Page 14 In this issue: - new hungarian voice

Volume IX, Issue 4
Fall 2010 - Free
©
In this issue:
PAGE 10
Page 14
TRANSYLVANIAN VALLEY MEADOW COURTESY OF RANDY & MACKENZIE KULCSÁR

EDITOR
A NOTE FROM THE
Editor/Designer
Peter Czink VRNT
Contributing Editor/Webmaster,
Marketing and Subscriptions
Lorraine Weideman
Contributing Editors
Anita Bedő
Jack Keir
Mackenzie Kulcsár
Magda Sasvári
Jordy Starling
Andrea Szilágyi
Eddi Wagner
Accounting
Mária Vajna
Distribution
Csaba Tanner
P.O. Box 74527
Kitsilano PO
Vancouver, BC
V6K 4P4 Canada
604 733-9948
newhungarianvoice
@hotmail.com
www.newhungarianvoice.com
Published by
The New Hungarian Voice
Editorial Committee
© 2010
All rights reserved
2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of publication of the New Hungarian Voice, and
I thought it would be nice to do things a little differently next year. So, instead of our usual four
issues per annum, we will produce four special editions – that will hopefully be keepsakes for
our loyal readers, and perhaps inspiration to anyone interested in our community‟s service.
To maximise content, next year‟s editions of the NHV will be free from advertising. On our
website, however, we will feature special ads for our loyal advertisers, free of charge – our way
of saying “thank you for your support!” And our faithful subscribers won‟t be forgotten either!
The first 2011 special edition will be a “best of” retrospective of our favourite pieces from
the past decade.
Our second issue will be an essential Hungarian cookbook, which will feature easy to follow
recipes of the most popular classics, with modern ingredient variations for the health conscious
among us – and we will be sure to include at least one vegetarian dish!
Issue three will be a specially written and illustrated Hungarian folk-tale. This full-length
“new old-school” story is especially for the children of immigrants – and although it will be
Hungarian through and through, it will speak to people of all cultural backgrounds.
And finally, the fourth edition will be a Hungarian volunteer‟s omnibus – a reassuring look
at just what is possible if you aren‟t afraid of a little hard work.
NHV FAQ
Why did you come up with the New Hungarian Voice
I was the vice-president of the Hungarian Cultural Society of Greater Vancouver back in
2001, and I also worked on their publication, the Tárogató. Following a particularly unruly
annual general meeting, a number of members wished to have their opinions and concerns
published in the Tárogató. However, the editor refused to even entertain the idea of such an
open forum, despite pleas from some of the oldest and most senior members of the society.
The policy of the powers-that-were was to sweep any dissent under the carpet, and ignore
any form of criticism. I printed a four page brochure, which I called The New Hungarian Voice,
in English and Hungarian, explaining the situation and offering constructive criticism; and
mailed it to each member of the Hungarian Cultural Society of Greater Vancouver.
I found that a great many people finally felt included in the community, not only because
something new was offered to them, but because it was also in English – the first language of
the majority of British Columbian people of Hungarian descent.
Why bother
I think that the overall Hungarian immigrant community lacks cohesion, and very little, other
than folk culture and right-wing political rhetoric has been offered to the descendants of the
immigrants. I felt that it was very important to provide at least a small sampling of Hungarian
culture and history, in English, in the hopes that it would spark further interest. Hungarian
material in the English language was not very accessible ten years ago (it was definitely not part
of the immigrant plan), in North America at least - it was the Hungarian language or nothing.
Over the years, I have constantly been reminded of how many children of immigrants know
very little about their culture (although most seem to show interest) through no fault of their
own – and of how many non-Hungarians are seriously fascinated by our heritage.
You’ve been criticized for giving the local Hungarian Hall a hard time –
why do you do that
They are called the Hungarian Cultural Society of Greater Vancouver. Originally, they were
2

known as the Hungarian Social Club, and if they had kept that name, there wouldn‟t have been a peep out of me. As a government
supported cultural organization they are required to stand by their constitution and support Hungarian cultural endeavours and
actively promote our culture to all Canadians – so it‟s the inequity that annoys me. It‟s a 1950s pseudo-Hungarian clique which
styles itself as the representatives of the Hungarians of Vancouver.
Some people mistakenly believe that over the years I have been trying to change the minds of those curmudgeons – I am fully
aware that that would be impossible. The intention of my criticism has been to voice the feelings of a great many people – not
simply my own, as well as to document this embarrassing cultural aberration.
How much work is involved
The NHV editorial committee members contribute articles for each issue. A single article alone can be a great deal of work –
inspiration doesn‟t always come easily, and we all do our best to hone our pieces to fit into our very finite space with the maximum
of content. I design and lay out the publication, as well as edit every article, which takes about 40 hours per issue. We get some help
with local distribution, but Lorraine Weideman and I go back and forth to the printer, staple, collate, shop for office supplies, bundle,
package, and go to the post office. I personally answer thousands of NHV related emails each year, and answer hundreds of pieces
of snail mail. Lorraine does everything on our website.
Who pays for it
All of us are volunteers and we receive no payment whatsoever for our work. We receive donations from our subscribers and
fees from our advertisers, which cover our printing and mailing expenses.
What’s Mazsola all about
Mazsola represents all that is new and hopeful. Her “owners” are Balázs and Fruzsina – who are strictly old-school. I love oldschool,
but there are aspects of it that we don‟t need anymore. Racism and xenophobia are not welcome in Canada, and the younger
generations are not particularly interested in communist vs. fascist feuds. Cultural susceptibility to alcoholism and insensitivity to
the needs of young people should be seriously addressed. Of course there are so many wonderful immigrants who do not have these
problematic traits, however, an alarmingly large number of their descendants suffer from their debilitating affects.
Would you consider the NHV to be a success
Absolutely. The mission of the New Hungarian Voice has been to provide a spark to interest English speaking people about
Hungarian culture and history. There is no other publication like it here in North America, and it has filled a void. I am constantly
told by people from all sorts of national and ethnic backgrounds that the NHV has opened their eyes, and has excited them about
Hungary. I am certain too, that our work will inspire others to do the same.
But like any proper Hungarian, I laugh with one eye and cry from the other - a secondary motive for my producing the New
Hungarian Voice has been to reassure the old curmudgeons that those of us born outside of Hungary can provide a useful service to
the “Hungarian cause.” The board of directors at the Hungarian Hall who threatened us with lawsuits for criticising them, and who
banned the NHV from their premises; and the immigrants who send us racist hate-mail for writing objectively about Gypsies and for
not denouncing communism enough - they, unfortunately will never see the NHV as useful. From a deeper, psychological
perspective, I suppose I hoped to impress them with my efforts, and just as that failed with my own 1956er parents, it was bound to
be repeated in macrocosm.
What’s next
Hungarians, like all other peoples, move forward and improve themselves through trial and adversity. Some struggle, and some
leap ahead quickly, however, it will always be the minority that shapes what is to come. I am not worried about the future – there
will always be a new Hungarian voice.
P.Cz.
3

LOOKING FORWARD
TO THE PAST
by Jack Keir
4
KEIR PHOTO

KEIR PHOTO KEIR PHOTO
The year 2011 is quite a big one in terms of its anniversaries.
The New Hungarian Voice will celebrate its 10 th birthday,
and some commemorations are in the planning for that. The
Good Lord willing I shall also see a significant birthday, and it
will be the 30 th anniversary of my first having set foot on
Hungarian soil - not to mention the 5 th anniversary of the first
published scribbling of mine in NHV.
I was not a child when I first
visited Hungary, but I was in the final
flush of youth. However, I am not as
old as one Canadian gentleman once
implied - in 2006 I arranged my
annual vacation to coincide with the
splendid programme of events in
Vancouver, arranged to commemorate
the 1956 Uprising. I was very kindly
awarded the World Federation of Hungarian
Veterans‟ 1956 Commemorative
Medal (for my involvement with
its Vancouver Chapter), with which I
adorned myself for the event arranged
at the downtown Vancouver Public
Library. I still had it on when I left
the building, and as I seem to do,
attracted the attention of a mildly
deranged gentleman who engaged me in conversation.
He asked about the medal which I had by then begun to clutch
for fear of losing. I explained about the 1956 Uprising and our
commemorations, and he then enquired if I had taken part in the
revolution!
I was in fact 20 years of age when I first visited Hungary,
just in case you were wondering.
I was then a student at Edinburgh
University, and my best friend and I
decided we would go inter-railing in
Europe for a month. We each decided
which places we particularly wished to
see, compared them, and worked out a
route which included all those on our
joint list, as well as the practical
locations on our individual lists. My
priority was to venture behind what
was then the Iron Curtain, not because
I had communist tendencies and
wished to demonstrate international
solidarity with the workers‟ states -
quite the contrary - but because
I wanted to see things for myself.
At the time Romania was seen as a
renegade member of the Warsaw Pact
and as such received favourable coverage
in the Western news media.
Ceauşescu was feted in the West and
even invited to stay at Buckingham
Palace. Hungary, on the other hand,
was barely on the radar in terms of British public perception
and really an unknown quantity. While I obviously knew
Hungary existed, and a bit about its history and geography, my
knowledge was pretty slender. Romania was by far the most
fascinating country and the one I was most keen to visit. The
language seemed a bit more accessible too.
5
Before the final preparations were completed, I chickened
out of chickening out and was that the best chickening ever!
I was required to obtain a passport. In those days a passport
was a passport, black with a stiff card cover and not a bar code
in sight. I also required visas. The Romanian was far prettier
than the Hungarian. It looked like a proper visa, much more so
than the blurry purple stamp which constituted my open sesame
to Hungary.
I acquired a large blue rucksack and
a hardbound Edinburgh University
notebook, which would serve as a
diary to record the adventures that
were in store. I still have the book
stuffed full of receipts, maps, leaflets,
tickets and all the stuff one tends to
collect while abroad.
After Paris, Marseilles, Nice,
Monaco, Rome, Florence, Venice,
Athens and Belgrade, we ended up in
Bucharest. On the way there, the
people we met on the train were quite
friendly, although more so before we
crossed the border from Yugoslavia.
One chap could speak English, and
when I enquired of him if there were
any good dishes he would recommend in Romania (meaning
what was good to eat, of course), he advised me that a packet of
Kent cigarettes would find most Romanian women quite
accommodating. When a couple found that I was studying law,
they tried to interest me in marrying their daughter. Such was
my introduction to communism. While mildly humorous looking
back on it, what followed was
anything but.
I was going to write that Bucharest
was a vision of hell but it was only a
glimpse. It was bad enough to see
some sort of a militia walking about
with Kalashnikov rifles slung over
their shoulders, but to have an
extended bayonet on the ends was
quite shocking - then to see some poor
soul being struck with what looked
like a cosh by one of those militia,
within minutes of arriving, was downright
frightening. What was later discovered
about what had been going on
in that country made my own little
glimpse pale into insignificance, but
surprised me less than many others. I
am sure we were followed, and not
being able to find anywhere to stay,
and no one at any agency purporting to
be there to assist in such matters seeming
remotely interested in helping us,
we decided to take the overnight train
out. That train was for Budapest.
I feel I should pause briefly to make something clear - my
recollections of Romania were not very pleasant, but that is a
reflection of the regime then in place and not of the average
Romanian. The ordinary people we encountered were very
Continued on page 18...

