BUDAPEST GO LOCAL: Hungarian Christmas comes Jesus- Boldog Karácsonyt!

Saturday, 25 December 2010

Hungarian Christmas comes Jesus- Boldog Karácsonyt!

Boldog Karácsonyt is Merry Christmas in Hungarian. We do not have any peculiar customs, but let's sum up our Christmas traditions.

First of all, there is no Santa Claus here (he comes earlier), it is personally the little Jesus (Jézuska) bringing the presents on the eve of the 24th. The Christmas tree is decorated during the day or afternoon, gifts are wrapped and then, as a child you are waiting excited to hear the little ring, or somekind of sign which tells you that you can enter the room with the shiny presents.

Since we worship Little Jesus this day, we usually have small stable installations, where supposedly baby Jesus was born. There is also an

unfortunately fading custom, Betlehemezés ("doing Bethlehem" after the native city of Jesus) where groups of young people go around visiting the houses (usually in villages) performing little plays and songs related to Christmas and Jesus.

beigli

And what do we eat and feast?
Traditionally families were fasting during the 24th and had dinner only in the evening, after the rise of the Morning Star. The traditional evening "meal" consisted of apple, walnut, honey and garlic (yes, we love garlic) and then bean soup without meat, mákos guba (poppy seed cake). Actually, I dont know anyone doing the fast, but our grandmothers did it for real :)
Nowadays we rather eat as if we had been on a fast for 2 weeks. Some families will have stuffed cabbage on the table, others fish, chicken soup or meat with potato salad - and for dessert you will eat beigli (there is an ongoing war between the walnut lovers and the poppy seed lovers), ginger breads in every form.

stuffed cabbage

Szaloncukor

And if you see tons of little bon bons in the shops and latter on Christmas trees, you have met Szaloncukor ("salon sugar"). This little dessert originates from France and has become a very Hungarian way to decorate our pine tree. The best is with jelly inside but nowadays you will find everything from bananas to coffee.

Apple is the symbol for the whole family and togetherness. I read about a tradition which I have never seen but really liked the idea. After the dinner, the mother of the house divides the apple in as many pieces as the number of the family members and everyone eats his/her piece, this guaranteeing family Peace for the next year :)

Another one is the assembling of the bread crumbs at the end of the dinner (Called Christmas Crumb). Magic powers were attributed to these crumbs and they were given to neighbors for good luck or scattered on the ground for a good harvest next year.

24th Eve it reserved for the closest family but 25th and 26th you have to make room for every kind of relative or pack the car with presents and set out for the family roadshow :)

Did you know?

Vörösmarty square with the advent handicraft market - good place looking for
real Hungarian suovenirs

- Budapest uses more than 100 000 light bulbs and more than 200 km long cables of Christmas light to decorate the streets and other public spaces

- according to a recent survey, in the U.S 6 out of 10 dogs receive Christmas presents :)

Bakonyi Zsuzsa