The leadership of Mohács decided that in February 2022, there will once again be a bus tour. In order to organise a series of programs, it is also necessary to curb the pandemic situation. After all, this year, there was no busójárás because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Busójárás will return next year!
The website of the city of Mohács reported that Mohács will hold busójárás between February 24 and March 1, 2022. Mayor Gábor Pávkovics believes that “the epidemic situation will be significantly curbed. And the vast majority of people will get adequate protection for their own and others’ health by getting vaccinated.”
Mohács holds the folk festivities in more than 30 locations with 80 programs.
Due to the great interest, the organisers aim to create an event in as large an area as possible. In addition, they plan to break with an old tradition. The usual parade is planned to be divided at a point in the city centre, and the procession would continue on three different routes. This can reduce congestion and thus help protect against the coronavirus.
The tradition of busójárás
The first mention of busójárás came from a note in 1783. Our ancestors fled the Turkish occupation to Mohács Island. Hungarians scared the superstitious Turks in scary clothes. As a result, the Turks fled.
UNESCO added busójárás to the World Heritage List in 2009.
The traditional elements of busójárás have been unchanged for a long time, writes turizmus.com. Permanent props are shabby bushels, carved masks, equipped with characteristic props, claps, bums. They want to say goodbye to the winter season and welcome spring. Tradition is tied to the ‘sokac’ people. Since 2019, there has been a country house in Mohács that presents the traditions, everyday life and folk art of the ‘sokac’ people.
The original ‘sokac’ folk customs of the Balkans were formed in the Hungarian cultural circle until they reached their present form. The traditional clothing of a busó includes boots, a white linen cloth, a sheepskin jacket, and a colomp. A crutch hangs over their shoulder. They usually make their carved masks by themselves and paint with animal blood, writes mohacsibusojaras.hu.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has greeted the Hungarian Jewish community on the occasion of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, his press chief said on Sunday.
“This time around as we witness short days and long nights we increasingly long for the light, traditional delicacies and merry days spent in a family circle,” Bertalan Havasi quoted Orbán as saying in a letter addressed to the community.
László Palkovics Minister of Innovation and Technology held speech at the opening ceremony of a digital exhibition at the House of Jewish Excellence in Balatonfüred
Photo: MTI/Vasvári Tamás
László Palkovics Minister of Innovation and Technology held speech at the opening ceremony of a digital exhibition at the House of Jewish Excellence in Balatonfüred
Photo: MTI/Vasvári Tamás
“This year, as the holiday approaches among waves of a pandemic and migration, the light of the Hanukkah candles promoting hope and the reality of miracles shine ever more beautifully,” he added, greeting every member of the Hungarian Jewish community.
TheHungarian cottage cheese dumpling (túrógombóc) is among those traditional specialties that we highly recommend you to try, either at one of the local restaurants or at home. Although it is a rather easy-to-make dessert, it is quite difficult to find the perfect recipe and master the secrets of the perfect cottage cheese dumplings. A few weeks ago, Michelin Guide’s Instagram page posted a recipe variant for thisdelicious dessert.
The original idea of the cottage cheese dumplings came to Hungary with Austrian influence. According to the early cookbooks, this dish started to become more popular in the second half of the 19th century. As far as the recipe and the preparation are concerned, there have been certain changes throughout the past few centuries.
Dumpling history
The oldest Hungarian recipe was found in 1864 by Sándor Csíki, titled Tasks of a Hungarian Housewife in Public Life, House and Kitchen, Handbook and Guide for Women, writes Telex. According to this recipe,
the dumplings are salty, buttery, thickened with breadcrumbs, and are sprinkled with cheese.
This recipe is more reminiscent of the Italian ricotta gnocchi.
Aunt Rézi’s recipes are probably the first ones that resemble the most to the current version. These two cottage cheese dumpling recipes were published in her 1876 Szeged cookbook, although one of them cannot be prepared because it does not specify the amount of cottage cheese needed for the dish. The other recipe calls for a lot of flour, breadcrumbs, and eggs, so cottage cheese is not really a dominant ingredient in this version.
Ágnes Zilahy’s recipe was published 16 years later. These dumplings still had a thick hard consistency compared to the current versions. According to this recipe, water needs to be added to the cottage cheese along with eggs and flour. Also, none of the above-mentioned recipes contain sugar.
In the 1920s, Ferencné Móra was the first to loosen the dumplings’ consistency by using less dry ingredients and whipping the egg white into a foam. Later, as its texture became even softer, it became increasingly difficult to perfectly prepare cottage cheese dumplings.
The proportions of the current recipes are usually the following:
half a kilo of cottage cheese, 3−5 eggs, 70−250 grams of semolina/breadcrumbs/flour, butter (there are recipes that do not require butter). One important step of the preparation is to leave the mixture to rest in the fridge for 1−2 hours after mixing the ingredients.
Here is a video to show you how to prepare this classic Hungarian dessert:
The Michelin version
Unfortunately, the recipe that was posted on the Michelin Guide’s Instagram page has been optimised and simplified during the English translation process, thus it lacks certain steps and tricks. First, this recipe calls for 300 grams of sugar. However, it is not clear how much of it you should add to the dough and into the cooking water. It also has to be noted that the dumplings are usually cooked in lightly salted water and only a spoonful of sugar is put in the dough, or none at all.
Nonetheless, Endre Kollár, the chef of St. Andrea Restaurant, says that it’s not a problem if the recipe is not totally accurate.