A FIELD REPORT FROM
GYIMES
July 2010: It‟s near midnight in the Transylvanian valley of
Gyimes. I‟m hauling a fifty pound suitcase and an equal load of
anticipation across an engorged stream which, with recent
flooding, has swelled to four times its regular size. It‟s now a
churning, angry river. It‟s dark, and the bridge is washed out.
In anticipation of our arrival the local people have replaced the
bridge with a log - there is no handrail and it‟s a very good
thing they serve our customary two pálinkas on the other side
of the river…
How did I get here Well, the short story is: I fell in love.
I fell in love with a country, its culture and its people. The best
story is: I fell in love with a man who changed my life through
dance. This is how we arrived in Gyimes, to spend our honeymoon
dancing in the mountains.
Our trip started in Budapest and took us into the Délalföld
region of Magyarország. We spent one week in the town of
Kiskunhalas with our extended Canadian dance family (the
Csárdás dancers from Edmonton) and were hosted by our
generous friends of the Halas Tánc Együttes. Our Halasi friends
saw us off to Gyimes at 3:00am after the World Cup final, too
many pálinkas and those lingering good-byes Hungarians are
known for. Our bus, (in reality, a 15 passenger van) when
loaded with twelve dancers and all their gear, felt more like an
Austin mini. We trundled off down the road and into the night.
Romania sulked beyond the border in an off-putting mixture
of heat and pollution. We were inauspiciously detained at the
border for close to three hours, a result of our Romanian border
guard having handed over our bus driver‟s papers to the
eighteen-wheeler in the gate next to us, who drove off to
who-knows-where. Our side-trip to the police station gave
us ample time to nap. When we were finally cleared to leave
the border town, our delay put us into Gyimes much later than
we had anticipated.
Gyimes is among the most remote regions of Transylvania.
It is an ethnically Hungarian region inside the borders of
Romania and which belonged to Hungary before the Treaty of
Trianon transformed it into borderlands. Even today, the
contrast between Romania and ethnically Hungarian Transylvania
is evident everywhere. The Gyimesi homes, gates, gardens
and people have a distinctly Hungarian look and the people of
Gyimes speak with a deliciously accented Hungarian dialect.
Our original accommodation in Gyimes was ravaged by
by Mackenzie Kulcsár
Mackenzie and
Randy Kulcsár
“An alpine meadow on the way to the
kaliba at the top of the mountain.”
6
KULCSÁR PHOTOS

“The bridge (with improvised
handrail) to cross to our csur.”
excessive rain and flooding prior to our arrival so we were relocated
to a new temporary home for our stay in the valley in
Gyimesközéplok. Across that narrow log bridge was our
sanctuary – our csűr, a barn-like structure where we danced and
ate on the first floor and slept above. We fell asleep to the
rhythms of the intimate kettős and the jaunty hésza.
Our focus in Gyimes was to experience the complicated
dynamics of the folk dance, music and culture of the region.
Our instructor and friend Ignác Kádár along with Ferenc Sárá
(Budapest born, but relocated to Gyimesközéplok) guided us
through daily rehearsals and nightly táncház sessions. Every
minute was filled with the almost primitive sounds of the music
of Gyimes provided by the Zerkula band, average aged 19, and
so named for the famous gypsy primás, János Zerkula and his
wife, Regina Fikó who made Gyimes‟ music famous before
their deaths. The zing of strings, the slap of the ütőgardon and
the emphatic stomping of the ropogtatás are the essence of
Gyimes.
The band accompanied us on several day excursions also.
One morning, under the guidance of Feri Sárá, our group
tromped out to the edge of the village to hike the mountain for
lunch and an afternoon with the family who lived and worked at
the top. After a gruelling but beautiful hike in the high humidity
of the day (during which the band carried their instruments in
on their backs) we arrived at a kaliba – a seasonal mountain
home – in the middle of an alpine meadow. The family of
subsistence farmers who lived here fed us royally on homemade
cheese, bread, butter, puliszka, field mushrooms, fresh
milk, source water, strong coffee and home-made liquor. We
appreciated our simple meal and in particular the people who
7
KULCSÁR PHOTOS
provided it with love in their hearts to strangers from far away,
but who were, for an afternoon anyway, Gyimesi in our hearts.
The barn was the scene of our afternoon táncház.
We danced bare-footed and dirty, sunburned and happy in the
10 x 10 square littered with hay and watched placidly by
the horses who occasionally stuck their heads in to check on our
group and the locals who trickled in, lured by the music
and dance. Our trek back down was lengthened by a brutal rain
storm that launched itself at the mountain and left us soaked
through, covered in mud and each person scrambling to
convince the one person with a weather-proof coat to carry all
of our cameras!
Our experience of Gyimes would not have been the same
without the people of Gyimesközéplok and our true
friends from Edmonton. The Gyimesiek also became our
friends. They fed us simple and amazing food (and lots of it),
they housed us and let us monopolize the one shower and the
sauna at Feri Sárá‟s house (for most of us, the only shower we
had all week!) They laughed with us, even cried with us and
patiently answered all our questions about their lives. One
woman invited us to her home simply because we had shown
her the kindness of talking to her casually in a local bar.
Children of the village asked us to dance, and led us to the
grave of Zerkula and Regina. The neighbours of our csűr even
added a handrail to our washed out log bridge for us.
Our honeymoon in Transylvania was unforgettable, and my
husband and I will always remember the feelings we shared in
Gyimes for our friends from Canada and our new friends in the
valley. Zerkula‟s music reminds us every time we hear it play
and especially when we dance the kettős.

TRANSLATED BY
ANDI SZILÁGYI
Once, a cat was playing with a
mouse. He wanted to eat it, but then
he began to feel sorry for it because
it was so clever. He changed his
mind, and decided not to eat the
mouse.
“Do you know what I was
just thinking about” asked the
cat. “Let's be sworn brothers.
You can fit into the tiniest of
holes, and you can get into any
pantry, so you can tell me what is
in each pantry. Then I can climb
in the window, where I can, and
bring things out. Oh, the feasts
we will have!”
The mouse rejoiced in this
thought as well - that he could
do something with his life, and
eat well at the same time.
Alright then! They shook
hands and were sworn brothers
from then on. And they moved
into a large mouse hole, the cat and
the mouse together. The mouse then
ventured off, here and there, and
eventually found his way into a
pantry. There was a large pot of solid
lard. Immediately, he said to the cat:
“I have stumbled upon a large pot of lard.
You should steal it from here. If you do steal it, we will
have enough to cook with for the whole winter.”
The mouse was always preparing the food, and cooking
for the cat, and tidying up after the cat. And the cat was
always sauntering here or there.
The cat replied, “Ok, then. I will find a way to squeeze
myself in the window of the pantry, when it is open, and I
will steal the pot of lard.”
And that's exactly what the cat did. He watched until the
window was open, then he went in, stuck his head in the pot
Hungarian
FOLK TALES
The Cat’s Godsons
(A SZÉKI FOLKTALE)
of lard, and came out with the pot
still stuck on his head.
He brought the pot to their
mouse hole and said to the
mouse, “This is not a good place
for the pot. What if someone
comes along and finds it
We have no place to store this
lard. And it will take too long to
find places. Let‟s take it to the
church, and put it under the altar.
There, no mouse, nor anything,
will touch it.”
“Ok,” said the mouse. And the
cat stuck his head into the pot and
moved it to the church, under the
altar. With that, they went home.
Afterwards, the mouse did
not even think about the lard,
but it would surely come in
handy at some point.
Later, even when the mouse
thought about the lard, he did not
feel like eating it.
One time, the cat said to the
mouse, “Now, I've been invited to
a baptism, so I will be gone for a
while. My brother's wife has given
birth to a kitten.”
“Go ahead, then. Pour holy water over
that kitten,” replied the mouse.
The cat made his way to the church, sat under the altar,
and licked the top layer off the lard pot. Then he went
home.
The mouse said, “Well, how was the baptism”
“It went well.”
“And what name did they give him”
“They called him Lickedthetop.”
“Well! I have never heard of a name like this before.”
Continued on page 25...
8

