BIRDS NEST AND MISTLETOE

 

2012 HUNGARIAN CHRISTMAS STAMP : MAGYAR POSTA

YOU'VE GOT A FEW DAYS TO WRITE DOWN YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!

I know that most of us don't actually follow through on most of them, but I think it helps to make that list, to know what it is we really want to do with our lives...  And if we only manage to cut back on smoking, or loose five pounds instead of twenty-five, so we made the effort, and that counts!

Wishing all my readers all the things to wish for...

6000 TONS OF CHRISTMAS TREATS - OVERSIZED BON BONS

Szaloncukor (Salon Sugar) from Hungary - melted chocolate, sugar, whipped cream, orange juice... any flavor...the filling is always the surprise...covered in tissue and foils...hung on the trees...leave the paper on the tree as an ornament...

MATYO PSYCHEDELIC BY KRISZTINA LAZAR

Thought this was very inventive...

MATYO TRADITIONAL HERITAGE FROM UNESCO

Folk art of the Matyó, embroidery of a traditional community ...

HUNGARIAN CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS : EMBROIDERY and CRAFTS

The other day I was shopping for HUNGARIAN or HUNGARIAN INSPIRED Christmas ornaments - decorations for the tree, the "Christmas Tree" that is a tradition that came from the Northern European countries and from Pagan tree worship but which is popular in most European countries as it is in the United States. 

I found  many selections on line that are in the category of patriotic flags, flag colors, and Hungarian sayings.

I wanted something more traditional, and I think that means Hungarian embroidery; hearts, roosters, cats, boots, angels, and pigs, owls, even dogs - devil dogs, all embroidered colorfully on cut out shapes made of felt. I understand that a slang term for this type of ornament is MATYOS after the ethnic people, you could say a sub-group of Hungarians, who perhaps most excelled in the art and lived mostly in the Abauj-Torno- Zemplen counties which are today up against Slovakia. (You see this embroidery on folk costumes (clothes) too.)

Although I'm not too experienced with embroidery, I was introduced to it as a child and believe that I could make one or two ornaments of felt in the same spirit.

SAINT NICK AMERICAN STYLE

SAINT NICHOLAS

MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS MUSIC OF HUNGARY

CHILD WITH BEST DOGGIE FRIEND

NATIONAL SZENENYI LIBRARY : ORSZAGOS SZECHENYI KONYVTAR

NATIONAL SZECHENYI LIBRARY (translator on site) link here


Maybe if you can find a book in Hungarian that has been translated to English you can ask your local library in the United States to buy the book!

Hungarian Americans!  Ask your library to buy more books and DVD's on Hungary and by Hungarians!

COUNT JANOS ESTERHAZY RECIEVES COURAGE TO CARE AWARD FROM ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE

ADL HONORS COUNT JANOS ESTERHAZY link to article here

... "The ADL Jan Karski Courage to Care Award, established in 1987 to honor rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust era, was presented to Esterházy's grandson, Giovanni Malfatti, on Nov. 3 during the League's 2011 Annual Meeting in New York City.

"I know first-hand how essential it is to have the help of just one person, who at the moment of moral collapse, did not forget the essential principle of leading a moral life: Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor who was saved by his Polish nanny. "To help another human being when to do so will earn you scorn, contempt and even threaten your life and that of your family, that is to take a moral stand of incalculable value. János Esterházy did and he deserves our recognition and our eternal thanks." ...

A LIBRARIAN LIGHTS MY FUSE WITH HER COMMENT ABOUT HUNGARY BEING A " SMALL COUNTRY"

Luckily, the library I go to has a small collection of films from Hungary that also have English as an option.  However, the collection of travel films when it comes to Central and  Eastern Europe is terrible, just a couple very dated DVDs that pack Hungary in with other countries.  These films are over quick.

Meanwhile countries like Great Britain and France, even Mexico, are represented on the DVD film shelves with large collections.  So I asked the librarian when they are ordering more films for the library collection to please buy some that are current and that feature Hungary.

She said, "But Hungary is just a SMALL COUNTRY!"

Yes, I said, "It fits in the state of Indiana, just like France fits in Colorado (or was that Poland?)," knowing damn well that she wasn't really talking about how many square miles a country is but HOW IMPORTANT!

If anything, Hungary should be considered especially unique based on its language which is a mystery to this day, with so many experts with opinions that vary on the roots of it.  Hungarians are a mystery too because even with so much research on DNA, there are many theories about where exactly these Hungarians came from, or what tribes of people they mixed with before they arrived in the area we know as Hungary.

PLEASE ASK YOUR LIBRARIANS TO ORDER IN DVD'S ABOUT HUNGARY, and as a Magyar-American emphasize the cultural, historical, and other importance of this "small" country!

WILD GEECE FESTIVAL NOVEMBER : HUNGARY LAKE TATA

EXCITING!

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA RE-ELECTED TO SERVE A SECOND FOUR YEAR TERM : WONDER WHAT THE HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN VOTE WAS

I wish there were some way to find out how most Hungarian-Americans voted.  My suspicion is that most are Democrats and voted for President Barack Obama. 

Now with our economy so weak, and so many Americans suffering from great loss, it's difficult for me to believe we will experience prosperity any time soon.  The Hungarian- Americans seem to be a hard working people and a people that know how to economize, make sacrifices, and do without, while also being very giving.
Still, there is only so much a person or a family can take.

So it is my greatest hope that somehow we will be able to pull up out of this tail-spin, and I don't know that our President can do that.  Obviously the American people were voting for another four years of trying.  The election was not a landslide victory.  We must be aware that almost half of all Americans want a more conservative way of life.

ALL SOULS DAY - HUNGARIAN SHORT FILM

Hungarian short movie, which won 1st Prize in the Hungarian16th National Student Film Festival of 2009.

ALL SOULS DAYS : FOR THE ANCESTORS

STORM SANDY : BE PREPARED TO GO WITHOUT ELECTRICITY : CONTACT FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, FAMILY NOW and THEN

If you are living in the pathway of Storm Sandy, which appears to be a STORM THAT IS HISTORY IN THE MAKING,  you need to be prepared, even if you are far from the Atlantic coast.  I'm posting this message out of concern for the people who may not be taking the situation too seriously, as just this morning here on the west coast I heard someone laughing it off.  IT IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE HAS NOT HEARD THIS STORM IS ON THE WAY. 
High winds in an area hundreds of miles wide, may be a bigger danger than immediate flooding.  Elecricity may be out, so you may not be able to get on a computer or recharge your cell phone.  High winds may mean that powerlines cannot be repaired for some time and high winds may cause more damage than water.

