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English Table of Contents 2024/1  



Page 5
Memories from a Bukovinan Hungarian woman’s childhood. Mrs Pál Boldizsár Orbán Anna was born in the village of Hadikfalva/Dornești in 1913, a year before WWI broke out - years of hunger and upheaval followed. It was a tough life. She tells about the period until about 1928 when she began attending the village dances. A large number of the Bukovina Hungarians were resettled in Serbia (then southern Hungary) in 1941, then because of WWII they had to flee several more times before finding more permanent homes in Hungary. As told to and documented by Szávai József in the mid 1980s in the Hungarian town of Dombóvár.

Page 5
Announcement for All Hungarians Dance/Minden Magyarok Tánca – a performance featuring selected dance material and choreography to be held in Budapest within the framework of the 2024 National Dance House Festival on Sunday April 7. Participation in the event is open to Hungarians who are folk dancers living in the diaspora, bringing them together in one performance. This year’s material will be dances of the Transylvanian town of Szék. Leaders, choreographers this year are Kádár Ignác and Nagypál Anett. Participants must register by e-mail before March 31, 2024. Dance material and details of the performance will be posted a few weeks before the event. The event is sponsored by the Táncház Association, the Élő Forrás Tradition Preserving Association and Hunyor Folk High School Association. Announcement by Kovács Norbert Cimbi, Berán István.

Page 6
In Memoriam: Kovács András Ferenc (1959 Szatmárnémeti/Satu Mare – 2023 Dec. 30 Marosvásárhely/Targu Mures) – a Transylvanian Hungarian poet, essayist, translator who published from 1977 on. He was buried in Marosvásárhely on January 4th. Sebő Ferenc met Kovács in 2008, explored his musical world and went on to collaborate with him on a Transylvanian recording released in 2018. Included here are five selections of poetry from that CD. By Sebő Ferenc. Also reprinted here are death announcements from MTI and székelyhon.ro

Page 9
New Publication: Varga Sándor: [Changes in the traditional dance culture of a village in Transylvania’s Mezőség Region]. Hagyományok Háza, Krizsa János Néprajzi Tarsaság. Kolozsvár, Romania. 2023 ISBN: 978-606-9015-36-0. Traditional dance reseacher/ethno-choreologist Varga Sándor began work towards this book in the early 1990s and it became the theme of his doctoral dissertation. The book brings a full picture of the dance culture of the village of Visa/Vișea in Transylvania’s Mezőség region. Printed here is Varga’s introduction to the book.

Page 12
Description of a carnival custom that occurs in the village of Moha in Hungary’s Fejér County. Locally the custom is known as "tikverőzés" which can very roughly be translated as "chicken beating” – a custom that was originally part of the circle of wedding traditions. Over time the tradition transformed in this village and became part of the carnival custom involving a group of local men and boys who go around the village in maskarade humorously 'frightening' the other residents. This account describes origins and changes in this custom. Also discussed here is the fact that this custom is now on the list of national intellectual treasures and how the added attention has changed the event. The village now consciously preserves the event by maintaining local leadership and organization. By Nagy Veronika; photos by Dénes Zoltán.

Page 16
Interview with Transylvanian Hungarian writer, journalist Simó Márton upon his 60th birthday and recent publication of his book "A boldogabb ember” [A Happier Man] – Part I. Many aspects of Simó’s life, the path of his career and the reality of being a writer in Transylvania come to light. He was born in 1963 in the southern Transylvanian mining community of Urikány/Uricani – a town with a Romanian majority. He learned Romanian there and makes a point of saying that his language knowledge has been an asset throughout his life. His parents moved back to their native Székelyföld when he was 10. He attended university in Hungary and lived in Budapest for 15 years before returning to Transylvania where he lives with his family in Székelyudvárhely/Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania. At times it has bothered him that his Hungarian writing world is limited:… "small market, small money". He is always obliged to have some kind of steady employment in order to make ends meet. Interview by Transylvanian writer/journalist Bölöni Domokos.

Page 20
Announcement for a soldier’s folk song competition – the competition is named after singer Balogh Márton (1946–2010) folk singer-solisist with the Honvéd Ensemble known for his characteristic voice quality and the old soldier and hussar songs he sung. Any Hungarian man or boy over the age of 14 may enter the competition and must sing at least one of Balogh Márton’s tunes. Following regional competitions, the final national competiton juried by professionals in the field and a gala program will be held in October 2024 at the Honvéd Cultural Center in Budapest. The competition is sponsored by Vitézi Ének Foundation and the Traditional Hungarian Hussar and Soldier’s Association.