NHV BOOK REVIEW
JULES VERNE’S CASTLE OF THE CARPATHIANS
by Peter Czink
I have been a Jules Verne fan since childhood, and
when I think about it, his work is responsible for establishing
my inner steampunk – there‟s nothing quite like
19 th century high technology. The chips and micro
gadgets of today are no fun at all – what ever happened
to spinning brass cogs and boilers, and belching soot
and smoke I recently decided to re-read my old
favourites – I started with 20,000 Leagues Under the
Sea (Vingt Mille Lieues Sous les Mers), 1870. Often
thought of as a children‟s story, it‟s packed full of
speculative scientific and socio-political gems – we‟re
all familiar with the 1950s movie starring James Mason
as Captain Nemo (although the story was highly
disneyfied, the production design, namely the brilliant
representation of the Nautilus, illustrates the pinnacle
of Hollywood artistry), which focused little on Verne‟s
deep feelings about social and environmental consciousness.
Around the World in Eighty Days (Le Tour
du monde en quatre-vingts jours), 1873, is another
popular Verne masterpiece confused by countless
adaptations (there isn‟t a single balloon in the whole
book), that is entirely enjoyable today. Michel Strogoff,
1876, is also a must-read if you like romance and edgeof-your-seat
suspense.
As I searched the internet for other Jules Verne titles
to read, much to my astonishment, I came across a
book of his called The Castle of the Carpathians
(Le Château des Carpathes), 1893. I thought – could
this have something to do with Hungary Well, it certainly
does! The Castle of the Carpathians was first
published in English the following year, in 1894, and it
has been one of the few of Verne‟s works that never
received much attention. This year, however, Melville
House Publishing came out with the book, re-titled
The Castle in Transylvania (most likely to cash in on
the vampire craze).
I ordered the paperback, and enjoyed it thoroughly –
somehow, I knew Jules wouldn‟t disappoint me. The
book it strictly old-school – so you have to like that sort
of thing to love this story – and even though you could
call this one a “mystery,” it is peppered with Verne‟s
incredible eye for sci-fi which often borders on prophesy
– he quite accurately describes how holographic
images are made, nearly a century before we ever heard
of them.
My curiosity about the book also revolved around
its connection with Hungary, and I was very pleasantly
surprised – and perhaps a little enlightened. It takes
place in Austro-Hungarian Transylvania, when that
long disputed territory was part of Hungarian soil. The
loss of Transylvania, or Erdély in Hungarian (to Romania),
has been an inherited thorn in my Magyar side,
even though I flatter myself to know better - that these
geo-political issues are often more complicated than
naming one race or nation the owners of the real estate.
I was reminded that this territory changed hands a lot
over the past few thousand years, and that a great many
peoples have called it home.
Jules Verne describes it very eloquently: “A curious
fragment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this Transylvania,
Erdély in Magyar, or „the country of forests.‟
It is bordered by Hungary to the north, Wallachia to the
south, Moldavia to the west. Extending over 60,000
square kilometres, or 6,000,000 hectares – almost a
ninth of France – it‟s a kind of Switzerland, but twice
as big as the Helvetian domain, without being more
populated. With its cultivated plateaus, its luxuriant
pastures, its capriciously outlined valleys, its haughty
summits, Transylvania, streaked by the branches of the
Carpathians, of plutonic origins, is furrowed by numerous
watercourses that go on to swell the Theiss and the
proud Danube, whose Iron Gates, a few miles south,
close the procession of the Balkan chain on the border
of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.”
Verne continues with a kind and unbiased description
of the people: “Such is the former country of the
Dacians, conquered by Trajan in the first century of the
Christian era. The independence it enjoyed under John
Zapoly and his successors until 1699 came to an end
with Leopold I, who annexed it to Austria. But, whatever
its political constitution may have been, it
remained the shared habitat of various races who
rubbed elbows with each other without merging – the
Wallachians or Romanians, Hungarians, the Gypsies,
the Szeklers of Moldavian origin, and also the Saxons,
whom time and circumstance ended up „Magyarizing‟
for the benefit of Transylvanian unity.”
In The Castle in Transylvania, the superstitious inhabitants
of the village of Werst are petrified by a
spooky old castle, believed to be the residence of the
chort, or devil. A noble and educated traveller happens
through the sleepy community, and in order to dispel
their fears, he offers to go and inspect the abandoned
castle to prove that the bogey-man is living in their
imaginations only.
After some preliminary investigations, this Count
Franz de Telek discovers that the previous owner of the
castle was one Baron Rodolphe de Gortz, a former
acquaintance who long ago disappeared. The plot is
thickened with adventure, some detective work,
Victorian technological bells and whistles, and a love
story. I‟m afraid that telling you too much more would
just ruin the mystery!
Jules Verne, with tongue firmly in cheek, has fun
with the centuries-old delusions of the common
peasant. The revered shepherd, often looked upon as
a gifted mystic in European folklore, is exposed as a
simple layabout, whose stoicism and vacuousness
is interpreted by the villagers as prudent wisdom. At
the top of the heap is the mayor, who can barely
concentrate on his civic responsibilities once he is
presented with, what is to him an incredibly futuristic
device – a simple (but very shiny!) brass telescope.
Verne‟s brilliant descriptions will take you on a
journey through the Carpathians, and this obscure little
book will delight anyone who still is open minded
enough to believe in even the slightest possibility of
haunted castles in Transylvania.
9

FRIENDS OF
HUNGARY
by Jack Keir
I like to think of myself, and am flattered that others have
concurred with this arrogation, as a friend of Hungary. I have
written before of my love for the country and its people, and
I am also one who likes to find connections between people,
places and things. While dipping into a recently discovered
archive in cyberland, I came across a Scot who was not just a
friend of Hungary but a champion of its cause.
When I say Scot I may be stretching the point slightly.
The Scottish connection was more ancestral than actual, but I
am happy to borrow him for my purpose. In May 2010 I visited
what would have been his home in Cardiff Castle in Wales, just
a stone‟s throw from the military history museum about which
I wrote in last summer‟s edition of NHV.
Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart was the only son of the 1st
Marquess of Bute, by his second wife (the Butes trace their
ancestry back to King Robert II). Bute is an island off the West
coast of Scotland - for those of you who may be interested in
such things, the main town of the Isle is Rothesay and the Duke
of Rothesay is the title by which the Prince of Wales is known
when North of the border.
The Bute family were a substantial political force in the 18th
and 19th centuries with Lord Dudley‟s grandfather, the 3rd Earl
of Bute, being Prime Minister for just under a year in 1762 - 63.
By a bit of careful matchmaking, the 4th Earl came into vast
lands in Wales which brought with it immense wealth from
coal, which was exported all over the world from the docks at
Cardiff (spookily also owned by him). Cardiff became the
family seat, and in 1796 the 4th Earl was created 1st Marquess
of Bute. The reason for the creation is a bit constitutionally
arcane and has little to do with Hungary so I shall move on.
Lord Dudley Stuart was born in 1803 and was elected to
Parliament in the Whig interest for the constituency of Arundel
in West Sussex in England between 1830 and 1837. Given that
his grandfather had been a Tory prime minister, and before he
inherited the title his father had been a Tory MP, this was rather
a significant rebellion. He lost his seat in 1837 when Parliament
dissolved on the death of William IV, but was returned to
the House of Commons in 1847 - this time for the London seat
of Marylebone. It would be fair to say that before Hungary‟s
War of Independence in 1848-49, Stuart‟s principal concern
was for Polish independence, albeit well disposed to all the
peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, which found themselves
particularly under Russian rule.
While the Hungarian cause in 1848 generated much sympathy
for Hungary in the general population of the United Kingdom,
the Government and much of what might be described
as the ruling classes became mightily twitchy. Of course much
of Europe had succumbed to revolution that year, and the old
order was very much in danger of extinction.
On 7 February, 1850, Lord Dudley Stuart made a motion to
the House of Commons requesting the Queen to graciously
direct her ministers to lay before Parliament documents relating
to the situation of Hungarian, Polish and Italian refugees and
Austrian and Russian demands for their extradition, of whom,
of course, Lajos Kossuth was one. Given the constitutional
position regarding the conduct of foreign affairs then prevailing,
this was a device to bring issues of foreign policy before
Parliament, which did not really concern itself with foreign
affairs at that time - the matter being seen as one where the
Royal Prerogative applied.
We are told that Lord Dudley Stuart was not the greatest of
orators, but he was a dogged and forceful one, and well
respected. His address to a rather empty House of Commons is
set out in full on the Hansard website:
www.hansard.millbanksystems.com
It can be found easily from there. In his speech he sets out the
history of how the War of Independence came about, the constitutional
significance of events, and details the shabby conduct
of the Austrians and Russians. The justice of the Hungarian
cause is propounded with vigour. If ever you are looking for a
concise account of these matters look no further than this. His
main concern, however, the war having been lost and the rebels
fled, was the manner in which, particularly the Russians, tried
to coerce the Sultan in Constantinople to hand over those who
had there sought refuge, including Kossuth. If the words
recorded were not well delivered, they read magnificently.
Here is but a small part of what he said which was as true then
as it was a century later:
“Russia would not abandon her cautious policy for the sake
of her designs of national aggrandisement; but though she was
patient in her designs, and wished to aggrandise herself, not by
conquest but by insidious means, still whenever there was a
question of putting liberty down, all her self-possession seemed
to abandon her; then she no longer acted by slow and measured
means, but came forward directly and impetuously, in order to
destroy all really sound and wholesome reforms, wherever she
found them... and in 1849 she interfered with Hungary because
that country preferred the most legitimate of all claims - to be
governed by the constitution they had for ages enjoyed.”
We all know what happened in 1956 and 1968.
This is a great speech and contains so much more: a wonderful
synthesis of reason, emotion and humanity. Half an hour on
a rainy afternoon or evening (of which I know from personal
experience, there can be a few in Vancouver) would not be
10