If you don't have three to seven days worth of drinkable water, start filling up some containers now.  Muddied water may mean that it's some time before you can trust the water from your tap.

Have food like canned goods that don't need refrigeration.  Not just for you, but for your pets.

Put your important documents that you might need in plastic bags and ready to carry with you... as well as any medications you may need to take.

DON'T GO OUT OF YOUR SAFE HOME to watch the water rise. Stay out of the way of emergency personnel. 

BUT PLEASE - if you know of a neighbor or relative who lives alone, who may be disabled, who doesn't drive, who may need a call, make a call now, and later after the storm has passed.

Those of us who are in safe locations may try to contact relatives and friends in the storm's path using cell phones, but I wonder how it will go if the cell towers are down. 

TIME TO WORSHIP YOUR HUNGARIAN HERITAGE!

As you may know Hungarians in Hungary have no cultural tradition like Americans have developed over Halloween, and frankly I'm glad to know that.  That's because Halloween, which started out as a Celtic spiritual celebration of one's ancestors, and communication with them though dead in mystical ways, has turned into a celebration of violence and horror, and all sorts of strange and often criminal behavior, especially in films.

I don't find horror films enjoyable or worth watching.  I think they can do dangerous things to our psyche.  I don't want the bad dreams they inspire. 

I find All Soul's Day much more interesting.  This is a celebration of the dead, the ancestors, a remembrance of them, that occurs about this time in many cultures that have strong historical roots in Catholicism.  Even if you aren't religious or from an ethnic heritage that celebrates the ancestors at this time of the year,  dedicating an evening to gathering to discuss family history, going through old photos, or working on your genealogy, can be inspiring.

For instance, when I think of my ancestors who immigrated from Hungary, I know that some of them wanted to go back to Hungary, one of them managed to visit there several months a year for many years, but most got to the United States knowing there was no turning back. 

Still in a graveyard in Hungary there are a great number of ancestors of mine who I have never visited.  I can't help but wonder about these people who came before mine, and who genetically contributed to who I am.  I know about most of them not through stories because I was born after those who had the stories had died, but through genealogical research.  Of course I wish they would "speak" to me and nudge me towards the best records so that when I write of them, I can represent them truthfully.

At this time of year I light candles for some of those who have passed before me, hoping though that they have gone on to greater things in the afterlife and in their spiritual journey, hoping that they have not hung around this earth to watch over me which might delay their progress that they have earned through living decent lives, and being people you would want to know, and just may, someday.

Christine
Maygar-American Blog

C 2012 All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

HUNGARIAN STEREOTYPES : WE ALL HAVE A LITTLE DRACULA (VLAD THE IMPALER) IN OUR PSYCHE

(Does this man look like your cousin?)

This stereotype is kind of funny if you think about it. It means that we have within us a Barbaric aspect, a Dark Side.

OK, so Vlad the Impaler was the "real Dracula" sort of. He was Barbaric by today's standards because he cut off the heads of his enemies and impaled them on stakes but didn't they do that more recently in Cambodia? LINKING TO HIS TRUE STORY ON THIS Castle Of Spirits site!

"Vlad the Impaler -Tepes (pronounced tzse-pesh) was born in the town of Sighisoara in Transylvania (now known as northern Romania) in 1431 and later ruled the area of Southern Romania known as Wallachia. His father was Vlad Dracul who was a knight in the Order of the Dragon which was a union of central and Eastern European rulers who were a tad worried about the rising Ottoman empire."

AMERICAN HUNGARIAN CLUB - PALM BEACH FLORIDA

AMERICAN HUNGARIAN CLUB - PALM BEACH FLORIDA 

Planning a lot of parties, including for Halloween, this club looks to be very active and lots of fun!

PUPPY MILLS ? I FINALLY MET A PUPPY MILL DOG

I finally met a puppy mill dog, a six year old female who had been kept in a cage and bred over and over again, no exercise, not properly fed - her ears and tail had lost their hair. Her teats were very enlarged.

The puppy mill was in a pet store.  You may have heard that in some parts of the United States there is a great effort to end puppy mills, to even prevent pet stores from selling dogs. 

I have mixed feelings about preventing pet stores from selling dogs and cats.  I think there is a proper role for dog breeders, and that it is wrong to tell a store which is otherwise following our laws that they cannot sell any animals.  It is the conditions the animals are living in that is the real question.  Most of the time people go to pet stores to buy a puppy that is a pure breed. 

Shelters and Rescue Groups have some pure breeds but also a lot of mutts. I think there is a role for the breeder and a good reason to get a pure breed dog, though mine is not.  Though every dog is different, knowing the breed means knowing more about the breeds health issues, temperament, and the size the animal will be as an adult; you don't want to have to give up a dog that has outgrown its welcome in your apartment after puppyhood.  You want to know how long the animal is likely to live. Though life is often what happens while you're busy making plans, you need to ask yourself before you take on a pet how many years you think you will have her.  If you're a senior, you may not want a pet who will likely outlive you. I believe the dog I adopted was taken by a relative who had no time for her after a senior died or went to a nursing home or assisted living.

This poor puppy mill dog had a life of imprisonment, a life that was that of a slave. An employee of the store found a home for her because the owners had asked her to take it to the animal services to be put to death cheaply.  The employee asked a woman who had two other small dogs and lived in a house with a yard and her three daughters if she would take her.

This is what the woman who adopted her told me.  "She was afraid to put her feet on cement or even the grass.  All she knew as normal was the feel of metal cage beneath her feet." 

That's when I understood what PUPPY MILL means.

This dog's health has been somewhat renewed.  After six months or so of good food her hair on her ears and tail grew back.  She stays close to the woman who adopted her and who is kind to her, and luckily has joined a household full of loving women and doggie companions.  She also gets to go to the dog park.  This dog's breed has a life expectancy of about 12 years - maybe 15.  I couldn't help but shed a tear looking at her, both from sadness knowing what she had lived and happiness that she will have some life that is worth living.

C 2012 Magyar-American blog. All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights.

WHAT'S UP : HUNGARY A VERY INTERESTING SITE!

WHATS UP HUNGARY LINK - WHAT KIND OF BEER DO HUNGARIAN WOMEN LIKE?

I found this site because of the intreguing question..

