10+1 Hungarian customs that everybody else finds weird
Read a list of unique habits and behaviours Hungarians have that sometimes freak out our non-Hungarian friends. Does your family do any of these? What do you find the weirdest?
The French eat snails, Americans buy weapons in grocery stores, and Italians close their shops in the early afternoon. Each nation has certain habits or customs that others find highly unusual or just plain weird. These quirks are the things that make our world colourful and fun, and they should be celebrated more often.
A few habits of Hungarians that might be surprising to others:
- Hungarians have chicken feet in their soup on Sundays, and they actually eat it. (We also probably watched our grandma cut that chicken’s neck earlier in the morning.)
- Mentioning Transylvania at dinner sets off a twenty-minute rant about the Treaty of Trianon, and how half of Europe should “belong to” Hungary.
- We call a 79 km-long lake the Hungarian Sea, even though we can practically swim across it.
- We can open a bottle of wine with only a screw and a pair of pliers.
- We call a triangle-shaped cheese that comes in a circular box a cheese cube.
- We are convinced that a shot of pálinka or a glass of forralt bor [mulled wine] is much better for our cold than taking medicine.
- We argue that Hungarian women are the most beautiful in the world, even though they have never won any Miss World competitions.
- We have already produced palinka of every fruit and vegetable indigenous to your region.
- We make good use of folk traditions. For instance, if the Euro-Forint exchange rate drops on the day of Medárd, then we will not buy because it will probably keep dropping for another 40 days. (The old folk observation goes: if it rains on the day of Medárd (the 8th of June), then it will keep raining for 40 consecutive days.)
- Every fable and bedtime story we have is about little girls getting eaten, pouring boiling water on wolves and then killing them, or piglets getting eaten and poisoned by an albino girl.
10+1. We teach children nursery rhymes about snails whose houses are burning down, mutilated cows, storks with bloody legs, crows with their eyes clawed out, and lambs that simply froze to death back in the gardens.
Source: www.tudasfaja.hu; www.honfoglalas.info; www.magyarliving.com, Daily News Hungary
Are you really Hungarian? Pretty hard to tell. You could dial back the nasty demeaning editorial tone.
Regarding #2, which half of Europe is that supposed to be? Is it perhaps half of France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, or Norway? Have you any idea what you’re writing about? Who are you pandering to?
Leragott csont .
That was a very enjoyable article abut Hungarian food. I am part Hungarian and my mother raised us on Hungarian food. I love it. I didn’t know about the chicken feet in soup though.
After reading this, I feel inspired to cook chicken paprikas today!
Sincerely,
Maria Dreisziger
1.) It is a custom in the countryside, mostly among the elderly (at least by now). Tho my grandpa used to do the same.
2.) It may happen between two beers, in a pub, but it certainly won’t among more educated people.
3.) This is a consequence of 2.). After WW1 ended, the “ex”-colonialist winners, still greedy for rewards, resources, new markets, decided to split Hungary, a 1000+ old reign into several smaller states. I wonder why they didn’t do the VERY SAME, with Austria and Germany ?
4.) We are resourcefull, as any other natio, if we do not have a corkscrew on hand.
5.) Yes, because it is sold in circular box and it is split in 8 parts, like a pizza e.g. “triangle-shaped”.
6.) This is another countryside originated custom. In a land, where people wake up early, when its still dark, the only way to start a hard labour day is by drinking a 50ml 40°+ homemade brandy.
7.) The existing rules of, the definition and the entire apparences of a miss selection falls really far from the natural beauty of the hungarian women.
8.) Brandy can be made from any plant that has an optimal sugar content. If not, you can always add some more sugar.
9.) Somehow and somewhat, yes. Tho each and every country has its own folklore.
10.) Each fable is a direct and/or indirect result of old/ancient happenings, they teach us lessons (for example the turkish, the austrian, the german, the soviet, etc invasion).
11.) This isn’t a new point at all, it is 10.) told by different way/point of view.
sort po ton pe
That is a neoliberal interpretation of the things. For example, not half Europe belonged to the historical Hungary, only the Karpat Mountains.
Other things are actually funny and not for sure weird. Like the children song about the snail whose house is burning. It is actually a warning to it and also a call to come out (so the child can see the snail out of its shell), offering dish.
Palinka is whisky from fruits. Above about 40% of alcohol ingredients, it does not really matter, what is this thing about.