Yesterday, after the wonderful Critical Mass in Szeged, we had a chat with some international friends. They asked me about the symbolism of Eastern in Hungary. Lamb and chicken are out, but rabbit and egg are still the two most widespread images found in shops nowadays. And to make it more obvious, people just connect the two: the bunny (nyuszi) lays the (chocolate) eggs into the Easter nest!!! (Holy cow, whoever claims that Hungarians are top in life sciences should reconsider now! :P)
Some explain the appearance of the bunny in the Hungarian culture with a miss-translation from German. But the second beer brought us closer to the most probable explanation: the rabbit is the most fucking reproductive animal. As such, it symbolizes fertility. And so does the egg. Fertility, rebirth, spring… all reach back to the pagan roots.
Fertilize!
Guys, this is my Easter Monday Guide for you =)
Getting to the most important purpose of this post: Easter Monday… the day after Palm Sunday, which is not a holiday in some countries. Dear Gentlemen, go and water the girls – we are waiting for you!
It’s your supreme duty, not a joke. This day boys go to girls’ house and sprinkle them with some* water (some=from a few drops to a bucket) or recently with cheap perfume called locsolókölni, available in most stores these days for 2-300 forints. In small villages you can still see groups of lads going around on a horse carriage with buckets and getting water from the well in the backyard. What’s more, you can be cheeky and do it extreme early. Waking up with a big splash in your face is everything but fun. But as the Hungarian saying states: A szépségnek ára van (Beauty has its prize).
“Those who look for beauty, find it”
The aim of the sprinkling is to keep the girls beautiful (and fertile). Feminists probably object to such traditions and their implications, but let’s be fair: men cannot bear children. To put it simple, women = fertility.
Boys, here is what you do:
1. You get up early, dress up neatly and prepare some liquid.
2. You leave the house alone or with friends, preferably by bike or on foot. (See point 5.)
3. While getting to the first girl’s house, you rehearse the little poem you learned on this occasion. It could be anything that ends with Szabad-e locsolni? (May I sprinkle you?). To give you some ideas, here is a website of collected commons. (Beware, these contains stuff for different tastes, if you want to be safe, go for (aránylag) szalonképes locsolóversek!)
4. You knock on the door and unless you want to be really cruel, you start with rhyme. Of course you hear the answer “szabad”, so you hose!
5. You accept the painted egg or chocolate egg, the shots of pálinka and the cakes.
Repeat the steps 4 and 5 as many times as you like (or until you get totally wasted). But watch out – you can only do it until 12AM! So you’d better start with the first ray of sunshine =)
WTF!
Yes, my ladies, so it is. We are being woken up fuck*n early, getting a) wet and cold b) stinky dizzy due to all the patchouli; and we even have to give something in return. Traditionally you give delicately painted red eggs (hímestojás). Originally you colour the hollow eggs with onion peel or beetroot or some other natural paint and then scratch lines with some acid. In more recent years it is rather chocolate to give away, sometimes flowers and money to the little boys. On the top of that, you need to be cheerful and enchanting, a perfect hostess.Back in (not so) old times Easter Monday meant a big competition among girls: those who got many guys to sprinkle her had a bigger chance to marry soon. Makes sense. In some regions of Hungary in the afternoon it’s your turn to go to the guys house and hit them (smoothly) with a wand. Of course many superstitions go along with these festivities as well, but as far as I know, they are not really observed anymore.
Some survival tips for girls:
- Don't wash your hair, you will have to wash it afterwards anyway.
- Be nice, but don't wear fancy dresses - you have to wash them, and probably you have to change several times during the day.
- Keep a towel and dry clothes ready.
- Don't insist in guys' eating and drinking too much. You are not the only one!
- If you open the door and nobody is there, run for your life!
Or quickly lock the door and turn the lights off...actually, you could just escape from the whole process, by booking a flight to a Caribic island xo) Have fun - without obligations.
If you are not brave enough to go on your own trip, accompany some Hungarian friends or await the guys with your friends. Or you can go to one of the Skanzens (=open air museums), where you are safe to watch this event as a curious outsider. You can find these in Szentendre, Ópusztaszer, Hollókő. (Maybe Göcsej and Szalafő provide programs as well.)
Apart from sweets and pálinka, you are supposed to stuff yourself with ham, eggs and torma (a horseradish paste). Enjoy!