misspent by finding and reading it. Notwithstanding the general
sympathy of the government towards Austria at least, it backed
the Sultan in refusing to hand over the refugees, but for which
the Sultan may have had to yield. That said, Kossuth was pretty
much a prisoner, although he remained safe.
In 1851 Kossuth was allowed to leave the Ottoman Empire
and did so aboard an American warship, stopping briefly in
Marseilles before reaching Southampton on 23 September,
which coincidentally is the same day, but not the same year,
that I first set foot in Hungary. Lord Dudley Stuart travelled to
the port to meet Kossuth and conducted him to London. Having
arrived slightly early, Stuart visited Lord Palmerston, who was
foreign secretary at the time. Palmerston was personally sympathetic
to the Hungarian cause, but the Cabinet and the
Queen were not. Palmerston invited Kossuth via
Stuart to visit him after he had landed - this
was met with apoplexy by the Cabinet and
the Queen. Kossuth, however, declined
the invitation. Instead, Palmerston
later received a delegation of trade
unionists who addressed him with
a tribute to Kossuth.
Kossuth was welcomed as a
hero wherever he went in the
three weeks he spent in England.
He addressed large
crowds in fluent English
and confirmed himself in
the affections of the people,
not just as a great
leader, but as a democrat
and fighter for a just
cause.
Lord Dudley Stuart
died in Stockholm in 1854
before he could see Kossuth
return to Great Britain
in 1856. Kossuth this time
toured various towns and
cities in Scotland in the second
half of the year. If the
oratory of Lord Dudley Stuart
never quite set the heather on
fire, that of Kossuth most certainly
did. Once again Kossuth attracted
huge audiences to hear him speak, and
when he arrived in towns he was cheered
by the crowds which had assembled to greet
him.
I live in Fife, in Scotland and sometimes work in
Dunfermline, which occasionally served as the capital city of
Scotland before Edinburgh was fixed upon.
twice to Dunfermline in June and July. The Dunfermline
Monthly Advertiser reported his triumphant entrance to the town
in its July 1856 edition:
“In the afternoon, the Oakley Band entered the town, the
Goldfrum Band following, with an immense concourse of
people. The oldest inhabitant does not recollect such a scene –
not a standing place was left along the whole line of Kossuth‟s
progress. Every window was occupied by ladies in full dress;
every house-top and wall covered with spectators. The whole
country, far and near, was deserted by its inhabitants. Kossuth
arrived from Edinburgh by way of Queensferry. At the landingplace,
he found that the village had turned out to greet him. At
Inverkeithing, banners were flying, a crowd assembled and the
magistrates in waiting to present him with an address; but he
could not have anticipated his reception in Dunfermline. Long
before he reached the city, the Ferry Road near the Triumphal
Arch at the Spittal was packed with a dense crowd, stretching
into the fields on both sides. From there until he reached his
hotel, nothing was visible but a compact crowd. A crush ensued,
and fears were entertained that some serious accident
would happen, from the narrowness of the streets in several
places.”
Budapest is about 1000 miles from Dunfermline. The vast
majority of those who turned out to see Kossuth had
probably never even left Fife, let alone Scotland.
But out they came to greet, not the ruler of a
country, but the ex-governor of a far off
land. This was political superstardom
of a kind rarely seen since. Kossuth
was the Nelson Mandela of his day.
Kossuth spoke in Edinburgh,
Aberdeen, Dundee and many
other towns across the country
between June and December,
always to packed halls. He
visited the home of Robert
Burns, Scotland‟s national
poet, and the Wallace
Monument near Stirling.
He pressed all the right
buttons, and when he left
Scotland he carried with
him more honorary burgesses
(citizenship of a
Royal Burgh) than anyone
before.
We loved him.
The major events of
Kossuth‟s visit to Scotland
have been catalogued by
Scotland‟s own tribe of
Hungarians on their website,
and to whom I am indebted for
some of the sources for this article,
which can be found at:
www.skocia.co.uk
Sadly, the legacy of his visits seems to
have been fairly short lived, and once
Austria and Hungary joined hands in 1867,
the once romantic Hungarian cause slipped from
the popular imagination. That notwithstanding, Kossuth left the
Kossuth came United Kingdom with many perceptive thoughts about its
constitutional issues - thoughts much ahead of their time,
not necessarily good, depending on one‟s own political views,
but nonetheless requiring to be addressed.
For all I can find, there are no streets named after the great
man in Scotland, which is sad. His name lives on only in
Greenwich, in London and Wolverhampton, in the Midlands of
England. The next time I hear of a street needing a name in
Fife, I shall write to the Council and recommend to them that
we have a memorial to Hungary‟s greatest leader, and a friend
of Scotland.
11

NEWS
FROM HUNGARY
by Magda Sasvári
1956 HUNGARIAN REFUGEES
ARRIVAL A NATIONAL EVENT
2010.VII.30.
On July 29th, the Canadian government
announced the designation of the
refugees of Hungary‟s 1956 Revolution
as a national historic event – the Canadian
Embassy told MTI (Magyar Távirati
Iroda). The embassy statement
quoted Environment Minister Jim Prentice
as saying: “The arrival of thousands
of Hungarian refugees helped to shape
Canada‟s model for the reception of
refugees, and helped Canadians adopt a
more receptive attitude toward immigrants.”
With the support of its population,
Canada admitted more than 37,500
Hungarian refugees as immigrants
following the revolution, the largest
group any country received in proportion
to its population.
SCHMITT TAKES OFFICE AS
NEW PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY
2010.VIII.6.
Outgoing President László Sólyom
handed over the office to president elect
Pál Schmitt on August 5th. Sólyom
wished much success to the new president
and said that he would remain as
an “invisible president,” standing next
to Schmitt. “Each president wants to
open a new chapter, but one should
never forget that we are all writing the
same book” Sólyom said. Schmitt said
it was a sublime moment to take the
post representing the nation, and welcomed
Sólyom‟s offer of cooperation.
ferences organized to inform all potential
applicants about their rights and
opportunities, as well as details of the
procedure. The new office handling all
applications is scheduled to open October
15th, employing some 200 people.
Applications will be received from
January 1st, 2011 on.
HUNGARY’S
POPULATION DROPS
2010.VIII.25.
Hungary‟s population fell around
10,000 in the first half of 2010 to
10,004.000 at the end of June, though
immigration offset part of the natural
decline (data released by the Central
Statistical Office). The difference
between live births and deaths caused
the population to fall by 19.555, slightly
less than the same time in 2009, but net
immigration came to 9,600, offsetting
about half of the decline.
THE 33rd BEST
COUNTRY TO LIVE IN
2010.VIII.26.
Hungary is 33rd in the ranking of the
world‟s best 100 countries, a list compiled
by Newsweek. They looked at five
categories - health, education, quality of
life, economic dynamism and political
environment. Finland won “Best country
in the world,” followed by Switzerland
and Sweden. Canada is in 7th
place and the United States is number
11. Of the five categories, Hungary
fared best in Education (90.2 out of
100) but scored the lowest in economic
dynamism (46.23). The top ten includes
seven European countries, plus Australia
(4) Canada (7) and Japan (9).
HUNGARIANS SPEND
MILLIONS TIPPING DOCTORS
2010.IX.8.
A study by the AXA Health Fund on
the practice of providing doctors with
gratuity money in Hungary revealed that
on average, Hungarians spend 9600
HUF (about $49.00 CAD) a year (a total
of 32 billion HUF or almost $164
million CAD) on giving tips to their
12
CITIZENSHIP
PROMOTION CAMPAIGN
2010.VIII.19.
The government is planning to start
an information campaign on October
1st, to promote Hungary‟s new simplified
procedure of granting citizenship,
ministerial commissioner Tamás Wetzel
told MTI.
Applicants will be offered all necessary
information from a special web
site, including downloadable application
forms.
Press briefings will be held and condoctors.
The study also reveals that 49% of
respondents felt they would not receive
proper medical care if they did not give
the extra money to their doctors. This
practice has long been one of the complaints
about the Hungarian health care
system. Doctors, however, have argued
that the practice is necessary owing to
the low pay they receive.
FRESCO UNCOVERED
IN BUDAPEST
2010.IX.24.
Downtown Pest Church‟s newly
found fresco, painted during the Middle
Ages, has been presented to the media
by parish priest Zoltán Osztie and
archaeologist Imre Bodor. The fresco
portrays the Virgin Mary and the infant
Jesus. During a project to repaint the
church, they found the fresco on a
sanctum wall behind the main altar of
the church, which is located at Március
15 Square. Art historian Éva Derdák
estimates that the fresco was painted
during the early 14 th Century.
AUDI TO INVEST IN
HUNGARIAN PLANT
2010.IX.24.
The German carmaker Audi, will
enlarge their plant in Györ by 2013,
Audi Chairman of the Board of Management,
Rupert Stadler and Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán announced. The
investment will create 1800 jobs, Orbán
said. It could add 2% to Hungary‟s
GDP when completed. The Audi base
in Györ will be the source of 15,000
jobs when the capacity expansion is
completed. The annual number of cars
made at the plant will be more than
150,000.
FIDESZ
POPULARITY AT 66%
2010.IX.28.
The Fidesz-Christian Democrat Alliance
has the support of 66% of decided
party voters, a Median poll taken in
September suggests. The Socialists are
second at 17% followed by the Jobbik