"During the Budapest Sörfesztivál (Beer Festival of Budapest) several women were asked about their most preferred taste of beer. According to their answers, women like to try out unusual, different flavors such as banana, chili, pumpkin, chocolate or cherry but they also drink ‘classic’ beers such as Dreher, Corona or Heineken and they have often mentioned Belgian beer as well."

I found other articles on the site interesting as well.

WE CAN TAKE A JOKE : MONTY PYTHON HUNGARIAN PHRASE BOOK SKETCH

Now I want to know if you think this is funny!

HUNGARIAN PULI DOG

HUNGARIAN PULI DOG ESCORTED PRICILLA CHAN DOWN THE ISLE

When Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and his longtime girlfriend Pricilla Chan married in their Palo Alto backyard a few months ago, their one year old Hungarian Puli dog, named Beast, escorted her down the isle.

Source October 2012 Vanity Fair Magazine, page 160

WEST VIRGINIA HUNGARIANS : I WANT TO LEARN MORE

Hungarians came to mine coal in West Virginia... and in Fairmont, West Virginia, from 1939-1960 there was a "First Hungarian Day" celebrated, an annual event held by a group of Hungarian Americans. I'm linking to a West Virginia Encyclopedia page that has a bit of a story about this group of immigrants.

"In 1890, there were 236 native Hungarians in West Virginia. By 1900, there were 1,062 Hungarians in the state, with about half of them split evenly between McDowell and Marion counties. Most were coal miners. The 1910 census lists a total of 5,939 Hungarians in West Virginia, although the influx slowed as indicated by the 1920 census listing 6,260, with Logan and McDowell counties with the greatest number. Hungarians were the second most numerous immigrant group in West Virginia mines after the turn of the 20th century, with Italians being first."

Could any of you from a West Virginia and Hungarian heritage tell me more?

September 2019 - Lots of hits lately on this club post!  Welcome all you Hungarian- West Virginians!

SANDOR LAKATOS and FAMOUS GYPSY MUSIC

STEREOTYPE OF HUNGARIANS : WE ARE GYPSIES

Here in the United States we often hear the words Hungarian and Gypsies together ("Hungarian Gypsy") as in Hungarian Gypsy music, as if there were not Gypsy (or is that Rom or Romany) music in other countries and as if the music of the Gypsies were identical to Hungarian music or as if there are not people of one of the many tribes or clans of gypsies in other countries.

Now, I admit to you that I'm just learning about Hungarian music and don't know enough about Hungarian music or Gypsy music. Maybe this is all about the violin as a preferred musical instrument? But as I understand it, one of the accepted roles of Gypsy musicians was and is to play at Hungarian events, including weddings. Could it be that in Hungary, Gypsy music was more appreciated than in other European countries? Would that be because it's closer to traditional Hungarian music?

I simply have never heard the words "Polish Gypsy Music," or "British Gypsy Music," or "French Gypsy Music."

GYURKA SZILARD USES HIS VIOLIN TO MAKE BIRD SOUNDS!

THE HUNGARIAN ROOM : NATIONALITY ROOMS : UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Take a virtual tour of the room itself by going to this link where you can click on the floor, the ceiling, and so on, to see a bit of Hungarian craftsmanship used to build the insides of this room at the University of Pittsburgh. Many Hungarian immigrants made it to Pittsburgh where there was always work in industry.

December 2023 Link https://www.nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/rooms/hungarian-room

NATIONALITY ROOMS PROGRAM
1209 Cathedral of Learning
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

December 2023

This link to the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese Archive may also be helpful https://diopitt.org/archives

HUNGARIAN CLUB OF COLORADO

Of the many posts of interest on the HUNGARIAN CLUB OF COLORADO SITE IS THIS!

The Hungarian Leadership, in the interest of national unity, started a program which goal is to register every Hungarian living abroad. Whoever registers, personally of course, will get information about Hungary on a regular basis which serves the common interests. Personal information will of course be secure and will be kept private according to law.
I would ask and advise everyone to register and tell your family members and friends. Registration is very easy and fast at the following web address: www.nemzetiregiszter.hu

With respect, Megyesi Jenő

Translation: Attila Weiser, Jr.

JULY 2019 COMMENT : This post about club gets more hits than any other I've so far posted!  It must be a very active and fun Hungarian Hungarian/American club! 

October 2019 - And still does!

I hope that some of you who come to MAGYAR AMERICAN BLOGSPOT will look through the blog.  There is a lot of information here for you including family history and genealogy -experienced advice - and links, cultural stereotypes, and humor.

FRUIT BASKET with GRAPES

WELCOMING READERS FROM PERU, SWEDEN, INDIA, and SOUTH KOREA

I want to say hello and acknowledge readers of this blog ! I always wonder if people from other countries who check in are of Hungarian ancestry themselves! If you would like to leave a comment, please do!

SOME WORKS OF COMPOSER ROBERT GULYA

I'm always open to learning more about Hungarian born artists and composers. I don't think the average American knows much about Hungary at all. Having some Hugarian heritage is a starting point for a developing interest. Recently I came across a CD called SOME WORKS OF ROBERT GULYA, and inside is a little resume that kind of goes like this "The man is loaded with prizes and awards for his music!" So i brought it home and listened to it and I liked what I heard. It felt relaxing to me, though I'm not sure he was composing to relax people like some New Age composers are.

Going a little further, I found his official web site, which I've linked to (click on the title) and read that he divides his time between London and Hungary and is composing for film. Yes there are sound samples.

THE BERLIN WALL FELL : HUNGARY CELEBRATES

From 1961 through 1989 THE BERLIN WALL was a cement barrier between East and West Germany that was many miles long attended by armed guards. In 1989 Hungary began to allow people through it's Austrian border and in a month's time it's said that more than 13,000 East German's, tourists, escaped through Hungary to Austria, even leaving their cars behind. A chain of events followed...

DID YOU WATCH THE OLYMPIC GAMES LONDON 2012? : HUNGARIAN ATHLETES WHO PARTICIPATED

A Hundred Fifty Nine athletes from Hungary participated in the Summer Olympics and her's the official site which profiles all of them.

HUNGARIAN NEO NAZI CSANAD SZEGEDI DISCOVERS HE'S PART JEWISH AND STEPS DOWN FROM THE JOBBIK PARTY

We Americans seem to know a lot about World War II and the Holocaust from films. Even if we never meet a Jewish person in our life, if we go to the movies we've probably seen at least a couple films that show the horror of the Holocaust.