The aim is rather to give more insight into how to prepare this Hungarian dessert instead of focusing on following the perfect recipe.
If you are interested in this version, click on the Instagram post below:
In Hungary, several beliefs, folk feasts, and customs are connected to sweet chestnuts. It is present not only in our culture but also in gastronomy; for example, sweet chestnut puree (“gesztenyepüré”) is one of the most beloved Hungarian autumn desserts.
According to Márton Takács and Ákos Malatinszky, the word “gesztenye” [gɛstɛɲɛ] probably came to the Hungarian language through Slavic mediation, around 1200. Interestingly, this word refers to both the tree itself and the sweet chestnut fruit.
History
The sweet chestnut is native to central-southern Europe (the northern Iberian Peninsula, the South of France, central-northern Italy, and the southern Balkan Peninsula). The Romans planted chestnut trees across Europe to harvest their edible fruits. They usually roasted the chestnut or ground it into flour. According to the belief, Roman soldiers ate porridge made from sweet chestnuts before going to battle.
In Hungary, the cultivation of this species has quite a long history, going back to the 13th century. This is indicated by the fact that
different variations of the word “gesztenye” appear in the name of numerous Hungarian settlements, such as Geszt, Gesztely, Geszteréd, Gesztes, Kesztölc, and Keszthely.
Folk customs and beliefs
According to legends, sweet chestnut became more popular in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 15th century, after Queen Beatrix, the wife of King Matthias, brought sweet chestnut recipes with her from Italy. The favourite dish of the king was capon stuffed with chestnuts. Sweet chestnut was considered a noble fruit in Transylvania, and the city council often gifted chestnuts to the lords and noblemen.
According to the ethnographic records, chestnuts were traditionally roasted in Hungarian villages on All Saints’ Day and gifted to the men who tolled the bells in memory of the dead.
In order to revive the forgotten folk customs, more and more Hungarian settlements started to organise chestnut festivals. The two most famous chestnut festivals are held in Iharosberény and Velem.
Photo: video still from Gesztenyepüré I Édesség, desszert receptek I Blondi konyhája
“Gesztenyepüré” [gɛstɛɲɛpyreː] is a beloved Hungarian dessert. You can buy pre-made chestnut puree in most supermarkets in Hungary all year round. However, it is a typical autumn dessert since chestnuts are typically harvested mid-September through November, and as with most dishes, homemade is the best.
This nourishing dessert presumably has an Italian origin and was inspired by the iconic Montebianco.
Ingredients
1 kg sweet chestnut
400 ml water
300 ml milk
1 vanilla bean
50 g sugar
100 ml water
50 g melted butter
150 ml whipping cream
50 ml rum
whipped cream (for serving)
Wash the chestnuts and make an X-shaped cut on the round side of each chestnut. Do not cut too deep into the flesh of the chestnuts. Put the chestnuts on a baking tray lined with aluminium foil and pour water into the tray.
Preheat the oven to 120 °C and roast for 40−45 minutes until the shells open up and curl back.
Pull and snap off the dark shells of the chestnuts while they are still warm, making sure to also take off the skin between the shell and the inside.
Pour the milk into a large saucepan, add the chestnuts, the vanilla seeds, and the pod. Cook them on low heat for approximately 45 minutes until chestnuts get completely soft.
Dissolve the sugar in 100 ml water over low heat.
Drain the chestnuts and put them into a food processor. Add the sugar syrup, the whipping cream, the melted butter, and the rum and mix until well combined.
Transfer the paste into a clean bowl and put it into the fridge for at least 6 hours.
Use a potato ricer or a grater with large holes to make chestnut puree strands.
Serve with whipped cream.
You can also use sweet chestnut as bejgli filling to add a twist to the traditional Hungarian pastry.
The history of Hungary is quite long and eventful, just as Hungarian cuisine is rich and tasty. We have many unique foods and traditions concerning gastronomy. How well do you know these traditions and Hungarian dishes? Test you knowledge in the following quiz.
If you want to know more about Hungarian cuisine, we have many articles you can read about our gastronomy and if you are looking to try out some of the foods, feel free to scroll through our collection of recipes.
In Hungarian folk medicine, there was a prevailing belief that a few drops of homemade pálinka can cure everything but death. There were only two possible outcomes anyway, either the patient recovered or the village drank the remaining pálinka at his funeral. The iconic Hungarian fruit spirit had been widely used for all sorts of ailments and nuisances. These traditional health practices still live among locals as part of Hungarian culture. We have rounded up the best natural remedies that give relief to anything from toothache to baby tantrums. Just don’t go overboard if you decide to try them at home!
Natural Cure for Sore Throat
Do you feel itchiness and irritation in your throat? Forget throat pastilles that come with limited flavors!
Flush that pain down the drain by irrigating with 60% pure traditional fruit brandy!
Alcohol has been known for centuries for its antibacterial properties; therefore, gargling with pálinka can be a legit home remedy even today.
In order to get maximum results, you have to keep a gulp of brandy in your mouth for at least one minute and then spit it out. Oh, wait! It would be a shame to let that precious nectar go to waste! Pálinka also acts as an excellent painkiller if you consume it internally!
Best Practises for Common Cold
As the Brits have their rum-flavored tea, Hungarians add pálinka to their cuppa, especially if they are coming down with a cold. You get the best of two worlds: the soothing warm sensation of the tea as well as the antibacterial effect of the strong spirit. The merry combination of these two drinks would warm up anyone on cold winter days. You can also inhale the hot steam lingering over the cup. Your stuffy nose will thank you.
