Such a legacy should not be neglected

Zoltán Negyela, parish priest of Ruzsa, collects for the renovation of roadside crosses that are neglected but still have value. The parish undertook to restore such a cross every year. This year it is the Borbás cross.

They are important to everyone for different reasons. Some people have a personal connection, for me they represent built heritage and religiosity. And such a legacy should not be neglected

- said Zoltán Negyela, parish priest from Ruz, delmagyar.hu , who decided that one of these old roadside crosses would be renovated every year.

Six pieces of cross

As a member of the local treasury committee, the parish priest supported the idea a few years ago that these crosses should be part of the local treasury. They collected all six pieces, mapped them, and created a database about them. This includes the designation of the location, their history, if known, and even the topographical number where they can be found.

He raised it in the year of the millennium

The oldest cross, which they want to completely renovate this year, is located on Zákányszéki út, not far from Ruzsa. The following is what Kristóné Fábián Ilona Ruzsa writes in the chapter on the geographical names of Ruzsa village: "Borbás district - The cross was stolen after 1945, and it was only found in the early 1990s, and its foundations were restored." The inscription is hard to read, it reads: 1896 - Erected in the year of the millennium by Pál Borbás and his wife Teréz Pintér, below: Renovated by Ferenc Szekszárdi in 1994.

We also need the support of the locals

The crosses in our settlement and its outskirts are constantly being destroyed. They belong to the heritage of Ruzsa village, so I consider it important to restore them. The municipality supports the initiative, they contribute with landscaping. The parish undertakes to fix a cross every year. In order for this to happen, the help of the locals is needed. If you can, please support the preservation of our settlement's heritage with a monetary donation. We welcome your donations to the teleház on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m

asked the parish priest.

They are also important elsewhere

There are thirteen such crosses in Mórahalm, and they have been part of the Mórahalm Settlement Treasures since last year. The Alsótanya Cultural, Cultural and Tourism Public Benefit Association has been working on the renovation of the crosses for years. Butty Bertold built his fence on Bordány's main road, in Kossuth Street below 108, in such a way that he made room for the old cross standing on the side of the road, but on his property, he beautified the area and decorated it with flower boxes. He said they were erected out of respect, he couldn't let it continue to perish.

What do the lexicons say?

According to the definition of the Hungarian Ethnographic Lexicon, roadside crosses are all outdoor crosses, or so-called religious symbols, or groups of statues, which were not erected on the scene of liturgical acts of the church. And the Hungarian Catholic Lexicon states that the role of the roadside cross in daily practice is to help with orientation by indicating the end and beginning of geographic units. In a metaphorical sense, it serves spiritual orientation, warns in recognizing the importance of boundaries (beginning and end, height and depth).

Photo: János Török

Source: Délmagyar.hu