Residents Hungary naturally and organically combine a healthy love of life and practicality with high spirituality and national romanticism. A careful observer will notice this. One has only to walk around Budapest - the most beautiful city in the world, conveniently and cozyly arranged.
Hungary- a country of music and dance. Here a fiery mixture of original Hungarian music, with a subtle oriental tint, and passionate gypsy motifs arose. Its inherent melody can be traced in the works of many European composers: Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms. Hungary hosts numerous music, theater, dance festivals and flower carnivals almost continuously.
The bathhouse culture in Hungary has a two-thousand-year tradition. In fact, the whole country is a huge, comfortable balneological resort. During the time of the Romans, the bathing culture reached an unprecedented peak here, which is confirmed by the excavations of Aquincum, a Roman city on the territory of Budapest. Although the Turkish occupation of Hungary in the 16th century caused enormous damage to the country, the bath culture was not affected. Moreover, the Turks, also great admirers of baths, built new ones that were highly appreciated by their contemporaries.
Hungarian art and architecture are based on romanesque style, Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau style. Folk arts and crafts are well developed in Hungary; Here they produce dishes, embroidered items, bone and wood items and wall panels. The country's musical treasury includes the rhapsodies of Frank Liszt and the operas of Ferenc Erkel, as well as gypsy and folk music. The literature of Hungary is inseparable from the history of the country, and therefore its main components are odes, heroic poems, and realistic stories. Football is by far the most favorite sport, but chess is also popular.
The rich folklore includes songs and ballads (for example, about robber betyars), fairy tales, historical legends, and proverbs. Hungarian folk music is unique. Famous Hungarian dances are Verbunkos and Csardas.
Hungarians are very skeptical about faith (perhaps that is why they have great achievements in science), but nevertheless, many call themselves Catholics, Calvinists or Lutherans. The country also has a Greek Catholic Church and Orthodox Church, as well as the Jewish community in Budapest.
Almost the entire territory of the country is saturated with historical, cultural and natural monuments of world significance. Hungary (“Pannonia”) was once the eastern border of the Roman Empire, and even before the Hungarians arrived here, Romans, Germanic and Slavic tribes lived in the middle reaches of the Danube. Treasure hunters are still looking for the grave of Attila, the legendary leader of the Huns, who visited here during the time of the great migration of peoples, on the banks of the Tisza River. In 896, Hungarian tribes came from the east to the Danube valley.
This small country holds many secrets. Here you will find forested mountains, fast rivers, endless steppes without a horizon, parks and reserves with mysterious world plants and birds, small white houses with tiled roofs, thousand-year-old monasteries, centuries-old landowners' estates and palaces, underground caves with a kingdom of stalactites, lakes, countless healing springs breaking to the surface from the hot underground sea, on the waters of which Hungary rests.
Hungary- a country of warm hospitality.
Hungarian music is an integral part of the culture of this country. All kinds of concerts and festivals take place in Hungary throughout the year. Of course, the main “epicenter” of musical events is Budapest. Here you can find musical events for every taste. For example, every summer the famous Sziget festival is held on Obudai Island. More than 400 thousand people from different parts of the world come to it every year. They live here on the island: they pitch tents and have fun from the heart, waiting for the evening when famous groups and performers take the stage. Among the guests of the festival at various times were such world stars as David Bowie, The Prodigy, The Cardigans, Rammstein, Morcheeba, Placebo, HIM, Muse, Sugababes, The Pet Shop Boys, Nick Cave, Natalie Imbruglia, The Rasmus and many others.
Classical music lovers can enjoy superb performances at the Budapest Conservatory, one of the country's oldest concert halls. Opera fans will enjoy the luxurious building of the Hungarian State opera house. For those who prefer a lighter genre of operetta, we recommend visiting the Budapest Operetta Theater, whose rich repertoire includes such world-famous musicals as “Romeo and Juliet”, “Mozart”, “Beauty and the Beast” and others. In hospitable taverns and restaurants the sounds of incendiary gypsy music are heard, and dance groups perform the famous csardas. From spring to autumn, music can be heard on a variety of stages and stages, under open air and among colorful scenery. In imposing palaces that once belonged to wealthy noble families, classical music concerts and opera performances are performed, ancient musical instruments are played in medieval fortresses, and festivals with folk songs and dances are held in towns and villages...
Of course, Hungary is one of the most musical countries Europe, where modern trends live peacefully with classics and folk art.
Folk music
Hungary has a rich music and dance tradition. It is extremely diverse and includes features of the musical culture of neighboring countries and regions Romania, Slovakia, northern Poland, Moravia... Until the 19th century, Hungarian folk music was identified with the music performed by gypsy orchestras. It arose at the end of the 18th century and was called verbunkosh. 
By camelcat we mean not only musical style, but also the dance of the same name, which is characterized by a gradual transition from slow to fast tempos. Such a transition had a special semantic meaning - it symbolized the national Hungarian character (it is worth noting that it appeared precisely in the era of the awakening of national self-awareness). Verbunkosh was originally performed during recruitment to encourage young men to join the army. Famous melody in the Verbunkos style the so-called Rakosi March was included in the works of composers Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz. The origins of Verbunkos are not precisely known, but it is established that it includes features of ancient Hungarian dances, as well as elements of Balkan, Slavic, Levantine, Italian and Venetian music. Over time, the verbunkosh gained popularity not only among the peasantry, but also among representatives of the nobility. By the end of the 18th century, the folk musical style was often found in opera productions, works of chamber and piano music. In the 19th century, verbunkos began to be perceived as an integral part of Hungarian musical romanticism. This was largely due to the work of the outstanding violinist of that time, Panna Jinka, composer Antal Csermak and the leader of the gypsy orchestra, Janos Bihari. Among modern musicians performing verbunkosh, the most famous are representatives musical dynasty Lakatos Sándor and Robi Lakatos.
For a long time, Hungarian folk music was identified with the music of the Roma. Indeed, Hungary has always been one of those European countries where it received its greatest development. 
