The following article is adapted from a piece written by Emese Hulej, originally published in Magyar Krónika.
Ready or not, here Magyar Krónika comes with a few fun facts you probably didn’t know about Christmas in Hungary in the good ol’ days. From department escalators to sparklers, everything you need to know is right here!
1. ‘Angel from Heaven’
‘Angol from Heaven’ (‘Mennyből az angyal’) is a Hungarian Christmas carol sung by hundreds of thousands of families under the Christmas tree every year. But do we know its origins? It was probably composed by Mihály Szentmihályi, a parish priest in the village of Boconád in the 18th century, and spread from Heves County to the other parts of the country. The song was recorded on a phonograph by ethnographer Béla Vikár in 1910 and later noted down by famous composer Béla Bartók.
2. ‘No Christmas without Corvin!’
Decades ago, perhaps the most famous of all advertising slogans in Socialist Hungary was ‘No Christmas without Corvin!’. In those days, in absence of huge shopping malls and craft fairs, people chose their gifts from the shelves of the few existing big stores. But the department store was established much earlier. It was inaugurated in 1926, and five years later, the capital’s first escalator was installed and put into service inside it.
3. The Introduction of the Christmas Tree in Hungary
‘The Christmas tree itself was introduced in our country by my mother,’ Baron Frigyes Podmaniczky, referred to as the bridegroom of Budapest, noted down in his memoirs. The prominent politician stated that this event, that is, setting up the first decorated Christmas tree in Hungary, took place in 1828 and was such a success that others soon followed suit immediately.
4. Ice Rink Ticket Prices
Today, a student can skate for two or three thousand forints, and an adult for three or four thousand forints at the City Park Ice Rink (tickets are more expensive on weekends). In 1979, tickets cost between 6 and 20 forints, and in 1997 between 150 and 300 forints. But how long have skaters been using the boating lake for ice skating in the City Park during winters? On 29 January 1870 the Pest Skating Association, founded the previous year, opened the skating rink in the presence of Crown Prince Rudolph. The members also built a small wooden hut from their own money, which, however, burnt down a few years later.
5. A Sweet Hungarians Spend Billions on and Consume More Than a Kilo Each Year
What is it? Of course, it’s szaloncukor (meaning ‘parlour candy’)! Despite all the rumours to the contrary, it is not of Hungarian origin, but it is the most popular Christmas candy in our country, while in many countries it has never even been heard of. Hungarian novelist Mór Jókai used to call it ‘szalonczukkedli’, Stühmer and Gerbeaud used to produce it on an industrial scale, and now the big confectionery companies of the world are trying to compete with each other in terms of choice. There are favours of all kinds, from forest fruit and cheesecake to salted caramel and poppy seed, and there are affordable and unaffordable kinds. They used to be wrapped in silk paper, the edges of which were fringed with a so-called scratch machine; today, the paper is replaced with coloured cellophane.
6. ‘Why Did Winter Holidays Use to Be Longer?!’
They were not. Or if they were, there was a sad reason for that. In the 1942–43 school year, during the Second World War, for example, children were allowed to stay at home until 25 January, and in 1957 they were given 27 days, from 20 December to 16 January. But in 1990, the year of the regime change, they had to go back to school already on 2 January, and in 2000 on the first working day in January.
7. Winter Clothes from the Days of Yore
Of the bygone winter clothes, overshoes are still remembered by many. This mostly light-coloured footwear, which could be buttoned or fastened to the shoe, has completely disappeared since the advent of snowshoes. Besides, the muff had also fallen out of fashion, even though this tubular hand warmer, usually made of fur, was very practical. Many of us know it from movies, but what many don’t know is that it was also worn by men at the time.
8. Zserbó and Gerbeaud
Everyone takes it for granted that the traditional Christmas cake, the gerbeuad (Hungarian ‘zserbó’), was invented by the legendary confectioner Emil Gerbeaud. However, there are no authentic documents to prove this. In fact, it rather seems as if during the Swiss confectioner’s lifetime, gerbeuads were not sold at all in the Vörösmarty Square confectionery, the Gerbeaud House, only later.
+1. Why Do Sparklers Not Burn Our Skin?
The world’s simplest firework is made by coating a wire with different combustible materials. The crackling sparks are extremely hot, between 1,000 and 1,600 degrees, but their thermal energy is insignificant because their mass is so low that they cannot heat up our skin and thus do not cause burns.
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