Even here there are Holocaust Deniers. That's why so many of the survivors have recorded their testimonials before they die to be preserved so that in the future the Holocaust Deniers won't succeed in saying it never happened. To most of us, I think there is this: genocide is not limited to the Jews or the past.

In Hungary there is an openly anti-Semitic Jobbik Party. I'm just learning about them. I don't know if they want another Holocaust, or exactly how anti-Semitic they are or why. I did find this story about a man who has learned his grandmother died at Auschwitz and has had to step down from that Party. Articles on the net say he is going to Israel and meeting a Rabbi.

This year I went to a Museum of the Holocaust for a Memorial Day event. It was overwhelming and depressing. I didn't have to be Jewish to feel that. I think what struck me the most was the realization that the Holocaust was before I was born, but closer on the time line than the films I've seen felt to me.

It may be very American and idealistic of me, but I do think Hungary, a country that takes such pride in its Christianity, needs to consider that Christianity's Jesus was Jewish.

KITTY

SUMMER IS THE TIME TO GET A CAT BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS : CATS ON SALE!

If you are a CAT LOVER, and you've been thinking about getting a cat as a pet, or adding a cat to your collection of pets, this summer is the time. Kitty can settle in before you or your kids go back to school, and by then the kids know the routine, feeding Kitty and cleaning the litter pan.

Let's face it, with these new clumping cat litters it has never been easier to have a house cat!

One of my best friends, a man, loves cats. He's tells me how the little one sleeps on his feet every night. He went to the hospital and the cat cried missing him (or his feet!) His family had to hold the little cat up to the phone and he would talk to it, it's little ears twitching and a look of astonishment on its face when it heard his voice.

I'm personally allergic to cats, but many of my friend's have them, and I enjoy visiting and playing with them!

I'm aware that there is a special 9 lives $9 cat promotion going on; any cat over 9 months old is $9 out the door, with shots, and spayed or neutered, from a shelter. FOUND ANIMALS is the name of the non-profit, and I'm linking to the site now, which has the details! This is in Los Angeles, but check with them, because I think they may be expanding their territory. BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY also had a dog and cat special this past weekend and there are other cat specials going on sponsored by other non-profits.

Just as the depression era economy is resulting in more homeless people, there are more homeless pets than ever. Despite all the rescue groups working hard to place animals, people who are loosing their homes or going into apartments that don't allow pets, are facing having to give them up. Some people whose pets have run away are not picking them up at shelters, even though the animal is licenced or micro chipped because they can't afford the bail out. Some people are paying the fees to shelters to take the animal for them. Some people are ABANDONING THEIR PETS AT DOG PARKS or on the street, thinking that maybe, if they don't die eating out of garbage cans or miss getting his by a car, they will be taken in by someone willing to feed them. I should pity them though, because maybe they really tried on their own to have the pet adopted by friends and time ran out, and they just feared that a shelter would put the animal to death.

Dogs require more than cats, no doubt. A cat doesn't need as much interaction to be happy. But one thing you should know. A cat will starve to death before it will eat something it doesn't like. A dog will after a few days eat whatever you put out and risk getting sick!

I've been cat shopping for a senior friend of mine who can't deal with the animal shelter scene. So very many cats! Do you have enough love?

OREGON HUNGARIANS ! ARATAS ENSEMBLE

"We are a small group, currently four men and eight women. We are always looking for new members, so twice a month, on first and third Saturdays, we have tanchaz (recorded music, except for live tanchaz about twice a year), where we do teaching in the early evening, then dance until late evening. We also periodically hold a one-day workshop at the Chalet (see details below).

The group is run democratically, which sometimes means chaotically. We developed our own choreographies in the earlier years, and later bought professional choreographies from Sandor Timar, Sandor Roman, Zoli Nagy, and Erika Bakonyi. We currently have two "real" Hungarians in the group (Eszter and Judit), but everyone in the group is highly interested in Hungarian culture, dance, culture, and song. Some of us are able to speak enough Hungarian to sometimes let the Hungarians know what we're thinking, and mangle the language enough to amuse them."

music and dance! These Portland, Oregan based Hungarian American's are looking for members! Check out their site, linked at the title of this post!

SUNFLOWER

GROUPS OF ETHNICITY IN HUNGARY : The History and Present-day Organization of Hungarian Ethnology

"Reaching over present-day borders, partly from geographical, partly from historical consideration, we can divide that part of the Carpathian Basin into four large sections where the mother tongue of the people who live there is Hungarian. Transdanubia (the Dunántúl) is the western territory bordered by the Danube and the Dráva rivers, and there are also smaller Hungarian areas in Austria. Upper Hungary (the Felföld) contains the northern hill and mountain area and reaches into Slovakia. The Great Plain (Alföld) is the central plain of the Carpathian Basin, which continues into Yugoslavia on the south. The Hungarian ethnic groups of Transylvania (Erdély) in places even sweep through the crest of the Eastern Carpathians. We will follow this geographical division in the following chapters." Just a tiny excerpt from a paper entitled "The History and Present-day Organization of Hungarian Ethnology. "

ORAGAMI ROZSA

Thinking of the paper flowers I saw as a child decorating fire place mantles...

BASKET OF RED AND PINK ROSES

KURGYIS ATTILA : DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

HUNGARIAN STEREOTYPE : THEY INSIST THEIR GUESTS EAT UNTIL THEY ARE READY TO ROLL OUT THE DOOR

If you are a guest in a Hungarian's home you must eat, eat, eat.
Try everything twice.

Here in the United States at a Magyar-American's home ?

Help them eat all the left overs in the fridge, or at least not leave anything uneaten at the table.

If you do not, you will INSULT them!

This goes double for drinking. You must keep up with or exceed your host.

THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE : PBS THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE :MAGYAR AMERICAN FILM REVIEW

I found this Golden Gate Bridge video more interesting than I thought it would be, because of the Trenton - New Jersey connection. You see a lot of Hungarian immigrants were wire workers in Trenton, and worked for the company that made the wire - those long thick cords of them - for suspension bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge, which opened for traffic in May of 1937. THE ROEBLING wire manufacturing company of Trenton - New Jersey, was essential to the building of the bridge. Joseph B. Stauss was the engineer whose life mission it was to build a suspension bridge over the dangerous churning waters of the San Francisco Bay, but he didn't last to project's end.