Even if this cold-fighting recipe only provides temporary relief, it’s still better tasting than most popular cough medicine. Plus, it’s guaranteed to put you in a better spirit, unlike those nasty syrups.
Easing an Upset Stomach
Whenever you get invited to someone’s home, you barely cross the threshold and you already find a shot of pálinka in your hand given by the host. It was no different in the old times either.
Pálinka was said to prepare your stomach for a meal as well as to kickstart your digestion after eating.
Herb women commonly made tinctures to treat tummy issues by distilling a portion of camomile extract with five units of palinka. The mixture had to sit for 8 days before use. Once ready, 20 drops of the tincture had to be added into a glass of lukewarm water. The patient was advised to go under the duvet and slowly sip the mixture. Then came the turning exercise. The person had to rest for five minutes lying on his face down, each side, and back in order to allow the tincture to reach every angle of the gastrointestinal wall.
Warning: We haven’t found any chronicles that reported on the survivors of this unorthodox healing technique..
How to Calm a Crying Baby
Ok, we agree that it might come as a bit of a shock but adding pálinka to home remedies used to be perfectly acceptable even in the case of children. If you want to take a walk on the wild side, just come to Eastern Europe!
Hungarian mothers would soak a piece of bread in pálinka or mix it with milk to soothe their crying babies. Of course, they didn’t go to extremes as they already knew back then that alcohol is not good for the child’s development.
Nevertheless, this practice worked as a miracle formula for young parents who were finally able to get some much-needed shuteye.
Home Remedies for Toothache
If you have ever dealt with an aching tooth, you have one concern – getting relief fast! Hungarian grandmothers in the countryside would often suggest rubbing some pálinka onto the hurting area. It’s actually the favorite remedy among hardened elderly relatives.
Another tip is to swill a small amount of pálinka around the affected tooth. We warn you though that this practice is not for the faint-hearted.
Alcohol doesn’t only disinfect but also numbs the pain so it can be an effective method to get rid of toothache overnight.
In case the pain returns the next day you already know what to do. Just repeat the treatment until you forget all your worries!
Harvesting has a great tradition in Hungary as, in addition to hard work, it was celebrated with delicious snacks, beautiful wines, parades, music, and joyful get-togethers. Here are the most important customs and traditions related to this period, many of which are still held today.
In the 16th-17th centuries, the harvest was a true holiday, for which even the knights who fought in a foreign land returned home. It was an unmissable event, an important part of social life and, last but not least, an important place for getting to know each other. During that period, legislation was suspended. According to Vylyan, the custom of balls emerged only in the 18th-19th centuries, within the framework of which the harvest work was closed with dinner and a dance. In addition to dancing, wine drinking could not be missed either. This often resulted in small fights without which no real harvest fun could pass, reported Borászportál. Harvest balls had a special social significance. In some cities, it was thought that if someone did not go to the harvest ball, they would stay unmarried forever.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Traditionally, harvesting started with noise, rioting or pistol shots, after which the work began. The girls and women picked the grapes in a bucket or basket and the men collected the grapes in their grape gathering baskets called “puttony” in Hungarian, which were made of wood at the time. The grains were usually crushed by bare feet, most commonly by a young lady, before being pressed, after which the actual winemaking began. The countryside was loud with cheerful songs and jokes during the work.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
At the end of the day, the harvesters wore a vintage wreath on their shoulders, which was a wreath of bunches of grapes decorated with wheat and ribbons. It used to be gathered at the landlord’s gate to praise the crop, and the landlord held a dance party in the evening. In connection with the harvest ball, the day ended with a parade which is still celebrated in many places.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The characters of the olden days – the judge, the maids and the dancers – are revoked by people dressing up today. An essential player is the wine king, who is responsible for the evening entertainment. A man in a red dress, called a baksus figure, planted on a barrel, cannot be left out of the fun either. Its origin can probably be traced back to Bacchus, the wine god of the Romans. In addition, other important characters are thieves and pipe enthusiasts who entertain the audience while at the same time showcasing their characteristic role from the harvest.
The vintage dish is made from mutton or beef. After the broth was served, beef stew or mutton stew was cooked in a cauldron. In addition to these, the traditional food of weddings, the Székely cabbage, could not be missing from the evening entertainment either, which was closed with special doughnuts for dessert. Along with the food, pálinka and wine were consumed during the party until dawn.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Rostásy Szabó Mihály/
Harvesting has such a great tradition in Hungary that even the Hymn refers to it, saying thanks and gratitude for the abundant blessing of wine and grapes (“…In the vines of Tokaj, you dropped nectar…”). Harvesting habits change from century to century, but one thing is constant: the harvest is one of the most beautiful and important periods in the life of a winery.
The Nemzeti Vágta, or the National Gallop is the grandest of festivals on the grandest of scales. Organized for the 14th time since its inception in 2008, the National Gallop pay homage to the Hungary’s ancestry and tradition of horse riding.
Every year, the Heroes’ Square in Budapest is “transformed into a racetrack with 6,200 square meters’ worth of special equine-friendly sand. Grandstands in front of the two museums that flank the square, the biggest screens you’ve ever seen broadcasting the action, flags flying” the websitesays.
Last year, the pandemic struck, but the National Gallop was still held, although behind closed doors. This year, however, the National Gallop was held normally with great attendance between the 2nd and the 3rd of October.
