important to all peoples engaged in agriculture. Beyond the variation of light and dark, it has another importance, namely the mutual relationship between the Sun and Moon and the mythical tales connected with it. The mythical number of the Sun is number four. Four represents Space based on the four corners of the sky. The number three, the mythical number of the more ancient Moon Cult, is still apparent. In the time of the Sun Cult, the Sun replaced the Moon year and assured the correctness of measuring time. The great nebulous theological systems of mythology were formed, which included a center with a male Sun god and a Moon goddess. The customs and traditions of the Moon myth had no decisive effect on the peoples of Europe, but the peoples of ancient East, forsaking the Moon myth, followed the unmoving, flat, four-vaulted, heavenly Sun cult.

In heraldry the right side belongs to the Sun, the left side to the Moon. The right side is always the more prominent, as proven by present-day practice. In the days of the ancient Hungarian form of state, the kende, the sacramental king, was the chief, and he was regarded as the Son of the Sun. The double divinity of the Sun and Moon was preserved among the relics of Hungarian history. Among them, on the lower portion of the Hungarian Royal Crown, at the intersection of the braces of the crown, the Sun is positioned on the right and the Moon is visible on the left side of the image of Jesus. It is the same in the Szekler coat of arms and in every historic relic, where the Sun and Moon are portrayed.

In 19th century fairy tales, the name of the Sun god was often mentioned. The greatest curse pronounced by the Szeklers sounded thus: “May the Sun-god punish you”. The Hungarian peasant, even a thousand years after the conversion to Christianity, greets the rising sun respectfully, placing his hand over his heart or with the uplifted palm of his hand. In many places, he confesses his sins to the Sun and lifts the child to be baptized to it. On the morning of Pentecost, at Csiksomlyó in Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania), crowds of thousands await the rising sun before going to church. – B: 1078, 1020, T: 7682.→Sun Solstice Festivals; Sun Symbols; Sun Wheel.
Sun Solstice Festivals – Numerous nations annually celebrate the four seasons associated with the main movements of the Sun. The spring and autumn tide, when the period of light equals with darkness, is rarely remembered; but the solstices on 21 June and 21 December are well known everywhere and folk festivals honor them with reverence.

In Hungary, two folk festivals celebrate the winter solstice. One is the autumn burial and resurrection of the Sun, represented in the borica dance. Connected with this is the festival of the summer solstice, celebrated in the St John’s Song (Szentiváni ének). The focal point is the lighting of the fire, which is endowed with cleansing power. The other folk custom is at Christmas, when the reborn Sun is greeted with a song. Also connected to the winter celebration is the spring solstice, the ballad of Julia, the Beautiful (Julia szép lány), celebrating the awakening and resurrected sun. – B: 1078, 1020, T: 7682.→Sun Cult; Sun Symbols; Sun Wheel.


Sun Symbols (Sun signs) – In the Sun Cult of ancient nations, the Sun was regarded both as a protective and a time-damaging power. The sun symbols were used as a sign of respect in everyday life. The symbols were regarded as having a protective power against trouble. The shaman’s round drum symbolized the sun disk. Its purpose was to avoid disaster, exactly as the disks portraying sunrays that can be seen on gravestones even today. Many forms of the Sun Cult remain to the present time: the head of the family, before slicing bread, draws a sun symbol across the back of the bread and there are carvings illustrating sun rays on houses, gates, furniture, and embroidery decorations. They always present sun disks, rosettas with eight petals standing or whirling wheels, protective sun symbols on farm buildings, and six-fold circle drawings of grave markers are all symbols of the ancient Sun Cult. – B: 1020, T: 7682.→Sun Cult; Sun Wheel; Sun Solstice Festivals.
Sun Wheel – According to the ancients, it was a semantic illustration of the sun rolling across the sky through its six main positions: dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, midnight. In older drawings the sun traces a circle, where circles of the same circumference represent its six positions. In later illustrations, the six main positions are shown only within the circle. These illustrations can still be seen on the gates of houses, gravestones in cemeteries, and on maypoles. Today, we rarely find pillars supporting the rolling sun symbolized by a wheel on the outskirts of villages, or on roads between wheat fields. After the conversion to Christianity, these were supplanted with picture pillars, placed along the roadsides. The Church outlawed pillars decorated with wheels, as a pagan custom.

The sun wheels were regarded as magic, protective symbols, an ancestral custom practiced even today. – B: 1020, T: 7682.→Sun Cult; Sun Symbols; Sun Solstice Festivals.


