WE THINK COLD WET FEET WILL CAUSE SICKNESS : HUNGARIAN / HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN STEREOTYPES

 

I've been posting on stereotypes of Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans for some time. Some of these stereotypes are well known. Others have been told to me or I've read about them. Some stereotypes are harmless, others worrisome. 

A harmless stereotype is that Hungarians are excessively worried about their feet getting cold because they think this causes illness. Walking on wet pavement with bare feet? I do that.

Someone's going to tell you, you'll get sick? Well, a woman who is concerned about me walking outside in the cold of morning to walk my dog, barefoot, did give me a pair of slippers made of a new bamboo fiber.

I can't validate the truth of it. Have you heard of this one?

I wonder if my ancestor Hungarians knit thick wool socks to wear in their boots. There's a condition called Trench Foot that is caused by long term immersion of feet in water but I doubt Hungarians spend more time with their feet in water than other ethnicities?

I've been wearing hats for years because I believe most of our heat goes out our heads.

If anyone knows more about this please leave a comment!

PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN

 And so we Americans have a new president of Irish Catholic heritage, a Democrat and liberal, but not far left. His inaugural speech and the celebration concert were the uplift we needed. And I was in awe of the fireworks display.

I hope we will learn to agree to disagree again. Violent protests, looting, and so on isn't furthering any cause.

MAP UKRAINE SLOVAKIA POLAND

Yes there were ethnic Hungarians who lived in what is now Ukraine.

CELEBRATE FARSANG in MOHACS : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #5

THE CULTURE TRIP : CELEBRATE FARSANG LIKE A LOCAL 

Beginning January 6th, a celebration that now blends old Hungarian Pagan beliefs with Christian ones.  Although celebrated around Hungary in various ways, including of course Budapest, the city of Mohacs has a noteworthy festival.

Excerpt: The history of this supposedly comes from a Turk invasion, when they occupied the town (Mohacs) and chased its inhabitants out into the nearby swamps. However, the local men dressed up as these buso and frightened the Turks, who insisted demons had attacked them.  Nowadays, they playfully chase people around the town during their parades, making loud noises and generally causing a ruckus.  There are mask-making events, competitions for children's costumes and numerous stalls selling food and drink.  On Shrove Tuesday there's even a bonfire where the Farsang coffin is set alight - the coffin symbolizing winter and, therefore, its end giving way to spring.

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to get to the entire series on this theme!

NEW YEAR 2021

original photo by me

Readers,

I want to wish all of you health, wealth, and love in this New Year. 

I'm having a quiet night at home, a couple dogs wrapped in blankets near my feet and some lemon bars and tea.

Though in Southern California, there is snow on the mountains and it's cold. Not as cold as other parts of the country, but cold enough for sweaters and fluffy slippers. 

I've never much enjoyed loud New Years Eve parties, but the main reason for staying home rather than get together with friends is avoiding Covid-19. You may have heard that we are in a terrible crisis here. Like many of you, I seem to be addicted to news reports. The sickness and death is alarming. The hospitals are overwhelmed. The least we can do is stay home and out of harm's way. 

Two of my friends, one in Baltimore, the other in Orange, have had Covid. One had mild symptoms, the other was sick for three weeks. But for me so far so good.

I'm feeling positive about the vaccines but believe it will be spring before I will be eligible to take it myself. And so I suspect my blogging may slow down. 

Our leaders are asking us to avoid even the walks we take for exercise which bring us into contact with others; so if you're feeling a bit crazy with cabin fever, you're not alone.

Outside there are some booms, so somewhere people are trying to make cheer by blasting off Roman candles or fireworks left over from July. As well Christmas lights are decorating houses and apartments all over.

The Christmas tree will remain up a while longer. Usually till the 6th of  January.

I look forward to the day when all is well.

OH COME LET US ADORE HIM

 

HUNGARIAN CHRISTMAS MUSIC

WHEN THE SNOWMAN COMES ALIVE

 

ASK YOURSELF THIS

ARE YOU WILLING TO HOLOCAUST THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY ARE HOMELESS?  DO YOU CONSIDER THEM TO BE SUBHUMAN and NOT WORTHY OF BASIC RESPECT or TO BE WITHOUT NEED?  Is it OK with you if they freeze to death?  Starve to death? Die in the street? Give birth in the street? Go hungry? Go without education?  Keep moving?  Do you care if people who not long ago had it all together are now at risk of going crazy? HAVE YOU DUMPED FRIENDS BECAUSE THEY RAN OUT OF LUCK?