2004 WGBH Educational Foundation.
PBS VIDEO... THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE : A Wonder of the Modern World"

I also found the Golden Gate Bridge project interesting because the bridge was build during the Great Depression and kept a lot of men working though this was very dangerous work. Typically on every bridge project some workers fell top their death. For the Golden Gate lives were saved due to a safety net that was designed to catch the falls.

The net was an expensive but worthy innovation. It might have given the workers more confidence so they could work faster but then a heavy piece of equipment fell into the net which didn't hold and took workers with it.

C 2014 All Rights Reserved  Magyar-American BlogSpot

PITTSBURGH PENNSYLVANIA'S LAST HUNGARIAN CLUB CLOSES!

Breaking News...

Fortune has it that there is still a club in McKeeport. Linking to the AP Press article about the club: some excerpts.

"Today, this two-story brick haven in Hazelwood -- a spartan, smoke-filled forerunner of modern man caves -- passes into the hands of Pittsburgh Firefighters Local No. 1. The union, which paid $75,000, will use it for offices and a social hall after renovating the building at 120 Flowers Ave.

The last one remaining in the city limits, this Hungarian club was chartered in 1918, said Mike Kerekgyarto, a 37-year-old plumber who lives in Lincoln Place and is the organization's youngest member and its president. (The oldest member is Zoltan Palfy, age 92.)

"It was a place where everybody could sit down and talk about certain issues, political problems, family problems. You could always get advice," he said, adding that members included doctors, lawyers and judges, as well as the late Joe Chiodo, who owned Chiodo's Tavern in Homestead and whose wife was Hungarian.

Members said the causes for the closing included a 10 percent drink tax that took effect in 2008 and the club's dwindling membership, which has dropped from an all-time high of 1,500 to 35.

By the 1940s, more than 1,000 people belonged to the Hungarian club. On Friday nights, "In the 1960s, they used to have two bands, one downstairs and one upstairs. If you were not there by 5 p.m., you weren't getting a chair or a table," Kerekgyarto added. Now, the small Hazelwood-based fraternity will move southeast to McKeesport's Hungarian Social Club on Walnut Street which has about 65 members."

BLOND HORSE

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO YOUR CELL PHONE?

Pestering Google prompts to link this blog to a cell phone, which I will not and cannot do, have me wondering if soon Google will make it mandatory to have an operational cell phone in order to link to their services. I hope not. While I tend to march with technology at the back of the parade, that is way too Big Brother for me.

Over the last few years I've gone from a plan with very few minutes that I was so happy to be out of, to a prepaid phone I'm more satisfied with. Within my city both carriers have significant areas where there is no reception and there are times when messages come in hours later after they were left, floating around in space I guess. I found myself waiting until the day before my unused minutes expired to make dozens of phone calls to use those minutes, and found that the limited day minutes didn't work for business and the free after 7 pm and before 7 am calls didn't work for my personal life, especially not long distance, which had been my primary motivation for signing up in the first place, to kill the long distance land line bill.

I left that phone in a restaurant a month before the plan expired and decided to try life without a phone. I went 4 1/2 months before I got a prepaid plan with another carrier, and so far I've paid on time, without getting any benefit to my credit rating. I don't care. I like the idea that I can walk away without any penalty. For ten dollars more than I was playing on the previous plan I have texting and internet. I'm presently really irritated with two friends who want to text instead of speak, and who don't know that 9:30 PM is a little late to keep up the conversation about nothing important.

Once in a while I forget my cell phone at home and get to experience what life was like just a few years ago before I felt insecure without a cell on me. The way I feel as though I'm missing something really concerns me. When I get really radical I wonder when exactly is it going to be manditory for us humans to be chipped the way they do dogs and cats these days.

REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE PRETTY SURE THAT IF THERE WAS AN EMERGENCY YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO SUMMON HELP? REMEMBER WHEN YOU WORKED YOUR WHOLE DAY AT WORK FOR YOUR BOSS, making a limited number of personal calls on your break or lunch hour? REMEMBER WHEN YOU GOT HOME and GOT CALLS FROM FRIENDS IN THE EVENING TO MAKE PLANS FOR THE WEEKEND? REMEMBER WHEN YOU COULD GO TO A MOVIE, PLAY, or THE LIBRARY and not hear buzzing and ringing? REMEMBER WHEN YOU GOT ON A BUS AND YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO OTHER PEOPLE'S PERSONAL CONVERSATIONS? REMEMBER WHEN YOU KNEW PRIVATE WAS PRIVATE AND YOU DIDN'T MAKE OR TAKE PERSONAL CALLS WHILE SHOPPING AT THE GROCERY STORE? I've made the mistake of forgetting and found myself followed down the sidewalk by a person or two who were listening and wanted more information : this is no way to make friends.

THE TRUTH IS, most of the time your phone should be OFF.

I'm thinking of going without a cell phone for a few months to see if I can even live the way I've lived most of my life till I got one.

CZISKO : HUNGARIAN COWBOYS

Hortobagy National Park is one scene of the traditional Hungarian cowboys of the great Hungarian plain - the Cziskos.

Here is the explaination this YouTube video poster wrote : In this video I proudly represent the CSIKÓS (Hungarian horse-herder) from the region of HORTOBÁGY and HAJDÚ county. We´ve been using the whip since ancient times to push the horse herd in the favoured direction. The animals react to the sound but aren´t touched by the whip. Due to the oppressive rule of the Habsburg dynasty, many herdsmen of the Hungarian lowlands became highwaymen or/and joined the freedom fight of 1848. The light cavalry evolving from the csikós used the whip as a weapon. The act of laying down the horse derives from ancient Hungarian warfare. It was a way of staying unseen by the enemy. The highwaymen also applied this technique to perform robberies on surprise.

Standing on the horse doesn´t cause pain, it simply demonstrates the close connection between man and animal.

In today´s time, there are still a few traditional horsemen left, who do the work. Cracking the whip during a demonstration like this is also an act of honoring the land and its people. The herdsman is a symbol for freedom and independence and carries the old spirit of the nation.

WATER POLO : HUNGARY PLAYS THE UNITED STATES

I'm learning that water polo is a very serious sport in Hungary. The Hungarian Team has played Greece, Russia, Great Britian, Italy... I have to admit that I like the videos, such as this one, that I see on Youtube, because whatever team, these are some handsome men! Linking to the Hungarian National Water Polo team site,

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

AKRON HUNGARIAN AMERICAN CLUB

Since 1923... join them for Father's Day Celebrations, or perhaps GRAPE DAY in early October (Do they get into the grape vats in Akron? (I've always wanted to stomp the grapes!)