party with 10%.
Prime Minister Victor Orbán is Hungary‟s
most popular politician, followed
by President Pál Schmitt and Fidesz
executive deputy chairman Lajos Kósa.
Hungary‟s least popular politicians are
Jobbik chairman Gábor Vona, followed
by former Socialist Defense Minister
Imre Szekeres, ex-Socialist Party chairman
Ildikó Lendvai and outgoing
Budapest mayor Gábor Demszky.
PEOPLE CONNECTED TO
JOBBIK PARTY CHARGED
WITH TERRORISM
2010.IX.29.
The Hungarian State Prosecutor has
charged extreme-right leader György
Budaházy and 16 other people considered
his associates with committing
terrorism and other violent crimes.
According to the charge, Budaházy set
up a gang in 2007 to commit attacks on
Hungarian MPs and thereby putting
pressure on the legislature. In 2007 the
gang allegedly shot at and threw
Molotov cocktails at the homes of two
Hungarian ministers. In 2008 they
committed similar attacks outside of the
capital. Budaházy is a close ally of the
right-wing extremist party Jobbik, and
in 2007 Budaházy formed a paramilitary
organization, the Magyar Gárda.
Its main aim is to change the political
regime in the country and provide “self
defence” for Hungarians against alleged
attacks from neighbouring states, (i.e.
Romania, Serbia or Slovakia) - all
countries in which large Hungarian
minorities currently live.
FOUR DEAD AS RED
SLUDGE FLOODS TOWNS IN
WESTERN HUNGARY
2010.X.5.
Four people have been reported dead
so far, including a three-month-old
baby, as a result of a dam bursting in
western Hungary and red chemical
sludge flooding the area around the
village of Kolontár. Devecser Mayor
Tamás Toldi told MTI that police were
keeping guard at the evacuated buildings.
Temporary shelters have been set
up in the local schools for some 40
locals and rescue workers, he added.
Around 80-90 people have been
taken to hospital with chemical burns,
Toldi said. Gas, electricity and water
supplies have been cut in most of the
town but the services are expected to be
reconnected before noon, he added.
A disaster management authority
spokesperson said acidic liquid had
been poured into the River Marcal at
three different locations in order to
neutralise the alkaline chemical sludge
that had flooded the area. Six people
who suffered serious injuries are treated
at the hospital of Györ.
HAIRDRESSING MUSEUM
OPENS IN BUDAPEST
2010.X.1.
A museum devoted to hairdressing
was opened in Budapest's District XIX.
The permanent exhibition at the
Fodrászmúzeum is a replica of a barber‟s
salon from the 1880s. Over 2,000
objects are on display, including several
not found anywhere else in Hungary,
such as tools used for making wigs.
Old hairdryers, razors, scissors and
curling tongs are also exhibited, in addition
to many items that people not in the
profession are unlikely to recognize.
The museum's collection is traced
back to 1950, when a man named
Károly Pinke began collecting barbershop-related
items.
Hungarian
WORD PUZZLE
by Andi Szilágyi
HUNGARIAN Sweets
dobos
őszibaracktorta
somlóigaluska
Almafánk
Almáspite
Palacsinta
Balatonszelet
Diósbejgli
Túrórúd
Eszterházitorta
Farsangifánk
Gesztenyetorta
Haboscsiga
Karamellásmadártej
Piskóta
Krémes
Kuglóf
Linzer
Rétes
Marcipán
Kalács
Málnástekercs
Mogyorógolyók
Nápolyi
Rigójancsi
Sachertorta
Stefánia
Szaloncukor
Szilváslepény
Tarkabarka
Túrófánk
zserbó
ANSWERS are on page 23…
No peeking ‘til you’re done!
13

CSÓK
by Lorraine Weideman The artist’s studio, 1905.
Celebrated Hungarian artist István
Csók was one of the first laureates to
receive the Kossuth Prize twice - once in
1948 and a second time in 1952. His
work falls within the parameters of naturalism
and impressionism; often with
influences of post-impressionism,
he was inspired by his homeland,
painting numerous portraits, sensual
nudes, landscapes, as well as
still-life, during his long career.
István Csók was born on February,
13th, 1865 in the town of
Sáregres, Hungary. He studied at
the Budapest Drawing School between
1882 and 1885, as a pupil of
János Greguss, Bertalán Székely
and Károly Lotz. He went on to
the Munich Academy of Fine Arts
for one year, with the famous artist
Ludwig Löfftz as one of his
professors. During the 1880s and
1890s, this academy was attended
by almost every significant Hungarian
artist of the time, and
between 1850 and 1914 almost
400 Hungarian painters, drawn to
the vibrant artistic milieu (which
was cheaper than Paris) studied
there. He attended the Académie
Julian in Paris in 1888 (an art
school started in 1868 by Rodolphe
Julian, which even allowed
women to participate!), furthering
his education, while learning from
French academic painters William
Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury.
The leading modern artists in Paris
inspired him - particularly Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret,
an artist known for his
peasant scenes and mystical-religious
Preliminary sketch of Erzsébet Báthory
for Csók’s millennium painting.
14
compositions. There Csók was introduced
to Symbolism and Impressionism
through the work of Matisse, Maurice
Denis, Van Dongen, Vlaminck, and
Derain. By 1889, he was receiving
recognition for his work - honourable
mention was given to Krumplitisztítókra
(The Potato Peelers), and in
1891 he was awarded a gold medal
for Úrvacsora (The Lord‟s Supper),
a painting of a young peasant
girl receiving communion. This
painting would also win the gold
medal in Vienna in 1894. He
returned to Munich in 1890 and
stayed there for several years.
He experimented with religious
imagery and colours inspired by
Hungarian peasant costume.
For Hungary‟s 1000th anniversary
he created a large 4 by 6 metre
composition of the controversial
Erzsébet Báthory. The Countess
Báthory lived from 1560 until
1614, and was allegedly responsible
for the torture and deaths of
hundreds of young girls. His painting
depicts Báthory enjoying the
torture of young naked servants,
drenched in water and freezing to
death in the snow of her Csejte
castle courtyard. The painting was
sent to the Salon exhibition in Paris
and it was included in a show, in
the autumn of 1895, in Budapest.

It was well-received internationally, but
unfortunately it was destroyed during
World War II.
Csók married in 1903 and moved to
Paris, where he and his bride lived for
seven years. He was intrigued by Art
Nouveau and started a series of vampire
paintings. His daughter Juliette (Züzü),
was born there, and he illustrated her
childhood in a series of intimate paintings,
Züzü in the Cradle (1910), Züzü's
First Walk (1911), Züzü's Christmas
(1921), The Sick Züzü (1914), Züzü is
Dancing (1915), Züzü in the Arbour
(1916) and Züzü with Rooster (1912).
Moving back to Budapest in 1909, he
took part in the Japan Circle at the Japan
Café, where groups of artists gathered
regularly. He was also one of the founding
members of MIÉNK, an artist‟s
group of Hungarian Impressionists and
Naturalists. He was a good friend of
Simon Hollósy and many other members
of the famous Nagybánya artists‟ colony.
He had worked with many of them in
Munich and Paris and although he didn‟t
spend very much time at the colony, he
often took part in their major exhibitions.
He exhibited at an international exhibition
in Rome in 1911 – it was that year
that his Portrait of Tibor Wlassics won a
gold medal. Interestingly, Csók is one of
the very few non-Italian painters whose
self-portrait now hangs in the famed
Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
István Csók continued with the work
inspired by his daughter and impressionistic
folk images. From 1916 through
1931, Balaton was a source of inspiration
for a series of work depicting Hungary‟s
beloved lake. After the war (from 1921
until 1932), he served as a professor at
the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts,
working along-side János Vaszary and
Gyula Rudnay. He was the president of
the Szinyei Society in 1920, and from
1949 led the Hungarian Artists Association.
Along with being awarded the
Kossuth Prize two times, he received
many awards both at home and internationally.
He exhibited in Rome, San
Francisco, London, and Pittsburgh, and
had three major one-person exhibitions in
Budapest in 1914, 1935 and 1955.
His last work, Farewell to War and
Peace, was painted in 1951, however,
with his eyesight failing, he was compelled
to put down his brush. István
Csók passed away in Budapest on
February 1st, 1961 shortly before his 96
birthday.
In Cece, Hungary, the István Csók
Memorial Museum is located in his
family‟s late-19th century villa. The
museum began collecting his work at the
end of the 1930s, even acquiring an early
working composition of the painting of
Erzsébet Báthory. Csók himself donated
a self-portrait, and paintings of his
parents in 1938, and after his death, his
daughter contributed several more works
of art, furniture and memorabilia. His
work can also be found in the Hungarian
National Gallery.
Charcoal self portrait.
15

THE LOST CASTLES OF DÉLVIDÉK
by Eddi Wagner
The castles and summer-residences of Délvidék (the south
parts of historic Hungary, now Vojvodina, a province of
Serbia), were built in 18 th , 19 th , and early 20 th centuries, in
different styles - from baroque to classic. Once there were
hundreds of them, but now less than a hundred remain. Out of
those that survived looting by Tito‟s communists after World
War II, only a few have been preserved and restored. Many of
their rightful owners were imprisoned and murdered in 1944,
while some sought refuge in other countries, leaving everything
behind. After decades of neglect, most of these castles are in
very bad shape. Some were converted to schools, asylums,
administrative seats for government run businesses or medical
institutions. Nothing was left of the glorious parks that once
surrounded these castles, but there are stories and legends.
THE CASTLE OF ECSKA
Situated seven kilometres away from Nagybecskerek (today
Zrenjanin), in the town of Ecska (Ečka in Serbian), there is a
castle today simply called Kaštel or the Castle of Ecska. Before
Count Lukács Lázár bought large wastelands around
Nagybecskerek from a public auction in 1781, this area was just
a moor. The Count chose a location for his future castle on the
left bank of the Bega river and then started building a village
nearby, together with a church and a school for all those who
would work on his estate. The Count‟s son, Ágoston Lázár,
built the castle between 1816 and 1820 in the English style.
The village is now known as the town of Ecska.
The new castle‟s opening ceremony on August 29, 1820
also marked the birthday of the Count Lázár‟s young daughter.
For this remarkable event, every corner of the nearby village
had to be tided up to perfection. All of the houses and streets
were thoroughly cleaned and decorated, the trees were pruned
16
and the grass was cut in unusual shapes. The main chef and
many cooks for this party were brought in from Vienna. Rich
carriages and highly disciplined horses were all decorated and
ready to excite the crowds. Everything was ready for the over
three-hundred invited guests who would spend days partying at
the Lazars‟ estate. The impressive list of honoured guests who
attended the ceremony included dignitaries and many members
of the Esterházy family - and the Emperor himself, Francis II,
the last Holy Roman Emperor (later known as Francis I of
Austria).
An evening bonfire ceremony was organised in the main
park. The next morning, the bells of the beautiful family chapel
within the castle complex announced the beginning of the
celebrations. This was also the official invitation to the locals
of Ecska to join in the party. After the lunch, the gentlemen
joined the hunters and the ladies walked around the forest or
enjoyed a lovely gondola ride on the lakes and canals. The
culmination of the ceremony was the evening ball that resembled
the magic of a fairytale – the ladies in their most beautiful
ballroom dresses and men in their decorated military uniforms
waltzed the night away. The third evening of the celebration
was a remarkable show from a new sensation, a young pianist, a
wunderkind – Franz Liszt himself! Everyone was amazed by
the unique playing style of the young artist. Franz Liszt and his
father were at that time in service of Prince Miklós Ferdinánd
Esterházy, who also attended this ceremony. The Prince
proudly led the crowd of cheery spectators. Needless to say,
this party was the talk of the Empire for decades.
The Lázárs enjoyed this lavish paradise estate for the next
fifty years, until it was bought by Count Felix Harnoncur in
1870. In 1898, Count Harnoncur slightly changed the castle‟s
appearance, making it a little more Hungarian in style. At that

