MINDENSZENTEK : DEEP INTO THE HUNGARIAN TRADITIONS : ALL SAINTS and ALL SOULS

All Souls Day in Hungary is a time of religious and/or spiritual attention to the humans who have lived their lives and gone before us.

According to It's Hungarian, a publication online:
In the 8th century Pope Gregory III has started the holiday of the All Saints’ Day, which is celebrated on the first day of November. The pope has stood out for that – beside the martyrs – the saints, who are canonized after the recognition of the Christianity, must be celebrated too. So, this way the All Saints’ Day is become the feast of the hollowed souls, who are because of the large number of their kind, not mentioned in the calendars uniquely.

All Saints Day in November 1st.

But this day became a way to celebrate our ancestors - saintly or not. This is done by visiting graves, cleaning them, leaving flowers, lighting candles; it became All Souls Day,.

ITS HUNGARIAN : CELEBRATIONS OF THE DEAD IN HUNGARY - ALL SAINTS and ALL SOULS

Excerpt: According to the folkways, the night between the All Saints’ Day, and the All soul’s day the deceased have mass in the church, and when the bell tolls, they are going to the house of their beloved ones. In the peasant’s house, an extra plate has been placed to the tables, bread, salt and water has been served into them. In Székely Land a loaf has been cooked, which is called God’s pie or the bread of the dead.

In Hungary, food and charity has given to and cared about the homeless and poor ones, to advance the reach of the bliss of the dead souls. Mainly bread and honey coated scone is given at the gates of the cemeteries.

ALL SOULS DAY and ALL SAINTS - HUNGARY NATIONAL HOLIDAY SINCE 2000

"According to folklore, the dead visit them during such times, so it is customary in many places to lay the table for them as well, put bread, salt, and water on the table.  The Hungarians of Bukovina also bake and cook for the dead and take the food to the cemetery and distribute it.  They light as many candles at home as many dead the family has.  In the villages along the river Ipoly, those who cannot go to the cemetery light candles at home on All Saints Day.  They used to observe whose candle burnt out first, because it was believed that they would be the first to die in the family.

Excerpt from :  HUNGARY TODAY - ALL SOULS FOLKLORE  More regional folklore here and gorgeous photos...

Just a note that I have always thought that the term All Souls Day and the term All Saints Day indicated the same holiday but I was wrong, All Souls is for the ancestors but All Saints is for the saints we know about and the saints we do not know about.  In Catholicism it is understood that many a saintly person lived in obscurity.  However, prayer to help those who have not yet gone to heaven to be with God can be said especially on these days, or truly any time.  These souls are able to be released to heaven, and are not suffering eternally for the evil deeds they did when alive.

A HUNGARIAN- AMERICAN INTERPRETATION OF HUNGARIAN ALL SOULS and ALL SAINTS CAKE GIVING

In Hungarian tradition, which is surprisingly like the Mexican one, families take food to the cemetery.  They clean the graves, leave flowers and food for the ancestors. They light candles on the graves.  And they may also give "Beggers" who are outside the gates some of the bread or cake they brought with them.  It makes practical sense that the beggers should eat, for food can only be 'eaten' by the spirits who are in the next world. 

May I suggest that a way for Hungarian-Americans to continue this tradition is to donate to a food bank?

Though I'm no longer volunteering at meal or food bank - distribution sites, I've made some inquiries about how it's going at a local food bank.  I'm told that as the cost of living has gotten out of control, the contributions are way down, especially of the fresh produce, and so they are giving out more dry goods - pasta, rice, and so on, and even the canned goods tend to be potato and corn.  I can tell you that too much of these foods is not a healthy diet and the cause of weight gain and even problems with sugar. These carbs must be balanced with proteins and vegetables. I know that I myself sometimes make too much of a meal with them.

However, I realized long ago that the things that are given out - and sometimes that includes non-food items such as soap and shampoo and toothpaste - are still appreciated.  If a person goes to a foodbank before their money runs out, they may be able to spend on the items that they do not receive at no charge.

Most food banks cannot accept your home baked goods, even though the same baked goods could be given to a church bazaar or event. This is because of health department rules that aim to prevent food illnesses and also because of the rare but terrible events in which evil people intend to harm others through things they bake in or put in foods. Packaged and store bought items rather than home baked items are even required for schools. I sure wish we were back in the day with this.  As a result, what you donate to a food bank must also be purchased at a store.

Bread is something that is inexpensive for most stores to donate to food banks and so there is usually quite a bit of it given.  However, I noticed that my local stores that used to have drastically reduced day-old pastries and breads are also out of these items. 

Please consider my suggestion.