And today the gypsy music of Hungary enjoys well-deserved fame in the world. The most famous performers include Ando Drom, Romani Rota, Kayi Yag, Simea Lakotosi, gypsy musical groups are widely known: Hungarian Gypsies, Project Romani, Kalman Balogh’s Gypsy Cimbalom and others. Gypsy music is constantly evolving, new directions and styles appear in it, among which Gypsy jazz is the most famous.
Unlike gypsy music, genuine folk musical art Hungary for a long time was hidden among the peasantry. Thanks to the work of such outstanding composers as Béla Bartók and Zoltan Kodály, it became known to the general public. Analyzing folk melodies, Kodály and Zoltan found that Hungarian folk music is based on one of the oldest scales - the pentatonic scale, which first appeared among the ancient peoples of Asia, America and Oceania. Pentatonic is a sound system containing 5 sounds per octave. The same system was used by the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group.
In the 1970s, the dance movement appeared in Hungary, whose members oppose average folk music and try to preserve strange song traditions. The name of the movement, translated into Russian as “dancing house,” is associated with a strange Transylvanian custom: the youth of the village rented a house for a fee in order to hold dance parties there. In the 70s, this custom was adopted by young Hungarians visiting Transylvania. Among them were musicians and ethnographers, who were attracted by the folk culture preserved almost in its original form.
Dance houses began with the activities of Béla Halmos and Ferenc Szebo, who were engaged in collecting peasant folk instruments and songs, as well as György Martin and Sándor Thymár, who studied folk dances. The return to the roots was enthusiastically accepted by Hungarian society, which sought to express its protest against the official government. In the 80s, the custom of spending the end of the week in dance houses became one of the most popular alternative ways of collective communication. Here, orchestras on authentic instruments (violin, three-string viol-brac, Hungarian cymbals) performed ancient peasant music, accompanying singers who adopted the traditional style of singing from the peasants. 
And of course, not a single one of these evenings was complete without dancing, not only from Hungarians, but also from neighboring peoples - Slavs, Greeks, Romanians.
Among the dances performed was the famous Csardas, without which it is simply impossible to imagine the folk culture of Hungary. Csardas appeared in the first third of the 19th century. It owes its origin to the camelcat, as well as to peasant pair dances different areas Hungary. The “popularization” of the dance was carried out by gypsy musical groups, who introduced them to the residents of neighboring Vojvodina, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Transylvania and Moravia. Main feature Czardasha is a variation of music tempos from very slow to very fast. Depending on musical drawing There are many types of csardas: calm, lively, shaking, etc. Incendiary motifs of csardas were included in the works of many famous European composers: Imre Kalman, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Pablo de Sarasate, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Classical music
Classical music is an important part cultural heritage Hungary. The name of the most outstanding Hungarian composer, Franz Liszt, is known even to those who are far from art. Liszt was born on October 22, 1811 in the village of Doboryan. The composer's father worked as a manager on the estate of Count Esterhazy. An amateur musician himself, he encouraged his son's interest in music and taught him his first piano lessons. Liszt's first concert took place in the neighboring town of Sopron, when the young musician was only 9 years old. Soon he was invited to the Esterhazy Palace. Hearing the talented boy play, several Hungarian nobles, friends of the count, volunteered to pay for his further music education. Ferenc went to study in Vienna, where his teachers were outstanding musicians that era by A. Salieri and K. Czerny. On December 1, 1822, the first Vienna concert Liszt, who largely predetermined his future fate - critics and the public were delighted with the musician’s magnificent playing. 
From then on, Liszt enjoyed full houses. The formation of the composer's creative style was significantly influenced by the works of G. Berlioz and F. Chopin, whom he met in the late 20s. In the early 30s, Liszt's idol became the Italian virtuoso violinist Nicolo Paganini. The composer set out to develop an equally brilliant piano style, and soon had virtually no equal as a virtuoso pianist.
Musical heritage Liszt composes more than 1300 works, most of which piano. Among this grandiose list, the most popular works are the famous “Dreams of Love”, 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies, a cycle of 12 transcendental etudes, three cycles of small plays called “Years of Wanderings”. Liszt also wrote more than 60 songs and romances for voice and piano and several organ works. A significant part of the composer’s piano heritage consists of transcriptions and paraphrases of music by other authors, including transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies and fragments from works by Bach, Bellini, Wagner, Verdi, Glinka, Gounod, Mozart, Paganini, Saint-Saëns, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann and others .
Being an adherent of the idea of a synthesis of arts, Liszt became the creator of the genre of the symphonic poem, which was designed to express extra-musical ideas or retell musical means works of literature and fine arts. The unity of the composition was achieved by the introduction of leitmotifs, or leithems, running through the entire poem. The most interesting of Liszt's symphonic poems are “Preludes”, “Orpheus” and “Ideals”.
Up to last days Throughout his life, the composer continued to give concerts. Liszt's innovation was evident not only in his works, but also in the very manner of his playing. Breaking with the old tradition, he turned the piano so that the audience could see the musician's profile. Sometimes Liszt made real shows out of his concerts - he put several instruments on stage and moved from one to another, playing each equally virtuoso. At the same time, similar modern rock stars, the composer, in an emotional outburst, often broke instruments, which brought the audience into indescribable delight.
In early 1886, Liszt, then 75 years old, traveled to England, where he was received by Queen Victoria. From England, tired and not feeling well, the composer went to Bayroth to take part in the Wagner Festival held there annually. 
He died in this city on July 31, 1886. Liszt was one of the most significant figures in musical Olympus of his era, whose work had a strong influence on many musicians of subsequent eras.
The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries is considered to be the period of greatest flowering of Hungarian classical music. The work of two other outstanding Hungarian composers, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, dates back to this time. It was they who were the first to discover folk musical art, hidden for centuries among the peasants. With their activities in 1905–1926, they laid the foundation for the collection of rich and beautiful song material, and thereby saved it for world culture. Bartók's most popular works include six Romanian dances for piano, some of the orchestral works (Second Suite, Divertimento for string orchestra, Third piano concert etc.), as well as piano and vocal compositions. Kodály was glorified by his “Hungarian Psalm” based on the words of the Fourth Psalm, as well as the suite from the opera “Hari Janos”. In addition, Kodály studied music criticism and giving public lectures. He owns a 4-volume collection of folklore materials called “Hungarian Folk Music”.
