INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY : THREE SURVIVORS - HUNGARIAN - REMEMBER AUSCHWITZ

CHAOS : WILDFIRES AND DRAMATIC CHANGES IN POLITICS HAVE PEOPLE ON EDGE : IMMIGRATION

CHAOS : WILDFIRES AND DRAMATIC CHANGES IN POLITICS HAVE PEOPLE ON EDGE : IMMIGRATION

As the wildfires have consumed enough property and acreage to equal San Francisco or Miami, we the people of Southern California, are very concerned about the economic future of this part of the United States. Looters, arsonists, and other exploiters and criminals are taking advantage, as are landlords who are upping rents as well as other swindlers. 

But as the physical plant burns down, more concerning is the burning down of America in another way.  Politics.

Lately, some people have been pointing out to me Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, a possible alliance between him and President Donald Trump, and immigration policy. They point out that Orban built "a wall" (actually a fence) and then mention the "wall" partially built between the United States and Mexico. This, and other supposed evidence of alliances are constantly pointed out to me and I sense what is wanted is a reaction.

Well, I have a reaction.

I tell people that Hungary has welcomed thousands of Ukrainian refugees from that war that Russia started and that Orban, in his role with the European Union, has visited both Zelensky and Putin. The Hungarian people have taken in these war refugees, mostly women and children. That Hungary is dependent on Russian oil and that makes things tricky. I tell people that thousands demonstrated in the streets of Budapest for an end to that war and for peace, but Hungary, being a small country, doesn't make world news much, so few heard about it. (I did from a Hungarian relative who lives in Budapest six months of the year.) 

I tell them that two thirds of the Hungarian population were murdered during the Ottoman occupation by Moslem Turks (over 150 years) and that is why Hungary, founded upon Christianity (specifically an alliance with Roman Catholicism) wants only Christian immigrants. I say that between that and the loss of a huge amount of territory known as Hungary after World War I and the 1920 Trianon Treaty, Hungarians are still fighting for national identity.

I also say that there is so much attention on blocking entry into the U.S. from Mexico but none on the much longer Canadian Border. If I were a terrorist I would not bother with the Mexican border. I would have a boat sail me up the coast; maybe in the middle of the night I'd row ashore in Malibu. Or maybe I would go to Canada and walk across the border there. There are lots of places to do so.

I also say that Trump claiming God saved him from a bullet so he could save America was disgusting; is he now claiming the Right of Kings? Himself as Biblical prophecy?

I actually see no link between true Christianity and the Prosperity Gospel or the exclusionary "Protestantism" of people who want to "round up" immigrants, that it sounds just like Germany, in an economic crisis pre the Holocaust and the "round up" of Jews, blamed for the economic problems, that I personally am fearful that is where we are heading.  No I do not want criminals entering the country. Criminality is not the same as people desperate for their lives and the lives of their children and families and we must acknowledge that. I feel the same way when I hear of "round ups" of homeless people. We are edging close to the "othering" that the Nazi's did to the Jews, comparing them to vermin rather than acknowledging their humanity.

Bigotry and discrimination and racism are coming back...

Be it the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis or the Neo Nazis, NONE OF THIS IS OR EVER WAS CHRISTIANITY.  Remember, please, that the Nazi plan was to exterminate the Slavic people once the Jews were extinguished and to keep going.  

RELOCATION anyone?  FORCED RELOCATION?

"REPOPULATING" Pacific Palisades?

Do I expect everyone to be "Christian?"  Actually, I do not.

Do I know of illegals?  Are they joking?! We have a huge "illegal" population in Southern California, and they are not all Mexican. Over the years I've met illegals from South Africa, from Jamaica, and Germany and Ireland, and yes - one lovely young woman from Hungary who chased love - many who came on a tourist visa and never left.

Also, this may shock some of my readers, but as a personal note, I have been approached to marry for the purposes of keeping an illegal immigrant in the country four times in my life.  One Mexican, One Guatamalan, One Orthodox Jew from Israel (really!), One Indian from India.  Approached on the street, in a store, or asked outright by a friend. Usually an effort to make me consider such a thing, which I would never do, includes an excruciatingly old fashioned idea that I should be ashamed to be unpartnered and would be desperate to join the overwhelming majority of married women. Or that my rent would be paid.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OFTEN WORK FOR CASH. Now tell me employers are not depending on "casual" workers who are paid cash?  No benefits, no Social Security, no no no. Sometimes Americans pick up a casual laborer, work them all day, and then tell them to go f themselves, unpaid, under threat of the INS being informed of their presence: nasty evil people do that to them. So tell me, do you think so many would head here if they thought absolutely no one would hire them?  Hotels - Restaurants - the Tourist Industry - Cruises - really big on paying cash or extremely low off shore pay.