C 2022 Magyar-American BlogSpot

ALL SAINTS DAY and ALL SOULS DAY COMING UP : HUNGARIAN TRADITIONS

HUNGARY TODAY - ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS DAY HUNGARIAN TRADITIONS 

According to this article, Halloween is considered a foreign holiday in Hungary.  This may be because of the Christian traditions of All Saints (November 1st) and then All Souls (November 2nd).  Rather than Memorial Day in the United States for grave visiting and cleaning, Hungarians go to the cemetery on one or both of these days, not only cleaning the graves but leaving flowers, lighting candles, and sometimes cakes. Alternatively, a stay at home family might light one candle for each person who has died in the family.

This interesting article has some regional traditions given.

Excerpt:  On the night between All Saints' Day and the Day of the Dead, it is said that the mass is held by the dead in the churches.  On the Day of the Dead, the poor and beggars were entertained and got a feast from the wealthy,  In the Gyimes Valley, they said, "We cook for the day of the dead, we bake loaves, we give them to the dead."  There are places were food is also put on the graves, such as in Topolya, but they also give food to beggars...

ALL SOULS DAY IN HUNGARY - ALL SAINTS DAY IN HUNGARY

Perhaps if it is allowed at the cemetery your ancestors are in here in the United States you might want to go and light a candle.  RED VOTIVE CANDLES and YELLOW CHRYSANTHEMUMS are key, but white candles will do, as will the favorite flowers of your loved ones. 

BOAT SHAPED FACE CARVED HEADSTONES of SZATMARCSEKE CALVINIST CEMETERY

ATLAS OBSCURA - SZATMARCSEKE- CALVINIST CEMETERY

EXCERPT: Before a local dies, he or she picks a tree that will one day be felled to form his or her own marker. The residents also leave specific instructions with their chosen woodworker. The boat-shaped pieces of wood must meet a strict set of criteria: They must be made of oak, be between about five feet and 6.5 feet high, and face west.

Some of the oldest boat markers are located in a separate area which was once reserved for Romani Hungarians and the victims of suicide. The cemetery also contains the marble tombs of the Kölcsey family, including that of Ferenc Kölcsey, a Hungarian poet and politician who wrote the country’s national anthem and died in the village in 1838.

***

Go to the site to see these strange boat shaped images.

ALL SOULS - ALL SAINTS

STEREOTYPE OF HUNGARIANS - THEY'RE SPOOKY! (ALL THOSE HAUNTED CASTLES?)

 

This morning, laying in bed, I was thinking about the upcoming Halloween Holiday, which came out of a spiritual, religious celebration affiliated with ALL SOULS DAY in the Catholic religion, and has now become a HORROR FEST. 

I can do without the horror. Horror films may just be my least favorite genre, though in real life I'm very interested in SPOOKS - ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists. 

(Yes, I have seen a full color ghost, many years ago!) 

A few years ago I decided to light candles for some people who I learned had passed into the next life (Yes, I think there is one!) and some of those candles flickered, while others did not, leading me to believe that something or someone was effecting them besides the non-existent draft in the room!

When I say that a STEREOTYPE of Hungarians is that they're SPOOKY, I mean that these people are associated with fiction characters such as Dracula (technically a Romanian!) based on the real character VLAD THE IMPALER who cut off heads and lined the roads with the heads on sticks to scare the living hell out of everyone.

One time I told someone who knew I was into genealogy that I was related to both VLAD THE IMPALER and KATO KAILIN (of Simpson Murder Case Fame) and they believed me!

Along with the idea that we all have some genetic link to barbarians and invaders of one type or another, which means a genetic propensity to bloody violence, there is the idea that we are depressed, that we sulk and are moody, that we're all ready to commit suicide (if we don't drink ourselves to death with WINE), maybe throw ourselves off a bridge or a turret, which is another way of being SPOOKY.

Here's a classic song, by the Zombies (I think they were British), that has another definition of SPOOKY!

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

NO JACK O LANTERNS IN HUNGARY BUT ANCESTOR WORSHIP IS REAL!

In Hungary there is no Halloween, but there is All Souls Day (early November) when people go to the graves of their ancestors to clean the stones (or right the posts), leave flowers, but also REMEMBER their friends and family who have gone before them.

ALL SOULS DAY IS a H U G E HOLIDAY OF ANCESTOR WORSHIP IN HUNGARY

I do my ancestor worship through genealogy and history research.  It is through this research that I have learned so much about people I never knew or even heard about because my Hungarian-heritage parent had not either. 

At one point in my research I got the impression that a spirit was watching over my shoulder as I constructed family charts. It was very quiet and there was a .. presence. 

I also had a dream during a period of intense research of someone - the hands were ghostly mist - coming to me and showing me who they were; if I ever see a photograph of the woman that those ghostly hands held I will know.

DUMNEAZU's blog here is fascinating (with wonderful pictures!) and you can link to it and find out that there is NO HALLOWEEN IN HUNGARY but ALL SOULS DAY is H U G E !