- Title: Hungarian senior last in her family to keep church bells ringing
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: TERENY, HUNGARY (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) 76-YEAR-OLD BELL RINGER ILONA PETRAS WALKING IN FOLK DRESS TO CHURCH AND ENTERING PETRAS OPENING CHURCH DOOR STAINED GLASS WINDOW IN CHURCH PETRAS PREPARING TO RING THREE BELLS / PETRAS SITTING DOWN AND STARTING TO RING BELLS / PETRAS' FOOT RINGING BELL PETRAS RINGING BELLS AND SAYING SHE IS PLAYING ON THREE INSTRUMENTS AT ONCE PETRAS FOOT STEPPING ON BELL RINGER VARIOUS OF PETRAS RINGING BELLS CHURCH TOWER AND BELLS RINGING (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) 76-YEAR-OLD BELL RINGER, ILONA PETRAS, SAYING: "When dark clouds come in the summer, I always ring the bells and I can't remember the hailstorm ever destroying the crops because I always ring the bells, I pray, and in the village everyone else prays too." INTERIOR OF CHURCH AND PETRAS WALKING IN VARIOUS OF PETRAS CLEANING CHURCH CARPET CHURCH ALTAR PETRAS PREPARING FOR RINGING ONE BELL FOR THE NOON RINGING / SAYING SHE CHECKS THE TIME BOTH ON HER WATCH AND HER PHONE / STARTING TO RING BELL PETRAS HANDS RINGING BELL PETRAS STANDING IN ENTRANCE TO CHURCH RINGING BELLS / BELL TOWER (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) 76-YEAR-OLD BELL RINGER, ILONA PETRAS, SAYING: "I have to be ready on time for noon, for the evening ringings, for the case if someone dies, so I have to be on standby almost every day, but I enjoy doing it." VARIOUS OF TRADITIONAL 'PALOC' VILLAGE HOUSES CHURCH TOWER AND HOUSES PETRAS ENTERING THE HOUSE OF HER MUSEUM ABOUT HER FAMILY AND OLD TRADITIONS OLD BENCH ON BALCONY PETRAS ENTERING MUSEUM ROOM TRADITIONALLY CALLED THE CLEAN ROOM PETRAS ARRANGING OLD GARMENT PETRAS SHOWING HER PARENTS' WEDDING OUTFITS PETRAS REFLECTED IN OLD MIRROR (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) 76-YEAR-OLD BELL RINGER, ILONA PETRAS, SAYING: "What will happen will be arranged up there... Because everyone, all my grandchildren too, know how to ring the bells but no one is here, everyone is scattered around." VARIOUS OF PETRAS STANDING IN CHURCH ENTRANCE RINGING BELL
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 14:46
- Keywords: bell-ringing folk traditions rural life Hungarian depopulation emigration
- Location: TERENY, HUNGARY
- City: TERENY, HUNGARY
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1HK56H
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ilona Petras' family has been in charge of ringing the bells of the 600-year-old Catholic church in the small village of Tereny in the northeast of Hungary for over a hundred years.
At the age of 76, she still pulls ropes and stamps on a pedal to ring the three big bells every day, calling people for prayers, weddings and funerals, or warning villagers of impending hailstorms.
Petras learned to ring the bells from her grandfather as a child, and then her father and mother took on the job. When her mother died in 2015, she was left alone with the task.
As the village has no parish either, she takes care of cleaning the church, and arranging flowers. The bells in the nearby Evangelical church are automated.
Petras said she rings the bells at noon every day and in the evenings, and says she has to be on standby "almost every day" in case someone in the village dies.
She is still fit, which she puts down to staying active and having friends.
But she has no one in her family to whom to pass on the tradition as her two children have left the remote village in search of a better life elsewhere as jobs are scarce in this area of the Hungarian countryside.
The population of Tereny is around 320 now, down from about 900 a few decades ago.
When the local farming cooperative closed down after the collapse of communism, many people had no choice but to leave. The local school has around 20 pupils from three villages and many houses are vacant.
The village had offered some of the houses to young couples with children if they moved in. Only a few took the opportunity.
Dressed in the traditional costume of the region's Paloc people, and wearing a distinctive red headscarf, she said she trusted God to help find a successor once she is unable to perform her duties any more.
"Everyone, all my grandchildren too, knows how to ring the bells but no one is here, everyone is scattered around," she said.
(Production: Krisztina Fenyo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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