Loved this view into Hungarian life at the time of my father’s youth. From the delightful blog; ADiligentObserver.

the Diligent Observer

Many thanks to the National Geographic which, in its pursuit of conserving World Cultures, took it upon themselves to document life in Rural Hungary in the June, 1932 issue.

Lusty Magyar youths couldn’t just share a shake at the malt shop, or go necking at a drive-in movie in order to share some quality time with their honey.  For them, flirting took place 10 feet apart, separated by a wall and surrounded by friends and siblings (and most likely with a mother lurking close by).

Who is courting whom, one wonders.  The girl on the far right looks none too pleased with the amount of attention she is receiving.

Who knew that dancing the Csárdás was no different than slow dancing to *NSYNC at a middle school dance?

It looks like the male/female ratio in this rural enclave is slightly skewed to the latter.

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Kellemes Húsvéti Ünnepeket !

Easter Monday sprinkling is an old Hungarian custom. Young men would sprinkle cologne or water on the ladies of their fancy, often extended to all the women in the house. Mother told of a Canadian boyfriend who upon hearing of the tradition showed up at their house and woke the family at the crack of dawn on Easter Monday with a bottle of perfume to be the first to sprinkle her. A sweet gesture not much appreciated by her tired parents. 

Apparently some communities take it quite a bit further, drenching the girls with buckets of water.

from sulekha.com

The Early Magyars

I have been reading or at least skimming through a pile of books on Hungarian history to get a bit of context on the lives of my ancestors. Then I came upon this illustration which I think does a marvelous job of explaining where the Magyars came from.

The Gin Chronicles

John and I have been really dragging our feet talking about Budapest because not only is there an absurd amount of history, but it’s also our favorite city of the trip.  I mean, can you blame us? Look at it.

Alright, lets start with a little bit of history.

Who are the Hungarians?  Were they originally Huns?  Slavs? Really hungry people that ate their way through Eastern Europe?  Not quite…

Hungarians are the Magyar people; nomads who were known for their equestrian and archery skills.  If riding a horse isn’t hard enough, they perfected shooting arrows while bouncing up and down.  It is debated whether or not Hungarians descended from Asians or Caucasians (DNA evidence and previous features point to Asian).  Does it matter? Not really.  Asian or not, they made their way from the Ural Mountains to what is currently Hungary (more or less) around the 5th century. Here is…

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Legeslegmegengesztelhetetlenebbeknek

Fiume Harbor about 1900

Hungarian has been described as the most difficult language to learn.  That might be an exaggeration, but, the agglutinative (little bits of words all stuck together) nature of the Magyar tongue can be daunting. For a while under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Adriatic port city of Fiume was a free state managed by a Hungarian governor. The Hungarians required anyone wanting a position in the government to learn Hungarian. Most of those interested were Italian speakers who found the requirement impossible.

They expressed their opinion in this word scribbled on the walls: ‘Legeslegmegengesztelhetetlenebbeknek’. It means ‘To the most unreasonable ones’. And, no. I’ve tried. I can’t pronounce it.

Checking out the WordPress Neighborhood

I thought I would see if there were any other WordPress sites talking about things Hungarian. There are. A LOT. I’ve reblogged a few of my favorites below.

Colors in Hungarian

Suggested Listening: “Csárdás” by Vittorio Monti