Baranta (Hungary)

The word Baranta has remained mainly in those western and southern parts of Hungary where the population had always been Hungarian (Somogy, Ormánság, Göcsej, Őrség). In literature the most often we can find it the artworks of János Kodolányi. The meaning of the word is competing with weapons, challenge, training for a fight or a battle, legaly applied violence or applying force. Between some Kaukazian peoples it refers to the place for armed practices, and according to the oldest written sources it means ’warriors of the Sun’ and ’the men who allied with the Sun’. Baranta communities in East-Turkestan (land of the ujgur people) had been working as martial artist groups until interference of chinese authorities.
According to the habbit that has remained near Somogyvár the people who practised Baranta were the oathed, specially trained helpers of the judge of the old tribe-union (Horka) who protected the ancient laws. These warriors, beside the special skills in fighting and using their weapons, cultivated the highest levels of moral values.
In the case of Baranta consistency is given by the organic Hungarian culture, which provides a straight heritage with its’ social sructure and intellectual elements. These informations, about the training and personality-forming methods of these warrior communities that had great fighting knowledge, has been available from at least 1300 years all in all.
In the case of Hungary it can be observed that Hungarian social groups had to fulfill the tasks of self-defense, farming, and sacrality in the same time. ’Preparing’ the members of the community was a basic task in the society. The so-called ’Baranta-skills’ had been being restricted for about 5OO years with different laws, orders and local regulations. The most elements of motion were saved in fight- and weapon-dances (woodstick). The ethnograhic studies revealed that these elements were the ’school-practise’ for the real fighting skills. The motions usually followed more the rules of a fight than the rhytm of the music. Since ’fight-dances’, the ancient emulations, the teaching of games and the preparation for weapon-practice seems to be a progression, the basic motions are being developed all the time, which means that Baranta has contents from really ancient times.
Baranta is basically not a model of a master’s collected motions and personality-forming methods, but it is the manifestation of a nation’s cultural effects in a fight that is working organically.
In the middle of the 19th century the world went through a ’revolution of body-culture’. As a result of this process the nowadays well-known sports, the combat-sports and a new system of fighting motions came into existence. Three basics ways of ’body-culture’ came off: the german type etatist gymnastics movement, the anglo-saxon ’gentlemen sports’ which lean on ancient greek origins, and the attemptions of raising folk-games, dances and fighting competitions into sports.
While in some countries of Asia, partially they managed to raise the martial arts and fighting forms into the modern sports-life as a ’folk-movement’, in Europe that has not happened.
In Hungary the competitions, games and dances of traditional ’folk body-culture’ were revived by the ’reform-ages’ and they were vitalized and mistificated in the ’defiance-ages’ of the autocracy. The founder of Hungarian Athletics Club (MAC) and cultural attaché of London, count Miksa Esterházy and his circle of friends in company with the elite of some rebellious towns attempted to create the independent ’body-culture’ leaning on Hungarian cultivation and literacy. In this campaign for saving the folk games and forms of fighting rivalry, from county-balls and national casinoes to lowland-festivals local guests wanted to demonstrate with their patriotism.
The games including fights with sticks, pocket knives, swords and wrestling soon faced the problems of the movements promoted from the top. In bigger cities where neccessary human and financial resources were available, the games looked out of place. In villages and towns however, people either missed the message or there were no people who could teach the in-depth knowledge of the collected moves. Movements founded in Békéscsaba, Tata, Nagykanizsa, Hódmezővásárhely, Kolozsvár, the outskirts of Budapest, rural areas of Sárospatak, Kisalföld and Székelyföld were short lived. Between 1848-1941 some parts of baranta appeared in the military rulebook. During 1928-1941 Hungarian military officials began the research of the (Hungarian) warrior moves which were used in the training of the newly formed special operation branch and paladin training.
„The Hungarian culture is an ongoing battle between tradition and western culture. Peace can only be achieved if the tradition becomes the dominant culture, only scalvaging and dissolving the neccessary European knowledge to do so....” Kodály 1939.
Baranta is, in fact the result of the fight for independent Hungarian body culture.
The reasearch was carried on by Ferenc Vukics at the Kossuth Lajos Military Academy in 1991, the organizational design was also formed around this time.