Hungary is home to many other famous composers, conductors and musicologists such as Ernő Dohnayi (composer and pianist), László Lajty (composer and musical folklorist), Stefan Heller (composer), Antal Doráty (conductor), Jorge Száll (pianist and conductor) and others.
Hungarian opera and operetta
For more than three centuries, Hungary has been considered one of the leading operatic powers in Europe. One of the symbols of Budapest is the magnificent neo-Renaissance building of the Hungarian State Opera House, rising on Andrássy Avenue. At the beginning of each season, a long line for season tickets lines up in front of it. If you come closer, you will notice that among the people standing here there are always a lot of young people. This may be due to the fact that Hungarian opera performers are happy to experiment with musical genres, bringing classical productions elements of modern music. 
For example, the famous performer Erika Miklos has made an attempt to combine opera with techno, and the program of the Sighet festival often features opera works in very unexpected productions.
The founder of the Hungarian national opera was the composer and conductor F. Erkel. His first opera, Maria Bathory, was staged at the National Theater in 1840. It was followed by other works by the composer, among which the most famous are the opera “László Hunyadi”, “Bank Ban”, “King Istvan”, etc. Erkel’s most colorful and popular opera is “Bank Ban”. In 2001, a film was made based on it, in which such world-famous actors played famous stars, as Eva Marton and Andrea Roscht.
In the second half of the 19th century, works by other composers appeared in the repertoire of Hungarian opera houses: M. Mossonyi, K. Tern, F. Doppler, D. Csásar, I. Bognar, K. Huber, E. Kubay and others. TO end of the 19th century centuries, the operas of K. Goldmark were especially popular.
Hungarian opera is developing dynamically today, new themes are emerging, the performing style is enriched, and the language of the works is being transformed. To composers younger generation belong to D. Raaki (opera “The Dress of King Lipstick”), T. Polgar (opera “Matchmakers”) and others.
Hungarian folk culture is a complex synthesis of the traditions of various ethnic components that were part of the Hungarian people that emerged in the Middle Ages.
The rapid socio-economic development of Hungary after the establishment of a people's democratic system in 1945, which caused great changes in the entire life of the people, also contributed to the rapid transformation of traditional folk culture. However, this does not lead to the loss of national specificity: folk traditions only change, losing those features that have outlived their time, and taking on new forms, more adapted to modern conditions life.
Thus, cattle breeding has long occupied a prominent place in the country's economy - the traditional occupation of Magyar nomads even before their migration to the Danube. In the past, cattle breeding was especially developed in the mountainous regions of Northern Hungary, the Alföld, and the Hortobágy steppe, where it was of an extensive pasture nature. The vast Hortobágy steppe with sun-scorched grass, almost deserted, with crane wells sticking out here and there, to which shepherds dressed in picturesque costumes drove their flocks to water, often attracted many foreign tourists with its exoticism. The Chikoshi, shepherds of horse herds, were especially unique. In elegant white cloaks - surahs - thrown over their shoulders, and black felt hats with brims, they rode around their herds on horseback. Cattle were grazed by the Huyashis, sheep by the Yuhassy; large herds of pigs grazed in oak groves under the supervision of the kondashi.
For lately the life of the Hortobády Puszta changed completely. The construction of the Eastern Canal made it possible to transform the arid steppe into fertile lands. However, dairy farming, sheep breeding and pig breeding are still successfully developing on state and cooperative farms.
Pasture keeping of livestock has everywhere been replaced by stall keeping, but the old, most appropriate methods of livestock farming, preserved by shepherds, are carefully studied and used.
Viticulture is also an old branch of Hungarian agriculture. Previously, peasants made wine only for themselves; their commercial production began to develop only in the 19th century. And now the folk practice of making wine that exists here is widely used in modern factories.
Folk traditions are being improved and developed in many crafts. Crafts associated with the old pastoral life are especially characteristic of Hungary: fulling, furriery, production of wooden and bone products; Patterned weaving and pottery are also common.
If in the economy the specifics of the Hungarian folk culture are manifested only sporadically, then the traditional national cuisine has been largely preserved. Although recently the menu of Hungarians - and not only in the city, but also in the countryside - has been replenished with new products (for example, rice), various dishes of European cuisine, preference is still given to national dishes.
Among the residents rural areas It is still practiced to prepare food for future use throughout the winter, often using very ancient recipes known to the Hungarian nomads. This is, for example, dough (tarhonya) boiled in water in the form of peas and dried in the sun or in the oven, designed for long-term storage. Formerly the shepherds of Alföld, like others nomadic peoples, prepared for future use thinly sliced, boiled and dried meat.
In the Middle Ages, Hungarians baked mostly unleavened bread, but already from the 16th century. it was gradually replaced by yeast. However, unleavened dough is still widely used in baking various confectionery products, especially during the holidays.
Folk Hungarian cuisine has some oriental features: Hungarians eat a lot of meat (mainly pork) with hot seasonings - black and red pepper (paprika), onions. Traditional folk dishes are variously prepared stewed meat in tomato sauce (perkölt) and goulash, famous in many European countries. But real Hungarian goulash is significantly different from the dish of the same name, common in Europe. Hungarian goulash is a thick meat soup with potatoes and small dumplings, seasoned with onions and lots of red pepper. And these days not a single one family holiday cannot do without a folk dish - paprikash (meat, usually chicken, stewed in sour cream sauce with the addition of paprika and black pepper). Hungarians eat a lot of flour products (noodles, dumplings), vegetables (especially cabbage).
Of the alcoholic beverages, the most popular drink is grape wine, and sometimes palinka - fruit vodka. City dwellers consume a lot of black, very strong coffee. You can always drink a cup of this coffee in numerous small espresso cafes.
The remaining areas of the material culture of the Hungarians - settlements, housing, clothing - have undergone rapid changes over the past decades. Their transformation, of course, was greatly facilitated by the growth of the urban population.