14th National Gallop in Hungary
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
14th National Gallop in Hungary
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
14th National Gallop in Hungary
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
The event hosted several races such as chariot races, show jumping, young hussar category and there was even a celebrity run, but the main focus was the thoroughbred type race. Through twelve preliminary rounds and five rounds of elimination, the winner was the Hungarian city of Szabadka, represented by Nikolett Szabó on the 9-year-old Gidrán (Hungarian Anglo-Arab) mare called Pipacs (Poppy).
14th National Gallop in Hungary
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
Winner of the 14th National Gallop, Nikolett Szabó
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
The winner receives a the National Gallop’s wandering award, an 1848 hussar sabre and a monetary prize of five million forints (€ 14,285).
There was also an international race, where countries, such as the UK, Romania, Turkey, Austria, the Czech Republic, India, Mongolia, Italy, Croatia and others competed for who has the best horse and rider.
14th National Gallop in Hungary
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
Winner of the 14th National Gallop’s ‘young hussar’ competition, Fanni Hajdu
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
After only two rounds of semifinals, only six countries remained. Unfortunately, the hosting country, Hungary was not among them. The winner was the Czech Republic represented by Lukáš Vladyka. India places second and Austria finished third.
Winner of the 14th National Gallop’s international race, the Czech Lukáš Vladyka
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
14th National Gallop in Hungary
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
Winner of the 14th National Gallop’s international race, the Czech Lukáš Vladyka
Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
Since you seemed to like our previous article about Hungarian autumn desserts, we have created another one for you in which you can try out meaty Hungarian delicacies of the autumn season.
Hunting has a long tradition in Hungary, and so does game meat in Hungarian gastronomy. Even though nowadays, you can get game meat every day of the year, the hunting season for many games starts during the autumn. According to the National Hungarian Hunting Chamber, the hunting season for fallow and red deer starts in September and October, so if you would like to get the freshest ingredient, this is the perfect time.
Hungarian red wine venison stew
Only for illustration Photo: GLOBS Magazine
Ingredients
2 kg venison leg (round) or venison goulash (leg, neck, shoulder) meat cubed
2 onions
1 whole paprika
2 tomatoes
1 whole garlic
2 bay leaves
3-5 juniper berries
2 tablespoons of condensed tomatoes
3 litres of good-quality red wine
1 tablespoon of game spice mix or spices of your liking
1 tablespoon paprika powder (sweet)
2 tablespoons of lard
salt and pepper to taste
freshly cut parsley for decoration
Instructions
Cut the onions into small cubes and sear them in the lard until they turn translucent. Cube the tomatoes and the paprika and add them in. Once everything in the base has steamed until soft, add in the condensed tomatoes, the paprika powder, and the venison.
When the meat released its juices, add in the remaining spices, cut the garlic in half, and add it in, as well as the 0.3 litres of quality wine. Cover and cook for 2-3 hours. Add salt and pepper and decorate with a little parsley before serving. You can eat it with pasta, traditional Hungarian nokedli (dumpling) or with fresh bread. (Find the original recipe HERE.)
Another animal that has its hunting season during the autumn in Hungary is the pheasant. It can be cooked on its own or used for a rich Hungarian húsleves (chicken soup). Today, we will give you the recipe for roasted pheasant.
Roasted whole pheasant
Illustration only Photo: Unsplash / Amanda Lim
Ingredients
1 whole pheasant
15 kg bacon
150 millilitres of white wine
3 tablespoons of cream
50 grammes of butter
150 millilitres of broth
Carrots and onions to taste
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Rub the pheasant’s skin and inside with salt, pepper, and marjoram. If you have fresh marjoram, put it into the cavity. Cut small holes into the breasts and leg and put small pieces of bacon in there. Fold the wings under the back.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and use a heat-resistant cooking pot. Put the remaining bacon and the cut carrots and onions in the pot and lay the pheasant over it. Melt the butter and pour it onto the pheasant and pour some of the broth and white wine into the pot, under the pheasant, then put the whole pot into the oven.
You need to pay attention as it cooks and add more broth and wine if it cooks away. Baste the pheasant with its own juices, and approximately 10 minutes before finishing (it takes about 50-60 minutes to cook), take out the bacon pieces in the breast and legs to let the skin crisp.
Take out the pheasant and the vegetables and pour the juices into a pot or pan. Add some broth to it and boil it. Use a strainer to get the larger pieces out, then add some cream or butter and boil it again. When serving, pour some of this sauce on the pheasant. (Find the original recipe HERE.)
One of the major holidays during Autumn in Hungary is Saint Martin’s day. On 11 November, we celebrate Saint Martin, which you can read more about HERE, but that is not all. In most restaurants around Hungary, they serve special goose dishes. And one of the most popular dishes is roasted goose leg on steamed cabbage. If you cannot visit Hungary for the holiday, we have you covered, you can try the following recipe out in your home:
Roasted goose leg with steamed cabbage
Photo: facebook.com/martonnap/
Ingredients
4 goose legs
1 kg red cabbage
1 red onion
2 apples
100 millilitres of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
100 grams of golden raisins
50 grams of butter
a pinch of ground caraway
salt and pepper
Instructions
Shred the cabbage thinly, slice the red onion, and grate the apples. Melt the butter in a large pot and add in the shredded cabbage, the onion, and the grated apples. Braise for 4-5 minutes, then add in the sugar, the balsamic vinegar and the golden raisins. Add salt and pepper, season with caraway, and simmer until soft.