Sunyovszky, Szilvia (Sylvia) (Rozsnyó, now Rožňava, Slovakia, 2 February 1948 - ) – Actress. She began her tertiary studies at the Academy of Dramatic Art of Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia) and first appeared on stage at the Hviesdoslav Theater of Pozsony in 1967-1968. She obtained her diploma from the Academy in 1970, and spent the next season at the Thalia Theater of Kassa (now Košice, Slovakia). From 1971 she was a member of the Madách Theater there. From 1991 she was a member of the Hungarian Cultural Institute of Pozsony. From 1996 to 1998 she worked as counselor of the Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (Határontúli Magyarok Hivatala – HTMH). In 2003 she was a public relations counselor to former and now the present Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Her roles include Alexandra in F. Molnár’s The Swan (A hattyú); Lujza in F. Schiller’s Love and Intrigue (Ármány és szerelem); Elmira in Molière’s Tartuffe; Lady Anne in Shakespeare’s Richard III; and Sue Bayliss in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (Édes fiaim). She also played in several films, such as: Professor of the Underworld (Az alvilág professzora) (1970); Adventures of Prix (1972); Innocent Killers (Ártatlan gyilkosok) (1973); Black Diamonds (Fekete gyémántok, I-II) (1976); El Cid (1981), and Eight Seasons (1987) and also in TV films such as The Dumb Knight (A néma levente); Rózsa, Sándor (1-12), and Neighbors (Szomszédok). She wrote a book, co-authored with György (George) Fekete, entitled The Thousand Aspects of the Holy Crown (A Szent Korona ezer arca) (2000). She was made an Honorary Freewoman of the town of Rozsnyó. She received the Mari Jászai Prize (1986). – B: 1445, 1439, T: 7456.→Orbán, Viktor.
Supka, Géza (Budapest, 8 April 1883 - Budapest, 25 May 1956) – Archeologist, art historian and political writer. He completed his archeological and art history studies at the University of Graz, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania). From 1904 he worked in the archeological collection of the Hungarian National Museum and published a number of studies during these years. In 1916 and 1917 he was a guest lecturer in Archeology and Art History at the University of Vienna, and also gave lectures at the universities of Rome, Leipzig, Cologne, Kiel, Berlin and Stockholm. He began his career as a publicist prior to World War I, as an outside consultant of the journal World (Világ), later becoming its associate editor; in 1919 he became the managing editor of the youth journal New World (Új Világ). Late in 1918 he was Ambassador to Prague appointed by the National Council. In 1921 he was dismissed from his position at the Museum because of his political stance during the rule of the Hungarian Council (Soviet) Republic (21 March - 1 August 1919). From then on he turned to the press as an associate of the dailies Hungarian News (Magyar Hirlap), and Pester Lloyd; he was also Editor of Lantos Magazin, and Tolnai’s World Newspaper (Tolnai Világlapja). In 1926 he launched the literary and critical journal Literatura, and edited it until it was banned in 1939. In 1934 he became a librarian in the National Széchenyi Library. In 1945, he was reinstated as the President of the National Museum. From 1945 to 1949 he was Editor-in-chief of World (Világ), the paper of the Civic Democratic Party, founded by him; he was also a Member of Parliament. Concurrently, he was the Freemason Grand Master of Hungary. In order to support Hungarian writers and literature, he initiated the practice of holding book-days. During World War I and in the inter-war years he was a militant advocate of the ideas of civic radicalism, while in the post-war Communist period under Soviet military occupation, he stood for civic democracy. As a journalist, he