Seasonal Workers

25. Harvest festival
Boldog, Pest County

The seasonal workers (summás) contracted with the estate for five to seven months to do all kinds of agricultural work for a specified sum (cf. pp. 506–7). (The expression summás derives from the Latin word “summa”.) The work lasted from early spring to late autumn and thus the employer saved himself the amount of winter wages, when he could give no regular work to the labourers. This stratum developed in the last quarter of the 19th century to a smaller or greater degree in many parts of the Hungarian linguistic territory. However, in certain areas this system {83.} assured the livelihood of a significant portion of the population, e.g. of the Matyós of Mezőkövesd, who went regularly to do seasonal work. More than half of the population of the village earned its bread far away.

Among the people of Mezőkövesd it was first of all the poor peasants and the rural labourers, both men and women, who volunteered for this work. The children of the gazda went along only if there appeared to be much surplus labour in the large family. The estate entrusted the summásgazda and bandagazda with the getting together of the band, and the volunteers gathered at his dwelling at the sound of a drumbeat. They had to get a work certificate and if they joined, they signified their willingness by handing this to the gazda. The bandagazda dealt with all the problems of the workers, and smoothed over any conflicts among them. Only he could keep contact with the representative of the estate. He was told about the division of labour, and was given the payments in money and in kind for division. For this organizational work he got twice the determined wage.

26. Harvesters eating their midday meal
Great Plain

{84.} Wages in kind were measured out weekly to seasonal workers. They included flour, bacon, vegetables (beans, peas, lentils), sometimes meat and always brandy in varying quantities. Some cash was also added, which they tried to save up for the winter months. A portion of the goods in kind went to the gazdasszony, usually the wife of the gazda, who provided warm food at least once a day and baked the bread. She got the necessary help from the band to do this work.

In the early days seasonal workers went to the place of work in carts, later they went by train, the expense being covered by the estate. Their lodging was in sheds, barracks or even in barns, where they spent the night on the ground on straw mattresses, or mostly on straw. Their working hours lasted from sunrise to sunset, and they were expected to be at the place of work by the time the sun rose, no matter how far it was from their lodging. They had a half-hour break in the morning and again in the afternoon, and one hour at noon. They had to work six full days, which in the summer months exceeded 16 hours a day in length.

The seasonal workers had to do all kinds of work, the hoeing of corn, the thinning of beets, and harvesting, at which they worked in pairs, the partner usually being a wife or daughter. The hauling in and threshing was just as much a part of their work as the gathering of corn and beets. When rain prevented work in the fields, tasks were found for them in the barn, in or around the farm buildings, and in the granary.

The only day of rest was Sunday, when they did their cleaning up, since during the week they usually fell upon their beds in their clothes. The women and girls washed for themselves and for the men. In most places the landlord put in the contract that they were obliged to go to church. Also on Sunday they got a chance to repair broken hand implements and if after all this they still had some time, then they talked, told stories, and sang, especially in the afternoon and evening hours.

The younger ones at such times grouped together and visited some neighbouring workband, where they were usually offered refreshments. Frequently a zither or accordion was brought out and there was dancing. This dance gathering on Sunday afternoons, the so- called cuháré, spread so widely that later on it was adopted in Mezőkövesd also. Others went to the neighbouring villages to make new acquaintances and to drink in the tavern.