Krakow, A New Bag And Family Roots

Soon I'm going to go on a five days holiday to Krakow!!!!! Wehee!! 😸

One of my friend lives there so it's a double happiness 😌

I made a new bag for the journey. The embroidery is no less then the coat of arm of my mom's family!!!

Everything I make has its own story... Or should I say history?

Apart from "some" really annoying family members - whom I could hit happily - I'm proud of my mom's family, but only from historical aspect...

My mom was born into an old noble family. That doesn't mean she ever lived like a queen… the opposite. To the 20th century all the families of the D.-line impoverished completely after the revolution and war of independence. My mom had a tough burdensome childhood…

I learned this whole family story only about three years ago, when I made a bigger turn-out in our cellar and I found my mom's old writings about her family. I asked her what was that about, then she told me that she learned once that her ancestor [the family founder] was a crusade knight somewhen in the 13th century, who got his title from the current king [Stephen II or Bela II perhaps].

Sadly I found only very few data about this knight. There are various genealogy and noble family searching sites, and I found some 19th century and modern day distant relatives in the USA, but one cannot find names from the 15th or earlier centuries of course. Then I searched on the electronic libraries and archives, where I found some things about the knight and some other family members from various historical eras. I know this doesn't mean that we are straight from that knight guy, no of course, the main branch of the family had broken into subfamilies along the history, ALTHOUGH according on phone registers and address pages there are only four subfamily groups in this country today and some outside the country. We are the Western-Hungary branch. There are two in South and South-Eastern Hungary [some of them are close relatives of mom] and around Budapest [only one distant relative among them] + one unknown branch in America, except my uncle who lives in California and three cousins live in England from now on as well. But my mom's family is a rare one anyway. 😚

Even one letter is matter… [this is crazy...]

My mom's family name ends with an 'i' but before [about 100 years ago and before] they wrote it with an 'y' [like the Görgey family or Zichy, etc.]. In Hungarian history 'y' at the end of the surname meant a noble descent. But by the law IV of 1947 - in the Hungarian Communist Era - every nobility title were forbidden to use and was something to be ashamed of, so you had to leave the 'y' and use an 'i' instead. Now you have a simple family name now… [Whaaaaat????!] The thruth is, the Directorate thought and feared that noble descented families had some sort of political power and were wealthy, well wealthier than Them, due to the poor or ordinary proletarian families were easier to manipulate and to dominate… They were wrong. My mom's family was extremely poor. Grandad – who had no any wealth at all apart from the buttons on his shirt… - died early so my grandma left alone with 9 children in an old small house! Actually the whole place was only a one bigger room with a bath tub in the corner as "bathroom" and an old stove as "kitchen"… they had no proper shoes at Winter and so on… So my mom never cared about the stupid Communist statement, why wouldn't we proud of what we are or where we are from… they were poor with or without an official noble title and the fucking 'y' anyway…

Most of the noble families lost all their lands and wealth decades before but nevermind. 

The few things I just found about some family ancestors:

comes[1] Stephanus de D. or István D., the family founder! – He got his surname/title after the castle and provostry he attended, so I didn't know what was his real surname before.

He was the member of a hospitaller knight order; or the official and long version, the "Sovereign Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta", god, this was long indeed, I need a break…

He never fought in any battle [thank goodness] or went for a quest for the Holy Grail or even met with the killer rabbit of Caerbannog or had dinner with the knights of Camelot ["It's only a model"]… He was a crusade knight, but only by title. He owned a spital [puritan version of todays hospital, in Hungarian: ispotály] and took care of the people on his estate in D.; what now a village in Slovakia, but that territory was part of the historical Hungary. In historical records the name of the place was first mentioned in 1138.

[1] The latin word 'comes' means "count", but here the Medieval sort of count, the feudal landowner. Only the king could gave him title and land and he had military, juridical or prefectural roles. A Western/Middle/South-European comes had greater autonomy [independence]. In Hungary this was different. István was comes by his wealth, but by title, he was an ispán [Hungarian form of landowner]. He had no autonomy but had the same roles as a Western feudal landowner has, beside he was a spital knight as well so he had some other duties too. Busy man.

On the list of alispánok [sub-prefects] of the provostry of D. I found a "family member", János Horváth D. from 1486 and 1490. 

This was the wear in the St. John order. I found a Hungarian webshop for historical costumes and found the full wear! Maybe I buy a cape for my next birthday… 😉

The Queen knows what's cool 🙌

The others:

Miklós D. – He got a land from king Matthias I in 1464. Another later descendant of István D.

