After the
school/prayer house was built in 1830, the
community soon felt the need to purchase
bells to call people to church service. For
this purpose 100 Florints was saved and set
aside yearly since 1840. In 1844 Adam
Lackner went to Pest with 500 Florints to
pick up two bells which had been ordered.
The bells came down the Danube and canals on
the middle of a ship to Crvenka and Georg
Reinhardt accompanied them and received 25
Florints for it. At Crvenka the bells were
picked up by a wagon. The inscription read:
"Feketehegyi agost. hitvall. evang.
fiokgyülekezet szerze 1845 esztend. Öntðtte
Staudt Andras Pesten." The larger bell
weighed 174 kg., the smaller bell weighed 85
kg. This drove the cost up over 900
Florints. Meanwhile the treasurer Georg
Ludmann oversaw "the tower" (belfry) in
Kulpin and got the wood for it in Palanka
for 50 Florints. For boards, shingles,
iron, etc. another 75 Florints would be
spent. The carpenter Conrad Spengler put
the belfry together and received 60 Florints
for his work. The first two ropes were
finished by Christian Gutwein.
The first bell
ringers were: Adolf Howe, who received 2
Florints for the year 1845, but the next
year he was already receiving 10 Florints,
30 Kronen. Johann Gebel then followed for
30 Florints and he was church elder at the
same time. In some villages the
schoolmaster was school servant, church
servant, and bell ringer all in one person.
In 1855 Stefan Hortyak was the bell ringer
and after the depreciation and inflation
were measured after the civil unrest, his
wages amounted to 50 Florints. In 1860
Johann Schnauder was the bell ringer.
Friedrich Roß received 24 Florints for his
wages as bell ringer in 1863. His son
Daniel Roß took this office over from him.
He was at the same time school servant and
church servant for 30 years, from 1874 to
1904. He was followed by Filipp Gabel Sr.
and Filipp Gabel Jr. in the office of bell
ringer and they adapted to one wage at the
time. Since 1918 Georg Roß, third member of
his family, has been the loyal bell ringer
and church servant and receives 1000 Dinar
and 6 Mtz. (measures?) of wheat a year for
it. Since the nationalization of the
schools the state has paid the school
servant. So the Evangelicals as well as the
German Reformed congregation were concerned
that their members' interest in the church
lasted.
In 1875 a new belfry
had to be built and it stood in front of the
place of worship on the corner, as it did
previously. They got the wood from Parabuty
for 74 Florints. The carpenter, Jakob
Freund, received 50 Florints for his work.
2,700 nails and 110 pounds of iron were used
on it. A cross was also made for this
belfry. The two bells were hung in it
before a short ceremony in the summer of
1904. As long as the bells were in the
belfry the children learned to use them for
target practice, especially during school
vacation when they did not have to fear the
strict hand of the teachers. Yet so many of
the boys were "malicious" old cousins who
lived next to the church were caught on the
spot with pipes or setbacks effectively
wiped the slate clean. The storm bell
sounded the end of the day. Those days are
gone.
During the
construction of the church a new bell was
purchased from the Seltenhofer factory in
Ödenburg. On this very beautifully worked
bell there was a picture of Luther with both
hands on the the Holy script and pressed
against his heart. Under it was printed Rðm.
1, 16, 17 and the signature "Dr. Martin
Luther." The name of the community, 1904,
Fritz Seltenhofer and Sons, Ödenburg. The
cost per kilogram was 3.40 Kronen. This
same company fixed the iron belfry in the
tower which cost 700 Kronen and built the
yokes around the two old bells.
The weight of the
bells was as follows: the large bell weighed
418 kg. and the yoke with it weighed 105
kg., = 523 kg. The medium sized bell
weighed 174 kg. and the yoke with it weighed
46 kg. = 220 kg. The little bell weighed 85
kg. and the yoke with it weighed 21 kg. =
106 kg.
On the 14th of
August 1904 a ceremony was held to bless the
bells. Rev. Ferd. Hamel performed the
consecration of the bells. He had the
community swear that they would always
diligently follow the call of these bells
and with it they would not bear witness
against the stone of this monumental God's
house. The new large bell was installed in
the tower in the middle between the two old
bells. Soon the large bell rang out with a
magnificent "A note" and then the other two
bells joined in to result in the very
successful harmony of the chords A and D and
F sharp which were generally approved. In
the records it was said: "All community
members liked to be aroused by the beautiful
harmony of the three sounds so they will
always diligently attend God's house and the
harmony at the same time maintains one pure
sound."
Soon after the
ceremony blessing the bells, the tower clock
that was ordered from Baja was also
assembled. The price for it was 1,100
Kronen. Every quarter of an hour the middle
bell was struck, on the hour the large bell
was struck. Concerning this tower clock we
find in the records of the state the
following decision: On page 293/1904 - The
state paid for the repair of the clocks to
the Hungarians as they did to the
Evangelical church. The explanation was
that the Hungarian tower which was built in
the 60's was not purchased by the Reformed
congregation but by the state. Therefore
the Swabians also received the right to
direct this tower clock and contribute to
its repair. However our clock remained
exclusively the property of the Evangelical
community. Unfortunately this fact is so
little known that physical harm spread in
the Evangelical community from it.
Nevertheless, the state estimated the cost
of repairs to the two clocks to be 1-2000
Dinares a year. The state paid for the
repairs to the Evangelical congregation for
the most part and once disputed the cost of
general repairs.