In Hungary, two types of rural settlements predominate - large villages - falu and individual farms - tanyi. Villages vary in shape: there are settlements with cumulus, circular and street plans. In Alföld, the star-shaped shape of the village prevails: in the center there is a market square, and from it the streets radiate in all directions. From the middle of the 18th century. in the south of the Alföld and in Dunantul (Transdanubia region), large villages of ordinary plan began to be founded. The central axis of such a village is formed by a long street, on both sides of which there are houses closely adjacent to each other. Yards and land plots are located behind houses, perpendicular to the street.
Over the years of socialist construction, the appearance of Hungarian rural settlements has changed beyond recognition. In the center of each village, new administrative and public buildings of modern architecture appeared - the village council, the board of an agricultural cooperative, the House of Culture, a school, a store. All large villages are electrified. In order to eliminate the negative aspects of the farm settlement system - the isolation of farm residents from the cultural and economic life of the country - special farm centers were created in which trade, administrative and cultural institutions were opened to serve the farmers.
The rural buildings of the Hungarians have changed significantly. In the past, the walls of rural houses were, as a rule, made of adobe or adobe bricks; less common (in Alföld) were wattle walls coated with clay and whitewashed. Roofs - post or rafter construction - were usually covered with straw or reeds. The old, most typical Hungarian house is an elongated three-part building. Its characteristic feature is a narrow gallery running along one of the longitudinal walls. The continuation of one roof slope forms a canopy over the gallery, which is supported by several stone, adobe or wooden pillars, often decorated with carvings, modeling, and painting. From the gallery the entrance door leads into the kitchen, on either side of which there are doors to two rooms: an upper room near the gable wall and a back room, a bedroom or pantry. Outbuildings are either located in a row behind the residential building (in most of the Alföld), partially under the same roof as it, or are built separately in the courtyard. Barns often stand in a group at the edge of the village. An indispensable accessory of every farm and village is a well with a crane. The entire estate is usually fenced with a fence, wattle fence, or bordered by dense bushes and trees.
Houses that are similar in many features in design, layout and building materials still have their own specifics in various ethnographic areas of Hungary. So, for example, the houses of the ethnographic group of the Palots, living in the mountainous and hilly north, are unique: log houses, with high thatched roofs, richly decorated with carvings on the pediment, two-part in plan (small cold vestibule and a room). Alföld is characterized by low three-part houses with adobe or wattle walls and thatched roofs. Shallow semicircular niches were sometimes installed in the rooms. A haystack-shaped stove with a wicker base stood in the room, but was heated from the kitchen.
And the old residential buildings in the village have now changed in many ways. First of all, their interior layout- the living area is expanding due to the previous utility rooms and the addition of new rooms. The appearance of old houses changes especially dramatically. The former thatched or reed roofs have already been replaced almost everywhere with iron or tiled ones, windows and doors are expanded, the facade is elegantly decorated: it is plastered and painted with adhesive paint in soft tones - beige, cream, burgundy. It happens that the upper and lower parts of the walls are painted in different, successfully harmonizing colors. In the decorative decoration of a home, stencil painting with floral or geometric patterns is often used. The interior of the home also becomes different. Old peasant furniture has been almost completely replaced by modern factory furniture. But folk specificity is still preserved in the traditional arrangement of furniture, in decorating rooms with national weaving products - tablecloths, towels, rugs, etc.
Every year the number of new houses in rural areas, built according to standard designs from modern building materials, in accordance with the economic and cultural needs of the population, is growing.
Back in the 19th century. Everywhere in Hungary, peasants wore traditional folk dress. The main parts of women's folk costume were a short embroidered shirt with gathers on the shoulders, with wide sleeves; a very wide and short skirt, gathered or pleated at the waist, usually worn over several petticoats; a bright sleeveless vest (Pruslik), fitted at the waist and decorated with lacing, metal loops and embroidery, and an apron. Women's headdresses were very diverse: caps of various shapes, scarves tied in different ways. Girls tied their heads with a wide motley ribbon, connecting its ends with a bow, or put on a special hard hoop decorated with beads, bugles, and ribbons.
Men's folk costume consisted of a short canvas shirt, often with very wide sleeves, narrow black cloth trousers (in the east) or very wide canvas trousers (in the west), and a short dark vest trimmed with lacing and braid. They wore high black boots on their feet, and straw and felt hats of various shapes served as headdresses.
Hungarian men's outerwear is very unique. The so-called sur is especially famous - a type of cloak made of thick white cloth with a wide turn-down collar, richly decorated with colored cloth appliqué and embroidery. It was worn draped over the shoulders, and the false sleeves were tied at the back. They also wore a fur coat - a long sleeveless sheepskin cape, a lip - a simple-cut short coat made of coarse wool cloth with long pile.
There are many regional versions of folk costumes in Hungary. Thus, the women's clothing of the Palotsi ethnographic group was distinguished by great brightness and diversity. Their clothing was dominated by red tones; The wide sleeves of the jacket, white shoulder scarves, and caps were richly decorated with multicolor embroidery. The clothing of representatives of another ethnographic group of Hungarians - the Matios (Mezőkövesd region) - is very unique. They wore dark, long, bell-shaped skirts that flared at the bottom, gathered at the waist in small ruffles, and dark sweaters with short puffy sleeves. Their long black aprons, embroidered with bright multi-color embroidery and trimmed with long fringe, were especially elegant. The same black embroidered aprons were a necessary accessory for a man's matio suit.
Even in the recent past, traces of the old patriarchal way of life were clearly visible in the family life of Hungarians: the head of the family had great power, and the woman had no economic rights. In many peasant families, she did not sit at the table with her husband, but ate standing behind him, walked behind him on the street, etc.
The position of women changed radically after 1945. According to the law, she received full equality with men. The 1952 law also abolished her subordinate position in the family. It states, for example, that in all matters of family life and in raising children, spouses have equal rights and responsibilities. The state is attentive to the needs of women-mothers, and the benefits provided to them increase every year. Large number women were actively involved in the public life of the country.
