August 20th - What’s It All About? - Learning Hungarian

Learning Hungarian

  • Home
  • About
  • Courses
  • Prices
  • Expat Guide to Hungary
  • Blog
  • Contact

August 20th – What’s It All About?

Posted on August 20, 2018 by HungarianTeacher

August 20th

What’s It All About?

A holy fist, sanctified bread, a cake competition and fireworks. If you happen to spend the 19-20th of August in Hungary you’re bound to run into either one of those during celebratory events. But what national holiday can combine these items? Well the answer lies in Hungary's millennial long history.

new Year in the city - Budapest Parliament with fireworks
Budapest Parliament with fireworks

 

The Holy Right

If you haven’t heard yet, I’m here to tell you that the first king of Hungary was Szent István (Saint Stephen), who took upon himself a no smaller task then founding a whole country. It was on the 20th of August that as part of his canonization his grave was opened and the Hungarian church declared this day to be István’s's name day. The Holy Right is literally his mummified right hand fist that is considered a Hallowed Hungarian Relic. On the 20th of August the Hungarian Church organizes a ceremonial holy mass in Szent István Bazilika (St. Stephen's Basilica) and procession of the Holy Right.

 

cultura-szent-jobb-istvan-kicsi

http://cultura.hu/aktualis/a-szent-jobb-legendaja/

 

The Festival of New Bread

Traditionally the first harvest grants the wheat to bake the first new bread of the year. After a tiresome harvest naturally you would unwind with a Festival and this has created a line of celebrations at the end of each summer. At the early years of the Hungarian People's Republic after the Second World War Szent István’s name day was put into new context.

Commemorating a Christian king were two concepts not in line with the communist ideology. As the working class already had 1st of May to celebrate international Labor Day, peasantry could embrace 20th of August, the Festival of new bread.

 

Fireworks

The first recording of fireworks held on the 20th dates back all the way to 1829. There were many years without fireworks since then, as revolutions, independence- and world wars passed.  Today it is held all over the country with live broadcast of the Budapest fireworks on national television. This year the state announced a grand celebration with the value of fireworks estimated for about 222 million forints, involving 21.000 effects. The show is meant to last to 23-26 minutes, based on the latest announcement published by index.

Be sure to pick your spot beforehand as the capital is pretty popular around this time and good viewpoints get taken fast!

budapest-655216_1280

 

Posted in
What to Know about Learning and Speaking Hungarian

Related Posts

  • What to Know about Learning and Speaking Hungarian

    What to Know about Learning and Speaking Hungarian   Here I go with my most
    Read more
  • Living in Hungary as an Expat

    Living in Hungary as an Expat Why Budapest is so popular among expats as a
    Read more
  • Happy New Year of the Dog! – Vocabulary for Beginners

    Happy New Year of the Dog! Vocabulary for beginners Not only grammatical, but cultural irregularities there
    Read more
  • VOCABULARY FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

    VALENTINE'S DAY WORDS IN HUNGARIAN A special Valentine's Day gift - vocabulary for beginners! Can
    Read more
  • FacebookFacebook
  • DisqusDisqus
  • Google PlusGoogle +

Your first lesson is FREE

I know we will enjoy learning Hungarian together, so I'm giving you the first private lesson for FREE. Just click here and make an appointment:

Try it for free!

No risk, no obligations.

Recent Posts

  • August 20th – What’s It All About?
  • What to Know about Learning and Speaking Hungarian
  • Living in Hungary as an Expat
  • Happy New Year of the Dog! – Vocabulary for Beginners
  • VOCABULARY FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

GET CONNECTED:

  • Facebook
Learning Hungarian © 2019. Privacy Policy