Celebrations

1) Are festivals and celebrations important in your family?

 Absolutely. These are the occasions when the family members get together, either the
nuclear or the extended family.
 What I really like about them is that these are times when everybody’s hectic lifestyle
slows down a bit, we sit down together round a nicely laid table and spend a few happy
hours eating and talking, simply enjoying our relatives’ company.

2) What are your favourite family occasions?

 My absolute favourite is Christmas, definitely. It has such a special atmosphere

that nothing can surpass.
 The whole of December is full of thrills and joy, the very expectation of the coming
festival is exciting in itself.
 Those special smells and the sight of the glittering Christmas tree is a surprise for me
every year. I simply love looking at the faces of my loved ones after opening their
presents from me.

3) Have you ever had a surprise party?

 No, never. As a matter of fact, I only saw such surprise parties in movies.
 I imagine it can be really heartwarming to experience that your family and your
friends deeply care and want to see you happy on your special day.

4) Why do you think young children enjoy birthday parties so much?

 Kids are always hungry for surprises and excitement.

 Spending a whole afternoon playing and having fun together with their best friends
and relatives fills them with joy.

5) How would you decorate your home for a birthday party?

 I would decorate the children’s room with colourful balloons and the dining-room
where the cake is going to be served is decorated with streamers, balloons, a sizeable
“Happy Birthday” letter-string in colourful letters.
 Underneath, the table is nicely laid with some flowers and festive serviettes.

6) On what other occasions are your family together?

 They are mostly happy occasions when we get together with the extended family
such as a wedding or the baptism of a new family member.
 However, we also gather together on sad occasions, like at a funeral. After the
ceremony there is a wake where we have some food and drinks and remember the
deceased of the family.
 7) What customs and traditions are attached to Christmas?

 The period of Advent is full of traditions.

 It is a tradition to light a candle every Sunday four weeks before Christmas on a
wreath in the living-room. The lighting of the fourth candle symbolizes the arrival of
the festival.
 Well before Christmas British families bake the Christmas cake.
 Hungarian families start baking cookies and gingerbread a week before.
 In the festive period there are famous fairs in several European cities (Vienna), where
anything from presents to Christmas decorations can be bought.

8) Are Hungarian Christmas traditions different?

 Hungarian Christmas is a bit different from English both in timing and in traditions.
 For Hungarian kids the 24th of December is the most important day.
 In Hungary kids get their present on Christmas Eve, not the next morning.
 Apart from the beautifully wrapped presents under the Christmas tree, Hungarian
children don’t get goodies in their socks on the mantlepiece because they get those
sweets in red bags earlier, on 6th December, at “Mikulas” (St Nicholas’ Day).
 There are differences in the festive dishes as well. Hungarian Christmases are
exclusively family occasions whereas in England, as far as I know, people are likely to
spend Boxing Day (26th December) with friends.
 In Hungary a typical festival spent with friends is New Year’s Eve.

9) What and how do we celebrate at Easter?

 At Easter we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the beginning of

spring.
 The festive period begins with Good Friday, two days before Easter Sunday.
 People usually go to church and women and girls paint eggs for the Monday male
visitors.
 The different Easter symbols are eggs and chicks referring to new life.
 On Easter Sunday, people eat traditional dishes such as hard-boiled eggs, cooked
ham with spring radishes.
 A typical Hungarian tradition is the sprinkling of girls and women with perfume, or
originally with water, on Easter Monday. In return for the sprinkling boys and men
get either hand-painted or chocolate Easter eggs and an invitation to the table full of
homemade dishes and cakes.

10) How is Easter celebrated abroad?

 In Great Britain families organize egghunts in the garden and children are challenged
to find the eggs hidden in the bushes.
 They also eat hot-cross buns. They are usually eaten toasted with some butter spread on
them.
 In the USA kids take part in egg-rolling competitions.

11) Do you have your own family tradition?

