The Palm Sunday Passion in Vága

The folk religiosity of the Vága faithful preserves two very beautiful customs related to the Lenten period even today. One is the sacred custom of the Christ Vigil on the night from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, and the other is the folk singing of the Passion. One of the outstanding characteristics of the Vága practice of both Passions (Palm Sunday and Good Friday) is that the turba parts, i.e. the lines representing the crowd, are sung not only by a choir or a few singers, but by the entire church community. The Passion is still sung by the Vága people today from the Stampay hymnbook, which does not contain sheet music, but carefully marks deviations from the recitative voice in the text of the Passion. Father Sándor Teodóz Jáki draws attention in his study entitled The Passion of the Vágai Flower Sunday, that in addition to the major-like form widespread throughout Europe in the late Middle Ages, the melody of the Vágai Passion shows affinities with the medieval minor-passion of Esztergom in certain melodic turns (primarily the two Jesus phrases). The aforementioned study draws attention to 5 unforgettable phrases, which also stand out musically from their environment: ; – when Peter, repenting of the sin of denial, bursts into bitter weeping, ; – when Jesus, crying out loudly, exhales his spirit, ; – when the evangelist sings the final phrase of the Passion, and the double climax of this Vágai musical drama: ; – Jesus cries out to the Heavenly Father in Hebrew, then ; – the same in Hungarian. ; Jáki also researches the reasons for the disappearance of Hungarian folk choirs in the Highlands, and thus of folk passions. He highlights Vágá as a positive example: “In Vágá, continuity remained throughout regarding the Palm Sunday Passion, because its parish priest knew well that they had a valuable tradition, and also that they had to faithfully preserve it, since it is incredibly difficult to restart a broken tradition.” ; We in Vágá sincerely hope that the tradition of singing the Passion will remain a living practice in Vágá for a long time to come. ;

(Mónika Józsa)

; Characters: ; Evangelist - István Tonkó ; Jesus - András Józsa ; Pilate - Ferenc Adamkó ; Prince - László Bugyinsky ; Judas - Adrienn Lukács ; Peter - Tibor Mészáros ; Servant - Mónika Józsa ; The two false witnesses - László Bugyinsky and Tibor Mészáros ; ; 1. Palm Sunday Passion ; The audio recording was made in the spring of 2013 by Pátria Radio in the St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Vága. ; On the morning of Palm Sunday (April 5, 2020) at 9:00 a.m., it was broadcast by Pátria Radio in Bratislava. ; ; ; ; 2. Holy Thursday Vigil ; The audio recording was made in 1975. Ferenc Forró (born in 1906) tells the Vága practice of the Holy Thursday Vigil to Father Teodóz Sándor Jáki. ; ; ; ; 3. Our Golden Father ; Benedictine monk priest Sándor Jáki introduces and sings the Csángó Golden Father.