Narodenie dvojičiek, požehnanie či utrpenie? Historicko-demografická analýza krstných matrík vybraných rímskokatolíckych a evanjelických a.v. farností na Slovensku

Abstract

The study deals with births of twins as recorded in church registers of selected rural parishes in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. It represents a certain microprobe into the records of church registers of the baptized population in Slovakia. It describes regional and denomination differences as regards the attitude to this not very common type of birth. The selected parishes include Lúčky, now part of Kremnica (Žiar nad Hronom district), Lukáčovce (Nitra district) and Rabča (Námestovo district) on the Catholic side, and Turičky, at present part of the Cinobaňa village (Poltár district), on the Evangelic side. The study investigates the number of twin births as compared to the total population numbers of the idividual parishes, the seasonal character of twin births and the irregularity of the occurrence of twin births. It examines the ratio of newborn boys and girls in twin and single births. The study is accompanied by examples of the choice of godparents for twins. Attention is further paid to the popularity of the first names chosen for twins in individual families, with respect to families with repeated births of twins. The work also looks into phenomena such as conditions under which twins were born illegitimate, or the death rate of twins before baptism and within three years of their lives. The study is a contribution to the reasearch of specific features of family life in the 18th and 19th centuries in Slovakia.