was one of the originators of the genre of literary-standard, popular-scientific reporting. He was also engaged in literary translations. His works include Lehel’s Horn (Lehel kürtje) (1910); The Hundred-Year-Old Archeological Collection (A százéves régiségtár) (1913); Habsburg Chronicle, vols. i,ii (Habsburg krónika I-II (1932); The Great Drama – The Background of the Events of World War I (A nagy dráma - Az I. világháborús események háttere) (1938), and The Accursed Woman – Elizabeth Báthory (Az átkozott asszony – Báthory Erzsébet) (1941). – B: 0883, 1068, 1257, T: 7456.
Surányi, Miklós (Nicholas) (Felsőmindszent, 16 February 1882 - Budapest, 23 June 1936) – Journalist, writer. He studied Law at the University of Pécs. In 1903 he was a parliamentary reporter for the paper Hungary (Magyarország); in 1908 he was county deputy-archivist at Máramarossziget (now Sighetul Marmaţiei, Romania). The following year, he became Editor of the paper Máramaros. He moved to Budapest in 1918 (sensing the end of historic Hungary and the loss of Máramarossziget). In 1924 he became a contributor to the National News (Nemzeti Ujság). He was elected member of the Petőfi Society in 1917, and the Kisfaludy Society in 1922. He was Editor of the paper Budapest News (Budapesti Hirlap) for a number of years. In a conservative spirit, he wrote numerous leading articles and critiques. The themes of his novels are largely historical. His works include The Peacock of Trianon (A trianoni páva) novel (1917); The Almighty Woman (A mindenható asszony) novel (1923); The Woman of Naples (A nápolyi asszony) novel (1924), and We Are Alone (Egyedül vagyunk), biographical novel about Count István Széchenyi (1936). – B: 0882, 1257, T: 7456.→Széchenyi, Count István.
Sütő, András (Andrew) (Pusztakamarás, now Camarasu, Transylvania, Romania, 17 June 1927 - Budapest, 30 September 2006) – Hungarian writer in Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania). He received his schooling in Nagyenyed (now Aiud, Romania) and Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania), and edited several weeklies, such as the Clarity (Világosság) in Kolozsvár; the Working People of Villages (Falvak dolgozó népe) in Bucharest; the True Word (Igaz Szó), and the New Life (Új Élet) in Marosvásárhely (now Târgu Mureş, Romania). He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Romanian Writers’ Union. After 1945 he was the most important leading personality among the Hungarian prose and drama writers of Transylvania. His first independently published work was the Struggle at Dawn (Hajnali küzdelem) (1949). He based his brilliantly shining narratives on the legacy of István (Stephen) Asztalos, Zsigmond (Sigismund) Móricz and Áron (Aaron) Tamási, who continuously strived to rediscover the reality from the end of the 1960s. His novels and essays best illustrated their mission are: My Mother Promised Light Dreams (Anyám könnyű álmot igér) (1970); Robin and Apostle (Rigó és apostol) essays (1970); Gods and Wooden Horses (Istenek és falovacskák) essays (1973); Palm Sunday of a Horse-dealer (Egy lócsiszár virágvasárnapja) drama (1974); Star on the Bonfire (Csillag a máglyán), drama (1975); Cain and Abel (Káin és Ábel), drama (1977); Let the Words Come to Me (Engedjétek hozzám jönni a szavakat) essay-novel (1977); The Wedding at Suza (A szuzai mennyegző) dráma (1981), and Advent on the Hargita (Ádvent a Hargitán), drama (1985). Through his works, he raised his native land’s daily struggle for survival to a historical-philosophical level. Several of his works were translated into Romanian and German. His dramas were staged in Hungary, and his Star at the Stake (Csillag a máglyán) was made into a movie. He was one of the most important writers of contemporary literature and indeed, the entire Hungarian literature.