I'm not FOR illegal immigration, I hate criminality, especially when it comes to gang violence and drug and sex trafficking, but ONE NATION UNDER GOD, must have some empathy for the promise that so many of our ancestors had.

So I ask this question, who or what is your God?

Is it MONEY? Which is IDOLATRY?

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I ask you to read this: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

The 1,954-mile (3,145-kilometre) border between the U.S. and Mexico traverses a variety of terrain, including urban areas and deserts. The United States (U.S.) - Canada border is the longest in the world, spanning 5,525 miles (8,891 km) across 13 U.S. states and eight Canadian Provinces/Territories (These came up re AI.)

C 2025  Magyar American BlogSpot

All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights

ROWBOAT THROUGH TAPOLCA CAVERN LAKE : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #27

 OUTDOORACTIVE : TAPOLCA CAVERN LAKE VISITOR INFO

Photo by Shaambo ghosh - Wikipedia

One of the interesting aspects of this cave is that it is used for AIR THERAPY...

Excerpt: The special warm and humid conditions in the cave, and the typical factors of speleotherapy (Clean air and high carbon dioxide content) make this cave very beneficial for people with asthmatic and respiratory diseases.  It is used for speleotherapy by various nearby baths.  Inside the cave it is possible to swim through several passages, which are partly natural, partly artificial tunnels.  There are small pools and jakuzzis, and a large outdoor pool.

More here:

https://www.i-s-c-a.org/show-cave/148-lake-cave-of-tapolca

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to bring up all posts on this theme.

MAGYAR AMERICAN BLOGSPOT CELEBRATING FIFTEEN YEARS OF POSTING TODAY!

FIFTEEN YEARS! 

This blog, MAGYAR AMERICAN, is about and for those who have Hungarian heritage and are interested what an ethnic heritage of Hungarian means. We know the stereotypes! The stereotypes are all that many of our co-Americans know; Goulash (spicy meat stew or soup), csardas (dance), depression and suicide (we are supposed to be "passionate"), wine and poetry, and the very funny Gabor sisters?  I cannot fail to mention Vlad the Impaler and Dracula, the Blood Countess, and - new - Reptilians from "Draconian" Caves...

Additionally many Hungarians have learned to be ashamed of their ethnicity here in America and have been subject to prejudicial attitudes and discrimination, especially those who came to work in the era of the Industrial Revolution and the Robber Barrons. As a result many Americans with heritage in Hungary have changed their difficult to pronounce names or fail to admit they have Hungarian blood. 

Here we explore stereotypes, have some fun with them, look back and look forward. We visit places to go and things to do in Hungary, with hopes of travel there, and we feel concern over present-day politics and economic conditions, especially when it comes to war in Ukraine.

It is my hope that by exploring this blog, you can explore your heritage and find reason to understand it and be proud of it.

C 2010-2024  Magyar-American BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights

WECOME TO MAGYAR-AMERICAN BLOGSPOT !

 

BOLDOG UJ EVET

 

THE FIREPLACE

 

MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS MUSIC - HUNGARY (HOLY EVENING - SZENTESTE)

posted by Bigas Daddy... go to the video on YouTube to read about this classical music form and how it may be a like or different from Bohemian or German music.

Christmas Eve is called Holy Evening in Hungary.

A PRAYER

 

VENI VENI EMMANUEL : ZOLTAN KIDALY (O COME O COME EMMANUEL)

HUNGARY : A GOOD PLACE TO RETIRE? A BAD PLACE TO GO AS A TOURIST?

Are Hungarians burned out on tourists? Unsmiling pessimists? Not willing to work in tourism and letting immigrant workers deal with tourists?

Is Hungary a great place for an American ex-pat to retire on social security? I hear the buying power is three times as much as in America.

These interactions occurred in recent days.

I talked to a Hungarian "cousin" who spends six months of the year living in Budapest, where he owns an apartment. He says he is "at peace" there, which he is not in the United States. In the U.S. he lives in a major city.  He is educated, intellectual, and artistic, and after many years in the U.S. he is also based here - marriage, children, grandchildren.

"You should get your Hungarian citizenship," he said. (He means duel citizenship.)  He urged me to walk into the consulate with my genealogy and I said "But there's a language requirement and I won't pass."  He said no there is not.  I quiet and look it up later - there most certainly is.

How difficult it is to pass a Hungarian language exam in order to get Hungarian citizenship is controversial.  Online you can read every opinion and experience about it. Easy! Difficult. 

