Jász people

Reconstructed Jász woman clothes from 13.-14. century Hungary. But who were the Jász people? Jászs were originally Iranian nomadic pastorals, subgroup of Alans (ancestors of Ossetians).

The ancestors of the Jászs arrived to Hungary during the 13th century together with the Cumans and settled down in several waves, they fleed from the mongol invasion. Those admitted were given the rights of the guest peoples, so in return they undertook military service.

A close relationship developed between them and the Cumans. The autonomy of the two peoples developed in the same way from the 14th century Later they lost their language and gradully merged into Hungarians. But their regional identity remained. An unfavorable change in their destiny took place after the expulsion of the Turks in 1702, when the Habsburg Emperor Leopold sold the lands inhabited by the Jász and Cumans to the Teutons. The people living there did not rest on this, and in 1745 they bought back their freedom and old privileges with their own money

The horn is an important symbol of the Jász people. An important part of their identity is the legendary 10th century Hungarian warlord Lehel and his horn.

They even seemed to have found this horn. But it turned out later that it is unlikely to be Lehel's horn because it was made in the 12th century, probably brought by the Jász people to Hungary. Picture of horn of Lehel