Salt the goose legs generously, and let them sit with the salt for 30 minutes. Then, place them in a cooking pot, cover it with aluminium foil, and bake for an hour at 220°C. Take off the foil and crisp the skin. Serve with the cabbage. (Find the original recipe HERE.)
When the topic of the Hungarian language comes up, perhaps the most common impression one hears is that it sounds really difficult. Obviously, we think of it differently as native speakers, but from time to time, it is useful to recall how unique the language we speak is.
We have repeatedly reported on how various sources consider the Hungarian language complex and extraordinary. For instance, according to English (American) native speakers, Hungarian is a foreign language of almost nuclear difficulty. As FSI reports, one must study Hungarian for one year, putting everything else aside in order to acquire the language.
A few years ago, language teachers were asked about the difficulties that, for example, English, German and French students have with the Hungarian language. What are the most significant challenges? In what terms is Hungarian different?
Every language is beautiful and unique, although some are more complicated than others for foreigners to learn, even on a basic level. Hungarian is definitely one of them. The following video is here to prove it:
During the long weekend of 20th August, a wide range of St. Stephen’s Day events will take place in the Hungarian capital, including traditional festive programs, historical performances, exhibitions, classical and popular music concerts, festivals, parades, sporting events, art programs and gastronomic experiences, as well as the spectacular evening fireworks on 20th August. See the detailed program guide below!
19th August
The series of events will start on 19th August at 4 pm with the Street Music Festival and Foodtruck Show in Liberty Square that will also give place to the Veszprém Street Music Festival; within the framework of which, musicians from 14 countries will give 151 concerts in 12 locations during the long weekend. On that day, we should not miss Elizabeth Square either, where visitors can attend concerts of Hungarian musicians, formations and DJs at the Szabadrét Festival.
20th August
On 20th August, classical music lovers should visit the Garden of Philosophers on Gellért Hill, where the audience can enjoy classical music concerts in a pleasant picnic atmosphere with an impressive panorama of the Buda Castle, the Parliament and St. Stephen’s Basilica. Among the programs in Buda, the audience can enjoy the performance of a wide range of popular Hungarian bands. In addition, people can also attend a wide range of theatre performances at the Operetta Promenade, in front of Pesti Vigadó, during the long weekend. Besides, the Road Movie Live concert series will also be held this weekend on the quay of the Budapest University of Technology, where performances of popular Hungarian singers and bands can be enjoyed.
Hungarian news portal Helló Magyar reports that, as traditionally, every year, a parade will be organised on Andrássy Avenue. Here, besides the outstanding figures, inventors, artists and venues of Hungarian history, the emblematic figures and symbols of the Christian and Catholic religions will come to life in several spectacular installations.
“This year, the audience can see manoeuvres over the Danube that people in Hungary have not yet been able to see with a Hungarian aircraft”.
Photo: MTI/Máthé Zoltán
The approx. 45-mins long spectacular air parade will take place on the section of the Danube in front of the Parliament, where the audience can see the young officers taking the oath and admire what the pilots are capable of with the old and new equipment of the Hungarian Army.
In the evening, the day’s main attraction can be viewed; a more spectacular and larger light and fireworks display than ever before, including 40,000 rockets. The firework stations will be set up on the Danube line for 4.3 kilometres.
So one of the biggest fireworks in Europe will take place in Budapest on 20th August.
Gastronomy lovers should visit the Hungarian Flavors Street in the area in front of the Castle Garden Bazaar, where visitors can taste the country’s cake and sugar-free cake and the St. Stephen’s Day breads. Vörösmarty Square is also worth a visit because it hosts the Csárda Festival this year, awaiting its visitors with a wide range of gastronomic offers and a traditional festival on the stage.
In the Alkotmány Street you can see the exhibition entitled The Promenade of Cities, which presents the cultural richness and diversity of the country. Nearby in Kossuth Square, people can visit the exhibition of the reconstructed Golden Train, the relic wagon, the original of which was made in 1938.
Photo: MTI/Máthé Zoltán
The Olympic Games will not be left out of the program series either. At the event entitled SportHeroes at March 15 Square, the great athletes and Olympians of the nation introduce themselves. The program also includes sports games, as well as an exhibition of sports history from photographs and relics of the nation’s Olympians.
Within the framework of the program of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency to be held in Budapest Whale shopping centre, Hungarian designers and craftsmen will be presented. The exhibition includes contemporary Hungarian fashion and design products, and visitors can also participate in workshops, lectures and roundtable discussions.
Families with children should visit the Children’s Park between Vilmos Vázsony promenade and Vajdahunyad promenade, where, among others, the fairytale figures of István Csukás and knightly games will be shown to the minor ones.
Detailed information about St. Stephen’s Day programs is available on the szentistvannap2021.hu website and through the St. Stephen’s Day 2021 mobile application.
Hungarian clean rooms and marriage customs are unknown to foreigners, but do not worry, we gathered all the information you need! By the end of the article, you will also be able to distinguish different nationalities.
A few generations before ours, young women in their twenties were afraid that they would never get married. Especially in the era of wars, unmarried women had serious concerns that they would never find a healthy man to be their partner. But make no mistake, old customs came to their help.
If an unmarried young man went to church in another village, one of the locals had to invite him for lunch.
This is how some young couples met and eventually got married. Another interesting thing to know is that in some villages the wedding dress of the bride was green.