In the family life of Hungarians, old customs and rituals are still preserved, although in a significantly transformed form. The wedding customs of the Hungarian people are colorful and interesting, in many ways similar to wedding ceremonies neighboring peoples. A week before the wedding, groomsmen in folk costumes or, in some villages, a special “wedding elder” with a staff decorated with bright ribbons in his hand, go to the houses of fellow villagers and invite them to the wedding. The invitees must deliver some products (chicken, eggs, sour cream, flour, etc.) to the bride’s house the next day.
The wedding procession usually goes to the village council building in strict ritual order. Gypsy musicians play, sing ritual wedding songs, and dance.
The highlight of the wedding is the wedding dinner. Even now, a wedding feast often ends with an old custom, according to which each guest has the right to dance one circle with the bride, having paid a certain amount of money for this dance. In some places, old rituals still accompany the bride’s farewell to her parents and home and her ceremonial entry into new home father and mother.
The social life of the Hungarian people has become multifaceted. Numerous clubs and houses of culture play a major role in organizing leisure time and in the cultural education of working people in cities and villages. They operate lecture halls, amateur art groups, choral and dance ensembles.
A lot of original, traditional things are preserved in the calendar holidays of the Hungarians, in which old traditions are often intertwined with new rituals, which are gradually being more and more steadily introduced into the everyday life of the people.
Of the holidays of the winter cycle associated with the winter solstice, Christmas is still especially popular, which has almost lost its religious character and has become simply a common family holiday. On December 24, already in the afternoon, all theatres, cinemas, restaurants close, everyone rushes home. Over time, this holiday is acquiring more and more pan-European features: Christmas trees decorated with shiny toys and electric lanterns in houses, on the streets, in store windows, gift exchange, festive family dinner, etc.
In the past, the New Year did not have the same significance among the Hungarians as Christmas, but now it is celebrated noisily and cheerfully, especially on the streets of cities. There is still an old custom of presenting a porcelain or clay figurine of a pig to relatives and friends for the New Year - “for good luck.” Black figurines of chimney sweeps, which are sold in the last days of the old year on city streets (a custom apparently borrowed from the Germans), are also considered a symbol of happiness.
The earliest and largest spring holiday - Maslenitsa - is celebrated both in the city and in the countryside with ritual pancakes or pancakes, folk festivals, noisy processions of mummers in fancy zoomorphic masks. Thus, in the city of Mohács, young people participating in carnival processions on Maslenitsa wear wooden masks with horns attached to them and dress in sheepskin coats, turned inside out with fur and hung with bells.
Many different rituals were dedicated to the national holiday of welcoming spring - May 1. On this day, houses in villages are decorated with flowers and green branches. A “Maypole” is installed on the square - a birch or poplar tree, decorated with crepe paper and multi-colored ribbons. Around this tree in the evening young people organize dances and games. Guys place small maypoles in front of their girlfriends' houses; now, instead of a “maypole,” they often send the girl a bouquet or a painted pot of flowers. “May trees” are also often placed in front of the houses of especially respected persons in the village.
Since the end of the 19th century. May 1 began to be celebrated by Hungarian workers as International Workers' Day. The first May Day demonstration took place in 1890. Nowadays, May Day demonstrations of Hungarian workers are very colorful. Often participants in amateur performances are dressed in picturesque folk costumes; representatives of various professions go to demonstrations in costumes characteristic of them.
In the villages, the end of the harvest ends with a big celebration. In the old days, at the end of the harvest, elegant girls, singing, carried a “harvest wreath” skillfully woven from the last sheaf to the house of the owner of the field. Now in rural areas new forms of harvest day celebration have been created based on this old custom. The “harvest wreath” is now usually presented by girls to the chairman of the cooperative. After the harvesting work is completed, autumn holidays are often organized in individual villages, during which fun carnivals (for example, a fruit carnival) and folk festivals are held. There is also a national Hungarian holiday of the new harvest, new bread. It is dedicated to August 20, the old national holiday of the Hungarians in honor of the founder of the Hungarian state, King Stephen I. In socialist Hungary, the day of August 20 became the holiday of the Constitution and also the holiday of the New Bread. On this day, large loaves are baked from the flour of the new harvest, festive processions through the streets and folk festivals are organized.
The Constitution and New Bread Festival is celebrated especially solemnly in Budapest. In the morning, you can see a colorful water carnival on the Danube, and in the evening, the fireworks on Mount Gellert, which is clearly visible from almost all areas of the capital, present a bright spectacle.
The last autumn work in the open air in the villages of Hungary - the grape harvest, as a rule, takes place in a festive atmosphere. Neighbors and relatives gather to help. At the end of the work, as after the harvest, a large, tied, last bunch of grapes is carried to the owner’s house on sticks. In some areas, these processions were very picturesque: guys in folk Hungarian costumes galloped ahead on horses, and behind them, girls dressed all in white rode in festive carts entwined with vines.
The gazebo or hall where festive fun is held to mark the end of the grape harvest is decorated with bunches of grapes suspended from the ceiling. Guys compete in dexterity, trying to stealthily pick a grape for their girlfriend, but if they are caught doing this, they must pay a fine.
After the Second World War, the Hungarian people began to celebrate a number of new national holidays. Among them, the Day of Liberation of Hungary from the fascist yoke - April 4 - is especially solemn. On this day, wreath-laying ceremonies are held at the graves of Soviet and Hungarian soldiers, rallies and demonstrations are organized.
In modern Hungary, some branches of folk arts and crafts are developing. Among the types of such art specific to the country, we must first of all note the products of shepherds made of wood, horn, bone, and leather. Shepherds have long decorated tools with beautiful geometric patterns - sticks and whips with skillfully twisted leather weaving; they made axes, ladles, pipes, wooden flasks decoratively covered with leather, wine horns, salt and pepper shakers, and boxes. When applying the ornament, various techniques were used: scratching and then rubbing in paint, relief or bas-relief carving, inlay.
Weaving belongs to the old branches of folk art. Hungarian fabric has many common European elements in its manufacturing techniques, colors and patterns: narrow and wide colored stripes, simple geometric patterns, etc. The most common fabric colors are white, red, blue and black. Embroidery developed among the Hungarians later than weaving. The old embroidery was one or two colors with a simple geometric pattern. The new embroidery is multi-colored and is dominated by floral patterns - motifs of realistic or stylized flowers.
