The market The farmers, living in towns, villages and mainly in farms obtained their necessities at the market that they could not produce themselves. Markets lived their golden ages in the 1880-90s when beside of the development of small and home manufacture the capital growth also made its effects felt. Markets, that were the most important places of purchase, kept their importance much longer. Building railways had favourable influence on social, cultural, economical life and especially the development of exchange of goods. Békéscsaba got in touch with merchant and market towns like Arad, Temesvár, Hódmezõvásárhely Szeged, Szabadka, Szolnok and Budapest. It connected the Plains and the outlying area of Transylvania. Becoming a railway junction resulted that market towns, like Békés and Gyula were pushed in the background. The importance of towns and markets revealed in the structures of the settlements, too. Hereby, being in the centre of the settlement the roads leading to the town also connected here. Beside of everyday markets there were weekly fairs as well on certain days of the week (it could be different by settlements) and because of their size they were more important, too. Markets and fairs that involved several days were ruled by decrees and price orders of the places that controlled the positions of the sellers and transporters and the sum they had to pay after the goods for sale. The colourfulness and the great variety of goods attracted people from other villages as well. Often they left for the market early in the morning on foot or by horse even by boat before the controls of the rivers to arrive at one of the best-known markets or fairs in time. The most popular ones were in Csaba, Békés, Gyula, Berény, Szarvas and Túr. They could meet relatives and old friends they had not seen for a long time, could change news and learn each other’s language and culture. In the colourful bustle local Slovakians, inhabitants of other villages and people belonging to other ethnics attended. So it was common to hear Romanian or German, and occasionally Serbian who travelled to the village. The typically nomad Gipsies almost always were at every market and fair. In the middle of the last century linguistic assimilation speeded up because of migration and changes in the composition of population in which Hungarian communication, that necessarily took shape, had great deal.
	Extract from the permanent ethnographical exhibition, called Identity, Difference, Diversity: Market
	Extract from the permanent ethnographical exhibition, called Identity, Difference, Diversity: Market
	Extract from the permanent ethnographical exhibition, called Identity, Difference, Diversity: Market
	Extract from the permanent ethnographical exhibition, called Identity, Difference, Diversity: Market
	Extract from the permanent ethnographical exhibition, called Identity, Difference, Diversity: Market