Sebestyén D. – He was an influential and wealthy Catholic arch-priest, preceptor and abbot in the 16th century. He was the last knight/prior of the Fehérvár johanniter convent [the same long-named St. John hospitaller order]. He was married with a noble lady. In the Hungarian Reformation era [straight after the Council of Trent] married priests was accepted in some certain counties. Well, better a married priest than a sexually aberrant one I always tell… I never understood this forced celibacy thing. There are only a few priests who can live and deal with it, the rest is just suffer in silence or become the typical one who ends up chasing the kids, nuns or worse… One of my distant cousin is a priest. I hope he knows well what life he chose… because if not, better to leave the whole glorious priesthood in time. He can be religious without it and he is still young yet… and handsome by one of my friend, who has a keen interest in priests and monks in black robes since the Matrix movies... Well, until it's about Mr Magnetic-with-those-sad-doggy-eyes-even-at-the-age-of-fifty-two Reeves, I agree with her, otherwise not. Anyway. *cough* In 1543 was the occupation of Székesfehérvár by the Ottoman army. Half of the population fled wherever they just could, along with the allied armies and Italian mercenaries. Sebestyén, who was responsible for the Cartulary [the main cartulary of the country was in Fehérvár], packed what he could and fled to Győr, then Pozsony [today Bratislava, Slovakia] and finally, he arrived into Sopron, where he became arch-priest, abbot and a happily married man. 

So he saved our precious cartulary matters.

I really couldn't sleep without knowing this!! Hahhaha

Győző D. – was a pretty famous poet [although I never heard his name before] and lawyer in the 19th century, they even named a school after him! He was the last D. one whom had wealth and lived by his lawful nobel title. 

The End.

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Sadly my dad's surname is very common, so it was impossible to search his family line, the only thing I know that my grandad was the lieutenant of Miklós Horthy, admiral and statesman, who served as Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary between the WWI and II!!! Grandad died in 1944, in a bombing at Košice, where he was on the train with the wounded soldiers. His forced duty [because he was a reservist] was to "bring" those soldiers home... So he was a war martyr, although my dad never got over his death. He was only 9... I hate the fucking war... 

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But it's good to know too that a part of my family line reach back into the Middle Ages. I'm highly proud! At least this explains why I'm this knight and Medieval mad, even if I know the disgusting truth behind the whole knighthood thing…

Maybe my ancestor reborn in me 😀

Just dreaming…

and as lucky as I'm I would born also a girl in those times too…

That's why I enjoyed this series 😙:

and this silly song could be my anthem... I loved this show as well Hahhaha

Krakow, wait for me!!!! Beware, I'm coming! Háhááá

Oh and my hair is not red at the moment, but brown-green!!! 😎

[good god, the crazy Hungarian woman travels... catastrophe... Who let her out?!]

  

Good Day!/Szép napot! ✌

[Un]Happy Easter… Well, Partly.

After six years of being a happy bunny mommy - when Easter was more fun - I was a bit bored this time… Don't misunderstand me, I hate that Easter maddness around those poor white bunnies in the supermarkets, waiting for "adoption", but half of those poor creations usually end in the streets, or on the Easter table as free meat or in a spoiled brat's hands or a coat for next Winter... the list of the horrible death of those bunnies is just as endless as the human selfishness itself. The leftover is usually end in the zoo, where they will become snake "yummies", but only after the holidays, when noone cares yet… NO. I just liked the idea that I have a bunny fellow around this time of the year too, especially because I'm not celebrating the liturgical kind of Easter, but rather the pagan 'Ostara & co. with fluffy bunnies' version. I like Spring, especially Spring rain, but I don't mind if there is good weather with birds and butterflies and flowers, beautiful trees and clouds until it's somewhat quiet outside [no shrieking kids ONLY birds...] or it's not Summer, when noone can breathe normally from the 100°C… I hate Summer, especially in this town. Anyway. So beside I was cooking and watched some of "Aqua’s favourites" I was really bored… and somewhat lonely without her hopping, cheery company.
I coulnd't decide yet whether I bring home a new baby bunny or not. She left a bigger void in my wretched heart then I believed. Well, maybe next year…
or not.

So I cooked.
Although I'm very eclectic in the kitchen, so I usually cook whatever I just want in the certain moment through the year, but as long as my mom lives [I hope for a long time] I certainly stay traditional on the Holidays.
I think last year I wrote something about a typical Hungarian Easter dinner [Saturday], what more or less but the same in many families still today. The dinner is usually contains: the Easter ham [a special marinated and boiled ham], fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits, boiled eggs, horseradish and of course the kalács [sweet plaited loaf].

