Smaller Groups and Occupations

The above mentioned strata and groups made up the overwhelming majority of the population of the Hungarian villages and market towns, but a few other groups are also worth mentioning. From among the poor, indigent peasants came the park or field guard (csősz) and the keeper (kerülő), who officially were called field guards. These were hired by the village community and were usually paid in kind (grain, corn). From autumn to winter, but especially during the time of harvest, they lived outside the village, near the fields, and made their temporary huts from leafy branches, corn stalk, and reeds. In the Great Plain they climbed on a tall tree (látófa) so they could see far over the tall growing corn. They had to pay for damage caused by thieves or wandering animals, if they were unable to name the culprit. The field guards of the large estates usually came from among its superannuated labourers, who, for a reduced payment in kind, welcomed a chance at this difficult and responsible job.

While beekeeping and hunting occurred only as supplementary occupations during the last century (cf. pp. 232–38), the fishermen (halász) carried on their job as an independent, year-around occupation in the Hungarian villages. Generally, two-thirds of the better quality fish from the waters of the landlord had to be handed in, while the fishermen could dispose of the rest. They took time off only during harvesting, when, as share harvesters, they tried to earn grain for the winter. Fishing was through the centuries an occupation handed on from father to son, and if possible fishermen married among each other, or looked for a match among the poor peasants, because the gazdas looked down on them, expressing their attitude with a saying from the Great Plain:

Birdcatcher, fisher, hunter

They’re never free from hunger!

Their simple, usually two-roomed houses huddled at the edge of the settlement. They built if they could by the water, to be as close as possible to their work. The many drying nets or nets waiting to be repaired, and in the Great Plain the bottle-gourd climbing up on trees, betrayed from afar the occupation of the people living in the house.

The families of the herdsmen (cf. pp. 246–51) lived in the village or at the manor, while the head of the family and the grown sons spent a large part of the year out in the pasture with the stock. The herdsmen rarely mixed with the peasants and labourers, and even among themselves they maintained separation according to the kind of animal they guarded. Among the herdsmen, when they reached the status of head herdsmen, could be found many prosperous men, who acquired considerable wealth through clever exchanges, marketing, and in earlier times by {91.} accepting stolen animals into the flock. However, the shepherds were reckoned the wealthiest of the herdsmen. They grazed their own sheep along with the flock of the community or of the large estate and gained both from its progeny and milk profit, so that they often became completely independent. However, no matter how wealthy some of them became, in most cases they could not participate in the communal life of the village, so they kept their separateness, willy-nilly. Only a few of the herdsmen who drove the animals of the village out to pasture every day accepted this occupation for life, or passed it on to their family. These herdsmen came mostly from among the poor peasants, rural workers. At other times the job served as a temporary expedient for bankrupt men, or sometimes older, retired men volunteered to do it.

A significant role was played by the carriers (fuvaros) (cf. p. 270) before the building of the railroads, and often even after that, in hauling products. They came from among gazdas who owned little land, or from among the poor peasants. In the latter case, this counted as a basic occupation. Generally the poor man bought two horses and a wagon, though with great difficulties, and undertook hauling for smaller and greater distances. But since he had no land and he could get feed for his animals only through share work, he was compelled to turn to the large estate. Here he got a meadow to mow for the third or fourth part of the yield, and could cut the aftermath for half of its yield. In return, he agreed to transport the cut grain and to convey the threshed-out grain to the railroad station, some of it free, some of it for a predetermined daily wage, but he always had to be on call at the time fixed by the estate. Socially these carriers did not rise from among the poor peasantry, since the death of a horse or some other misfortune threw them right back among the hired hands. However, there were also some hauliers who carried goods back and forth on roads linking parts of the country or countries together. These were mostly hired by merchants travelling to remote markets. They knew the roads, the local circumstances, the taverns that provided lodging, and the dangers on the road extremely well, so that their work was well paid. There are parts of the country where the bulk of the population lived from hauling.