 Our family tradition is connected to Christmas. It was best when we were young
children.
  My father always hid the Christmas tree somewhere in the garden so we couldn’t take
a look at it till it was fully decorated with the presents underneath in the living-room.
On the 24th Dad only wanted us to stay away from home while he was decorating the
tree.

12) What are festive meals like in your family?

 My mum and my granny are really fussy about home cooking so when we have a
family occasion they spend the whole day in the kitchen.
 We usually have a starter, very often clear meat soup then there’s a choice of two or
even three main courses (like stuffed cabbage) as they want to please every member of
the family.

13) Which is better for celebration: homemade dishes or going to a restaurant?

 Going to a restaurant is always a special occasion for me for two reasons: I love being
spoilt every now and then since there are some very good places to choose from and I
also cherish the thought of not having to cook and do the dishes afterwards.
 In a restaurant I feel I am a guest and not a servant.

14) Is it a good idea to make presents for your loved ones rather than buy
something in theshop?

 To be honest, I have never tried making a present for anybody by myself as I seem to
lack ideas as to what I could make.
 There are those who enjoy doing handicraft. They can give presents which are unique,
personal and therefore very special for those who get them.

15) How do Hungarians celebrate New Year’s Eve?

 New Year’s Eve in Hungary is the top party time for young and the not-so-young
alike.
 People organize house parties, but very often they go out somewhere to have fun.
 During the night people enjoy themselves by talking, eating, drinking, listening and
dancing to music.
 At midnight they all listen to the national anthem standing up and after it they clink
their glasses filled with champagne and wish each other a Happy New Year.
 Nowadays there are fireworks displays and people can also buy fireworks for home.

16) What public holidays are celebrated nationwide?

 On March 15th we commemorate the events of the Hungarian Revolution and War of
Independence of 1848-49, a day in late May or early June is Pentecost, August 20th is
the day of the new bread and also the day of our first king, Stephen I.
 On October 23rd we remember the declaration of the Hungarian Republic and
November 1st is All Saints’ Day when people go to the cemetery to remember their
dead.
 These are all bank holidays.
 17) Mention a few typically British public holidays.

 Some typically British red-letter days are 1st March, which is St David’s Day in Wales
and Ireland’s special day on the 17th of the same month is St Patrick’s Day. England’s
national day is celebrated in April and they call it St George’s Day while Scotland’s
national day, St Andrew’s Day is observed at the end of November.
 There’s another festival on November 5th, Guy Fawkes’ Day and this celebration
commemorates the Gunpowder plot, that is the conspiracy of Catholics against
Protestants.
 Of course, February 14th (Valentine’s Day) and 31st October (Halloween) are also
special days but they are not bank holidays.

18) What do Americans celebrate that is typical of their country?

 For the Americans a midsummer festival is very important: this is July 4th or
Independence Day when people celebrate the Declaration of Independence with
garden parties and fireworks.
 Another very typical American festival is the 4th Thursday in November, when on
Thanksgiving Day families gather together over a traditional turkey dinner.
Thanksgiving is a four-day weekend vacation for schools and colleges.
 (The third Monday in January honours Martin Luther King Jr. The third Monday in
February is George Washington’s birthday, but it is very often referred to as Presidents’
Day and it is considered a day to honour all American presidents. The last Monday in
May is called Memorial Day and people commemorate the nation’s war dead from the
Civil War onwards.)

19) Do you think it is a good idea to “import” holidays from abroad?

 I am not too happy about imported holidays as I believe they have nothing to say to
Hungarian people, simply because they have no tradition in our culture.

20)What special or unusual Hungarian festivals do you know of?

 Hungary has several festivals which are unique or special, there are wine and brandy
festivals in different parts of the country, sausage-making festivals, and different fruit
festivals during which apples and plums play the most important roles.
 August 20th is the time of a wellknown cultural event both inland and abroad, this is
the Debrecen Flower Carnival.