Christmas preparations and Advent
In Hungary, Christmas preparations begin in early December, although it is not customary to make a Christmas tree in our country at this time. The festive atmosphere knocks on our door with St. Nicholas Day and the first intimate Sunday of Advent. The custom of Advent originates from Germany. The first wreath was made by a German evangelical pastor. It had 24 candles, on which one candle was lit every day until Christmas. Today, the Advent wreath is a decorative wreath made of pine branches with four candles, the colors of which are purple and pink. Every Sunday until Christmas, a candle is lit, which are symbols of faith, hope, joy and love.
Their flame symbolizes the growing light that God gives to those who wait in Jesus at Christmas. The family celebrates the Advent evenings by lighting the candle and they have a dinner together. The Advent Calendar, a custom that also originates from Germany, holds special excitement for children. An Advent Calendar is a small box with a Christmas picture and windows numbered 1-24. Behind each window is a small chocolate bar, from which each child opens the candy corresponding to the day’s number every day until Christmas. For children, this is the most exciting way to count down to Christmas.
St. Nicholas Day
In Hungary, as well as in Slovakia and even Austria, St. Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 6th. According to tradition, children should be good, and the day before, they should shine their boots and put them in the window so that St. Nicholas will reward them with sweets, hazelnuts, nuts, tangerines and small gifts. St. Nicholas visits the children accompanied by an angel and a devil. According to tradition, St. Nicholas gives gifts to good children, but naughty children do not receive sweets, only coal and a “virgács“. The “virgács” is a small broom-like thing made of a thin birch twig, tied at one end, for beating children.
Of course, punishment does not happen, but in the tradition it is present as a duality of good and evil: the angel who brings the reward, and the devil who brings the punishment. St. Nicholas Day is also associated with the belief that the weather on St. Nicholas Day predicts what the weather will be like on Christmas Eve. Since I don’t come from a religious family, our family celebrated St. Nicholas Day a little differently. My sister and me used to shine our boots the day before and wait for St. Nicholas to come to us. We call St. Nicholas “Mikulás”. He usually comes alone during the afternoon and rewards good children and punishes naughty ones with “virgács”.
Bethlehem
Christmas music and singing make this holiday truly intimate. So is Bethlehem, which is a work symbolizing the presentation of the birth of Jesus. We can find it in several places in different cities during the Christmas period. In smaller towns and villages, the live Bethlehem is still performed for a long time. At such times, all this is presented with built scenery and religious folk games. The characters are the shepherds and the animals, Mary and Joseph, and the baby Jesus lying in the manger. The performance is enriched with sacred songs and dialogues.
“Christmas in Bethlehem. The ancient dream: a cold, clear night made brilliant by a glorious star, the smell of incense, shepherds and wise men falling to their knees in adoration of the sweet baby, the incarnation of perfect love.”
– Lucinda Franks
The great festive feast
In my family, December 24th is traditionally a very busy day. During the day, we don’t eat anything or just have a small snack. At this time, we cook the Christmas dinner menu and bake Christmas cookies. One of the most important festive dishes is fish, whose scales symbolize money and wealth. We eat it to bring good luck in terms of finances for the coming year. Fish soup is most often made from carp, but it can be made from mixed freshwater fish. This soup is prepared differently depending on the region: Danube, Tisza and Balaton. I prefer one of the Tisza versions, Szeged fish soup. Similarly, the stuffed cabbage, which can be the traditional or Szabolcs version, the poppy seed or walnut roll (bejgli) and the raisin braided cake (fonott kalács) evoke abundance and a full pantry.
Every year at home, my father made Szeged fish soup (szegedi halászlé) and fried carp, as well as salads and cold dishes. French salad (franciasaláta) and casino eggs (kaszinótojás) were made. Dad always made me a special potato salad which did not have mayonnaise. I am not picky, but to this day I do not like to eat mayonnaise and mayonnaise-based dishes. Sometimes dad also made Hungarian Trifle (Somlói galuska) for dessert. My mother baked gingerbread (mézeskalács) and potato scones (burgonyás pogácsa).
At my maternal grandmother’s house, there was a long table full of delicious food at that time. It was as if we were celebrating a wedding! The main courses were chicken soup (csirkehúsleves), stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta), creamy rabbit stew (nyúlpaprikás), stuffed chicken (töltött csirke), and fried ducklegs with stewed cabbage (sült kacsa dinszteltkáposztával). Of course, pork jelly (kocsonya) could not be left out either! Every year, grandma baked savoury scones (tepertős pogácsa), coconut cubes (kókuszkocka), walnut and poppy seed roll (bejgli), and Gerbeaud Cake (zserbó szelet).
Christmas Eve with the family
Christmas music was playing in the house all day. As I mentioned, on December 24th, most of the family was in the kitchen cooking the Christmas menu during the day. Where there are small children, parents secretly decorate the Christmas tree only in the evening, because according to religious tradition, baby Jesus brings the Christmas tree and the gifts. In our family, this was not the custom. While cooking, we decorated the Christmas tree little by little together, while Christmas music was playing. We don’t usually decorate our Christmas trees according to color schemes. We decorate the tree with Christmas motifs, candy canes, and even handmade ornaments of all colors and shapes. So our tree is not a single color, but a rainbow of colors.
In my family we tell the children that Santa Claus arrives on Christmas Eve at night in a sleigh pulled by reindeers. He comes down the chimney and bring the gifts. When all the food was ready and the Christmas tree was in its beautiful splendor, everyone would secretly put the wrapped gifts under the tree. When the last gift was under the tree, we would ring a bell. However, we open the gifts only after dinner. Dad was the most impatient every year because he could hardly wait to see us happy about the surprise. After the dinner at the Christmas tree we sang a Christmas song together, wished each other a Merry Christmas and unwrapped the presents. Later, we watched Christmas movies together from bed.
Christmas Market
This time I only visited Budapest for a few hours, although I haven’t been here for at least 2 years. My sister met me at the train station. We toured the whole city together. We took the Budapest Cog-wheel Railway up to Széchényi Hill. The view was fantastic. We walked a bit, then went for a family lunch. It was really nice to spend some time with my mom, my brother and the family. Later sis and I went to see the Christmas Market. This year’s Christmas Market in Budapest was also wonderful. But the best thing was that we spent time together with my sister, who I missed a lot. We visited the St. Stephen’s Basilica, went to Vörösmarty Square and visited the Parliament. At the Christmas Market you can taste good food, hot drinks, punch, and mulled wine. They sell lots of good quality handicrafts made according to many years of tradition. These include pottery, leather trade, wood carving, knitting, glass blowing, traditional Hungarian embroidery and lace making. The Christmas Market was magical and I am glad that I was able to share this experience with my sister. We had a great time.
“The earth has grown old with its burden of care, but at Christmas it always is young, the heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair, and its soul full of music breaks the air, when the song of angels is sung.”
– Phillips Brooks