Christmas in Hungary

In Hungary the Christmas tree is decorated on Christmas Eve. In addition to the usual
decorations, we also put __________ on and under the tree. According to the Hungarian
tradition, the Christmas presents are brought by Baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. As for Santa
Claus, he visits on December 6 bringing sweets and presents for those well-behaved children
who put their clean shoes on the __________ the night before.

Typical Hungarian Christmas dishes include: fish soup or bouillon, __________, roast turkey
with __________, and the famous __________ or __________. The poppy seed or walnut roll
is a traditional Hungarian __________, mostly eaten during the winter holidays. It is basically
a sweet bread, known as “bejgli” in Hungary. During the last few __________ other variants
(such as __________, plum jam, __________, or even cocoa) have become popular, too.

Did you know? Poppy is widely __________ in many parts of Central and Eastern Europe.
The sugared, __________ mature seeds are eaten with pasta, or they are boiled with milk and
used as __________ or __________ on various kinds of sweet pastry. In countries where
eating poppy seed is not so common, people think that it can be dangerous or even lead to a
positive drug-test.

Another typically Hungarian Christmas sweet is ”szaloncukor” (literally: __________ candy),

which is a type of sweets, traditionally associated with Christmas in Hungary. It is usually
made of fondant, covered by chocolate and __________ in shiny coloured __________. It is
often used as decoration on Christmas trees, hung on with strings or small metal hooks.

Fondant candies originally came in a few __________ (vanilla and strawberry for example),
but now there is a wide variety of different kinds of candies, including __________, coconut,
hazelnut and lots of other flavours.

As far as __________ are concerned, among the many Budapest Christmas markets, one of
the most popular ones is held on Vörösmarty Square, in the heart of the city’s 5 th district. This
traditional Budapest Fair is a great place to get your __________ Christmas presents, as here
you can always find some exclusive and hand-made art products and all kinds of decorations,
made with authentic techniques. While you’re looking for the perfect gifts or winter
souvenirs, you can enjoy a variety of programs, listening to folk music, taking part in a
Christmas tree decorating competition or __________ and __________ the traditional
Hungarian dishes and cakes from the open kitchens around the square. If you haven’t been to
this fair yet, you should try “lángos” (__________ bread __________, usually topped with
garlic, sour cream and cheese) and “kürtös kalács” (hollow, cylinder shaped pastry, baked
over an open fire with ground walnut or other sweet __________), but you will have an extra
hard time choosing what to eat this time.  A __________in recent years has been the even
wider selection of culinary delights - stuffed cabbages, grilled meat and fish, __________ and
the other Christmas delicacies.

C2 General
 Vocabulary

fondant candy szaloncukor wrapped csomagolt

windowsill ablakpárkány alufólia, fényes

foil csomagoló
stuffed cabbage töltött káposzta
flavour íz
stuffing töltelék
jelly zselé
poppy seed mák
Christmas fair karácsonyi vásár
diós tekercs,
walnut roll bejgli unique különleges

pastry sütemény to sip kortyolgatni

decade évtized mulled wine forralt bor

chestnut gesztenye to feast on lakmározni

prune aszalt szilva deep-fried olajban sült

to consume fogyasztani dough nyers tészta

milled őrölt coating máz

filling töltelék novelty újdonság

topping feltét strudel rétes

parlour szalon

C2 General