Hungarian Christmas Traditions

Christmas is a special festival for a lot of people all over the world. Christmas has a universal appeal. Individuals get to spend time with their friends and family during Christmas season. People go out and enjoy parties; feasts and family get together organized during the festival. Families get busy in preparing and cleaning houses to welcome the festival. The homes are decorated with lights, wreaths and twigs of holly and mistletoe. The activity of buying a Christmas tree and decorating it with ornaments, tinsel, etc. is great fun for all the members of a family.

Christmas traditions differ from one nation to other. The belief in Jesus and welcoming the festival are the two core ideas on which Christmas is based. The Christmas tradition in Hungary is an amalgamation of pagan and European traditions. One can observe influence of German traditions on Hungarian traditions. The folk traditions have their roots in the rural areas of Hungary. The Hungarians celebrate Advent before Christmas. The wreaths are used to decorate homes. On December 6, St. Nicholas Day is celebrated. The kids hang their stockings and wait for gifts. Sweets and small gifts are given to kids.

St. Luca's Day is celebrated on December 13 all over Hungary. People used to start carving a stool from wood on this day with an intension to finish it by Christmas Eve. This stool was used to catch the witch. This is old folk tradition. There is tradition of young boys dresses in special costumes would sing carols in villages. Today, the tradition does not find place in Hungarian cities. Instead of Carols, a lot of people perform nativity scenes on the roads. Gifts are exchanged and feasts are organized on Christmas day. Christmas is celebrated till 27 December in Hungary.

On the Christmas Eve, families come together near the well-lit and decorated Christmas tree. They sing carols and open gifts given to them. All of them then visit the church to attend midnight mass. Nativity scenes are performed at the churches with music, dance and puppet shows to entertain the gathered crowd. This has been a tradition of Hungary in Christmas for years together. The food served on Christmas Eve has traditional Hungarian dishes. Turkey and fried fish were served as main dish with poppy seeds and walnut. The pear fruit was used in the food items. Ginger bread is baked during Christmas. It has importance in Hungarian Christmas decorations.

The Santa Claus in Hungary is Mikulas. The Mikulas visits kids on St. Nicholas day and gives gifts. Gifts are in form of candies, chocolates and sweets with toys and books. Some of the old traditions of Christmas have been stopped and replaced by new traditions that come from Europe. The Christmas in Hungary is getting commercialized due to the retail sector that offers many Christmas goodies.