or Hungarian Angel Wings for Winter's End Celebration
Carneval times has arrived. For South, Center and Eastern-Europeans this is like Halloween for the English-speaking countries, the only difference is that we celebrate the Winter's end and the coming of Spring or to the Christians this time is about feasting before the 40 days of lenten tide starts. Back in time in wintertime agricultural people knocked off the work, so this was the time of feasting and gathering strength for Spring.
With the rich feasts they symbolically wanted to urge the Nature for abundance.
We Hungarians call this festival 'farsang', which is a loan-word from Bavarian-Austrian word 'vaschang', which is derived from the German word 'fasching' what means carneval. Although Farsang came from the Austrian Winter celebration somewhen in the Middle-Ages the carnival itself originated from Italy. The first datum about a Farsang-like party old Bavarian-Austrian books mentions is 1283. [1]
At the beginning it spread in the Royal court and among urban citizenship and rural population as well, but only in the court was the most significant the Italian influence in the XVth century [Thanks to King Matthias and Queen Beatrix again!]. In the towns and villages the Austrian influence was stronger, so our folk traditions fusioned with this new festival style and centuries later evolved our Winter's end celebration what we call now Farsang. Our cultural proudness is the special parade in Mohács.
Revelry, feast, rejoicement, fun, zest for life. Shortly about the meaning of Farsang. In the Medieval Times ancient beliefs and superstitions came to life at this time of the year. People feared that the Sun will disappear and evil spirits will come back whom only bring death, cold and misery but as we learned from Dumbledore: "happiness can be found even in the darkest of times", they started to laugh aloud and dance, drink and shout to drive the cold Winter and the ghosts away. They wore scary costumes and burnt witch-puppets. Allegedly the modern carneval has evolved from fake funeral march parades somewhen in the Medieval Times… It sounds like the friar scene from M. P. and the Holy Grail: Piejesudomine [clang] Donaeisrequiem [clang] Bring out your dead! [clang].
The symbol of the fight of Winter and Spring is originally a pagan celebration and after an unsuccessful persecution, the Catholic Church finally recieved it and vest it with Christian elements, but there are no religious traditions or whatsoever at all. This festival is based only on folklore, Thank God!
So about FOOD [at last…] the most popular things at Farsang times are the various newly homemade pork things like the hurka/blood sausage, kolbász/sausage, oldalas/pork rib, tepertő/pork crackling etc. [collective name: disznótoros], the Kocsonya/Pork Jelly/Aspic - I hate it -, Hájas tészta/Hungarian Puff Pastry - they use pig grease at the making and they fill it with various things - and the Farsangi fánk [doughnut] of course.
Not so traditional but still popular dishes are the Korhelyleves/Korhely Soup – from sauercraut, csülök/hand of pork, kolbász/sausage, paprika, sour cream [They say this is the Hungarian hangover medicine...], Részeges csirke/Drunken Chicken – chicken simmered in white wine - or Konyakos kacsa/Brandied Duck – duch marinated in milk and cognac, shortly meat with booze…
There are two types of doughnuts we usually make, the marmalade filled Szalagos fánk [puffed up doughnut] and the Csörögefánk [or Forgácsfánk], which is a crispy type of doughnut. This is almost the same as the Skandinavian Klenät, but many European country like to make deep-fried flat doughnuts as well.
I like this one more than the Szalagos fánk and my mom makes this more often than me, so this recipe is from her.
Csörögefánk
You'll need
35 dkg flour*
5 egg yolks [room temperatured]
1 teaspoon sugar or 1 teaspoon birch sugar or 2 teaspoons brown sugar
sour cream [about 180g if it 12% fat percent or 1-2 tablespoon if the fat percent is 20% or higher]
a pinch of salt
plenty of oil for frying
about 400 g caster sugar [or powdered birch sugar]+1 pouch - 9 g - vanilla sugar for dipping [combine them in a bigger bowl]
marmalade for serving
*Neither rice flour nor all-purpose flour don't work with this, I tried. At home I try to avoid the table sugar and white flour - among other things - because of my new health problem… I'm very happy, really… My newest joy: acid reflux disease beside my lactose intolerance… I try to reform the dishes I eat but some Hung. recipes just don't work with substitutes... ~Óhogyajóbüdösfrancba#!
Method to make it
Combine the flour, egg yolks, sugar, salt and the sour cream in a big bowl. Knead until you have a springy dough.