If so, please do NOT celebrate Christmas.

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I don't know about your town, but I know that mine has a homeless encampment that keeps getting bigger down by the post office, which happens to have outdoor lighting on all night. There is also a motel that has been temporarily funded as a temporary homeless shelter.  I encounter homeless people everywhere I go, especially in libraries, and I believe the numbers are triple of that counted. I believe this because I believe that a good number of homeless are secretly so.  They have avoided being counted and do not want to go to shelters or other facilities either because they don't want governmental benefits or intrusion into their lives, or because there are horror stories about what it is to be in these places.  In talking to people I meet, I've learned about long wait lists as well and the feeling of despair.  Partners do not want to be separated.  Parents don't want their children put in foster care.  They would rather go on loving each other in a tent.

I thought about this the other day because basically I was reading through my old posts that are genealogy oriented,  I noted that the National Archive of Hungary and the databases that show who owned the land and how many people lived on it - as tenant farmers - as serfs - back in the Queen Marie Theresa's day. As well, the 1828 census counted how many slaves one had. I was thinking about how the land barons who had serfs on their estate owed them some very basics. They were better off than the homeless in the sense that if you were a serf on a baron's estate, you were not expected to be transient.  

You knew where you belonged and you knew what hut was yours for the night.  You probably had a sense of community and some pride in being able to work hard to contribute towards your upkeep.  You may have had rags on your feet, but you had family too. I'm not idealizing serfdom. I'm saying the freeing of the serfs was a great big deal and often they ran for another country and a better life, but how can we free the homeless who are living much like them?

I truly fear what is coming if there is no more governmental help coming, in particular if evictions are allowed to continue.  Even those who have been living on unemployment benefits are at risk at becoming homeless.  So very many here in Southern California live without savings.  And have nowhere else to go.  California has been a destination for people who became homeless in other places, in particular cold places.  You probably won't freeze to death here, but there are still places where you can be overexposed to cold.

I learned that the motel full of homeless people does not house our town's local homeless.  Social workers from all over the city have sent people who are very ill or incapacitated there.  It is full of people with stage four cancer, people who cannot walk without a chair and assistance, people who are recovering from heart surgery who lost their apartments in the process of their illness and recovery.  Some of them are awaiting placement in assisted living or apartments with governmental vouchers.

It was bad before Covid-19 and now it's just horrible.  Though my neighborhood is decorated with Christmas lights, the food bank has been setting up down by the school.  We are all grateful for what all we have but also worried. We have decided on token gifts and donations to charities.

If you are reading this from another place in America or the world, please consider that empathy and understanding of other people's plight is a first step.  Stop protesting the existence of tent cities or the existence of homeless people in your neighborhood. Learn the truth about why they are out there.  I suspect you will find that evil and greed is at the heart of it.

AND TO ALL OF YOU, A GOOD NIGHT!

C 2020 Magyar American BlogSpot

SAINT NICHOLAS DAY IN HUNGARY

 

If you have BIG FEET it's a good thing...

HAVE A HUNGARIAN THEMED CHRISTMAS AT HOME

If you are one of the many millions of us who will be staying home for Christmas and the Holidays, avoiding travel and otherwise staying as safe as we can be due to the horrific challenges of Covid-19, this may be the year when you can bring some forgotten traditions into your Hungarian-heritage home.

First Saint Nick Day is December 6th.  This is the day to fill shoes with small gifts and treats.  (It's up to you if you wish to also gift on Christmas Eve or Day.)

Next, remember that Christmas in Hungary is a religious holiday.  You may or may not be Christian or especially religious, so perhaps this will simply be a time for you to read around the subject.  Or you might want to get out your Bible and read the passages about the Nativity.  Your church might be closed or unable to provide a safe space for an indoor ritual, but you can create your own worship or lessons.

Try to make a Hungarian recipe or two. Goulash (stew) served in bread bowls, sausages, pork and sour kraut, or stuffed cabbages make for hearty meals.  Perhaps you will create a vegetarian themed meal using lentils and rice instead. Or make rolled breads with poppyseeds or walnuts or cookies with apricots.

Then there's wine.  Mulled wine with spices is popular.  Palinka - fruit brandy, also. 

But here are some very American ideas for you.

Have a backyard fruit tree harvest and distribute your excess lemons, oranges, grapefruits, around your neighborhood.  Believe me this will be good for the tree.  You may have grown accustomed to just walking into the yard and picking what your need, but your neighbors will love the gift of fruit. Some shelters and food banks also accept local fruit donations.

