Get to know some Hungarian Easter traditions
Easter is the most important Christian holiday. During this religious holiday, people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course, many Hungarian customs and traditions are also connected to this. Painted eggs, sprinkling, and all kinds of delicious food are all part of a traditional Hungarian Easter.
Church customs
There are many church customs associated with Easter. On Good Friday, you can see the passion play in churches, showing the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Holy Saturday is the day of the consecration of fire and water. Churches are filled with people all over Hungary on Easter Sunday and Monday. There is a procession after the service.
The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday.
Hungarians remember this with catkins. Easter also ends the 40-day fasting period.
Egg painting
The egg is an ancient symbol of fertility. It became a symbol of rebirth and resurrection in Christianity. It is a popular tradition to decorate eggs in different ways as part of the Easter preparations. In the past, people painted the eggs with different natural dyes. Today, a number of artificial colouring aids help egg painters. Some regions in Hungary had different decoration techniques, writes magyarorszagom.hu.
You can decorate eggs with the help of wax, chisel or even onion peel.
Sprinkling
According to tradition, boys visit the houses where girls live. During the visit, they sprinkle women with water and cologne, accompanied by poems. The basis of the habit is the cleansing and renewing power of water, writes edenkert.hu. In the countryside, people still use well-water, but in cities, cologne is more popular.
In exchange for sprinkling, the boys get red eggs and chocolate from the girls.
Sometimes the sprinkler gets money or food as well. However, sprinkling is becoming an increasingly unpopular tradition.
Easter food in Hungary
The main protagonist of the Hungarian Easter meal is the Easter ham. Pork thigh is a popular dish in Hungary, whether salted or smoked. It is usually accompanied by radish, eggs, spring onions, and horseradish.
The braided yeast bread is a must for Easter.
Try the unique tastes of Hungarian Easter. You can also find vegan and non-vegan recipes on our site.
Source: magyarorszagom.hu, edenkert.hu