time, the wealth and power of the Harnoncur family grew so
rapidly that they acquired new estates and a new family name:
De La Fontagne et d Harnoncur et Univerzagt i Palavicani.
The main castle building was built in an L-shape with the
dwellings on the ground floor. After the 1898 renovations,
Count Harnoncur decided to add dwellings under the attic.
In the centre part of the building, they added a pyramid roof
tower, which continues on to the annex with an atrium.
The interesting details of the annex are its ionic style pillars.
The beautiful park surrounding the castle today is just a fraction
of what once was an enormous forest where Count Harnoncur
laid out numerous sculptures, fountains and park furniture and
where he spent most of his time walking, hunting, fishing,
playing music, or horseback riding. Count Harnoncur was well
known for his stables and he adored his horses of many
different breeds. Many of the smaller buildings, once a part of
the castle complex, are now separate estates. In spite of the
numerous changes to its interior and exterior, the castle is still
a very unique architectural masterpiece. Each of the owners,
from the Lázárs on, added something specific to their family to
beautify the castle, and each of them left an important impact on
its architectural concept.
As a rule, there always has to be a legend tied to a castle.
Many years ago, a traveling theatre troupe arrived at the castle
on a summer night. The next
morning, the troupe started
building a stage at the large
fountain. By the evening of
that day, the scene was installed
and all was ready for
the play. The three beautiful
young countesses secretly
watched the construction
work in anticipation. Their
eyes caught the most handsome
man they had ever
seen: he was young, blond,
very tall and shirtless, with a
perfect muscular body. He
worked very hard the whole
day. When nightfall came,
the old count, his family and
his entourage took their seats
- the candles were lit and the show began.
The play was about a naïve young girl surrounded by many
suitors, but she refuses them all while she waits for her beloved
to return from the war. At the end, the beau arrives back home
and chases away all those boring young men, the girl marries
him and everything ends as it should. The young countesses
were delighted, and at the end of the show, they applauded
loudly. When the actors came up to bow, the girls recognized
the handsome young man whom they secretly watched earlier.
The youngest girl cried with joy and excitement! She did not
let go of him for a long time after the show, and sensing the
danger, the count paid the actors much more than agreed, and
released them.
But the young man did not leave with the troupe. For many
days he secretly wandered in the large oak forest around the
castle. The count did not notice anything until his dogs barked
so loud that they woke him up in the middle of the night.
He went out to the large stairwell and saw shadows of a young
17
couple in the depth of the forest. Angered, the count then
released his dogs which ran towards the couple and attacked the
man. He started running, but was only able to reach the tower
across from the main castle building. The dogs caught up with
him and attacked him mercilessly. The young man bled to
death, and the countess never married - she remained in the
castle until she died.
Another legend revolves around the construction work
within this Neo-Gothic castle which was never completed.
While the main castle building was renovated many times
throughout the two centuries, the tower across from it has been
left in ruins, as it was many years ago. There have been
numerous attempts to start renovations on the tower, and the
construction materials have been brought right to the door,
but every time the workers tried to enter the tower, they heard
unearthly growling from deep inside. They just ran away and
never come back – and the same thing repeated many times
over the years. The same dogs that killed the young man inside
the tower have become the protectors of his eternal home.
Even now, many young couples could be seen walking in the
park, as it is said that the shadows of the large oak trees in the
park make miracles. A girl whose boyfriend left or died would
come under the shadows of the oaks hoping to see him.
The legend was written by the countess just before her death.
She did not write, however,
whether she ever again saw
her tragically killed young
actor. Yet, there is a partial
story to this account: the elders
of Ecska claim that the
countess looked gravely pale
on the way back from her
walks in the forest and was
not able to control her hands
from shaking violently.
When she finally calmed
down, she would light up a
candle near the fountain
where the actors once built
the scene stage. From May to
October, this park is filled
with soporific sounds of the
fountain and the heavy smells
of the pines and candle wax.
In the aftermath of World War I, Hungary lost Délvidék to
the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The estate changed hands many times
since then. After WWII, in 1945, the estate was nationalized by
the government of the Federal People‟s Republic of Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavian government sources still mention that the then
owners of the estate “ran away to America.” This estate
suffered exactly the same fate as estates of the other wealthy
people in Yugoslavia. Tito‟s partisans looted furniture,
artwork, other valuables, and even tools and animals. The property
has been used by the government of Yugoslavia for many
different purposes since then.
The Castle of Ecska now has new owners. The property is
much smaller then it once was, and is just a shadow of its past
phenomenal glory. It has been turned into a hunting hotel
complex called the Kaštel, with a restaurant that attracts international
tourists.

...Looking Forward continued from page 5
pleasant, although guarded - as well they might have been given
the circumstances to which they were subjected.
We entered Hungary on the morning of 23 September, 1981,
feeling a bit apprehensive. If the more pro-Western Romania
was such a disappointment, what on earth were we going to find
here The Hungarian border guards were delightfully cheerful
and friendly, if not exactly thorough, seeming quite happy to
accept our word that we were not bringing any explosives
or firearms into the country. So far, so good.
Accommodation was easy to find and we were sent to a
block of flats on Csepel Island at Izáck Hugó Utca. (I have not
been able to find out who Hugó Izáck was, so if anybody knows
please get in touch). No one really spoke much English at
IBUSZ where we booked the accommodation, however, we
managed to get a rough steer and jumped on a number 6 tram
outside the station on what was then Lenin Körút. Encountering
Hungarian for the very first time was totally bewildering; and it
still is after all these years. We looked as lost as we felt, and
pity was taken on us by an English speaker who asked around if
anyone knew how to get where we were going. This generated
much discussion amongst the passengers, and resolved itself by
an elderly couple taking us under their wing, and taking us to
the green train and accompanying us to Csepel, where they put
us on a bus and spoke with the driver to make sure we got off at
the right stop, which we did. They even gave us tickets and
refused any payment. The driver spoke to an elderly gentleman
who then guided us to the block of flats.
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,” is a
well known line of Blanche DuBois from Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, and when in Budapest (certainly that
time around), we were a pair of Blanches. Everyone we turned
to for help did. They did so with good grace, good humour and
charm. No one took advantage. In the conclusions drawn by
me at the end of the holiday, Budapest was recorded as one of
the definite highlights.
Those acts of kindness planted the seed that has grown and
blossomed into my love of Hungary and the Hungarians.
Maybe it is because I am older and sadly more cynical, but I
wonder if such things could happen still We certainly found
other kind people on our travels but not to such a degree. I also
wonder if the lovely people who helped us that day know that
their kindness to a pair of gormless British students would lead
to one of them 30 years on being such a big fan of their country
While we were in Greece I was stung by a jellyfish and
swallowed some of the Adriatic, and for about a year afterwards
was racked with nausea when I ate, or sometimes even
attempted to eat. It was never determined which was the cause.
I therefore missed out on a good deal of Hungarian cuisine
(I have managed to more than make up for that disappointment
over the succeeding years). I see that having managed some
gulyásleves on our first evening, after two mouthfuls of what I
now understand to have been a pörkölt, I could eat no more.
I felt so guilty at not eating my food and that this would offend.
Where we had this meal is now a mystery, although I vaguely
remember the river being nearby. I did, however, manage a
coffee and some chocolate cake at the Hauer Cukrászda,
Ráckoczi Utca 49 the following day. Quite sumptuous
surroundings, according to my notes, and I still have the receipt.
On my next trip I must see if it is still there. If it is, I shall have
a coffee and cake to celebrate my Hungarian 30 th but will not
expect it to cost as little as it did then - with an exchange rate
of 60 HUF to the pound, coffee and cake for two and a couple
of juices came to 86 HUF. Interestingly, the receipt thanked
us and wished us farewell in Hungarian, German, French and
Italian, but not in English and certainly not in Russian.
Superficially, there was no air of oppression in Hungary, in
manifest contrast to Romania. It was very civilised and smart,
and the shops were full of things to buy, the people were well
dressed, the streets were spotless - the city felt safe. I was
only passing through though.
I returned to Budapest again in 1989, but not thereafter
until 1998. Having got to know the city centre quite well by
the time of my third visit, and even being able to give
directions to the confused, I once rescued a cashier at the
Metro (but not quite as successfully as we had been rescued).
An American couple were standing at the ticket office with
a map, and the lady at the counter couldn‟t speak English - and
a queue was growing. I boldly stepped in and explained the
ticketing system and found out where they were going.
I assisted them in getting tickets and got a big smile and thank
you from the lady at the counter. The Americans told me they
were going to the museum. “Follow me!” I boldly offered
“I‟m getting off at that stop.” I chatted away to them, and
after a few minutes of me extolling the virtues of the National
Museum, the lady said it was actually the Art History Museum
(which is at Hősök Tér at the end of Andrássy Utca) that they
were looking for! That of course, is on Line 1 and we were on
Line 2. The gentleman just shrugged and said: “One museum
is pretty much like another.” My attempt at being a good
Hungarian didn‟t quite succeed that time.
On my visit in 1998 I bought some antique military medals.
The next year I bought some more, and after a brief lull, I
became more serious in my collecting. Always tending to
lag behind the times, it was not until 2004 that I acquired a
computer and discovered eBay – and it was the 30 th of January
2005, that I first made contact with our own NHV editor.
I bought a medal from him, and chanced to comment that
Vancouver and Budapest were my favourite cities. A casual
exchange followed, and ever eager to extend the readership of
this publication, and its sister publication, Magyar Front, I was
soon persuaded to sign up.
The following year I was prevailed upon to pen an article
for the NHV on why I love Hungary, and have had the
privilege of contributing ever since. However much, occasionally,
it might seem to be a chore to do (as I am sure they are to
read sometimes), and being under the tyrannical yoke of the
editor to comply, I have found my connection with the NHV,
and the Hungarians of Vancouver, a hugely enriching
experience. It has opened up many avenues and made my
subsequent visits to Hungary far more interesting and
worthwhile. I have made new friends through this connection,
and hope to make more
I am currently planning my next visit to Hungary. An
anniversary bonanza. The programmes of the Operaház and
the Operettszinház (I must get to see Csárdáskirálynő),
and the various orchestras are being scrutinised to provide me
with a kulturfest. I want to retrace some steps as well,
as I have new experiences to look back on, all to be recorded
in my holiday journal - to allow me to wander down memory
lane in the future.
18