Get out the art supplies.  Children and adults as well can create personal greeting cards (you really can snail mail instead of e-mail) or Holiday art to be hung on string around the house.

Give yourself a news break.  It will be there tomorrow, and chances are very good that if the news is going to impact you, you will hear about it no matter if you check your phone every few hours or not.

Remember the old days when there were no cell phones or the Internet. TALK TO OTHERS.  If you have to stay on the sidewalk to greet your friends and neighbors and wear a mask - oh well - hopefully by next year the crisis will have resolved.

Record memories for family history books and genealogies.

Tell those you love that you do.

See you in 2021!

C 2020 Magyar-American BlogSpot

LET US GIVE THANKS

 

THE RISE AND FALL OF PENN STATION : MAGYAR AMERICAN FILM REVIEW

The history of Penn Station, which opened in 1910, and which no longer exists, is quite interesting.  Trains were the greatest way to travel distances before airplanes and some would say they are still the best way to travel, though often more expensive.  The history of Penn Station is the history of of the Pennsylvania Rail Road which had extensive rails all over the state, a monopoly, but had to stop at New Jersey.  A plan was made to buy up  four blocks of the Tender Loin, a place where poor immigrants lived in tenements, and replace it with a station twice the size as the most beautiful one in Paris, France, the Gare d' Orsey.  An engineering and architectural feat, though partly a gift to New York,  this "civic deed" was also a successful attempt to corner the travel market, by tunneling under two rivers, to bring trains in underground.

Alexander Cassett, a man of wealthy whose sister was the artist Mary Cassett, went to Paris to visit her, and was inspired.  He also came out of retirement to head up the plan and died before the station opened. It started with a $50 million dollar buy - for cash - of buildings above ground but with exclusive access to the tunnels to be engineered, if only they would hold the water and earth above them.  Blow outs of river water happened. In the end this train terminal was awe inspiring.  And then the day came when it had to be torn down.


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If your immigrant ancestors came through New York, there's a very good chance they got on a train to their next destination. They buy of real estate to be torn down to make way for the project began in 1901.  Work was going on until 1910.

Thought this would be an interesting THANKSGIVING time post since so many travel to see their loved ones for the holiday.  With Covid-19 travel restrictions, I guess there are going to be a lot of Zoom Turkey Dinners.

APRICOT COOKIES - APRICOT KOLACHES - A CREAM CHEESE PASTRY and JAM

My mother made these around the holidays and stored them in tins in the cold closet.  They were so irresistible that they didn't last long.  This recipe on the Internet from Lindsey Farr seems to be the one my mother made.  Good photos and easy to follow.  Shes right about some of the sugar carmelizing.

AMERICAN HERITAGE - LINDSEY FARR - APRICOT KOLACHES

MY DOG FOR TRUMP IN THE RAIN

Ah well, Joseph Biden, on his third try for the Presidency of the United States, is President Elect. Meanwhile President Donald Trump is furious.  Some say he was in the shock stage of grief, and is now stuck in denial. I admit, I do want him to accept defeat and step down in the graceful way that a World Leader ought to. 

I used to walk my dog in a fairly wealthy neighborhood where there were lots of houses flying the American flag on a daily basis. I grew up in a household where my dad, a veteran, flew the flag on the important holidays.  Such as Memorial and Labor Days, Veteran's Day, and, if I remember correctly Columbus Day. Now I see the daily flying of the American flag as not just patriotic, but a way of signaling to neighbors that one is a Republican.  There were also average income homeowners in the area, from back in the 1970's when a double income could still buy average people a house there.  All these people are hanging in and on, not wanting to give up their houses until their value will finance their retirements, even when they have long ago become unable to afford the necessary repairs on a house.  So when my dog and I were walking along and a stranger would ask me in a demanding way how I was going to vote, I'd say, "Well, I'm a Democrat, but my little dog here, she's a Republican."

That usually brought out a laugh.

I suspected there were a few "mixed marriages" in the neighborhood, and it was Republican husbands with Democratic wives.

This morning I watched President Elect Biden talk to the nation about the Coronavirus and begin to create his task-force of experts prior to his swearing in. As well, he will soon assemble his Cabinet.  He actually has thousands of people to appoint or approve, most we will never hear of.

Yesterday it rained.  It was as if the sky, so filled with fire, took the sigh of relief that many of us felt.  A relief that there is some positive change that will include us.

C 2020 MAGYAR-AMERICAN BLOGSPOT

All Rights Reserved

Just a note  November 2024 : In case you were wondering, there is no third term for any U.S. President.  The law was changed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times in a row...