As a special Easter gift from FUNZINE to you, we’ve decided to feature a little how-to guide for you so that you can celebrate Easter Hungarian style!
Get the creative juices flowing and decorate eggs by simply dying them the color that tickles your fancy or try hand painting, wax writing, etching and carving them. Don’t wanna see your masterpieces be cracked open and eaten but would like to keep them (to show off, of course) even after Easter? Then blow the eggs before decorating – just pierce them with a needle and blow out all the contents. Remember to recycle your egg boxes – it’s Earth Hour on March 27th, after all.
If you’d like to see how the pros do it, take a trip south toward European Capital of Culture Pécs to visit the ‘Arts on Eggs’ collection at the museum in Zengővárkony, where 3,000 eggs from 19 countries are on show. Click on www.tojasmuzeum.ini.hu for more info. And did we mention that there’s another eggcellent museum in Siófok, on the shore of Lake Balaton?
Sprinkle like a local – 1! The old Hungarian tradition, also known as locsolás, is still alive and kicking in both rural and urban parts of Hungary, meaning that men and boys venture out on Easter Monday to sprinkle women and girls with water or (cheap) cologne. It harks back to an ancient fertilization ritual: the girls being ‘watered’ as flowers. Back in the old days girls weren’t quite so lucky though; they were dunked in a river or had a bucket of cold water thrown over their heads – brrrr! Strangely enough, women still used to compete for the most splashes and even gave the boys painted eggs or sweets in return.
Sprinkle like a local – 2! Surprise your lady friends by reciting a rhyme before sprinkling them. For two of the traditional ones, check our Dictionarea or make up your own poem! Expect to bag lots of eggs (chocolate or the real thing) along with a never-ending flow of compliments. Leave your car at home, as cops will be on the lookout for drink drivers and you have no chance to convince neighbour Marika that you don’t want another pálinka.
The obvious one: stuff yourself silly. Buy homemade Hungarian ham (smoked and delicately seasoned… mmm) in one of the city’s market halls and serve it alongside pickled horseradish and hardboiled eggs. Sweet-tooths are also in for a treat with milk load (kalács) being the delicacy of the holiday. EGGészségedre!
Don’t forget to go to work on Good Friday – not a public holiday here. On the other hand, don’t forget not to go to work on Easter Monday (that won’t be hard to remember, will it?), as it is most definitely a holiday!
For a day out, head to Szentendre and Hollókő. Or why not visit Budapest Zoo to pet Easter bunnies?