Here April 2022   AKRON HUNGARIAN AMERICANS

THE MAGYAR - KOREAN CONNECTION - LANGUAGE LINKS? DNA?

I'm sure you've heard. There are many theories about who the original Magyar - Hungarians - were and where they came from, including a story about the founding of Hungary that involves men marrying fairy women, following a white stag though the mountains, spitting into two groups, and one of them finding a new country to live in. Linguistic experts have been arguing over it, but it is commonly believed that Hungarian has only two other language links - Korean and Finnish.

I've been reading DNA sites because I think THERE LIES THE ANSWER, and one of then suggests that the Magyars are the ORIGINAL SUMARIANS. One of them said that about 17% of today's Hungarians show evidence of Asian Blood. I think I'm one of those 17 %. Someday I'll take a few different DNA tests and see what comes up.

I notice that readers check in once in a while from Korea, and I would love to know what the Koreans think of their possible connection - 1000 or more years ago - with the Magyars!

AN INTERVIEW (EXTENSIVE!) WITH ARPAD GONCZ : PAST PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY : IDEAS HAVE A LONGER HALF LIFE

This interview is extensive, with a great number of pictures...

Árpád Göncz: "Ideas have a Longer Half-life"

"Whether you see your life as successful or unsuccessful depends on what kind of hearth and home you set out from. I can call my life a string of collapses, failures and blind alleys. And I can say I've ended up, after twists and turns, just where I wanted to be, and I can do, I'm free to do the things I want to do for the rest of my life... I'm not at odds with myself, I'm at odds with the world; I'm just as out of sorts as everyone else. But I feel I can allow myself, in the time I'm left with, to live for the future, not in the past. And if there should ever be five minutes, five political minutes in Hungary when there's a need for a man who can get on with both communists and populars and has a clean record, I'll be here if I'm needed and elsewhere if I'm not."

(From the interview with Árpád Göncz made by András B.
Hegedűs on February 14, 1985)


This is a history lesson that Hungarians are probably familiar with and Americans not.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY : THE WOMAN WHO NURTURED YOU

If you're on this earth you had a mother and, if you're fortunate, you had a mother who truly nurtured you. 

How well do you know your mom, or the person who nurtured you? 

Do you know who your grandmothers and great-grandmothers were? 

If you met your mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother today, what, if anything would you have in common with them? 

If you don't know these women well, perhaps this is the day to honor them, as well as to ask them more about their life.

I love listening to old people tell their stories about how they lived when they were growing up.

NEW GOOGLE TRANSLATER INSTALLED

I've installed the new Google translator so you can instantly translate this whole blog into Hungarian, German, or another language. For now both this new translator and the old one will remain on my side bar!

Thank you for reading MAGYAR - AMERICAN. And as always, if you have any suggestions, leave a comment.

KITTY IN A SPRING BASKET

FATHER PATRICK DESBOIS HUNTS FOR THE KILLING FIELDS : HOLOCAUSTS BY BULLETS

THIS IS THE PRIEST I MENTIONED HEARING SPEAK RECENTLY, who heads up an organization that is searching for the killing fields. First I'm linking to an article from Sacred Heart University which mentions also the University’s Center for Christian - Jewish Understanding.

"He and his team have investigated more than 850 execution sites and mass graves in Ukraine and Belarus, and he expects their investigations will take them next into Poland and Russia. The generation of eye-witnesses is fast disappearing with most now in their 80s and above, and he recognizes that in only a few years, they will all be gone, giving renewed urgency to his task." ... Desbois said he regularly speaks with elderly people who are sharing their childhood recollections for the first time in their lives; they are anxious, at long last, to contribute to the record and let the world know what they witnessed. Children were forced to participate in preparing their neighbors for immediate death. Sometimes they would be obliged to scrape off remnants of body parts from trees so that the next round of victims would remain unaware of their impending fate. The youngsters would gather up clothes, help dig enormous graves, even collect gold teeth. Once the hundreds of men, women and children in a town had been shot to death, the children would return to their dead neighbors’ homes and take anything of value to be sold at public auction. Men’s clothes would end up in one classroom, women’s in another, household furnishings in a third."



The team that works with Father Desbois comes from various religious and not religious backgrounds and beliefs. If you or a family member know of the location of the graves, please contact his organization : http://www.yahadinunum.org/ YAHAD In UNUM.

At the talk I attended there were three holocaust survivors who spoke up and said they knew where the killing field was in their village.

ANGEL WITH VIOLIN

BOOK EXCERPT: REZSO KASZTNER : THE DARING RESCUE OF HUNGARIAN JEWS by LADISLAUS LOB

REZSO KASZTNER
The Daring Rescue of Hungarian Jews : A Survivor's Account
by Ladislaus Lob C 2008
Pimlico is the Publisher

pages 269-270

"The charge that Kasztner made up the Bergen-Belsen group entirely of his relatives and his Zionist cronies from Kolozsvar also stands on shaky ground. Given the appalling task of selecting a few hundred from hundreds of thousands, no selection could have been "right."

(My note : his relatives were a count of ten, while other relatives were left behind and exported or murdered in Auschwitz.)

"The dominance of Ziolnists from Kolozsvar is hardly surprising, since Kolozsvar was Hungary's second largest city with the largest and most active Zionist community, and the whole rescue enterprise was founded on Palestine immigration certificates...

"My father and I were only two of many non-Zionists, and the point is strongly made by Peretz Revesz, a former leading member of the youth movement who carried out many dangerous rescue missions of his own in Slovakia and Hungary with Kasztner's help."

page 279

"One of the most impressive witnesses was Israel Szabo. He explained that "the ordinary Hungarian in the street knew about Auschwitz" but "mass flight" was impossible, and believing that the Hungarian Jews could have "organized any resistance" would have been a "fatal error." They had been methodically worn down by the "expropriation of their wealth, the loss of their place of work, ... the closure inside their homes, in the ghetto under inhuman conditions."

This process had left them drained of all confidence and energy.

WORLD WAR II : HOLOCAUST REMEMBERANCE DAYS

This week, linked to this year's Passover, people in the United States, especially those who live near large Jewish communities, are remembering the Holocaust of World War II era, which occurred on European soil, in countries such as Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Russia, Germany, Belarus, Estonia... with various events produced by Jewish organizations for Holocaust remembrance. There are also remembrances staged by various religious and not religious organizations with the focus on peace; the idea is that we as citizens of the world should not forget or put up with Holocausts / ethnic cleansings anywhere in the world.