The Hungarians have developed the production of decorative ceramics: glazed plates and jugs are usually decorated with floral or geometric patterns. The peasants loved to decorate their homes with these bright ceramic products, hanging them on the walls and lining the shelves with them.
The products of potters from different regions of the country had their own specific characteristics. Thus, in Mohács they made black jugs and jugs, in the southern part of the Alföld - tetrahedral painted bottles, bowls, and clay human figurines.
In the area of the city of Kalocha it is very common interesting view decorative and applied arts - patterned painting of plaster walls. Kaloch women cover the plastered and whitewashed wall of the room with a continuous patterned ornament, exactly the same as that used in embroidery. Nowadays, peasant wall painting motifs are used on wallpaper materials.
During the era of capitalism, Hungarian folk art fell into decline, but in socialist Hungary great attention is paid to its development. The Institute of Folk Art was created, artisans were united into cooperatives; the best examples of folk art are widely used in applied arts and light industry.
The most common genres of Hungarian folklore are fairy tales and songs. Especially numerous fairy tales. They contain oriental motifs (for example, traces of shamanism) and at the same time many features in common with fairy tales of other European peoples. There is also a significant group of everyday tales such as short stories and humorous tales, the so-called truths.
And now the Hungarians have ballads and songs - lyrical, professional, ritual, etc. There are especially many historical songs that depict heroic episodes of the national liberation struggle of the people, glorifying their favorite national heroes - Ferenc Rakoczi, Lajos Kossuth, etc. A special group form robber songs and ballads, the so-called songs about betyars (robbers). Betyar, in the popular imagination, was a fighter against national and feudal oppression, a defender of the poor. Shepherd songs are very close to songs about betyars: after all, shepherds also lived a free, harsh life. Lyricism and reflection of the subtle nuances of human experiences are characteristic of love songs, which constitute perhaps the largest group.
The original Hungarian music differs from the music of neighboring peoples by its oriental flavor. It is characterized by monophony, constant variation, and pentatonic scale. Later, the gypsies had a great influence on the music of the Hungarians. Since the 17th century. In the cities of Hungary, that Hungarian-Gypsy music became popular, which is widely known thanks to its adaptation by many European composers - Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and especially Franz Liszt. Gypsy music and gypsy orchestras are still very popular in Hungary. Currently, unique Gypsy-Hungarian music is widespread in cities and villages, along with famous songs of Hungarian composers.
The founder of the Hungarian music school was Franz Liszt. He created the most impressive examples of the unique Hungarian musical style (“Hungarian Rhapsodies”, “Hungaria”). Liszt's followers: Ferenc Erkel, Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly - are the founders of modern Hungarian music, closely related to folk music. The Hungarians made a great contribution to the creation of light music. Operettas by Hungarian composers Ferenc Lehár and Imre Kalman are on the stages of all theaters around the world.
Old folk musical instruments of the Hungarians - bagpipes (duda), flute, various types plucked instruments(citera, tambour). Nowadays, other musical instruments known to all peoples of Europe are more popular: clarinet, accordion and especially violin.
Among folk dances, the most popular is the pair dance Czardash, which has many variations. It is still widely danced today along with European dances.
During the years of people's power, illiteracy has been eliminated in the country, and the cultural level of Hungarian workers has increased significantly. In this regard, the introduction of a unified, truly popular education system, which provides compulsory free education for children aged 6 to 16 years, was of no small importance. An eight-year basic school was established, from which students can enter either a four-year gymnasium, preparing for entry into college, or a four-year secondary vocational school. educational institutions; In them, students receive a profession along with secondary education. A characteristic feature of Hungarian education is a developed network of schools and courses for adults.
The Hungarian people have a rich national culture, which they have the right to be proud of. Hungarian literature reached a particularly magnificent flowering at the end of the 18th - first half of the 19th century, during the period of acute national liberation struggle. The work of the outstanding Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi, whose poems and songs were closely related to folk art, dates back to this time; Janos Aran - author of historical and epic works; poet and prominent folklorist János Erdel; the outstanding playwright Imre Madacz.
The treasury of Hungarian poetry includes works by Mihaly Csokonai Vitez, Mihaly Mörösmarty, and Endre Adi. Hungarian writers of later times are also known in Europe: Mor Jokai - a representative of the romantic movement, realist writer Kalman Miksat, author of historical novels Geza Gardonyi, proletarian poet Attila József, major Hungarian novelist Zsigmond Moritz, poet and prose writer Gyula Ijes, who showed in his works the life of a Hungarian peasant in the first decades of our century, the author of laconic novels and short stories by Dezsie Kostolany, called in his homeland the “Hungarian Chekhov”, famous poets Mihaly Vaci and Mihaly Babic.
Writers who emigrated from Hungary after the defeat of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 had a certain influence on the development of Hungarian literature: Bela Illes, Antal Gidas, Mate Zalka.
Since 1945, a new direction has been developing in Hungarian literature - socialist realism. The modern life of the Hungarian people was reflected in their works by Sandor Gergely, Peter Veres, Pal Szabo and many other writers.
The Hungarian fine arts. The realistic paintings of the great Hungarian artist Mihaly Munkacsi, the colorful landscapes of Károly Marko, paintings from the everyday life of workers by Gyula Derkovich, historical paintings by Bertalan Székely, paintings by T. Csontváry, József Rippl-Ronai are also widely known outside the country.
The culture of Hungary arose during the conversion of the Hungarian people to the Christian faith at the end of the 10th century. Under the reign of King Stephen I, the state and society were rebuilt according to Western European canons, eradicating the ancient traditions of the past and all influence of Eastern culture, Hungary took the path of development within the European community.
Little-known culture of Hungary
State cultureHungary has rich centuries-old traditions, but due to the peripheral position of the power in Europe and linguistic isolation, it is relatively little known outside its borders. Specific to Hungarian culture is the art of shepherds' handicrafts, products made of horn, wood, bone and leather.