Roll a thin sheet and with a jagging-iron cut out about 4-5 cm wide and 11-12 cm length rectangles. Make a cut in the center of the rectangle and put through the other end of the pastry across the hole.
Heat the oil and fry the doughnuts until golden brown on lower heat. Need the much oil because the doughnuts must be float. Keep turning them because they can easily burn!
After you drop-down the freshly fried fánks, dip them in vanilla-caster sugar and serve them with hot marmalade [with a little rum in it *wink*].
Usually I eat it with my mom's homemade apricot marmalade but now I try it with rose marmalade - what my friend brought me from Turkey -, with a cup of homemade rose-almond-vanilla tea… too much of rose? Never!
Store the doughnuts in a tin jar to keep them crispy!
Enjoy it!/Jó étvágyat!
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Symbols and traditions of the Hungarian carneval season
- Balls and parties - with masks and costumes of course, what rather funny, satirical or cute than creepy and on bigger parties [either kids' or adults'] they usually honor the most creative ones! Parties mostly held in schools for the children and various places for the adults but rarely on the street. Except of course the Busó-járás, our biggest farsang festival at Mohács where the whole village go out to the streets for a big revelry and parade with plenty of pálinka and I don't want to imagine the rest… Hahaha
Some fancy places beside Mohács they hold bigger parties:
Győr, Baroque ball with period dress, music, dinner, portrait drawing, fortune telling and Baroque wig preview, this year in the Zichy Castle. I wish I can go! I would be the fortune teller that's for sure - under a black veil… Hehe *evil smile*
Tihany, traditional Winter's End celebration a la Hungary [food+pálinka=What else?] with various folk programs. Costume is required!
Keszthely, spectacular masquerade parade with lots of fun on the street.
- Culinary festivals – across the country in February, like Kocsonya festival, Kolbász/Sausage festival, Böllér/Butcher's festival [about pork meat processing], Mangalica pig – beauty? - festival and National Doughnut Festival [Now this is important!]
- Significant dishes I mentioned before
- Busó figure – our symbolic Winter demon who drives away the cold season. On parade young men in handmade wooden demonic masks with big horns, wear a kind of moccasin or traditional boots, white canvas trousers and sheepskin. They use kolomps [bell] to make noise. The 'Busójárás', the big costume parade of Mohács is now part of the Unesco World Heritage since 2012.
- Sokác woman – Young women in sokác traditional costume but their face is hidden with a short veil and wear carneval eye masks. They are the accompanies of busós. ['Sokác' is a Croatian-Hungarian ethnic group in South-Hungary, especially around Mohács.]
- Interesting village customs… – in the old times they held fake executions, fake funerals and fake weddings as well! But the funny part is that many young couple hold their weddings at this time of the year… so who could tell which was the fake and which was the real one when the whole village is eating, dancing and drinking like a pelican at the same time...
- Wife's carneval/Asszonyfarsang – [still a living] tradition in the villages that the wifes 'swap place'? with their husbands and can behave like a man so they can drink, sing aloud, dance, revel as they want, can wear man clothes - and maybe can refuse cooking, washing and cleaning as well - but only once in a year. ~Oh what a privilege… As for me I would be the worst of wifes since my whole year would be 'Wife's carneval' and if he doesn't like it than can go to that place… ~Ha. I won. Goodbye. The End.
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This year's last-minute costume on my own one-man V.I.P. party: purple Pan or cannibal Bambi or I don't know what is this again and where the hell this came from… I doesn't even like that book, too sad for my nerves… Haha
I made those accessories a couple of years ago out for fun. There are more of them HERE if this interests you.
I enjoy this time of the year, maybe because I was born this time so this 'always looking for fun' attitude is in my veins…
A Farsang from my earliest era... Nursery parties were the best! Haha
I don't know why but my mom always dressed me as Little Red or clown [probably those were the most easy-to-make costumes]. Little Red is ok but I just hate clowns… those giggly tacky-coloured wackos creeps me out still today… [Sorry Reader if your profession is circus clown, I didn't want to hurt your feelings!]
You think I grew up? Neee... More than 30 years later I still the same. I dressed up as Little Red again in 2011 for Halloween, but this time "for something completely differrent"...
Some things just never change. Leastwise my intellectual level... Hahaha
Happy carneval season or Winter's End… or just be happy and make doughnuts! Szép napot! ✌
[1] Hungarian etymological dictionary, Hungarian Electronic Library