To me there is a difference between a soldier / an army who fights other soldiers/ armies and what has and is happening to civilians. Don't get me wrong. I'm for a strong defense of the United States and too realistic to think we can go without a military presence. At the same time there are atrocities committed on innocent people every day on this earth and that is wrong. I don't have all the answers or much power to do anything about it, just on a personal level to try and understand people of cultures different than mine, and decide if I like someone or not by my experience with them rather than prejudging them.

Although the United States did not experience the holocaust as personally as did the people of Europe, many survivors fled here, or got here through Israel or through organizations overseeing the resettlement of those who fled Europe after the war was over. To this day the International Red Cross provides services to help locate people who were or are separated by war.

I will soon be telling you all about an organization I learned about my going outside my own culture to attend a presentation by a French Catholic priest as a Jewish temple.

HUNGARIAN AMERICAN CLUB OF NEW MEXICO

"We enjoy sharing Hungarian food, music, our history, poetry and enjoy meeting people with similar backgrounds and interests. We welcome any and all new members into our large extended family. "

Update August 2022 http://www.hacnm.net/

THE GLASS WALL : A FILM NOIR FILM FROM 1953

THE GLASS WALL film is one of four on a DVD put out by Columbia Pictures, on a DVD called Bad Girls of Film Noir Volume 1. All four films were original Columbia Pictures films from the early 1950's, and in black and white. The legend goes that it was "B" films in that period that actually gave actresses the "juiciest" roles.

It was unexpected that THE GLASS WALL would have a Holocaust and Hungarian refuge thematic. The basic story is of a man who stows away on a ship from the old world where he was in concentration camps from the age of 14 and, caught, he can't make it through immigration. Desperate to not be send back, his wish is to find the trumpet player whose life he saved, so that the musician can testify for him. Meanwhile, he befriends a woman in trouble - a woman who can't pay her rent. The trumpet player sees his picture on the front page of a local newspaper and wants to help him but the refugee is fleeing - all the way to the United Nations building - a modern building that is symbolic in design of a glass wall. The trumpeters girlfriend turns out to be a Hungarian exotic dancer who lives with her mother who is making goulash... and says "We're all honkies..."

Considering that some of the earliest Hollywood people, directors, studio moguls, photographers, cinematographers, etc. were of Eastern European including Hungarian descent, I thought about the stereotypes of Hungarians and their representation in movies. I believe the writers on this were Maxwell Shane and Ivan Tors.



C 2012 Magyar American BlogSpot

EASTER BUNNY AND EGGS : SPRING FERTILITY!

No doubt a very pagan view of the spring holiday, bunnies and eggs, symbols of fertility.

1940 UNITED STATES CENSUS ON LINE TODAY! LINK TO DIGITALIZED IMAGES HERE!

This is so exciting to those of us who are tracing our ancestry with roots in Hungary!

A majority of Hungarian-Americans today can trace to the immigrations of the Industrial Revolution. We find ancestors on US census (and some state census) in 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and now 1940. They have lived through the Great Depression and are will be involved in World War II. These other census are not available as digitalized images at the National Archives site, which is accessible anywhere there is an Internet Computer.

BOX OF KITTENS

ZSA ZSA'S DAUGHTER FRANCESCA HILTON TAKES THE PRINCE TO COURT

Linking to breaking news in FORBES Magazine, Zsa Zsa Gabor's only daughter (and the only child of ANY Gabor sister) has had enough with her mother's very eccentric husband.

TULIPS ARE HUNGARY'S NATIONAL FLOWER

Perhaps this is why the tulip motif is one of the most popular in stenciling work, textile design, etc! In 1986 the United States decided the Rose would be its national flower.

WORLD FEDERATION OF HUNGARIANS LINK

Miklós Patrubány is President of the World Federation of Hungarians:

There is an extensive amount to read at this link. First it appears in Hungarian and then in English. The issue here is how Hungary was divided up, the history of those chances on the map and in some cases the forced chances of national identity on ethnic Hungarians in new parts and the survival of the ethnic Hungarian.


"In total, it can be established that, in the territories of the successor states,
the numbers and ratio of Hungarians have fallen by 50% and their chances of
survival have deteriorated, therefore the re-examination of the Treaty of
Trianon cannot be postponed."


Being a citizen of the United States of America, I feel this issue is not of as much personal concern for me as it would be for someone still living in Europe. Though I Identify as Hungarian-American, like most Americans I'm of mixed ethnicity, and it could be said, generations away from Hungary. Yet I can therefore also ask the questions of "Who is a Hungarian?" and "What makes a person a Hungarian?"


It seems evident that a person who SELF IDENTIFIES as HUNGARIAN is!

GOOGLE CELEBRATES THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION

MARCH 18 is 1848 HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION DAY

Many Hungarian-American organizations celebrate this day and so do many Hungarians. About the same time there were revolutions, intended to change the social order, in other European countries. I looked at a lot of web sites featuring information on the revolution iin Hungary, but I'm linking to a TIME LINE because I think I'm more impressed with how this progressed and why... First, and this may be something YOU can relate to, was economic recession...

First France,

Then Hungary,

Then the Rhineland,

Then Vienna,

Then Milan,

Then Venice...

(Let's remember that our current notions of a country do not apply to the days when what became countries were independent, shall we say "nation states?"

WONDERFUL OLD MILITARY MAPS : A Monarchia III. katonai felmérése 3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary

A Monarchia III. katonai felmérése
3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary
http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/3felmeres.htm

A WONDERFUL site! You click on the area and up comes old maps. One of the things that was once impressed upon me, and I impress upon others, is that settlements tended to be no more than a day's walk and back, meaning about 5 miles, from each other. As a result, until the era of modern transportation by engine, many people lived in the same town and married their neighbors, or someone from that one day's walk and back to the next village, because it was simply too difficult to meet and get to know someone who lived much further. Of course there were information networks and arranged marriages that defy this reasoning but so far in my research I generally find people who married someone from a greater distance, had money and the resources for communication and transportation!

These are very useful when you're researching your family history and the names of some villages and towns are not coming up or when you are trying to locate military records. Give it a try!

UPDATED July 23, 2019 Please let me know if the link is not working.  I've moved it from the post title to inside the post.