The large bell and
the small bell fell victim to the World
War. On the 28th of August 1916 after a
touching farewell church service the bells
sounded for the last time. The bells rang
for ¾ of an hour and no eyes were without
tears at this wistful parting. Under the
ringing of the remaining bell, Adam and
Georg Bittlingmayer guided the bells onto
the train. At a rate of 4 Kronen per
kilogram, the Army detachment in Budapest
paid 1,996 Kronen for the weight of 499
kilograms. The clappers of both bells
remained here and still exist. Also the
lightning conductor was requisitioned and
replaced with other materials. For eight
long years the single remaining orphaned
bell announced the joys and sorrows of the
community until in 1924 when two new bells
were ordered from the Krupp'schen Bell
Foundry in Berndorf. On the 21st of June
1924 they arrived and on the same day
without any special festivity they reached
their destination. The weight of the large
bell is 420 kg., the small bell is 85 kg.
They have the combined sounds of "A" and "F
sharp". The cost of the new bells was
43,000 Dinar. Countrymen in America donated
10,500 Dinar towards it. On the large bell
is the picture of Luther with the
inscription: "One solid fortress is our
God." The small bell bore the inscription:
"Watch and pray." The new bells did not
work out so well in the long run as the old
bells did. The clapper of the large bell
broke in 1926 as it was sounding for Karl
Morrell's burial. The clapper was replaced
with the one from the old bell.
The large bell rang
at daybreak until 1915 (after which they
refrained from ringing it at day break).
When the large bell rang eleven times the
children streamed out of the school and came
hungry to noon meals which were already
mostly prepared. The "night bell" rang at
dusk, also by the large bell. On Sundays
and holiday church services the large rang
first at 8:30. Then the second bell rang at
9:00 o'clock. Then at 9:30 the bells were
rung together. During the Lord's Prayer the
middle bell rang so it was called the prayer
bell. For guest sermons the bells rang as
they did on Sundays, only usually in the
evening hours instead. Rev. Hamel always
kept prayer hour in the church about 2:00
o'clock on Sundays in the winter and about
7:30 on Mondays and Thursdays in the
Spring. At the present it is on Sunday
afternoons during Sunday School (children's
lesson). For this the large bell rings
about 1:00 o'clock and about 1:30. In the
winter the large bell rings 5:00 o'clock in
the evening every Wednesday for the Bible
hour in the school instead and it is
considered the night bell at the same time.
Baptisms were done
every day in the old days but later they
were held three times a week about 10:30,
then everyone hurried to have their children
baptized in one day because half of them
would not get to experience it until the
next Sunday. The bells rang for it as they
did for the weddings. Today most baptisms
are done on Sundays after church service
instead and the bells are not rung
separately for them. It is a rare exception
for baptisms to take place at 11 o'clock
during the week. The small bell rings to
signal the baptism.
Marriages: In
earlier times weddings were almost
exclusively on Sundays. The small bell rang
first at 11 o'clock and about 11:30 the
bells rang together. Several couples were
also married at once. There was no wedding
without lunch and supper in which the pastor
and the teacher joined in. Since the end of
the war weddings were held on Sunday
afternoons or large weddings occurred on
Thursday afternoons instead. The bells rang
about 2:30 with the large bell first, then
together about 3:00 o'clock. In most recent
times these old customs were introduced
again where no weddings would be performed
during Advent and Passiontide, so that even
announcing an engagement ceased. It is the
one difficult question which many tactfully
required, especially since the mixed
marriages would be unanimously considered as
Evangelical marriages in the Reformed church
without being proclaimed so by the
Evangelical church. It must also be
respected that those living together in sin
would not be supported, as was the case in
the old days.
In the case of
deaths the bells rung out: for men they rang
three times, for the women they rang two
times. If the deceased is a Reformer the
bells in the Reformed church are struck
first. For everyone not yet confirmed the
small bell is rung. The large bell
announced the death of those who were
married or over 20 years old. Many in
recent times mourning bells toll at 8, 12,
and 4 o'clock during which the bells would
always be rung together, but this did not
seem to especially please the Germans since
it is not the German custom. For funerals
the bells rang together for an hour and for
half an hour beforehand the large bell rang
first. During the funeral procession to the
cemetery the bells rang together and
likewise from the cemetery to the church for
the eulogy.
For the Evangelical
congregation members and women of other
beliefs the Evangelical men do not have to
pay anything for the tolling of the bells.
The bells would be rung for foreign deaths
if they were close relatives living here, as
the parents or children wanted it.
It is also extremely
seldom that the Evangelicals did not ring
for the German Reformed who died, for which
they were paid and the reverse was true.
There was good reason for this, since the
Germans, whether they were Evangelicals or
German Reformed, lived among each other and
there were few families who did not have
relatives who were German Reformed. Also
the bells were rung for several Hungarians
but this was not mutual and no one knows
why.
During the World War
the bells were rung free of charge for each
person from Feketitsch who died in the war.
When King Peter the
1st died in 1921 the bells rang from early
in the morning until late in the evening
always for 10 minutes followed by a 5 minute
pause. - On the occasion of the death of
King Alexander the 1st the bells rang for 10
minutes every hour.
In February 1929 an
extraordinarily severe cold weather
prevailed (-28°C). For this reason the
bells were not rung for a week since there
was a danger that ringing the bells could
cause the bells to break.
On occasions when
there was a fire in the village or a storm
the bells would be rung. During school days
the bells were rung at 7:30 AM and at 1:30
in the afternoon with the small bell.