A severe atrocity against Hungarians in Marosvásárhely occurred on 19-20th March 1990, in the first year of the new “democratic” political system in Romania. Some 100,000 Hungarians demonstrated for the reinstallation of a Hungarian Medical School in the town. The Vatra Romanesca nationalist organization regarded this and the observation of Hungarian National Day on 15 March, as a provocation against the Romanian state. On 19-20th March, groups of Romanians rushed upon the demonstrating Hungarians and beat them up, turning the city into a place of street clashes. During this attack, András Sütő was severely beaten and wounded, and he almost lost of his eyesight. The final result of the “Black March” pogrom was three dead and 100 wounded. Not a single Romanian but many Hungarians were arrested, accused and sentenced to prison terms – B: 1085, 1138, 1153, 1257, T: 3240.→Asztalos, István; Móricz, Zsigmond; Tamási, Áron; Black March Pogrom”; Atrocities against Hungarians.


Svachulay, Sándor (Alexander) (Schvachulay) (? , 1875 - Budapest, 25 August 1954) – Engine fitter, aviation specialist. He was occupied with aeronautics problems from 1890. His prototypes successfully reproduced various methods of flying. By early in the 20th century, he accurately drew up the basic principles of gliding. He first succeeded building an engine with appropriate flying properties in 1908. Its fuselage and the framework of its wings were built in a pioneering fashion from welded steel pipes. In 1909 his amphibian airplane was fitted with retractable landing gear. Later, this method was adopted worldwide. Besides his pioneering constructions, he also found the solutions for such important details as the adjustable metal propeller and equipment for reducing the landing speed of airplanes. His works are: The Aviators of Nature (1940); My Life of Flying (1942). – B: 0883, 1122, T: 7456.→Pioneers of Hungarian Aviation.
Svaiczer, Count Gábor (Gabriel) (Svajcer) (Kassa, now Košice, Slovakia 1784 - Nagybánya, now Baia Mare, Romania, 24 August 1845) – Mining engineer. From 1804 he studied at the Mining Academy of Selmecbánya (now Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia). Subsequently, he continued his studies at foreign mining and smelting works. He started working at Szomolnok (now Smolník, Slovakia), then, in the course of his researches, he managed to restart the operation of the then defunct precious metal mines of Aranyida (now Zlatá Idka, Slovakia). On the basis of this, he was commissioned to head the state mines, foundries and mints that were in a critical condition at the time. From 1834 to 1844 he was the Director of the Minig Academy of Selmecbánya. He reorganized his area of mining-work with new excavations, with the improvement of the running of foundries and several technical innovations and made them profitable again. Svaiczer received from King Ferdinand V (1835-1848) the decorated silver hatchet that is preserved at the Mining Museum of Sopron. He retired in 1845. – B: 0883, 1031, T: 7684.
Svéd, Sándor (Alexander) (Budapest, 28 May 1906 - Vienna, 9 June 1979) – Opera singer (baritone). He studied voice at the Ferenc (Franz) Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, under the direction of Béla Szabados; thereafter, in Italy with the famous Maria Sammarco and Riccardo Stracciari. He obtained his diploma in 1927. He made his debut at the Opera House in Budapest in 1929 in the role of Silvio in R. Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci (Bajazzók). From 1936 he was a member of the Opera House, Budapest. In 1931 he was a guest singer at the Opera House (Staatsoper) of Vienna where, in 1936, he was contracted. At the outbreak of World War II, he emigrated to the USA. Between 1941 and 1950 he was a member of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and also performed frequently at the La Scala of Milan. From 1950 to 1957 he was a member of the Budapest Opera House. After that, he sang at the great Opera Houses of the world. He became a famous and popular artist worldwide, who was great in Verdi operas. He was also a recording artist. His roles included Count Lune in Verdi’s Il Trovatore (A trubadur); title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto; the same in Mozart’s Don Giovanni; Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlo; Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca; Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser; Talramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin; Amonarro in Verdi’s Aïda, and Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen. He received the Kossuth Prize (1950) and the title of Outstanding Artist (1951). In accordance with his wishes, he was buried in the Farkasrét Cemetery of Budapest. – B: 1445, 0883, T: 7103.→Szabados, Béla.

Sweden, Hungarians in – Prior to World War II, only a few Hungarians lived in Sweden, among them intellectuals, musicians and leftist politicians. During the war, the Bernadotte action rescued a few hundred Hungarians from German concentration camps. After the war, due to the Communist take over in Hungary, the number of immigrants to Sweden increased. In 1947 and 1948 there was a Swedish campaign to recruit forestry workers from Upper or Northern Hungary (Felvidék, now Slovakia). As a result, some 1,000 persons arrived in Sweden. After their contract expired, they applied for and received refugee status. The largest number, 7,000 Hungarian refugees, arrived after the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight. Their number grew annually by 300 persons until 1989. They were young, educated people. In the 1980s, a few thousand Hungarians arrived from Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania) to avoid ethnic persecution by the Ceausescu regime. According to statistics, in 1994 there were 27.000 Hungarian in Sweden from Hungary proper, and some 5,000 Hungarians from detached Hungarian territories, such as Romania, Slovakia, Carpatho-Ukraine and Yugoslavia. Among the Hungarians were such outstanding scientists as: Róbert Bárány, Albert Szent-Györgyi, Marcell Riesz, György (George) Klein, Egon Diczfalusy, László (Ladislas) Ernster, Pál (Paul) Kallós, and many engineers, architects, musicians, composers, writers, poets, literary translators, sportsmen and entrepreneurs. Among the Sweden-based Nobel Prize winners are 12 Hungarian and 8 Hungarian-related laureates. In the 1960s, there were some 60 Hungarian societies, churches, cultural organizations and clubs. In 1973, the National Association of Hungarians in Sweden (Ungerska Riksförbundet; Svédországi Magyarok Országos Szövetsége – SMOSZ) was established with some 5,200 members. Its Hunsor internet-portal provides news and information. Since Hungary became a member of the European Union in 2004, Hungarians in growing numbers are seeking employment in Sweden. – B: 1848, T: 7103.→Bárány, Róbert; Szent-Györgyi, Albert; Riesz, Marcell; Klein, György.