THE HUNGARIAN CROWN GUARD
ASSOCIATION NEEDS YOUR HELP
In association
with the
INTERNATIONAL
HUNGARIAN MILITARY
HISTORY PRESERVATION
SOCIETY
www.NewFront.ca
www.koronaorseg.hu
The Hungarian Crown Guard Association is looking for historical
information, copies of documents, and photographs relating to the Crown Guard,
the Holy Crown of Hungary, the Szent Jobb and the 1938 Golden Train.
Many things were taken from Hungary following WW II, and the Association would
be very grateful for information about any material that may be unknown to them.
19

The Urban Fakanál*
by Mária Vajna
Hungarian Peppered Beef
(Borsos Tokány)
Ingredients:
1 ¾ lb round of beef (blade, sirloin)
1 ¾ oz smoked bacon
1 ½ oz olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 oz tomato paste or 1 tomato, diced
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
10 oz Hungarian white wine (or water)
salt to taste
1 green pepper, diced (optional)
Method for best results:
Cut beef and bacon into strips about 2 to 3 inches long. Fry the bacon, strain the drippings into another pan and
add the oil to the drippings. Add the onions to the oil and drippings pan and sauté until golden brown, add tomato paste
and the meat, stir. After 2 minutes add the salt and pepper and cover with a little wine or water. Cover the pan and braise
the meat. When half-done, add the green peppers. Add more wine or water from time to time. Put the pieces of fried
bacon into the dish and cook to finish.
This is a stew-like dish, but tokány has a very small amount of thick, brown juice.
Serve with boiled potatoes or rice and salad or pickles.
*Fakanál is Hungarian for wooden spoon. It’s an essential word for your gastronomic vocabulary,
and can also serve as a very naughty sounding expletive for you to use on your non-Hungarian speaking guests.
MAGGIE’S
PHARMACY
Magdolna Kabok
Pharmacist
tel: 778 371-8721
fax: 778 371-8722
2591 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC • V5N 4C1
Working hours:
Monday - Friday 8:00am - 6:00pm
Saturday - 10:00am - 3:00pm
HUNGARIAN
LANGUAGE LINK
Certified Translation Services
Personal • Medical
Legal • Technical
and Immigration Matters
ESTHER VITALIS
Certified Translator
English - Hungarian
Hungarian - English
#301 - 1717 West 13th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C. V6J 2H2
604 738-6869
cel: 604 789-0027
fax: 604 738-6805
evital@shaw.ca
www.evitalis.com
20

WHO
Part X
by Anita Bedő
ARE WE
ANYWAY
In Part VI, I introduced
you to the Khazars, a
Turkic people who were
closely associated with the
early Magyars. I briefly discussed
their social and political
structure, in particular, their
religion of Tengrism and
their tradition of sacral
kingship, both of which
were adopted by the
early Magyars. In
this edition of our
ancient history series,
I‟d like to take a closer
look at who exactly the
Khazar people were.
Much like the early
Magyars, the Khazars
were an equestrian people
of the Eurasian
steppes. In fact, the Magyars‟
change in lifestyle
from sheltering in the woods
north of the Volga River to
horse-breeding in the meadows south
towards the steppes was likely a direct result of their association
with the Khazars. During this time – around the 6th century,
the Khazars ruled the steppes, being overlords to several tribal
unions of Caucasian, Slavic, Bulgarian, and Finno-Ugrian
peoples, including the Magyars. Eventually, the only remaining
distinction between the Magyars and the Khazars was their
language.
The Khazars were a nomadic Turkic people originally from
Central Asia. Right around the time that the Magyars became
associated with the Khazars, the Khazars were part of the
Western Turkish Empire, ruled by the Celestial Blue Turks or
“Kök Turks.” Note the similarity to kék - the Hungarian word
for “blue.” Prior to the emergence of the Kök Turks as the
overlords of the steppes, they were ruled by the Rouran Khaganate,
a confederation of nomadic tribes on the northern borders
of Inner China from the late 4th century until the late 6th
century. The Rourans themselves were of Mongolian extraction.
Between AD 552 and 745, the Kök Turks held together an
empire of nomadic steppe peoples, which eventually collapsed
due to dynastic conflicts.
Under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan, the Kök Turks
rebelled against the Rouran Khaganate, gained dominance and
rapidly expanded their territory over the Central Asian steppes,
and even took hold of the Silk Road trade, which connected
Asia with Europe, Northern Africa, and the Mediterranean.
Khazarian control over the Silk Road in this region, by the way,
was also a vehicle for the adoption of words from other
languages, which eventually made their way into the magyar
language. For example, the Iranian Sogdians also made use of
21
Continued on next page...

...Who Are We continued from page 21
the Silk Road trade, and their language and runic letters
became popular among the Turks, with whom the Magyars
were associated.
In AD 546, the Uyghur (a Turkic people) and the Tiele
(a tribe inhabiting the regions north of China and in Central
Asia), were jointly planning a revolt against the overlords of
the Rouran Khaganate. Bumin Qaghan launched an attack
against these two groups, expecting to be rewarded by the
overlords with a Rouran princess, thereby marrying into the
royal family. A number of Chinese sources document that the
Rouran khagan‟s response to this expectation was to say, “You
are my blacksmith slave. How dare you utter these words”
thereby indicating that the Kök Turks were held in some sort
of vassalage to the Rouran Khaganate. While this reference
indicates that the Kök Turks practiced some sort of metallurgical
specialty, it is unclear whether they were miners or, indeed,
blacksmiths.
With his royal ambitions dashed, Bumin Qaghan allied with
the leaders of China‟s Wei state in common rebellion against
the Rouran Khaganate, and by AD 552, they had succeeded in
overthrowing the Rourans. After Bumin Qaghan‟s death, his
brother Istämi expanded the territory of the Kök Turks into
Eastern Europe, reaching the Crimea by AD 576. By the
middle of the following century, however, the empire of the
Kök Turks became divided as a result of civil war.
Consequently, the Khazars were able to assert their independence
from the Kök Turk Khaganate in the newly formed land
of Khazaria.
At its height, Khazaria encompassed southern Russia,
northern Caucasus, eastern Ukraine, Crimea, western Kazakhstan,
and northwestern Uzbekistan. During the 7th century,
their rule also extended over other Turkic peoples, such as the
Sabirs and the Bulgars, although the Khazars forced some of
the Bulgars out into what is now modern-day Bulgaria.
In addition to the Magyars, during the 9th century,
the Khazars were also overlords to the Slavs, Pechenegs,
Burtas, North Caucasian Huns, and other tribes. Similar to the
Huns and Magyars themselves, the Khazars would demand
tribute from those groups under their rule. The Caspian Sea at
this time was known as the Khazar Sea, due to their
dominance over this region. In fact, the Khazarian history
lives on in the Turkish, Arabic, and Persian names for the
Caspian Sea (Hazar Denizi, Bahr-ul-Khazar, and Daryaye
Khazar, respectively).
The Khazars were very tolerant of other religions and
invited all manner of ethnic minorities into their empire,
perhaps most notably, the Jews. The Khazarian kings,
beginning with King Bulan in AD 838, converted to Judaism,
after supposedly holding a debate between representatives of
the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. This conversion
influenced the rest of the Khazars to follow suit (estimates are
up to 90%), leading to academic and historical debates even
today on the ethnicity of Jews (i.e. are they in fact Israelites or
are they all descended from the Khazars). Khazarian Jews,
however, were not only of the domestic sort. Jews fleeing
persecution converged upon Khazaria from modern-day
Uzbekistan, Armenia, Hungary, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and many
other places. By the 10th century, the Jewish population of
Khazaria is estimated to have been approximately 30,000 and
even the Hebrew writing system had been adopted.
Given its political and military power, and preference for
Judaism, Khazaria played a role in preventing the northward
spread of Islam into the Christian states of Europe through the
Arab-Khazar Wars in the 7th and 8th centuries. Despite the
predominance of Judaism, however, citizens of Khazaria also
included Greek Christians, pagan Slavs, and Muslim Iranians.
By the early 10th century, Khazaria‟s population consisted
mainly of Muslims and Jews, with a Christian minority.
Remarkably liberal for their time, in the capital city, the
Khazars established a supreme court composed of 7 members,
and every religion was represented on this judicial panel.
Ironically, despite the fact that some historians believe that
Kiev in today‟s Ukraine was established by the Khazars and
Hungarians, and that the later inhabitants of this city, the
Kievan Rus, adopted elements of Khazarian politics and culture,
these are the very people who were to be the Khazars‟ undoing.
The Khazar nation was conquered during the late 10th and early
11th centuries by the Rus – the Norse or Viking branch of the
early Russians. Khazarians, however, were not eliminated, but
migrated, in part, into Hungary, Romania, and Poland to
converge with the Jewish communities in those nations.
I‟ve greatly truncated the history of the Khazars because
after the point at which they became associated with the Jews,
the research I‟ve come across becomes highly suspect. Some of
the things you will find on the internet are shockingly hateful
and scream anti-Semitism. In other cases, the websites are so
positively biased that it‟s difficult to tell fact from fiction. Not
being an expert in the field, I am loathe to ply you with pages of
misinformation. There is plenty written on the subject, but it
requires careful review and scrutiny.
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22

SOLUTION TO
HUNGARIAN
WORD SEARCH
FROM PAGE 13
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Accepting International students
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23

