Articles by Initial Letters

New Publication: Franciscan friar Varga Kamill: The life and work of Muharay Elemér. Jászberény 2025, Jászsági füzetek 60. 204 pages. Muharay Elemér was born in 1901 in Hajtapuszta, Jászberény, Hungary. He died in 1960. This book has been published marking the 125th anniversary of his birth and the 65th anniversary of his death. Muharay finished his studies at the school of film acting and directing in 1922. He founded many theater groups and worked as a journalist. He established ‘village stages’ in two communities near Budapest in the late 1930s for which he wrote plays peppered with folk song and folk dance. He had wanted to see village stages in every community in Hungary as a means for bringing the communities together and preserving folk tradition. He was director of the Department of Ethnography at the Institute of Folk Culture (in Budapest), where he worked to get youth involved in carrying out his ideas. After Hungary’s revolution of 1956 he fell out of favor and then died in 1960. This book traces his life and work using many sources including his family, friends and the archives. The book was launched during in August during the 2025 Csángó Festival in Jászberény.