Christmas Traditions in Hungary

In Hungary the Christmas tree is decorated on Christmas Eve. In addition to the usual
decorations, we also put fondant candies on and under the tree. According to the Hungarian
tradition, the Christmas presents are brought by Baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. As for Santa
Claus, he visits on December 6 bringing sweets and presents for those well-behaved children
who put their clean shoes on thewindowsill the night before.
Typical Hungarian Christmas dishes include: fish soup or bouillon, stuffed cabbage, roast
turkey withstuffing, and the famous poppy seed or walnut rolls.
The poppy seed or walnut roll is a traditional Hungarian pastry, mostly eaten during the
winter holidays. It is basically a sweet bread, known as “bejgli” in Hungary. During the last
few decades other variants (such as chestnut, plum jam, prune, or even cocoa) have become
popular, too.
Did you know? Poppy is widely consumed in many parts of Central and Eastern Europe. The
sugared,milled mature seeds are eaten with pasta, or they are boiled with milk and used
as filling or topping on various kinds of sweet pastry. In countries where eating poppy seed is
not so common, people think that it can be dangerous or even lead to a positive drug-test.
Another typically Hungarian Christmas sweet is ”szaloncukor” (literally: parlour candy),
which is a type of sweets, traditionally associated with Christmas in Hungary. It is usually
made of fondant, covered by chocolate and wrapped in shiny coloured foil. It is often used as
decoration on Christmas trees, hung on with strings or small metal hooks.
Fondant candies originally came in a few flavours (vanilla and strawberry for example), but
now there is a wide variety of different kinds of candies, including jelly, coconut, hazelnut and
lots of other flavours.
As far as Christmas fairs are concerned, among the many Budapest Christmas markets, one of
the most popular ones is held on Vörösmarty Square, in the heart of the city’s 5 th district. This
traditional Budapest Fair is a great place to get your unique Christmas presents, as here you
can always find some exclusive and hand-made art products and all kinds of decorations,
made with authentic techniques. While you’re looking for the perfect gifts or winter
souvenirs, you can enjoy a variety of programs, listening to folk music, taking part in a
Christmas tree decorating competition or sipping mulled wine and feasting onthe traditional
Hungarian dishes and cakes from the open kitchens around the square. If you haven’t been to
this fair yet, you should try “lángos” (deep-fried bread dough, usually topped with garlic, sour
cream and cheese) and “kürtös kalács” (hollow, cylinder shaped pastry, baked over an open
fire with ground walnut or other sweet coatings), but you will have an extra hard time
choosing what to eat this time. Anovelty in recent years has been the even wider selection of
culinary delights - stuffed cabbages, grilled meat and fish, strudels and the other Christmas
delicacies.
Vocabulary

fondant candy szaloncukor

windowsill ablakpárkány
stuffed cabbage töltött káposzta
stuffing töltelék
poppy seed mák
walnut roll diós tekercs, bejgli
pastry sütemény
decade évtized
chestnut gesztenye
prune aszalt szilva
to consume fogyasztani
milled őrölt
filling töltelék
topping feltét
parlour szalon
wrapped csomagolt
foil alufólia, fényes csomagoló
flavour íz
jelly zselé
Christmas fair karácsonyi vásár
unique különleges
to síp kortyolgatni
mulled wine forralt bor
to feast on lakmározni
deep-fried olajban sült
dough nyers tészta
coating máz
novelty újdonság
strudel rétes