BOLSHE VITA : A FILM ABOUT THE RUSSIANS WHO FLOODED BUDAPEST AFTER THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

I watched this Hungarian film, about Russians who fled Russia, trying to get to the West (The United States and Britian are considered the "real" West) after the fall of the Berlin Wall. For a short period of time there was confusion about how to get in and out of Hungary as this film well depicts a group of musicians who can't get out of Hungary and don't want to go back to Russia. Gangsters are taking control of the market places, there is money to be made in questionable goods and theft of the kind that makes a person homeless.

Luckily, there are women, both foreign and domestic, who don't mind taking a stranger with a hard luck story home and into their beds. These bohemian women want love in exchange for all the help they give. Sometimes that works as a means to freedom and the "real" west. Sometimes preferring homeless life leads to death.

The film, which came out in 2005, is written and directed by Ibolya Fekete and includes a cast before the camera and behind the scenes of movie making of Russians and Hungarians. It was fascinating and easy to follow and understand, though I wish I could understand in Hungarian as when I read subtitles I usually don't watch the movie itself that well.

BOLSHE VIA won the SOCHI International Film Festival Grand Prix and the Budapest Film Week Foreign Film Critics Best Feature Film awards.

WORKING ON MY GENEALOGY RESEARCH : THE 1940 U.S. CENSUS WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE

My friends, I've been making an effort to work on my personal Hungarian genealogy research over the last few weeks. I've learned so much about Hungarians coming to American over many years time, and I absolutely love to research!

As some of you may know the 1940 US Census will be available to the public early April of this year, but because of the explosion in population (as compared with the 1930) it could be years before there is a searchable index.

That means that researchers are trying to determine an address (supposing they family didn't move since the 1940, using City Directories, or World War II draft or enlistment information, and then find the ED (Enumeration District) for the 1940 to get to the right part of the film as fast as possible. The film will be available from the National Archives digitalized (on the Internet).

I'm putting links about this on the sidebar!

1940 is an interesting time for Hungarian families who came to the United States at the Turn of the Century or during the Great Age of Industrialization. At this point most have married and have had families and some of those children have grown into adulthood. Many of you who are reading this may be the children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren of those immigrants who helped make America great.

AMERICAN HUNGARIAN MUSEUM PASSAIC

Passaic New Jersey hosts a wonderful display of Hungarian ethnic culture. Did you know there's been a Hungarian school in Passaic for 1 hundred years?

This site was under construction for a while, but it looks active now, and I'm pleased to link to it. There are sections on famous and accomplished Hungarians and more!

Enjoy this!

HUNGARY PASSES A LAW TO MAKE HOMELESS MOVE ON TO WHERE?

Speaking of the Freezing Cold in Europe, in December Hungary passed a law that is hostile to homeless people in that country. Charity workers know where the homeless are... $650 fine for getting caught sleeping rough twice... Go to a shelter? More homeless than beds, a story that is true in the United States and around the world.

VALENTINES DAY : PEACE : UNITY IN EASTERN EUROPE AND BEYOND

ZSA ZSA GABOR CELEBRATES HER 95th BIRTHDAY IN LOS ANGELES : SHE NOW ADMITS HER AGE!

The Gabor sisters were not just known for being beautiful and sexy. They were known for being WITTY!

I've posted on Zsa Zsa a few times because she is probably the most known Hungarian American in show business, and she has outlasted and outlived her sisters. Could it be because she is the only Gabor who has a child, a daughter?

A few days ago she celebrated her 95th birthday and some of the articles I read suggested that she was now telling the truth about her age. As we know the Gabor sisters didn't believe a woman should tell her age or be asked it, but they had jokes to work around such questions too.

Articles I read suggested that for this party, her husband brought the cake into her bedroom to show her, and she enjoyed the vibe that a party was going on outside, but she did not actually make any appearance or attend her party. You know, I love the spirit he had to carry on with a party for her just the same. The couple are both eccentric but no doubt he loves her. And here is where Zsa Zsa has won in the end! A true romance of lasting years!

WILD HUNGARY

EUROPEAN DEEP FREEZE : HUNGARY CLOSES THE DANUBE

"Other countries along the Danube, including Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and Bulgaria, had already suspended river traffic because of the freeze.

The 2,860-kilometre (1,780-mile) river, which flows through 10 countries and is vital for transport, power, irrigation, industry and fishing, was nearly wholly blocked from Austria to its mouth on the Black Sea.

In Hungary, 60 to 70 percent of the river was frozen, with only ice-breakers remaining in action, especially in the south of the country, officials said." The full AP Press article and pictures is linked.


Last year the Deep Freeze covered the United States of America. Estimates are that a couple billion dollars in loss was experienced. This year the weather in New York isn't that much different than the weather in Los Angeles. All around the United States people who were bundled up last year are out playing sports in shorts! (To you Hungarians out there - Really! So you see, there is hope.)


This year it's Europe and other parts of the world experiencing the Deep Freeze. I'm hearing radio news reports that hundreds in Europe have died. Frankly, this does not sound like Global Warming to me. It sounds like a new Ice Age! Earth changes certainly, though I honestly don't know how much is natural cycles or man-made pollution causing the hole in the Ozone layer! I'm concerned but helpless. Like you I might be able to stay out of the sun a bit more, take my walks early in the morning; I don't even think the chemicals in sun screens should be put on the skin!

HISTORY OF THE BUSO FESTIVAL : END OF THE WINTER CARNIVAL

"The Busó festivities at Mohács in southern Hungary are a six-day carnival in late February to mark the end of winter, named for the busós, frightening-looking costumed people (traditionally men) wearing wooden masks and big woolly cloaks. The festival is multifaceted, including a children’s costume contest, a display of the art of mask carvers and other craftspeople, the arrival of more than 500 busós in rowboats on the Danube for a march through the city alongside horse-drawn or motorized fantasy vehicles, the burning of a coffin symbolizing winter on a bonfire in the central square, and feasts and music throughout the city. The tradition originated with the Croatian minority in Mohács, but today the busó is a general emblem of the city and a commemoration of the great events of its history. More than a social event, the carnival is an expression of belonging to a city, a social group and a nation. It plays an important social role by offering a chance for self-expression in a communal setting. The arts underlying the festivities are preserved by self-organized groups of busós of all cultural backgrounds, many of whom pass on the techniques of mask carving and ritual celebration to younger generations."

Quote is from Hungary - A Love For Life site which also has this video"