Traditions

Keeping traditions

Keeping the traditions gives our national identity. We keep our traditions especially on holidays. There are two kinds of holiday in a year. One type is the group of the religious holidays. The second group contains the Public holidays. I would like to tell some of the most important Public holidays and traditions we keep.

On March 15th we commemorate the Hungarian revolution and war of independence of 1848-49. We wear cocardas, which symbolises our estimation and respect and we listens to the same performances and speeches every year. May 1st is a spring holiday when maypoles are put up in the gardens, mainly in the country. This is the holiday of work. August 20th is the day of King Stephen 1st. On this day we commemorate the founding of our state. We have fireworks in the capital. On October 23rd we celebrate the declaration of the Hungarian Republic and commemorate the revolution of 1956.

I think the most important religious holidays are the Christmas and the Easter. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ. The saviour of men. December 24th is Christmas Eve. The Christmas tree, a fir or a pine, is decorated and children are given a lot of presents on the evening of Dec. 24. There are the namedays of the members of my family. Most family go to midnight service in church. On the first and second day of Christmas families have big meals and visit each other in the afternoons.

At Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. On Easter Monday the boys go to visit their female friends and relatives and sprinkle them with perfume or water. Girls, in return, give them home-made cakes and drinks and present them with painted eggs. It is a special Hungarian custom.

I think in consequence of the social development we do not leave these traditions, but we want to preserve them harder. I find these traditions funny but very important. Hungary cannot exist