Since ancient times culture here it developed in an original way - men decorated tools with patterns with elements of national ornaments, these were sticks and whips with twisted leather weaving. Shepherds made axes, ladles, pipes and wooden flasks, and covered them decoratively with leather. Salt shakers, wine horns, pepper shakers, boxes - all this is not uncommon here. To apply patterns, different techniques were used: scratching, and then rubbing in paint, relief or bas-relief carving, inlay.
Religion of Hungary
A country of many faiths with long traditions of secularism and religious tolerance - all this Hungary. Main religion of Hungary- Catholicism, in second position - Protestantism, Orthodoxy, Judaism and Muslims are in the minority. But this is a country where religious traditions are quite strong, which greatly influenced art and culture and was reflected in the architecture of the region. Sights of Hungary- This is an amazing layer of global culture.
Economy of Hungary
Today Hungarian economy is approximately on the same level as Poland, Slovakia and Croatia. The national currency is forint. This kind of money comes from Florence, where a gold coin called the gold florin was minted in the 13th century.
Science in Hungary
Having solid potential, the country actively participates in European cooperation programs. Science in Hungary has reached a high level in the field of research in optics, physical chemistry, nuclear physics, genetics, biochemistry, applied mathematics and other studies.
Art of Hungary
Fine art is widely represented Hungarian art in countless museums in Budapest. Pictures worldwide famous artists Rembrandt, Raphael and El Greco are the cultural heritage of the state.
Hungarian cuisine
The country's lakes and rivers are rich in fish, so the national Hungarian cuisine mainly consists of fish dishes. Popular species include Tissaia sterlet, Balaton pike perch and Danube catfish. It is also customary to serve a lot of vegetables: eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, various cabbage and onions.
Customs and traditions of Hungary
In religious customs and traditionsHungary St. Stephen's Day has arrived. It is celebrated by Hungarians with special celebration. The main action takes place in St. Stephen's Cathedral, where the relics of the right hand of the Hungarian king are kept. The Esztergom cardinal holds a festive mass, after which the celebrating people carry the relic through the city streets. The holiday ends with fireworks.
Sports of Hungary
One of the important components of the country’s culture is sport of Hungary. This European power is one of the most famous sporting countries in the entire world, thanks to a generation of legendary footballers in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1526, in the battle with the Turks at Mohács, Hungary lost its state independence for three and a half centuries. Most of it was under the yoke of the Turks until the end of the 17th century; Western Hungary, together with the Czech Republic, came under the rule of the Austrian Habsburgs. The country was split into three parts, of which only the Principality of Erdea (Transylvania), maneuvering between two powerful rulers, retained relative independence.
During the 17th century, the Austrians gradually ousted the Turks from Hungary, but national oppression did not weaken. The response was numerous uprisings that shook the entire country. The most formidable was the war of the Kurucs (“crusaders” - mostly serfs), led by the Transylvanian prince Ferenc Rakoczi II, which lasted eight years (1703-1711). Folk songs glorified the valor of the Kurut army, and after the defeat of the uprising they mourned the sad fate of the exiles.
Since 1784, German has been declared the state language throughout the Austrian Empire - in this way the Habsburgs tried to subjugate a multinational country to their influence. This language was taught in Jesuit schools, which accepted only children who spoke German, and theatrical performances were held in this language. A powerful patriotic movement is rising in defense of the native language, covering the most diverse segments of the population.
This movement coincided with a new wave of national liberation struggle, which intensified under the influence of revolutionary events in France. At the end of the 18th century, secret conspiratorial organizations emerged in Hungary, whose goal was not only liberation from the power of the Habsburgs, but also the revolutionary reorganization of society and the establishment of a republican regime. The conspiracy was discovered, many of its participants were executed, others were imprisoned or expelled from the country. Among them are the first Hungarian enlighteners: the translator of the Marseillaise, the poet Ferenc Vereszegi, poet and critic Ferenc Kazinczy. Having escaped the death penalty and being released from prison after a seven-year sentence, Kazinczy led the literary life of Hungary in the early 19th century.
The broad educational movement led to the emergence of a number of national cultural organizations:
1779 - The Hungarian Patriotic Association is organized in Pest.
1789 - published in native language literary magazine"Hungarian Museum".
1790 - performances of the Hungarian theater troupe are given in Buda (nineteen plays were staged in six weeks).
1793 - premiere in Buda of the first Hungarian comedy with music (Prince Pikko and Jutka Perzy by József Hudi).
1796 - performances of traveling troupes of the Hungarian “travelling theater” begin, whose actors the people called “apostles of the Hungarian language.”
1819 - the conservatory opens in Kolozsvár (now Cluj - Romania).
1822 - the first Hungarian opera (on a historical plot) “Bela's Flight” by József Ruzicka was staged.
1825 - The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is established.
The figures of the first wave of enlightenment - the movement for “renewal of language and revival of literature” - are major poets and playwrights: Mihai Fazekas(1766-1828) - author of the most popular anti-serfdom poem “Mati Ludash” (1804), which glorifies the intelligence, intelligence and resourcefulness of a simple peasant guy taking revenge on the landowner for oppression; the name of this funny one folk hero became a household name in Hungary; Mihai Vitez Cioconai(1773-1805) - a playwright and poet who lived in poverty and died untimely from consumption, who wrote poetry in the spirit of folk songs, poets of subsequent generations called him their teacher; Ferenc Kölcsey(1790-1838) - author of patriotic poems, including “Anthem” (1823).
During the same period, the greatest Hungarian playwright created József Katona(1792-1830). His main work is the historical drama "Bank-Ban" (Bank is the Veger form of the name Benedict; ban is the governor, ruler, voivode.), in which the hatred of the people for foreign oppressors is captured with great force and for the first time on the Hungarian stage the image of a serf peasant is depicted, angrily denouncing the rulers who are responsible for the disasters home country (This is the greatest achievement of Hungarian drama for many years remained unknown: the play, written in 1815 and revised in 1820, was first staged three years after Katona's death in a small provincial town and only in 1839 came to the stage of the National Theater in Pest, where it failed. Only in the pre-revolutionary years did the play “Bank-Ban” gain recognition and, at the request of the people, was performed on the first day of the revolution - March 15, 1848.).