The serving is a bit posh I know… Relax, I'm not some 1950's housewife-type lunatic, definitely NOT, I just wanted to make my mom happy. My dad used to decorate the Easter table with care, so I think it's my turn to carry on his tradition for a while. It was not a big work, about 10-15 minutes the whole decoration to make…

So Hungarians eat this veggie-ham-kalács combo on Saturday evening, but eat whatever they like on Sunday and Easter Monday.
That's why I chose a Jane Austen menu.
???
Literary cookbooks are fun, although I'm not a fan of Miss Austen's world, due to I dislike romantic literature. I know she was more like a romantic-realist but I can't help it. When I was a teen I liked to watch the tv version of the Pride and Prejudice but that was all. And instead of other girls I never wanted a Mr. Darcy-type man for myself like many girls and women do still today. What I never understood, because – and now my feminism here or there – but many girls today are everything but Elizabeth Bennet… Me neither. And if I think into it, sometimes I'm more like Darcy when he is in that village Dance or whatever in the beginning of the story when he behaves like a stuck-up jerk. Especially when I have to be in a company I really dislike… Hahhaha 

So a couple of years ago my friend visited my other friend in England and they were in the Jane A. Museum and bought me this book, because they knew I like classic English food too [beside cooking]. I don't know whether you can buy this book on Amazon or not, but if you are into Austen things you will love this. The illustrations are cute too.

I chose among the recipes the liver loaf, because I usually make something chicken or duck liver dish at Easter. It's from chicken liver, bread, milk, egg and some other ingredients. The recipe doesn't say certain seasonings and spices, so I used marjoram and rosemary. I never seasoned liver with rosemary, pity, because they make a very good match! 

That scones are from potato. Actually puree with flour, butter, salt, leek and nutmeg, then you make scones with your hands and fried them out in a greased pan on both sides. Easy to make and yummy even just in itself!

The dessert was another interesting new taste for me. It looked like I make a simple orange-butter cake, but the recipe said, put some ground cummin/caraway seeds and nutmeg in it. At first hearing it sounded strange for me, but ohhohoho it was great!!! Sugar-orange glaze on the top. 

Summarized: So at least I ate a good again.

By the way, it's snowstorm outside!!!! Hohohohoo or what the heck now?! It's April for god sakes...
The new symbol of the Hungarian Easter should be, a bunny with Santa hat…  

On 22nd will be the international Earth Day. I don't know what I could say to our Lady Planet. Maybe: Please accept my deepest sympathy. We are both on the same opinion about humans. …and yeah after these years a certain trumper guy still can says that global warming is a hoax… funny, isn't it?

Good Day!/Szép napot! ✌

"The Walls Are Inside Me" Or Art Of A Lily

~Ahh Budapest again… I missed it.

I made an art trip to the capital recently; this time to see a peculiar Hungarian artist's exhibition. Her name was Ország Lili [1926 – 1978] and I only heard her name for the first time in my life just last year... that's a shame… 

[Photo from http://arnolfini.hu/arnolfini-szalon/snk-kiallitasokrol-amelyeket-rendezhettem-i]

 

She was not only a painter but a graphic designer and puppet designer as well. The exhibition was only about her paintings, although I'm very into handmade puppets; I would gladly saw hers… Anyway. Her style was surrealism in her earlier period, later she turned into constructivism what – sadly – I dislike, but I really enjoyed her earlier works.

Her childhood story is just as heartbreaking as her paintings; I try to summarise her life in a nutshell: She was born to a Jewish family as Lívia Oestereicher. One of her uncle was a doctor and was into mysticism as well what was a very inspiring thing to the little Lili too. She started to be concerned with art at a very early age [12] and wanted to be a painter but her parents, especially her mother was against the whole idea [with not much success thank goodness…] what caused a continual argument between the two. Then it came a bigger problem, the WW2. On the Spring of 1944 the Nazi troops finally occupied the country. The entire family was forced into a Nazi internment camp, what was an old desolated brickworks in the city they lived... They spent three weeks in that camp without enough water and food... On the road to Auschwitz - with a huge luck - she and her parents could escape from the hell-train and fleed to Budapest and lived in fear and secrecy under the bomb attacks of the capital till the end of the war. 

Her fear never faded and the [brick]walls of terror carved into her soul forever. She stated once that "the walls are inside me now"; and the 'wall' as symbol became her main motif for the rest of her life. She never regained from the mental terror she suffered from the force against her family and what she had to endure under the siege of Budapest... 

I guess I'm lucky with my just bullying-memories from schools [and some other things later] although those events were enough to me to live my life now as a distrustful, grumpy, antisocial, furious feminist – and too honest… - granny-like creature among my own walls, but you know what, nevermind now... The past is past and I'm happy now anyhow so I shut it. I'm free, I can create what I want, do what I want, eat what I want. That is what matter! Especially the 'eat' part... I just need a better job and a more creative city around me and I will be in Heaven! 😸 *nyaaa*

~Ouhh I'm tiring for myself... Back to the darling Lili:

After the war she studied at the University of Fine Arts and spent her time of youth searching for her "cause". She was influenced by some famous surreal artists of her time: Giorgio de Chirico, René Magritte [I love his works too!], Paul Delvaux and Toyen/Marie Cerminova [whom she knew personally].

