Use of the “New Christian” (Hutterite, Haban) Vessels in the Reformed Church
The Anabaptists represent the third branch of the Reformation; their first communities
were established on the territory of the Swiss cantons in the 1520s. They functioned
as a free Protestant church. They rejected the baptism of infants. Their teachings
spread rapidly in Southern Germany, Tyrol, Italy, Netherlands and Moravia. It was
here, following the ideas of Jakob Hutter (1528) that Hutterites formed their first
communities of goods, the so-called “Haushaben”, where they lived and worked together.
They reached the western edges of the Kingdom of Hungary in the mid-16th century.
They soon spread to Northen Hungary (now Slovakia), mostly in
Pozsony, Trencsén, and Nyitra counties. In 1621–23 Prince Gábor Bethlen settled large
groups of Hutterites in Alvinc (Vințu de Jos) to foster industries in Transylvania.
György Rákóczi invited them to Sárospatak in Upper Hungary in 1645. Contemporary Hungarian
sources refer to them mainly as New Christians, they are known nowdays also as Habans.
In late 16th century the Hutterites began to produce tin glazed faience alongside
their lead-glazed pottery ware in Moravia. In the 16th-17th century they prepared
their luxury wares principally for high noble families. In the second half of the
17th century the use of the Anabaptist products spread among
wealthier minor nobilities, burghers and town bodies, members of guilds as well. Protestants
and also catholics used their vessels. Motives of sacral iconography (IHS, Arma Christi,
Pelican and others) appeared on their ceramics from the second part
of 17th century. The Hutterite, Haban wares could act as sacral utensils at the Reformed
Church. According to the Debrecen-Egervölgy Synod (1562) the baptist and communion
vessels could be prepared from earthenware. The canonica visitations
between 1665-1806 registered 26 “New Christian” vessels in 22 churches between the
reformed churches of Northern Hungary. According to the written sources and the material
relics in different collections and at the protestant congregations can
identify more than 40 Hutterite, Haban ceramics in sacral use