Established on 14 May 1901, the Hungarian Numismatic Society is a
non-profit association uniting amateurs and professionals interested in the
scientific study of numismatics – the universally popular collecting and
documentation of coins and medals. For over a hundred years, the Society
has represented the highly regarded principles laid down by its founders.
The aim of the Society is the scientific study of numismatics, the promotion of its results, the preservation
of Hungarian cultural heritage, as well as the establishment and development of relations between
people interested in the field.
The Society maintains and operates the only public reference library in Hungary, and publishes
the Numismatic Journal - the only scientific journal of Hungarian numismatics, which is well-known
and recognised worldwide. Moreover, the Society provides expert‟s reports in the field of numismatics,
and organises regular meetings, lectures, scientific conferences, exhibitions and professional excursions.
It also operates work groups, has commemorative medals minted, and maintains relations with similar
societies in Hungary and abroad.
The aims of the Society have not changed during the past century, however, being a non-profit
organisation, its financial situation has become very insecure during the last decade. The economic crisis
that took place last year had an especially severe influence on Hungary, and has posed a real threat to the
existence of the Society. Therefore, all organisations and private individuals interested in Hungarian
numismatics are kindly requested to support this unique institution, and are warmly invited to actively
take part in the preservation and study of our Hungarian cultural heritage.
The HNS welcomes new
members, and gratefully
accepts donations.
Membership is $30.00 US
annually and includes the
Numismatic Journal
published every second year.
Membership application
form and details:
mnt@numizmatika.org
24

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TRADITIONAL HUNGARIAN DESIGNS
470 CRISP, BLACK AND WHITE HUNGARIAN
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(close to Örs vezér tér)
For more information:
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...A Hasty Wish continued from page 8
“It is unusual, yes.”
A few days passed, and again, the cat began to think about
the pot of lard. He said to the mouse, “Na, they have invited me
to another baptism. Again, one of my relatives has had a son.”
“The devil that your relatives keep inviting you to baptisms.
Fine, go ahead!” said the mouse.
The cat went straight to the church and under the altar, to the
pot of lard. He licked it down until there was only half a pot
left. Then he stretched out on a pew and let his stomach digest
until he got hungry again - then he went home.
The mouse said, “Well, what did the name the little one”
“They called this one Lickedithalfway.”
“Na, again, such a strange name. I have never heard of
Lickedithalfway.”
“Well, that is what they called him.”
And seven, or three, days later, the cat was thinking about
the lard pot once again. He would tell the mouse that he was
invited to another baptism, and that he had to leave as soon as
possible.
“Hij, does everyone have to invite you to their baptism
If for no other reason, you should go. Have a good time,”
replied the mouse.
So the cat went to the church, under the altar, and licked the
pot of lard clean. Then he went home.
The mouse said, “So, did they baptise the little one Did
you have a nice time”
“It was very nice, the baptism.”
“What did they call the little one”
“Lickedittothebottom.”
25
“Such strange names. I have never heard of any of them.”
“Those are the names they chose.”
Then later, a few weeks later, or who really knows how
much later it was, the mouse remembered the lard pot, and
thought they should bring it home because they had no more
food to eat.
The mouse said to the cat, “We should go for the lard pot
and bring it home.”
“Just leave it.”
“No, we should really go and get it!”
“I said, just leave it there. We still have food to eat here.”
But the mouse was persistent. The cat said, “If you really
want it so badly, you bring it home. I'm not going anywhere.”
So the mouse went to the church, under the altar, and saw
that the pot was on its side, empty! The whole pot had been
eaten!
The mouse went home, angry, and said, “How could you
deceive me like this You ate the entire pot of lard! So that is
where you went each time you left home
Is that why you said „Lickedthetop‟ and „Lickedithalfway‟
and „Lickedittothebottom‟ How could you do this”
The mouse then started jumping in front of the cat, trying to
fight with it, staring it in the eye.
Twice, the cat said, “Stop it because this will not end well.”
But the mouse did not stop, so distraught by the lies that it
just yelled and screamed.
Again, the cat said, “Stop it because this will not end well.”
The mouse could not be quiet from the anger that boiled
inside it. The cat then - hamm! - put the mouse in his mouth,
and ate it.

www.mindandmatterart.com
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26

HUNGARIAN
LANGUAGE
HUNGARIAN ORGANIZATIONS
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HUNGARIAN CONSULATE
306 - 1770 West 7th Avenue • Vancouver, BC • V6J 4Y6
604 730-7321
HUNGARIAN EMBASSY
299 Waverly Street • Ottawa, Ontario • K2P 0V9
613 230-2717
HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCH
OF VANCOUVER
900 East 19th Avenue • Vancouver, BC • V5V 1K7
Mail: 7159 McKay Avenue • Burnaby, BC • V5J 3S6
604 321-4226
HUNGARIAN SOCIETY OF VICTORIA
476 Bay Street • Victoria, BC • V8T 5H2
250 388-5004 • theboard@hungariansocietyofvictoria.org
THE NEW HUNGARIAN VOICE
is available at:
ABC INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL LTD.
1224 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC 604 684-5019
BURNABY PUBLIC LIBRARY
9523 Cameron Street, Burnaby, BC
BURNABY PUBLIC LIBRARY METROTOWN
6100 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby, BC
CAPTAIN COOK TRAVEL
2213 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC 604 734-8080
GVC CREDIT UNION
100-4088 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC 604 876-7101
1801 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby, BC 604 298-3344
9608 Cameron Street, Burnaby, BC 604 421-3456
25B-800 McBride Boulevard, New Westminster, BC 604 525 1414
1 - 9989 152nd Street, Surrey, BC 604 584-4434
MAGGIE’S PHARMACY
2591 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B C 778 371-8721
METRO TRAVEL & TOURS LTD.
450-555 W. 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC 604 879-5321
MOTHER’S HERBS & VITAMINS
117 East 14th Street, North Vancouver, BC 604 988-4372
STRAWBERRY BAKERY
100-1641 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC 604 254-5791
VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY
359 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC
INTERNATIONAL HUNGARIAN MILITARY
HISTORY PRESERVATION SOCIETY
PO Box 74527 • Kitsilano PO • Vancouver, BC • V6K 4P4
604 733-9948 • czink@shaw.ca
(KALVIN) FIRST HUNGARIAN
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
2791 East 27th Avenue • Vancouver, BC • V5R 1N4
604 437-3442
NANAIMO HUNGARIAN CULTURAL SOCIETY
Box 85 • Nanaimo, BC • V9R 5K4
250 756-2410
OKANAGAN HUNGARIAN SOCIETY
1670 Ross Road • Kelowna, BC • V1Z 1L9
250 769-1609
OUR LADY OF HUNGARY CHURCH
1810 East 7th Avenue • Vancouver, BC • V5N 1S2
604 253-2577
VANCOUVER HUNGARIAN
CULTURAL SOCIETY
728 Kingsway • Vancouver, BC • V5V 3C1
604 876-4720
TV
MAGYAR VILÁG
Two Weekly
Documentaries
Sundays at
3:00 pm
and
3:30 pm
On SHAW
Multicultural
(channel 119 in
Vancouver)
27

www.captaincooktravel.com
2213 West Broadway · Vancouver, BC · Canada · V6K 2E4
Tel: 604 734-8080 Fax: 604 734-8071
bestfares@captaincooktravel.com
Offering the best air fares to Hungary and Eastern Europe since 1968
Captain Cook Travel
agents are committed to
provide the highest
standards of service
and performance to our
customers
The best air fares to
Hungary and Eastern
Europe
Spa and health
resort packages all
over the world
Hotel and private
accommodations
Car rentals and
rail passes
Visas and invitation letters
Comprehensive travel
insurance and visitor's
medical insurance
Contact us in English, Hungarian,
French,
German, Polish,
Romanian or Russian
3
10
17
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Helga
Gedeon
Hedvig
4
11
18
24 25
31
7
14
21
28
Salamon
Farkas
Ferenc
THANKSGIVING
THANKS-
DAY
GIVING
Brigitta, DAY Gitta
Hedvig
Blanka, Bianka
5
12
19
26
October 2010
Aurél
Miksa
Nándor
Dömötör
6
13
20
27
Brúnó, Renáta
Kálmán, Ede
Vendel
REMEM-
BRANCE
DAY Réka
7
14
21
Amália
Helén
Orsolya
1
8
15
22
Szabina 28
Simon, Szimonetta 29
Malvin
Koppány
Teréz
1956
REVOLUTION
Előd
Nárcisz
2
9
16
23
30
Kornél, Soma
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Rezső
Alíz
Olivér
Stefánia
1
8
15
22
29
Marianna
Zsombor
Albert, Lipót
Cecília
Taksony
2
9
16
Achilles
Tivadar
Ödön
23
Klementina, Kelemen
30
November 2010
Andor, András
3
10
Győző
17
Hortenzia, Gergő
24
Emma
4
11
18
Károly
REMEMBRANCE
DAY
Márton
Jenő
25
Katalin, Katinka
December 2010
5
12
Imre
Jónás, Renátó
19
Erzsébet, Zsóka
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1
Elza
2
Melinda, Vivien
26
3
Virág
Ferenc, Olívia
6
13
20
27
4
Dénes
Gál
Gyöngyi
Alfonz
Lénárd
Szilvia
Jolán
Virgil
Borbála, Barbara
5
Vilma
6
Miklós
7
Ambrus
8
Mária
9
Natália
10
Judit
11
Árpád
This calendar, complete with the
unique Hungarian name-days,
is provided courtesy of
Captain Cook Travel
12
19
26
Gabriella
Viola
István
13
20
27
Luca, Otília
Teofil
János
14
21
28
Szilárda
Tamás
Kamilla
15
22
Valér
Zénó
29
Tamás, Tamara
16
23
30
Etelka, Aletta
Viktória
NEW YEAR’S
EVE
Dávid
17
24
31
Lázár, Olimpia
CHRISTMAS
DAY
Ádám, Éva
NEW YEAR’S
EVE
Szilveszter
18
25
Auguszta
CHRISTMAS
DAY
Eugénia