What might surprise you even more, is that engagement rings were not too important decades or centuries ago. When a relationship became serious, the young couple and their families discussed marriage, and the engagement was nothing like it is nowadays.
The young man gave a practical gift to the bride-to-be, and accepting the gift meant that she accepted the proposal. In order to reassure the future husband, she had to give a gift as well. This is where the word jegykendő (engagement kerchief) comes from. The bride-to-be gave a kerchief to her fiancee with his name or monogram embroidered in it.
Gifts could also include clothing items, but what distinguished “love gifts” from everyday items were two pieces of information engraved in them: from whom to whom the item was gifted, and the year the gift was given.
But probably the most exciting aspect of the old ages is the room called clean room. This got its name because it was never used and was always unheated, thus remaining clean from grime. The purpose of the room was to store and show the dowry.
parkvendeghaz.ro
The more items could be found in the room, the more wealthy the family was. All of the plates, jugs, tablecloths, pieces of furniture and pillows were put on display for the guests to see. Parents tried to make the pile of pillows on the bed as high as possible because this was another indicator of how wealthy the family might be.
After the family’s daughter got engaged, the bed with the pillows was carried on the village’s streets on a horse-drawn carriage to show what she would bring to her new household. If a family was not wealthy, they could use tricks to make the bed look higher. They put a piece of wood that looked like a shelf into the bed, creating an empty space that was covered by a cloth. If they were lucky, nobody looked under it. The dowry was sometimes left out in the barn with all the doors open so that every local could see it. The showcase lasted for about two weeks.
parkvendeghaz.ro
The clean room was not only stunning to look at, but it also carried information. The colours used and the embroidered decorations on the pillows showed the region and the nationality of their owners. In Transylvania, for example, blue and red were used by Hungarians, yellow was a colour that Romanians preferred, and black was used by Saxons, people of German ethnicity. When somebody died, the clean room was ”dressed in grief”.
To distinguish different nationalities in Transylvania, one can take a closer look at the items. Saxon people always wrote numbers on the items to show the year they were made. They were extremely precise. If a cloth was made in a different year than the lace on it, they sew different numbers on both the cloth and the lace edge.
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The embroidered motifs coded information, too. In Transylvania, the width of the embroidered decorations on pillowcases indicated the region. Some regions were known for narrower patterns; others had wider decorations. The motifs were indicators of nationality, as Hungarians used flower motifs, but Romanians liked geometric decorations.
In many households, other rooms than the clean room carried information as well. In Saxon houses, for instance, if the chairs at the table were slightly turned away from the table, it meant that guests were welcome. But if the chairs were facing each other, it meant that the married couple had an argument and guests are unwelcome.
This developed into a trick. If someone was coming to visit, the couple quickly looked outside the window, and if the person approaching was unwelcome or had a tendency to visit too often for too long, the position of the chairs was quickly changed.
A Hungarian Egri Bikavér was chosen as one of the world’s top 50 wines.
Hungary is quite good at producing delicious quality drinks. Just think about pálinka or unicum. These two hungaricums are acknowledged and loved by many.
If you belong to the solid base of our regular readers, you also know about the best Hungarian wines the country adores, which are also quite famous in the world. Yesterday, one of these refreshing drinks was chosen as one of the best.
The Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), the world’s largest wine competition is organised every year. In 2021, it saw its biggest year to date, with 18,094 wines tasted from 56 countries. “Over 15 consecutive days in June, almost 170 expert wine judges… awarded over 14,000 medals”, as we can read on their official website.
The results were announced yesterday, making Wednesday a proud day for Hungarian wines, as
a bottle of 2017 Egri Bikavér won the title “Best in Show”,
making it one of the 50 best wines of the world.
Moreover,
all 92 competing Hungarian wines received a medal,
which is an astonishing accomplishment.
Index.hu talked to Zsuzsa Toronyi, wine expert and manager of Wines of Hungary UK, who was also part of the jury.
She says that every jury member had to taste almost 100 wines every single day during the two weeks. Wines are aggrouped based on their place of origin and the type of the grapes. Everyone gives his points individually, which are then summarized by the panel chair of every panel, made up of 4 experts.
Those wines that received a Gold medal were tasted once again on the last day of the competition by all panel chairs. That is when they decided whether the wine was good enough to receive a Platinum medal or to be included in the Best in Show elite list.
“We had a Best in Show title. It means that the jury of Decanter chooses the 50 best wines in the world every year. This year,
theSt.Andrea Nagy-Eged Grand Superior 2017“bikavér” of Eger is one of them.
This is a huge accomplishment!”, says Zsuzsa.
Apart from this absolute winner bottle, 4 further Hungarian wines received the Platinum medal:
The points might not say much to us, amateur wine lovers, so Zsuzsa makes it clear: there was no point higher than 98 among all international wines competing!
Furthermore, Hungary won 15 Gold medals.
As Zsuzsa highlights, this year’s competition was especially important because apart from the sweet Tokaji, Hungarian wines are not particularly known on the international field. The country has “good products, so we only need to show our wines”. London, where the competition was held, is one of the best scenes to do so since it is one of the biggest wine markets out there.
She says that Hungary is on the right track but she urges other wineries to enter these types of competitions, as the ingredients and the final products are very good, the country only needs to show what it has got to offer.
They say one really learns a language or a culture by understanding its sayings, phrases, proverbs, and terms that are completely meaningless for the foreign ear. It really reveals a lot about people, how they express great wisdom, or how they put feelings and thoughts into words.
