PAPRIKA FROM HUNGARIAN VILLAGE

HUNGARIAN SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS - BOSTON HUNGARIAN CLUB

BOSTON HUNGARIAN CLUB   HUNGARIAN SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS

The Hungarian Society of Massachusetts, Inc., is a community of individuals of Hungarian descent, and those with an interest in Hungarian culture who, without regard to political or religious affiliation, and in accordance with their talents, opportunities and interests, support the Society and take part in its activities.

Our Mission and Goals

Foster and impart our Hungarian language, culture, identity and traditions to our descendants and to interested individuals through programs, meetings and gatherings;

Propagate Hungarian culture in as many American circles as possible, thereby developing and maintaining strong ties between Americans and Hungarians

Support one another as we build and sustain our lives in America

Cultivate and nurture ties with Hungary and Hungarian émigrés around the world

Provide moral, spiritual and occasional financial support for Hungarian causes.

FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #6 : LIBRARY COLLECTIONS : GOING FAR BACK INTO THE FOUNDING OF HUNGARY AS A NATION : BIBLE FROM 1533

The collections in the Hungaricana library links are also useful for historical and family history and genealogy research. Remember though that these are mostly BOOKS that have been preserved.  

LIBRARY HUNGARY - ARPAD ERA

Árpádkori okmánytár = Archives of the Árpád period

Museum publications

Archival publications

Archival documents 

Medieval documents 

Library documents

Local newspapers and history 

School yearbooks 

Old Hungarian Library 

Special collections 

Lutheran collection 

Catholic collection 

Calvinist collection 

Unitarian collections 

Jewish collection 

Diaspora collections

NOT SURPRISING IS THAT THERE IS A BIBLE COLLECTION.  

In the Roman Catholic collection, let's look at this link LIBRARY HUNGARICANA RMK 1.# BIBLIA UJSZOVETSEG

TITLE 

RMK I. 3 - RMK I. 198

 

RMK I. 3 - Biblia. Újszövetség. Pál levelei (magyar). Cracoviae. M.D.XXXIII. [1533], mense Februario. Hier. Viet.   Paul's letters

Bibles on early printing presses were expensive and this one appears to have been sponsored or made for a particular Grof = Count/ Countess - Katalin Perenyi and was provided by the National Széchényi Library.

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Hungaricana Fun

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BUDA and PEST IN THE MIDDLE AGES

 

FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #5 : DYNAMIC BUDAPEST TIME MACHINE : LAND REGISTRIES, CITY DIRECTORIES, and SO MUCH MORE FOR HISTORY AND FAMILY GENEALOGY RESEARCH!

This aspect of Hungaricana is truly dynamic. There is just so much to explore.  You can use maps to see how the city transformed, find out who died in the 1956 Hungarian revolution, look at land ownership registers

HUNGARICANA BUDAPEST TIME MACHINE START PAGE

 "The Time Machine is ideal for deep research as well as relaxation."

You will have to play a bit with this aspect of the Hungaricana databases. but for the purposes of this blog, we will look at what is available about a particular lot:

HUNGARICANIA : LOT 24008 1056 BUDAPESTHelyrajziSzam/24008/.

You see there is information as far back as year 1688 about this property. There is a topography map and a map of present day Budapest, showing the eateries and that this property on Iranyi Street is about a three block walk to the Danube.

1916 CITY DIRECTORY FROM HUNGARICANA LIBRARY FOR THIS STREET IN BUDAPEST

I encourage you to click on a whole lot of links and find your way around the TIME MACHINE...

If you are not Hungarian speaking, you will probably need the Translator to understand what the links hold.

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Hungaricana Fun

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FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #4 : FOLK MUSIC TO LISTEN TO BY REGION : PECS - TOLNA SAMPLING

The Folk Music Collection of the HAS-RCH Institute for Musicology is behind this aspect of Hungaricana databases. There are more than 90 musical dialects on a map...

https://zti.hungaricana.hu/en/6729/?list= from Pecs - Tolna

TITLE Kiskertembe szedik a virágot, én is szakítok róla

TRANSLATION 

They pick the flowers in my little garden, and I get rid of them too

THERE ARE SO MANY RECORDINGS TO SAMPLE! So many singers!

