A THRIFT STORE FIND : A HUNGARIAN BEER MUG WITH THE IMAGE OF A CATHEDRAL ON IT?

I was in a thrift store and a man got into the line to pay who was just delighted because he found TWO items that were Hungarian.  One was a book.  The other was one of those ceramic beer mugs - a big one - that had the image of a Catholic cathedral in Hungary on it.  This was missing a top.  We laughed about this.  The idea that a tourist would visit a Catholic church and buy a beer mug there.

I tend to think of Hungary as a WINE COUNTRY but certainly there are beer drinkers there, just as there are in the United States. Is it the German influence?  

A GUIDE TO HISTORY OF REFORM PROTESTANT CHURCH in SLOVAKIA- ZEMPLEN COUNTY

http://www.refzem.eu/ REFORM CHURCHES ZEMPLEN / SLOVOKIA  translates to English on Google.

I found this site searching for historical information on Nagy Geres and Kis Geres.  I found it to be a fascinating site because it has story of various village and town churches that were in Zemplen County, Hungary that are also in Slovakia now.  I was able to learn that possibly a town fire may be the reason why I may not be able to get the marriage and birth records I've been periodically checking for through FamilySearch.com, Ancestry.com, etc, for a few years. 

One never knows if possibly a transcription project has stalled or if the records were never filmed for microfilm or moved to databases. Possibly the records are in Hungary or Slovakia.

So let me explain that I have often been accused of "extreme genealogy," and that I have research tactics most people do not or would not even think of doing.

What I did years ago was read all the records for 200 years of a certain Catholic church, where I found a second marriage in the Catholic church and the marriages of children in the Catholic church, but no evidence of a first marriage or the grandparent's birth in the same Church.

It was convincing to me (and still is) that this was a Catholic family.  But as there is also a Reform church in that town - and the records for it seem not to be available, I had to think "well MAYBE they were not baptized Catholic or married Catholic."

What I did that was extreme was keep track of who was living in certain house numbers.  I learned that there probably wasn't anyone from this branch of the family living in the village before 1865.  And so they were either Protestant or living elsewhere.

Living in the same dwelling are a couple with the same surname but with a 16 year age difference, which to me means that the person 16 years older is probably not the father. And due to his name and age, I would suspect he was on a 2nd marriage and was a first son in a family.  So maybe an uncle?  But I can't find this couple married in any records available in databases.

Now that I learned that one of the villages mentioned on a naturalization had a fire about then, I'm thinking that they moved due to that fire and the records went up in flames.

Luckily the brick wall may not have tumbled, but I have so many more lines to follow!

C 2018 Magyar American BlogSpot

BELA LUGOSI AROUND THE CORNER NEAR THE CHURCH - ALL SOULS DAY

I met a man recently who was telling me that he was looking on the 1940 census and found out Bela Lugosi lived right around the corner from his present day church...  I dared him to try and find out if the Hungarian was Catholic and if he might have gone to that church, which was in its humble mission church phase but is now a landmark. I thought it was a bit of a coincidence since I'd been looking for Bela Lugosi posters for this blog.


Walking my dog around the neighborhood, some of my neighbors have gone all out with decorations, because they expect trick-or-treaters, or because they are what I call Ghoul School, or because they work for the studios doing sets; one family has Halloween all year long with an evil looking cemetery out front which must save them having to water.  One house in particular was really impressive.  Out on their white wicker setae on the front porch are two loved up human-sized monsters, reminiscent of the couple, both with significant teeth.  That one made me laugh.


But as I'm not at all into the violence and gore that has become part of the celebration that was rooted in spirituality and honoring the ancestors for so long, I refrain from entertainments that are not spiritual.  The Celtic tradition of carving a turnip to hold a candle as symbolic of the soul - the flame of the spirit - in the body, moved to smiling carved pumpkins, and then to demonic ones.  The church that's around the block from where Bela Lugosi once lived is having a special All Souls Day evening Mass, and I may just attend.


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THE DOG STOLE THE SAUSAGE FROM THE EASTER BASKET AFTER IT WAS BLESSED

We often got our Easter Baskets blessed on Easter Saturday, not at the parish we belonged to, which didn't offer this, but another parish a few miles away.  Inside each basket there were home baked breads and rolls, and other items that were intended for our Easter Day lunch, things like boiled eggs, celery, salt, butter, meats like ham, and - of course - for the children, Chocolate Easter bunnies, jelly beans, and marshmallow chicks.  We rarely got candy so these were really special. 

All these would be laid upon a bed of artificial cellophane grass, most often green, but sometimes pink or yellow, and an old cloth doily would be placed over the top of the precious basket.  We would go into the church and arrange our baskets an the kneeler along the communion rail.  (As I write this I wonder if all my readers will know what I mean.  In our churches it was common to separate the altar area with a metal rail. These days in many churches people stand in line for Holy Communion and do not kneel.)  We would expose the contents of the basket to the upcoming rain of Holy Water by folding the doily aside.  Then go to sit in the pews to listen to a brief  but sincere Easter prayer lead by the priest and the blessing.

One year my mother's picnic sized hamper included a large sausage.
That year one of the priests at this parish had a pet - a large dog.

As the parishioners settled back into a moment of fervent prayer, the priest's dog came down the center isle of the church.  Before anyone could imagine what he might be up to, the dog snatched the large sausage and ran out of the church with it.  Smart dog!

The serious Easter prayer was punctuated by the wild suppression of laughter, as everyone attempted to avoid laughing out loud or running out of the church after the dog - who was long gone.  Their shoulders shook in glee.

My mom took it well.

C 2016 All Rights Reserved  Magyar-American BlogSpot.

HUNGARY ISSUES 2011 CHRISTMAS STAMPS

"The Nagykaracsony church is on the left of the HUF 90 stamp, and next to it is a detail of the largest outdoor Nativity scene in Hungary, which is to be found in Nagykaracsony.

The Roman Catholic church in Vors is on the left of the HUF 115 stamp, with a detail of the largest indoor Nativity scene in Europe, which is rebuilt every year, next to it."

ONE HUNGARIAN CATHOLIC PARISH REMAINS IN CLEVELAND...

Saint Margaret's and Saint Emeric's have closed in Cleveland.  Here's an article about Saint Elizabeth's of Hungary... from Cleveland.com


"The old Hungarian neighborhood is so far gone as to be almost erased. Until you come upon St. Elizabeth of Hungary and walk into a church as big and as beautiful as the day it was consecrated in 1922."