The second stage of the liberation struggle was called the “era of reform” (1825-1848). In 1825, after a thirteen-year break, the Hungarian Diet met again; here the question of the rights of the Hungarian language was raised (officially recognized only in 1844). The liberals were led by Count Istvan Széchenyi; the democratic wing was headed Lajos Kossuth(1802-1894) - future leader of the revolution of 1848-1849. The poets and writers of this second generation cluster around the almanac Aurora (1822). Their work marks the flowering of romanticism.
Among them József Eötvös(1813-1871), author historical novel about the largest peasant uprising led by György Dozsi"Hungary in 1514" public figure, Minister of Education in the first Hungarian government after the 1848 revolution; Janos Garai(1812-1853), who embodied the image of the most popular hero in two short poems folk tales- retired soldier, braggart and liar Janos Hari (Based on these poems, the comic opera János Hari by Zoltán Kodály (1926) was written.).
In the pre-revolutionary era, two major poets emerged: Mihaly Vörösmarty(1800-1855), in whose gloomy, tragic poems despair is peculiarly combined with faith in the coming revolution, and Sandor Petőfi(1823-1849). “The beautiful, fiery Hungarian nation has no greater son than him,” the Czech poet Jan Neruda wrote about Petőfi. “If we knew nothing about this nation and only knew Petőfi’s poems, then we would thereby feel its finest nerves " The brilliant poet of Hungary, Petőfi gave not only his talent, but also his life to the cause of the revolution - he died in one of the last battles of 1849.
The rise of the liberation movement, along with the flowering of literature and theater, caused the growth of musical culture. A major event in the life of the country was the opening of the National Theater (1837), where opera and dramatic performances were held in parallel in the Hungarian language. Following the conservatory in Kolozsvár, the conservatory was opened in Arad (1833) and, finally, in Pest (1840). The opening of the capital's conservatory took place thanks to the efforts of Liszt, who, on his first visit to his homeland, gave a number of charity concerts for the founding fund of the conservatory. It is run by the “Musical Society”, headed by a folklorist Gabor Matrai, who published a collection of urban folk songs in the late 20s. Other similar collections will soon appear.
The defeat of the revolution and the onset of reaction slowed down the development of the national culture of Hungary. German was again declared the official language (until 1860). Advanced works were banned, “Bank-Ban” was removed from the stage (until 1858), and many cultural figures were forced to emigrate. In literature, moods of despair, disappointment, and tragedy are becoming louder and louder. They were most clearly reflected in the work of the outstanding playwright Imre Madača(1823-1864) and his best work- the philosophical drama “The Tragedy of Man” (1861), known far beyond the borders of Hungary.
In the 60s, political unrest broke out again. Weakened by the struggle with the reunifying Italy (where the Hungarian detachment of Kossuth is fighting in the ranks of the Garibaldians) and rivalry with Prussia, Austria is forced to make concessions: in 1867, the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy was formed, which lasted until 1918. National contradictions have not been destroyed, but have been temporarily muted. The country is experiencing intensive capitalist development, exacerbating social contradictions. Cities grow, in 1872 Buda, the ancient capital, located on the right bank of the Danube, merges with the left bank of Pest; the capital of Hungary becomes a major cultural center.
During this period, the realistic current in literature grew stronger. Prolific author of multi-volume novels nominated Mor Yokai(he also wrote a drama about a peasant uprising - “Doge”), other novelists and playwrights who exposed the morals and mores of bourgeois society. There is widespread interest in Russian literature (the first critical article about it - “Russian Poetry” - appeared back in 1828); for short time Several hundred translations are published (Eugene Onegin, which went through several editions, is especially popular). Hungarian painting flourishes. The greatest realist Mihaly Munkacsi captured images of the disadvantaged in his paintings ordinary people Hungary (he also owns a portrait of Liszt and the painting “The Death of Mozart”).
Interest in Russian folklore - both folk poetry and music - permeated the entire 19th century.
Folk music - peasant, Kurut, urban. Verbunkosh style
By the end of the 19th century, after the deaths of Mosonyi, Liszt, and Erkel, the situation in the musical life of Hungary became more complicated. Budapest has acquired the significance of a major European music center. But for the prosperity of the conservatory, the Academy of Music, the opera house, and the philharmonic society, the strength of domestic musicians was not enough. As a result, these institutions ended up in the hands of foreigners, mainly Austrians, who greatly contributed to the improvement of the general musical culture of Hungary, but were not interested in and did not know its national treasure - folk music, did not understand and did not appreciate the “Hungarian” that they asserted in their work Erkel and Liszt.
Thus, musical Budapest quietly turned into a “Germanized” city, where the works of German and Austrian composers, primarily Wagner and Brahms, were intensively promoted, and Hungarian music meant only what was performed by gypsy instrumental ensembles for entertainment purposes. Music for such ensembles was provided by professionally insufficiently trained composers (“they didn’t even always know how to write down their melodies in notes,” recalled Zoltan Kodai). But it was in entertaining music, which the residents of provincial towns were especially fond of, that the national traditions of Hungary were preserved, albeit in a salon refraction.
In order to bridge this gap between cosmopolitan professionalism and national amateurism, a great, comprehensively educated musician, devoted to his homeland, had to appear. This role fell to outstanding composer XX century Bela Bartok(1881-1945), whose first successes as a pianist and author of remarkable works occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. At the same time, the glory of Hungarian music was strengthened by Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967).
(The violinist and composer should also be named Yenyo Gubaia(1858-1937), who headed the Academy of Music in 1919-1934; pianist and composer Erno Dohnanyi(1877-1960) - a student of E. d'Albert, who, in turn, studied with Liszt and others. Let us also recall that the conductor A. Nikisch, as well as violinists J. Joachim And L. Auer, were originally from Hungary.)
All his life, Bartók, in his own words, was worried about the “problem of Liszt,” that is, the place that he should rightfully occupy in Hungarian culture. With his creativity and theoretical research as a folklorist, the greatest connoisseur of folk art, Bartok proved Liszt’s living connection both with Hungarian music, with its national traditions, and with our modernity, for the artistic ideals of the great Hungarian were aimed at the future.
M. Druskin, A. Koenigsberg