Page 22
Interview with photographer Mohos Zsófia. Zsófia has published two books of her photos. She describes her work that has concentrated on the people and traditional life of two villages: Rimóc (Palóc region, Hungary) and Kupuszina (Voivodina, Serbia). She has taken the time to seek out and befriend elderly residents in these villages to get to a deeper level with her photographs. She has been inspired by the work of Hungarian photographer Korniss Péter, who has become her mentor and curated an exhibition of her work in Budapest at Kolta Gallery in Budapest (which opened on February 8th). Interview by Grozdits Károly

Page 30
Traditional Hungarian dances of Visk/Vyshkovo – a town in the Khust region of western Ukraine near the Hungarian border. Historically an ethnically mixed region, 20 years ago about half of the population there claimed ethnic Hungarian origin. The town is located in the historic Northern Maramures region, on the banks of the Tisza/Tysa river. This brief study is based on notes from previous field work and interviews. Until recently the Hungarian dances of Transcarpathia had largely been overlooked by Hungary’s dance house movement. Now there has been slight interest and some choreographies have appeared. According to folk dance researcher Martin György the Hungarian dances of this area belong to the so-called Upper Tisza region and dance dialect. This study looks at local aspects of the csárdás couple dance and mentions the stamping style footwork. By Módos Máté.

Page 37
Musician Kerényi Robi has been an important figure in Budapest’s Gyimes and Moldavian dance house life since the late 1980s. In December 2023 Robi’s 60th birthday was celebrated at Budapest’s Marczibányi tér’s Guzsalyas dance house. Many friends and musicians came out to help celebrate. Printed here is the speech given by his long-time friend, colleague and co-founding member of Tatros Band and Guzsalyas dance house, Sándor Ildikó.

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Two short stories by Kincs István 1867–1942, priest, journalist, children’s writer: lived in Western Hungary. Sometime in the 1860s there was colony of Hungarian hussars stationed in the Czech city of Pardubitz/ Pardubice. The hussars were sad and homesick and continuously escaping from the barracks. It was decided that the cure would be to send them a band of Gypsy musicians from Hungary to lift their spirits. The second story is about Gypsies of the village of Nagyabony/Veľké Blahovo (today in southwestern Slovakia near the Hungarian border). The vajda of the Nagyabony Gypsies was a musician. When their favorite person Kossuth Lajos left Hungary, the Gypsy vajda decided they should leave too. As they prepared to leave, a letter arrived for the Gypsy vajda. They couldn’t read but assumed it was a letter from Kossuth calling them to go play for him in exile. When they found out it was only a letter calling them to Pardubitz to play for the Hungarian hussars stationed there – they decided not to go.

Page 41
New publication: Szokolszky Ágnes: [The life and family history of Déki Lakatos Sándor] Személyes Történelem, Budapest 2023, ISBN 9786156439277. An oral history told personally by violinist Déki Lakatos Sándor (born Budapest 1945). It takes the reader into the life of a Gypsy musician and member of a famous musician family dynasty. According to Déki Lakatos, a successful Gypsy musician needs: "…extraordinary instrumental knowledge, large repertoir, excellent memory, high level of artistic and performing talent, musical intelligence, human intelligence, insight into human nature and outstanding leadership, negociation and language skills..." Recommendation by Dr. Hajnáczky Tamás.

Page 42
Traditional foods: flat breads in the Hungarian peasant kitchen. Starting with a glance at flat breads in international food traditions, the writer then hones-in on the history of flat breads in Hungarian eating culture, making the distinction between unleavened flat breads and flat breads made with leavening. [A basic understanding here is that today Hungary is a nation dedicated to the raised loaf of bread.S.F.] A brief survey of remnants of variations on flat breads still in existing in Hungarian culinary tradition is followed up with selected recipes: Cornmeal flatcakes baked on cabbage leaves, Buzsák baked paprika flat bread, Kisbajom miller’s wafer, Szatmárcseke paska (or matza type) cracker, Palóc potato flat bread. By ethnographer Juhász Katalin.

By Sue Foy