The collection includes images of the covers of albums, copies of phonograph and gramophone records from the Museum of Ethnography made between 1896 through the 1950's, and the Zoltan Kodaly manuscript melody collection compiled between 1905 and 1958.  (Sheet music.)

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun

C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot All Rights including International Rights and Internet Rights are claimed.

FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #3 : PICTURE and POSTCARD GALLERY - CASTLE FUZER

GALLERY HUNGARICANA  That's the start page!  Run the name of a place, a person, or a thing...

Over 40 pictures or postcards come up when doing this search using the term Fuzer. They come from the following sources: Fortepan,  National Szechenyi Library, Institute for Musicology (RCA), and The Zemplen Museum.

Using Fuzer up came these images: GALLERY HUNGARICANA HUNGARY : Search word FUZER

Click on the image and you will be taken to more information about it, including where it is located or which person or institution contributed it to Hungaricana.

GALLERY HUNGARICANA GROF KAROLYI LASZLO 

Gróf Károlyi László birtokán fekvő fuzeri (Abaúj m.) várromok

TRANSLATION : Füzéri (Abaúj m.) castle ruins on the property of László Count Károlyi

It also says that this was published through a book store in Satorujuhely and was taken by an amateur photographer.

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun

C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot All Rights including International Rights and Internet Rights are claimed.

ATTENTION

 

FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA : URBARIUM #2 : CENSUS/ INVENTORY OF LIKAVA SAINT SOPHIA CASTLE IN LIPTO COUNTY - AN INVENTORY CIRCA 1674

URBARIUM means census but it also means count or inventory.  Therefore, in this category you won't just find a count of people, but also possessions.

For this example, we will be linking to the following link which is found in the Hungaricana - Archives - Urbarium category: 

Archives Hungaricana Urbarium Lipto Search Castle  

The year on this archival document is 1674.

IN LATIN and then HUNGARIAN IT SAYS: 

Inventarium

A likavai vár és birtokbeli tartozékai inventariuma, melyet Schultz György, Turanszky Gábor, Haassaeus Fülöp és Rady László kamarai megbízottak vettek fel a fenti napi, rózsahegyi kelettel.

(NB! A leltár érdekessége az, hogy – eltérően a kor és a kamara szokásától – először a leltározott tárgyat nevezi meg, s utána sorolja fel, hogy ebből az adott tárgybólhol, mennyi van. Ez tárgyi szempontból áttekinthetővé s lényegesen rövidebbé is teszi az inventariumot.)

TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH (You can find the extensiveHungarian at the link.)

INVENTORY

The inventory of the Likava castel and its belongings, which was taken by chamber commissioners Gyorgy Schultz, Gabor Turanszky, Fulop Haassaeus and Laszlo Rady, with the above daily east from Rossahegy. (NOTE! The interesting thing about the inventory is that - unlike the customs of the age and the chamber - it first names the item being inventoried and then lists where and how much of this particular item it has. This makes the inventory clear and significantly shorter.) My remark: daily east means about a day's travel by horseback from Rossahegy.(Rossenberg). Notice the Germans into Hungary here with both the name Gyorgy Schultz and the place name Rossenberg. Also the castle is named after Saint Sophia, who's Greek Orthodox. It turns out Saint Sophia was a member of the Royal Family of Hungary. Also Fulup Haassaeus, who appears on the last page with his seal, along with the others, as Phillip Jacob Haas, may have been Jewish.

Saint Zsofia Castle in Likava.