Sword Dance – A spontaneous dance performed by young men with a sword or similar object in solo or in pairs. Originally it was a cultic dance, sometimes the dramatization of the killing and the resurrection of a person. Flute and songs accompanied these dances. Relics from the 16th -17th centuries indicate the existence of its custom in Hungary. Its traces are still found in the Shepherd’s Dance. – B: 1134, T: 3240.
Sword of God (Sword of Attila) – The long-lost sword dedicated to the god of war (as related by Priscos Rhetor and Jordanes) found by Attila the Hun. According to a belief, whoever was in possession of this sword would become lord of the world. A shepherd found the sword and took it to Attila. Later, the sword was in the hands of the kings of Hungary. Since the members of the Árpád Dynasty considered themselves descendants of Attila, this sword was regarded as the sword of Attila. From the Árpádian treasury, it was King Salamon’s mother, Queen Anastasia (King András I’s [Andrew] widow) who gave the sword to Prince Otto of Nordheim, Bavaria in 1071, believing that whoever had it would face calamity. But Otto actually assisted the young Prince Salamon to ascend to the throne in 1063. The 90.5-cm long blade with a damaged hilt is considered to have been the masterpiece of a Hungarian smith and goldsmith of the 10th century. The hilt and its case are decorated with a ribbon of leafy-tendrils. Part of the blade is decorated with two intertwining dragons.The cult of the sword was an old custom with the Scythians (according to Herodotos, Book IV. 52). Belief in the possession of the sword is also found among the Sarmatians, Alans, the Voguls, and other Ural-Altaic peoples. This sword could have been in Attila’s possession, as it was shown to Priscos, who visited Attila. At present, this so-called Sword of Attila is found among the coronation treasures of the Holy Roman Emperors held in the Schatzkammer of Vienna. The Attila sword belongs to the fabled dragon-killing swords, as does the King István I (Stephen, Saint) sword of Prague, with Norman decoration. – B: 0942, 1896, 1898, T: 7456.→Priscos Rhetor; Jordanes; András I, King;¸Salamon, King; Judit (1).
Sylvester, János (John) (Erdős?) (Szinérváralja, now Seimi in Romania, 1504 ?, - Vienna, 1552) – Humanist writer, Bible translator. From 1526 he studied at Krakow. On the influence of his teacher, Leonhard Cox, he became a follower of Erasmus. He published a religious work entitled Rosarium. In 1529 he became a student at the University of Wittenberg, attended the lectures of Melanchthon. From 1534 he was schoolmaster in the court of Baron Tamás Nádasdy at Sárvár. He began translating the New Testament following the textual version of Erasmus. Tamás Nádasdy established a printery at Sárvár-Újsziget for the publishing of the translation. Sylvester was running the printery. For the typographic work they employed Johannes Strutius (Strauss). In 1539, a work of his entitled Grammatica Hungaro-latina was published with Czech orthography and diacritical marks, also recognizing the peculiarities of the Hungarian language. Benedek Abádi, with better knowledge of printing, took over and finished the New Testament (1541), the first printed book in the Hungarian language. It contains the first metric poetry and in the concluding section the first stylistic comments on figurative speech in Hungarian. In 1542, he went to Vienna and on Nádasdy’s advice he gave lectures on Hebrew and later Greek and History. He published poems in Latin, including an elegy against the Turks in the style of Erasmus (1544); a poem personifying Vienna (1546); Queen Anna’s Rhymed Epitaph (1548); The Risen Jesus’ Lament (about 1550), and the Lament of Faith (1551). His hymn, starting with Christ has risen (Krisztus feltámada), survived in the hymnbook of Péter Bornemisza. He happened to live in a period of transition, so he could not be considered to have belonged to a particular Christian denomination. With his work he facilitated the incorporation of the results of humanism in the Hungarian linguistic and literary consciousness. A Protestant High School in Budapest is named after him. – B: 0883, 0931, 1257, T: 7456.→Nádasdy, Baron Tamás; Bornemisza, Péter; Bible in Hungarian; Telegdi, János; Rudimenta.


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