It’s quite interesting to compare the sayings of languages, too. And by the way, learning these proverbs’ meaning is an easy and enjoyable way to improve your Hungarian. While, for example, English says “curiosity killed the cat”, the Hungarian proverb expressing similar wisdom goes for a bit more tame version, saying something along the lines of: “a curious person grows old sooner” (“aki kíváncsi, hamar megöregszik”).
We have covered some of the funniest of proverbs in our previous compilations, like THIS and 20 more in THIS article.
And we also suggested some Facebook and Instagram pages to follow to enlighten yourself about the complexity of Hungarian grammar and sayings as well as the ridicule of their literal meaning:
Proverbs are something most native speakers unconsciously learn, probably during childhood, probably from the cautionary speeches from old relatives. While these phrases contain great pearls of wisdom about the Ultimate Question of Life, like how useful it is to get up early, or how important modesty is, there is another genre of Hungarian sayings to be learned:
the amazingly weird and extremely funny terms used in everyday conversations.
If you would like to learn to sound like a proper Hungarian, you need to use these phrases. For example, when something is really close, you could say it is near, but why not say
“it is just a spit away”
(“csak egy köpésre van”)? Or when you see an adorable child, you could say “cute” (or “cuki” in Hungarian), but why not go all the way and say, “I will eat his heart!” (“egyem a szívét”) like Hungarians would?
We have another Instagram page worth following if you’d like to deepen your knowledge in the twisted way Hungarians think and speak. @inhungarywesay shows terms and phrases used in everyday slang, the kind of sentences you hear on a bus or the street and cannot wrap your mind around. Like why would someone tell you that you have poppy seed while smiling and nodding reassuringly?!
We are here to help! This Instagram account collects these funny and wonderful phrases from its followers and then shares them with explanations. You see how an average, polite English-speaking person would put something to words, then the madness of Hungarians, and then you can also check out the literal translation in the description.
Here are
some great examples:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMFkgRjlZQI/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLfD36CFjYS/
If you would like to go even further and get the hang of Hungarian cultural references and pop culture quotes, we recommend Ausztrál Tom, an amazingly enthusiastic Australian Youtuber who has committed himself to learn not only the Hungarian language but everything it means to be a Hungarian.
Hungarians have become a unified nation thanks to the policy for Hungarians beyond the border pursued by the government over the past ten years, Katalin Szili, the prime minister’s commissioner in charge of autonomy affairs, said in London on Saturday.
Szili is attending a conference of Hungarian weekend schools in London, which provides an opportunity for teacher training, building relationships and sharing best practices.
She said the government considered it important that those living in the diaspora retain their Hungarian identity, and thanked the teachers who teach at Hungarian schools in their free time.
Szili noted that the priority areas of the Hungarian presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers include national minority protection, religious communities and the rights of families and children.
Ambassador Ferenc Kumin said that weekend schools required a lot of energy, commitment and sacrifices from both teachers and parents,
as they use their weekends and free time to give children special education without which they would not be able to preserve their Hungarian identity, special cultural traditions and heritage.
People are fascinated by the unknown and try to understand everything around them. But from time to time, people encounter events or phenomena which they cannot explain. When this happens, humankind’s overzealous imagination comes in and creates tales that become myths or embellish stories and create urban legends. Some try to explain some things while others are used to scare children or even adults. In this article, you can read about 5 Hungarian legends that kept the imagination of generations occupied.
The Hungarian Tarzan
Illustration from the 1877 edition of Mór Jókai’s “Névtelen Vár” (Nameless Castle)
Source: facebook.com/Hany-Ist%C3%B3k-181619095506813
There are a lot of similar stories to that of Tarzan from many places around the world. Some are true, some are just to keep children from wandering off into the forest alone. This Hungarian legend has a bit of a twist compared to most abandoned child stories who were then raised by animals. It is the story of Istók Hany.
According to the story, some fishermen from Kapuvár caught a young, 8-10-year-old boy in a lake in Hanság with their nets in 1749. According to the story, the young boy must have been lost and orphaned but somehow managed to survive in the wilderness of the marsh. So much so that it is believed that his skin got thicker, and his body was covered with a lot of hair, and to help him swim better, some sort of web formed between his fingers. According to some witnesses, he was able to catch fish while swimming underwater.
He was baptised the same year he was found and was named István. He was then taken to the Esterházy castle and the castellan took care of him. Istók Hany was unable to speak and he could not be taught to speak – he could only imitate animal sounds. He was a very good swimmer, but he could not really be educated. He was only capable of simple tasks and would only eat grass and raw fish and frogs. He was often mistreated and escaped many times and, in the end, people did not find him anymore.
Photo: Pixabay / Myriams-Fotos
The bell that tolls in the deep
This story is also connected to a marsh, probably because, for a long time, natural formations like these were mysterious as they were hard to fully map out and were often dangerous as well. This story, however, goes back a little bit further in time – back into the 13th century, during the time of the Mongol invasion of Hungary (tatárjárás), but some legends place it during the Turkish invasion.
There are many variations of this story and many villages believe it to be their own legend. According to one of the stories, when the Mongols attacked, the villagers gathered all of their people and belongings in order to hide from the invaders in the nearby marshland. Before they could leave, the local priest asked the villagers to take the church bell with them as well.