First the inventory examines the grain crops: wheat, barley, double wheat (It also notes the Slovak name of the double wheat "Polovina," oats, millet, and then flour (measured in lukna and korec.) Then: construction materials: “Tegulae cauae pro lectis circiter No 30 – Asseres teneus No 50, Crassiores No 24 – Asseres ex rubro ligno No 21” = Caucus tiles for beds about 30, Thin planks 50, Thicker planks, 24, Red wood planks, 21. Then: flank bacon, smoked pork loin and head, shoulder blades skin bundle (by number of pieces), honey (in a barrel), a cup measure.  - Various animal skins (cow, sheep, calf, old goat, goat skins, finally in general "pelles elaboratae" = worked skins by number of pieces. Then cheese curds (in a jar), cheese (by the number of pieces), butter (in a box.) Afterwards: wine (in barrels), empty barrels, icces half and quarter-iccces measures made of wood.  Wooden ? also in the cellar: sauerkraut (in barrels.) - Salt (in glaze), flour boxes (by number of pieces) - Stones for construction ("Lapides quadratae" - according to the number of pieces; deposited; in several places of the castle.

Hollowed out pumpkin. Iron bars. Furnaces (both in the new castle and the old castle).  My note is that this must refer to the castle that existed there before 1674. Iron doors and windows (same: according to location and number of pieces) Then - Tables, chairs, window frames, stools, locks, pans.  Carriages, cabinets, auger, grape press, tubs - Flax sheaves  Board cutting saw. Large drills suitable for drilling wooden pipes.

Carriages, cabinets, auger, grape press, tubs. - Flax sheaves. – Board cutting saw. – Large drills suitable for drilling wooden pipes. "Libra." (NB!  The location is only very briefly defined everywhere:  "In novo Castello."  "In area Inferior: - etc.  So as I mentioned above, the emphasis is on the objects in the inventory, and not where they are.) - Furnace stone plinths ("Pedes lapidea pro appondendis fornacibus"), water barrels ("Urnae aquaticae:) hen cages - Then there will be allodial sheep and goat herds grazing on two larger mountain pastures (old and young sheep, old and young rams, old goats, young goats, old and young goats - according to number.

Then flows the Liskofalva allodium : Cereals (rye, barley, spelt, oats - in husks.) - After, the numerous livestock of the same place (dairy cows, pea cows, barren cows, old sheep, young sheep, plow oxen - "Arabiles Boues" - five - four - three - and two year old bulls.  Also "Vaccae inutiles, nullius valoris, one piece, as well as : "Graudida juuenca No1, Juuencula anni No 2" otherwise" young, one-year-old bulls; pigs, boars, piglets, geese, hens with a rooster)

Agricultural tools, tools, in the same allodium: plows (completely equipped), hay cart, with all accessories, yokes for oxen, a chain of 60 links.  

Smaller and larger jugs, pewter spitting dish, water barrel with iron tires. (NB!  After each group is finished, the doors and windows of the buildings visited are listed one by one, briefly stating whether the door and window structure in question is made of iron, and if it is a door or gate, what kind of lock it has. For these he names the building - e.g. "portae ad Horrea" but sometimes he doesn't...

(continued)

This inventory reveals that the castle was depending on farming and animal husbandry, which may have supplied the residents of the castle.  Let's do some more research....

Who was Saint Sophia of Hungary? 

There were three castles in Lipto. This one is in ruins but you can visit it:

SLOVAKIA TRAVEL : LIKAVA CASTLE (SLOVAKIA)

Excerpt:  The Castle was referred to for the first time in 1315. Its construction started with the intention to have a guarding point over the passage across the river Váh and the trade route from the Váh Basin to Orava and further to Poland.

The Castle owners, the noble family of Hunyady, gradually reconstructed and widened the core of the Castle and built the part called the lower Castle in the second half of the 15th century. In the second half of the 17th century, the Thökölys' eventually finished the entire fortification system though it was of no use as it did not prevent the disaster at the beginning of the 18th century when the retreating troops of František Rákoczi completely pulled down the Castle in 1707.

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun

C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot All Rights including International Rights and Internet Rights are claimed.

FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #1 : CHARTERS : A WILL in ABAUJ CIRCA YEAR 1438

What does the term "Charter" mean? Modern definition: A charter is a legal document granted to an individual or corporation. It outlines the purpose and structure for the creation of a colony, city, or organization, as well as the rights each organization will have. 

Charters in the National Archives of Hungary, or found through the databases of Hungaricana, are decisions made by the King or other authorities such as Princes, Nobles, land-owners/ Barons (including churches), or local authorities, about property rights, and may include information about grants, repossessions, and who is who. They also document wills, such as the one we will look at here.

