In past times, during farsang, townfolk would don scary masks and carry instruments which made loud noises, like bells and drums. Then, they would march through the streets to scare the evil spirits away. In the midst of all this, the kids were given candy. Nowadays, these celebrations still take place in the villages, but less so in the cities. In the latter, people tend to hold masquerade parties in their homes. Sometimes schools host them too. If you go to Austria or Germany, you’ll hear the holiday being referred to as Fastnacht or Fasching but there it tends to be celebrated by a carnival – a great chance for everyone to let their hair down before Lent!
Tradition has it that during the season the girls chased the boys. Once caught, the girl would then give the boy a branch or flower for his hat. If the boy accepted, then the couple would dance together at the farsang ball. All this courting took place because it would have seemed inappropriate to do the same during Lent!
Fánks (gorgeous jelly doughnuts) are the traditional food of the farsang season. They are usually filled with sumptuous apricot jam and covered with sugar. Way back, they were fried on the first day of farsang as superstition had it that this would prevent storm winds from blowing the roof off! Other dishes consumed during farsang include kolbász (sausage), lots of pork dishes, and, if you’ve got a strong stomach, kocsonya (meat jelly).
Some regions in Hungary had a custom which saw them pulling logs through the streets during farsang. And embarrassingly, some girls who couldn’t find a boyfriend were made to pull the logs by men! And, sometimes the girls were made fun of too. Charming.
‘Mummeries were also held: these were dramatic plays which were performed across the village by actors in masks. They went from house to house, insisting that they were helping to drive away evil spirits. Sometimes people burned a puppet made of straw, which was supposed to symbolize winter. Although, don’t ask us why.
Nowadays, the most famous masquerade is Busójárás which is held in the south of the country in a town called Mohács. During Busójárás people wear scary clothes including alarming masks, fur coats which are turned inside out and trousers stuffed with straw. Their reason? They hope that winter will be afraid of them and run away. The festival usually attracts a large and enthusiastic crowd – so why not go to Mohács and check it out for yourself?