Soon after speaking with him on the phone - outside a library where, upon the call coming in, I rushed out with book I had not checked out and sounded off alarms, I came in and apologized for the mishap. I explained I'd been waiting on the call and soon a library clerk came over to me.

"I just came back from Budapest and we had a horrible time."

According to this person, she and her traveling party, four women, had tried to speak Hungarian and thought they had done fairly well. This was a longed for and saved for vacation. However, she said people were not even willing to give them directions to the bus and were, overall, not nice to them. Then she said, "And they are racist." Since this woman could pass for a Hungarian I asked her what she meant. "One of the women traveling with us is from India. I think they snubbed us because they thought she's a Rom...."

Hmmmmmmm.

Any experience or opinion YOU want to share?  Leave me a comment!

A STAR

 

REMAINS OF SAINT NICHOLAS? CHURCH OF SAINT NICHOLAS ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE

DAILY MAIL SCIENCE - TOMB OF SAINT NICHOLAS FOUND?  Go to the article to see some terrific photos

Excerpt: The second church was found after researchers conducted electronic surveys under St. Nichoas church, finding gaps between the floor and the ground.

Then, in 2022, the team announced they may have found the tomb, but were still working to remove the Byzantine church's flooring to not damage it.

Osman Eravsar, the head of the provincial cultural heritage preservation board in Antalya, told Demiroren News Agency that year: 'The first church was submerged with the rise of the Mediterranean Sea, and some centuries later, a new church was built above.

***

On January 2nd 2025 I removed the video but you may still find it at the link....

HUNGARIAN COOKING : POGÁCSA (WHO WILL GET THE BISCUIT WITH A COIN IN IT?)

FOOD PERESTROIKA : HUNGARIAN BISCUITS  Love this website.  Well written by site owner Florian, interesting, and good recipes.... you'll get hungry just reading this.

Excerpt: In many Hungarian folk tales, the hero takes with him a pogasca baked in embers before setting off on a long journey. On St. Luca's name day (December 13th), a coin is hidden in a batch of pogis, and the person who finds it is said to win good luck for the following year.

Excerpt: One of the first written mentions of the famous pagasca can be found in The Science of Cooking, written by the court of the Prince of Transylvania around 1580 and available in English (link here.)  Not surprisingly for medieval cuisine, many of these pagacsa recipes include rose water, almond, wine, jam, or honey. Several of these use grated honey kalach mixed with soaked pieces of bread roll instead of making dough from scratch with flour....

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS IN HUNGARY : CHRISTMAS EVE (SZENT-ESTE) IS THE MOST IMPORTANT and ACTIVITY FILLED DAY

Because Hungary is officially a Christian country - though there Hungarians with a variety of beliefs and non-beliefs, Christmas turns out to be the most important holiday to celebrate. The emphasis is on religion.  And so, Christmas Eve is called Holy Evening.  The holiday is far less commercial than in the United States, and perhaps purchasing from the equivalent of a crafts fair or farmer's market is part of that. Doing so as a tourist or citizen helps keep the local economy and micro-businesses afloat.

For instance, a Christmas tree (a Germanic custom) is put up in the family home by the family on the Eve. Traditionally, the Christmas Tree was lit with candles. Candles, as well as sparklers (!) may be placed on the tree, something that most Americans would fear doing in case of fire.  If the children are small and not participating, the tree can be a surprise to see. They may be told that the angels brought the tree. They will get their gifts that evening and will be told that they were brought by Jesus, or Jezuska (little Jesus). If they did not participate in decorating the tree and it's meant to be a surprise, they may be told to wait until their parents ring a little bell to announce the time to enter the room, glowing tree and presents awaiting. The presents are wrapped to make the discovery of what's inside more exciting.

Candles are also used to decorate around the house, but are not lit until Midnight (the first moments of Christmas Day) and this moment is called Silent Night.

All day during Christmas Eve the household is bustling with activities. Christmas carols may be sung. Food may be prepared.

A favorite desert is called beigli, which is called a nut roll.  The beigli can be filled with walnuts, almonds, chestnuts, pistachio - or poppy seeds, which are seeds and not nuts. Fish soup or stuffed cabbage rolls are popular choices for meals. Pork, however, is not eaten in the lead-up to Christmas, advent, so it is not until Christmas Ever that it can be used as a filling for the stuffed cabbages.

On Christmas Eve the last candle of the four used in an Advent wreath is lit.  Four candles, for four Sundays are used in the wreath. The first symbolizes faith, the second hope, the third joy, and the last one is for love. The first three candles are purple, the final one pink, in Catholic homes. Usually the candles are arranged in a circle among some pine branches.