Seasonality of Marriages in Hungary from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century

Abstract

In traditional Hungarian society the customary time for marriages and weddings was the late fall and the end of winter, according to earlier literature. But this picture does not correspond to the results of local studies in historical demography and does not fit the patterns identified through the analysis of official statistical data on marriage seasonality. There were at least half a dozen such regional patterns in traditional Hungarian society and these were defined much more strongly by religious denominations than by a connection to agriculture. The formation of regional seasonality patterns was also influenced by the level of urbanization and literacy, by the strength of traditional mentality, and of course by social and occupational stratification.