• Home
• Channel: Community & Culture
• Easter Holiday Customs In Hungary

Easter Holiday Customs In Hungary

• 14 Apr 2019 8:47 AM

Easter (Húsvét) holds great significance in Hungary, with celebrations marked by fun folk traditions and religious observance.

Elaborately decorated eggs, dousing rituals, church ceremonies, prayers, and special foods are common leading up to and during the Hungarian Easter. Read on for a few key customs and links to popular Easter events around Hungary.

Lent

Hungarians regard “Lent” as the Great Fast for Easter. Since meat is forbidden during Lent, the day before Ash Wednesday is called “Húshagyó Kedd“, which means “meat abandoning Tuesday”. On Holy Saturday, what is known as “Nagyszombat” in Hungary, people take food baskets filled with kalács, red eggs and salt to the church, to be blessed by the clergyman. This blessed food is eaten in the Easter dinner after the resurrection ceremonies are over.

Easter Eggs

The art of decorating Easter eggs in Hungary was originally a Pagan ritual but was carried over with the acceptance of Christianity. Eggs are decorated with simple geometric shapes or ornamented with swirls of plants and flowers. The color red is often used as it symbolizes the blood of Christ. Many eggs also carry the embroidery of Hungarian designs that are a part of the traditional dress. Painted wooden eggs are also displayed in many Hungarian homes.

Flower Sunday

Centuries ago on Palm Sunday it was customary to bless not only branches but also the various flowers of the season. Today, the flowers are still mentioned in the antiphons after the prayer of blessing. Thus, the name Flower Sunday or “Virágvasárnap” is used in Hungary.

Sprinkling

Sprinkling is a very popular Easter custom in Hungary, observed on Easter Monday, which is also known as “Ducking Monday“. On this day, boys playfully sprinkle perfume or perfumed water on girls. Until some time back, young men used to pour buckets of water over young women’s heads.

Now it is more common for men to spray perfume, cologne or just plain water, and then ask for a kiss and a red egg. This ritual is associated with fertility, healing, and cleansing rites.

Source: The Hungarian Girl, published on XpatLoop.com with permission.

• How does this content make you feel?
• I love it
• I like it
• I dislike it

• Easter in Hungary

Explore More Reports

Updated: Guide to Public Holidays & Saturdays as Working Days in Hungary

• 29 Nov 2024 7:52 AM

There are many bank holidays, and some extra ‘rest days’ in Hungary this year. As you can see from the easy to read lists below, instead of having one free day in the middle of the work week, Hungarians usually prefer to have long weekends in exchange for a Saturday that would otherwise be a ‘rest day’.



An Englishwoman's Life in Communist Hungary': Book 2, Chapter 6, Part 2

• 24 Sep 2024 5:56 PM

Marion Merrick’s books are the only first-hand account written by a westerner of what it was like to live and work in communist Hungary, and then in the aftermath of the 1989 change of regime.



'An Englishwoman's Life in Communist Hungary': Book 2, Chapter 5, Part 5

• 30 Aug 2024 3:57 PM

Marion Merrick’s books are the only first-hand account written by a westerner of what it was like to live and work in communist Hungary, and then in the aftermath of the 1989 change of regime.



Shops Closed on 19 & 20 May - What Else Does Pentecost Signify In Hungary?

• 15 May 2024 4:20 PM

Pentecost is a public holiday in Hungary, and so shops will be closed on Sunday and Monday, 19 & 20 May. It's a Christian holiday commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples of Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament of the Bible. It is also known as Whit Sunday.