Charters may not apply to your family or personal research, but it can be some fun to look into them anyway to see if any of the places your ancestors lived are included in the Hungaricana databases. It can be thrilling to find someone with your surname mentioned in a very old Charter, even if you'll never be able to prove they are related to you. With these Charters you can get a feel for the way of life and mentality of a time and place. 

The Charters are from pre-printing press days when a scribe had the specialized skills of writing and reading. Nobles often remained illiterate and allowed the scribe - a servant - to do his work. Religious people - priests, monks, nuns - were more learned than most people, who were unable to read or write. As a note, sometimes just being able to handwrite your name was considered literate. Instead of a handwritten signature, some people, including notaries, used wax seals, often with the family heraldry, to indicate their presence or approval.

Using the Google (or another translator) can be extremely helpful when you don't know the Hungarian language. This is because the old, handwritten Hungarian (which might differ from more current Hungarian) of the Charters can be difficult but HUNGARICANA's modern language abstracts are sometimes close to word for word. You can go to the original document (some of which are in tatters, other pristine) and see if there is more information if intrigued by the abstract.

In the example below, we also encounter Latin of the early Medieval period.

Let's take a look!

I chose to search for Gonc (In Abauj County) because the now small settlement, which got bypassed when the railroad was built, was once an important  "hustle-bustle" administrative center in Hungary and many Charters were entered there.  

TITLE and TRANSLATION THAT WILL COME UP IN HUNGARICANA

DIPLOMATIKAI LEVÉLTÁR (Q szekció) • Kincstári levéltárból (E) • MKA, Acta Paulinorum (Q 312) • 13191

THE DATE ON THIS CHARTER IS May 22,1438 (!)

Diplomatic Archive section Q  From the treasury archive (E)  MKA, acta Paulinorum (Q312) / 13191

Issuers of the charter Mihály gönci plébános

Mihály alesperes

György telkibányai plébános

Antal deruskai plébános   (de Ruskai indicates the settlement Goncruszka a few miles from Gonc.)

TRANSLATION : Milahly is the parish priest from Gonc (which today is named Saint Emerics) and he is a deputy. Gyorgy is a parish priest from Telkibanya (which is a settlement around the mountain from Gonc.) Antal is a parish priest from Deruska. (Goncruska)

végrendelet - this is a will

ABSTRACT TEXT

The parish priests of Mihaly Gonc, Gyorgy Telkibanya and Anta Deruska prove that GYORGY CUPRAR, citizen of Telkibanya, bequeathed his vineyard and mill, which grinds various products and wood, to SZUZ MARIA, monestary in Gonc.  (MONESTARY OF THE VIRGIN MARY) Fragment of three green imprinted seals. (These are the official wax seals of the three priests.)

 ....

ABSTACT TEXT CONTINUES:

Parish priest and deacon Mihaly of Gwnch (Gonc), parish priest Gyorgy of Telkybania, and parish priest Antal of Ruska testify that on the Monday before the feast of the Ascension of the Lord (May 19) in the parish priest Mihaly's house (dota), citizen GYORGY CUPRAR of Telkibania appeared before them and made a will to leave the village of Chechuz in the territory of Telkibania with all its benefits, with the exception of one plot of land, which he will keep for himself during his lifetime, to the monastery of the Virgin Mary near Gwnch, also to this monastery he leaves his vineyard in Sancho on the Chater Mountain with the stipulation that the monks of the monetary cultivate the vineyard and give him half the yield of the vineyard as long as he lives. At the head of the village and the vineyard should say a mas de quinque vulneribus Christi.(Translation from Latin: Mass of the Five Wounds of Christ) every day, with the exception of Saturday, and a mas de assuncione Maria viginis glorios (Mass of the Glorious Assumption of Mary). He also leaves the mill for grinding cereals and pulses located in the territory of Telkybania to the monastery, with the stipulation that as long as he, his wife and her sister are alive, they will use the mill, and only after their death will it be fully transferred to the monastery.

