How Hungarians celebrated Easter back in the day

Did you know that “you could even smell the violets of Gellért Mountain in the city” 120 years ago? And that “the bells of Pest and Buda sounded differently in springtime”? Index.hu cites the thoughts of Gyula Krúdy, a famous Hungarian writer, who – among others – wrote about the springs and Easters at the turn of the century. Let’s recall how Hungarians celebrated Easter back in the day 🙂

As the saying goes, so many countries, so many customs. This is also true for different regions, eras, but traditions even differ by families. Especially in the case of Easter. We have previously shared articles about Easter traditions in Hungary, and also the important role superstitions play in the festivities. But for now, we want to take you on a little journey in time with quotes from Gyula Krúdy and newspapers that illustrate how Hungarians used to celebrate Easter.

“For a few weeks, the shop-windows of confectioneries have been showing that this is the joyful celebration of red eggs, but the red eggs of Budapest are only reminiscent of the real, countryside eggs, in their shape. No lady boiled them and painted them red, they are not even decorated with strange shapes, and they have nothing to do with hens. They were made in the factory, from sugar, silk paper and painted wood. Some of them have small windows, with hens, and their chicks inside, while others can be opened, and a baby or a bunny smiles at you from the inside. A cavalier flatters his female acquaintances with decorated eggs, parents buy less decorated ones for their children, but the joy it gives them is probably the greatest and the most sincere.” (Vasárnapi Ujság, 1903)

The Grand Boulevard used to be the heaven of these “panorama eggs”. A row of confectioneries sold sugar eggs and their rival: sugar sheep. A good egg was also able to reflect world politics. For instance, in 1939, not long before the outbreak of WWII, a tiny warship and a bomb-dropper was hidden inside the eggs.

Postcard from 1950 (Zempléni Múzeum)

“The habit of sprinkling women is not as widespread in Pest as it is in the countryside, but the trade of pharmacies always increases before Heaving Monday, because the cavaliers and fops of Pest went to fill up their small bottles with cologne rose water.”

There was a more playsome way of sprinkling, with which young ladies came up: they made the gentlemen smell an object that looked like a bouquet, but it was actually a spray, which poured water all over their face. It might be incredible, but some factories already produced creations like this in the 1870s.

“Do you, dear reader, remember the trend in Pest, when everyone put on new clothes for Easter? Even though the city wasn’t receptive to superstitions and people only stuck to traditions that were pleasant, enjoyable and affordable to them, like Easter ham and sprinkling, no one gave up new clothes for the feast. Anyone who wanted to look like a decent person bought new clothes for Easter.” (Gyula Krúdy: The last chime)