Easter in Hungary

As a Christian country, Hungary pays attention to Easter. There are many traditions connected to it.  Some of them are the following:

„Doll” burning

A doll made of straw and dressed in a woman’s clothes.  It is a symbol of the winter and fasting. They carry it around the village while singing. Then it is burned or thrown into water.

Egg dying & water sprinkling

Eggs are the symbols of life and reborning. The girls dye their eggs in various, colorful patterns. They usually  use  patterns  tha are typical for their the region. But most of them are red. It sybolises love and life.  On Easter Monday they give it to the boys who come to sprinkle them with water or scented water.  This custom is very old and according to legend  that bring good luck for the girls. They say poems and songs when they do it. There are many creative and funny poems. Originally it was made by pouring a bucket of water onto girls,  but nowadays they only use a sup of water or scented water. Some girls give money or chocolate eggs in return,  instead of eggs. The more sprinkler a girl gets, the more popular she is.

The Easter Bunny

The rabbit is considered a symbol of fertility, as it can have up to 20 kids in a year. As Easter is a celebration of fertility, it is not a surprise why rabbit is used. Although there is a strange habbit around rabbits, we say the Easter Bunny lays the Easter Eggs. There are more opinions why it has been formed this way. One legend is that „Eostre godess” found a wounded eagle in the forest in winter,  to save it from death she transformed it into a rabbit, but  the rabbit kept its egg laying ability. The rabbit decorated  her eggs and gave it to the godess as a sign of gratitude.

Nowadays young people don’t really follow the sprinkling tradition in the big cities, but you can watch this traditional custom at many villages.  One of the most famous villages in Hungary is Hollókő.
This small beautiful village is part of UNESCO World Heritage.
In Easter to follow the tradition the boys pour water onto girls. Both boys and girls are dressed in traditional Hungarian clothes. Easter Festival takes place there,  and you can even try the traditional foods.

If you feel like visiting Hungary in Central Europe at this celebration, don’t hesitate to contact us at office@twinstravel.hu

Seasonal programs in Hungary

Are you tired of hot and damp weather? Do you want to enjoy the winter and see the snow  or enjoy the  sun without  humidity?

In Hungary we have 4 seasons, each one has its own charm. You can decide which one is your favorite. 

In summer you can enjoy the sun  during open air programs and cultural festivals. One of our favorite festivals is  the „Castle Days” in city of Gyula. It tells the story of the castle of the city during the Turkish occupation in Hungary from the 15-17th century. People are dressed in traditional Hungarian or Turkish clothes. In the evenings  two teams fight against each other so that you have and idea how these attacks were made at that time. You can listen to Hungarian concerts also every evening.  By day you can try the tents of the groups and can even try the Hungarian traditional foods. 

In autumn you can take part of a harvest on harvest festivals. Hungary is famous for  wine, so wine harvesting plays a big role here. You can learn how grapes are picked and how wine is made from experts. The oppurtunity to taste them is granted if you would like to do so.Hungary in winter is very special  to see. 

If you don’t feel like exploring the city in  cold wheather, we suggest  numerous  relaxing thermal baths in Budapest. Most of them are from the Roman and Turkish occupation (1-4th  and 15-17th century). The most famous  baths are:  the Széchényi, Rudas and Gellért in Budapest; and in the country: Eger, Hévíz, Castle Spa in Gyula, Cave-bath in Miskolctapolca, Zalakaros, Bükk, Egerszalók, like the world famous bath in  Pamukale in Turkey.  Hungary also was looking for oil during the last century, but we found hot springs every time and we are very well known for our spas in Central Europe. Many Austrian, German, Polish and Japanese tourists come and enjoy our  healing and relaxing thermal baths. https://youtube.com/watch?v=9PQelTlj4fc

In spring you can join the  Easter Festivals or Pig slaughter festivals. It may sound strange for you, but  as Hungarians, we consume a lot of pork, and we pay attention to that. Coming to see these festivals, you can see how the pork is proccessed. But if you don’t want to see that, there are many programs to choose from. For example you can see and try the Hungarian national  traditional dance Csárdás,  or you can choose from concerts. When the pork is ready, you can go and taste it. Our favourite festival is in Abádszalók. The view is excellent also with the second most important river of Hungary, called: Tisza. There are many other popular cultural festivals also, contact us for more information.