GO TO THIS LINK TO SEE THE ORIGINAL including the three seals of the priests.

https://archives.hungaricana.hu/en/charters/LINK TO 13191

We know that in the 1400's the village may have been called or written GWNCH so I also searched for Chater Mountain and also the village Chechuz - none of which are coming up on the Internet...  Maybe you can find them?

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Hungaricana Fun

C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot All Rights including International Rights and Internet Rights are claimed.

FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA : INTRODUCTION TO A HUNGARIAN HISTORY AND GENEALOGY SERIES

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun

COMING UP!  I ENCOURAGE YOU TO FOLLOW MY LEAD AND EXERCIZE YOUR RESEARCH SKILLS!

You may not speak the language and many Hungarian-Americans do not. But you can still use the Hungaricana databases fairly well. Some truly amazing archival documents have been preserved. 

Here's the link to the main page: https://www.hungaricana.hu/en/ of the Hungaricana CULTURAL HERITAGE PORTOL.

Excerpt:  The purpose of the Hungaricana project is to share Hungarian cultural heritage including contents that have never been accessible before. Our goal is to create an environment where everyone, whether professional or amateur, can explore Hungary's, or even their own history and culture in a clean and efficient way.

READY?

C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot All Rights including International Rights and Internet Rights are claimed. 

750 MAGYAR FOLK SAYINGS : SOME OF THESE WORDS OF WISDOM MAY SOUND FAMILIAR

Paczolay Gyula : 750 MAGYAR KOZMONDAS 

So many folk tales and sayings teach values, customs, and ways of life. Some of these will sound so familiar to Americans that one will wonder if the saying originated in Hungary or not.  Others are clearly from a time when agricultural life was the norm.

The sayings about a good wife being a beaten one make me cringe.  

But take a look at the use of the Hungarian language here: References to dogs, cats, pigs, goats, wolves, geese and sparrows, hares, ox - ropes and hanging, trees and weather, priests and Slovaks and Wallachians to discover the attitudes about life that made these sayings roll off the lips of the Hungarians.

Enjoy looking through these.

Some excerpts:

Okos disznó mély gyökeret ránt.

Amit főztél, edd is meg!

What you have cooked, you should eat as well.

You have to take the responsibility for your action.

***

Gúzsba kötve táncol.

He danced bound hand and foot.

He tries hard but has very little freedom of movement or action.

***

Szemérmes koldusnak üres a táskája.

A shy beggar has an empty scrip.

IMPRESS ME

 

Image by Pixabay - harianti, 

ALTA HUMAN ATLAS EXHIBIT at LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY - CENTRAL : MAGYAR DNA

LAPL ORG EVENTS EXHIBITS : ALTA HUMAN ATLAS running through April 27, 2025.

Excerpt: Alta is a social-impact art project that showcases 100 extraordinary individuals creating positive change across Los Angeles County. Each participant is represented through photographic portraits, ancestral DNA, and interviews that reveal how their lives intersect with the region—past, present, and future—creating a legacy work that documents and conserves a deeper narrative for generations to come about the city, its people, and its communities.

Each of them will tell you some of their stories if you download the free, interactive App. Storytelling is a powerful tool for preserving historical perspectives, and can often offer a more nuanced understanding of our complicated past. In a sprawling metropolis like Los Angeles, storytelling can also emerge as a potent tool to bridge divides, cultivating a sense of belonging that can transcend cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic differences.

image of peace dove from GraphicsFairy

I was able to see this exhibit and spend some time with it.  Each individual was photographed and some were selected to be presented on the wall - along with their DNA results - and some were in books to look through. I was delighted to note that - unexpectedly - some of these people had MAGYAR DNA and it was listed as MAGYAR rather than HUNGARIAN.

It was quite interesting!

Alta / A Human Atlas of a City of Angels, is a collaboration with the Getty Conservation Institute and PST ART: Art & Science Collide.

HUNGARIAN ROSE LANGUAGE

  And this bouquet of pink roses means what in the Hungarian Language of Flowers?

Here's hints :  

More than friends, certainly, and lots of affection, but not ready for those serious red roses....