The villagers agreed to do so, but when they were trying to cross the water in boats, the bell capsised and fell into the depth of the swampland. After this, some people believed to hear the tolling of the bell from time to time. According to the legend, whenever something dangerous approached, the tolling of the bell would become audible, warning the villagers. Also, it is believed to be how Harangod (“your bell”) received its name.
Source: Semmelweis.hu
The forever-waiting maid
This is a much more recent story, and if you are in Budapest, you can even check it out for yourself. There is a strange balcony in the building in the fourteenth district of Budapest under 61 Thököly Street. If you were to visit this place, you would see a walled-in balcony and a statue of a woman looking down to the streets.
The legend around it is quite a sad one; it is a true love story. People say that the building belonged to a young couple around WWI. Unfortunately, when the war broke out, the man had to go to the frontline and the woman was faithfully waiting for her love. One day, people brought bad news and told the maid that her man died in battle.
The maid did not believe the story and felt that her man was still alive. She then proceeded to spend every minute of every day out on the balcony, looking down at the street, scanning every face. Unfortunately, during that time, the Spanish flu reached Hungary and caused many deaths. Eventually, the young maid also got sick, but even with her last breath, she was still waiting for her love to come back.
The saddest part of the story is that a few days after the maid passed away, the man came home from the war. He was mauled by sorrow and in his grief, he erected a statue to commemorate his beloved’s faithfulness and walled in the balcony so that no one could enter it again.
Source: facebook.com/labirintus
The labyrinth of Buda Castle
It is true, there is a labyrinth-like place under Buda Castle in the Hungarian capital. It is partly a natural formation and partly man-made. The original cave system had formed naturally thanks to the thermal waters of the capital in ancient times. Over the centuries, local residents dug into the cave system as they built their cellars and basements.
According to some beliefs, the place can be dangerous, and in Medieval times, there was a torture chamber in the cave system. Many say that the spirits of those tortured to death still haunt the tunnels and can even hurt people or get them lost, just like there are legends about the catacombs of Paris that people still get lost in.
Photo: Wiki Commons By Civertan
The voice behind the echo
Lake Balaton is one of the most beloved tourist attractions for foreigners and Hungarians alike. It is a beautiful area with many natural and man-made sights, as well as good food and kind service. Híradó points out that one of those sights is the Tihany Abbey and the echo, but there is a legend around how the echo came to be.
According to the story, Balaton had a king and the king had a son. The son fell in love with a very vain girl, and the boy eventually ended his life to free himself from the pain of unrequited love. The king got so furious that he decided to curse the girl. Her curse was that for the rest of her life, if anyone were to talk to her, she would have to say that very same thing seven times over.
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The Day of Folk Clothing has been celebrated on Saturday, April 24th, for seven years now. Its aim is to draw attention to the diversity and beauty of folk costumes and to transform some of the elements and accessories for general, everyday use.
Although the Day of Folk Clothing is not yet an official, Hungarian state-recognised holiday, like, say, Poetry Day or Folk Dance Day, just a cultural celebration, the intention is beautiful and noble – dress in any folk costume for a day and capture it. It is especially difficult to honour a celebration so deeply rooted in sensory experiences in the virtual space, but since the initiative has been in existence for seven years, the organisers also have experience from last year’s quarantine times when the celebration was limited to the online space and only for a few hundred people.
Photo: Boróka Dászkál – Daily News Hungary
“As a child, I spent a lot of time in my grandmother’s village where even then a picture of a sinking world emerged in front of me. I observed two-window farmhouses with porches in the front and their dwindling hard-working residents living in harmony with the garden and nature who whitewashed the house during spring, brought water from the well, went to mass in folkwear, creased skirts, cultivated the kitchen garden, and did their thing as long as – as they say – their will carried them forward. ”
The creator says that the Day of Folk Clothing is important because the last members of the last standing generation will not live for long, and they still wear folk clothing as part of their everyday life. Days like this can encourage young people to learn about folk costumes or even give them the opportunity to try them personally. It would be important to learn not only to wear but also to sew, make, and take care of such clothes, be it stiffening, skirt creasing, or different sorts of embroidery. Sadly, nowadays, it is difficult to get suitable materials for skirts, aprons, and headscarves, although, among the subjects of Zsófia Mohos in Rimóc, there was a lady who had 100 top skirts when she was younger.
Zsófia Mohos finds it exciting to capture these old ladies because there is a lot to learn from them not only about skirt creasing but also about life. There is a certain wisdom and experience of life about them that would be beneficial for all of us and make us reconsider how self-sufficient we really are. Such wisdom can only be earned by years of hard work:
“My mother always said, work as if you lived forever and pray as if you could die any moment.”
Outside of everyday clothing, they also have incredibly valuable ancient knowledge that would be good to learn, preserve, and pass on to future generations.
Árpád János Potápi, state secretary in charge of Hungarian communities in other countries, attended a ceremony held within the annual Bread of the Hungarians programme in northern Serbia’s Senta (Zenta) on Saturday.
At the ceremony, in which the grain collected from Hungarian communities across the Carpathian Basin was consecrated, Potápi said the Hungarian nation would be able to restart once the coronavirus epidemic was over.
“Hungarians went through much worse difficulties before and they have always been able to have a new start; it will be like that again,” he said in his address.
Concerning the programme, he said that “bread is an important symbol” for Hungarians, adding he wished that symbol “should always be there in our life and help us to a shared Hungarian future”. A shared future, however, requires a victory over the pandemic in all communities, he said, and called on people to register for vaccination and get the shots “so that family members can again meet each other”.