After the university she worked as scenist [later puppet designer] at the Puppet Theatre. She married to a physiotherapist, whom she travelled with many places. Every country she visited influenced her, especially the local religious art. She found the Pravoslav icons very interesting, then in Naples and in Pompeii she found the two places' historical and mytological backgrounds inspiring. She used these inspirations at her own works. But later she found her own topic ["cause"] for good: the roots and symbols of her own nation. That is when she started her constructivist [and mixed media] style in the early 60's with Hebrew writings and characters, Jewish gravestone imitations and later her favourite topic, the labyrinth of walls [of mystery and life] and the Western Wall of Jerusalem.

She had a few but close friends, whom were famous contemporary Hungarian artists, writers and poets. Later she devorced from her husband and lived a modest and quiet life in a puritan home with only some old furnitures and her painting tools. They knew her as a cultured, clever, irrational, emotional, melancholic and 'too-quiet-for-an-artist' person, whom only live for her cause and art. Not only she was a mystery, but her death as well. Her friends remained too silence after she suddenly passed away at the age of 52. It was never comfirmed officially that she was sick or perhaps she had commited suicide...  [but the suicide theory is the most certain :( ]

Her studio was somewhere in the castle, I just don't know where. :((((((( 

Although I'm not really into constuctivism, the whole exhibition was a 'deep impact' to me! ...or should I say 'armageddon'! ...or that that day was my 'independence day'! ... Ok I finished. I not even liked those movies...

By the way, this exhibition was her first countrywide one with all of her painting works. So she was just another talented artist from the many who had been acknowledged only after the death… Typical.

Well, after the long novel I wrote about her, here are some paintings [I could find on Google] from her early, surrealist era.

As you will see her works are everything but estetical, beautiful or nice to the senses, rather give some discomfort to the viewer. Maybe if her childhood wasn't a hell she would painted more delighful pictures… but the hell with delighfulness!

This was her first work with 'the Wall'. She stated, that she grew up at the very moment she was forced into that camp, although inside she remained a fearful little child because of it for the rest of her life…

[Photo from http://galeria.fidelio.hu/kiallitas/2016/12/19/orszag_lili_labirintus]

As a shoe-lover I enjoyed this painting about black shoes, although the real meaning of this work is far more than a 'painting about gothish shoes'…

[Photo from https://kulturleny.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/bolyongas-evei-orszag-lili-falai]

This is my favourite, the "Veiled lady"

[Photo from http://www.szombat.org/kultura-muveszetek/arny-a-kovon-orszag-lili-kiallitas-az-magyar-nemzeti-galeriaban]

The painting probably has a certain meaning although to me it's about something else… that no matter what, I have to stay strong and carry on follow my own path out from the labyrith of the ordinary fate what they [the society or a god] expect from me as a woman and want to show me the direction by any means like that raw black hand… although who knows, maybe the way-out, the aim is near to me where those birds fly…

Or not.

Another good one, the "Anxiety" or as I call this piece, the Ghetto Madonna [the Holy one not the Old Hag one].

[Photo from http://artportal.hu/magazin/klasszikus/egy-nagy-eletmu-ujrafelfedezese-orszag-lili-modem]

Well this painting is certainly give me some kind of anxiety, because it paradoxically chills me out as I look at it… The woman's sitting pose is look like she is just simply meditating, although the whole picture is obviously depressive with that – probably ghetto - wall and huge ever-hungry rat what already ate her toes on her left feet…

She had many eras, depends on what was her inspiration at the moment. So she had a 'moon-era' as well, what I really liked 

[Photo from http://pilpul.net/komoly/lakatlan-lelkek]

Well, I could carry on and on, so if you are interested try to use Google search for more works.

After this refreshing exhibition I went for a walk in the other side of the castle, where they finished the renovation of the old courtyard, the Lion Yard beside the History Museum [The whole castle will be renovated in the near future!]

 

Sorry, but this ancient well was just too… and I just watch toooo much movies…

I just couldn't leave this wall part behind… this is just a piece from an ordinary renovated stone wall, but after Lili's paintings I saw more in this stone-brick wall part [maybe I'm odd but I don't care…]

Silly photo, but I just wondered what was the meaning of this… "Love Nature Hate…" ??? Who?! Antifa? Anita? [Ekberg?] Hahaha 

 

"Iron Lion Zion"

The perfect home for a hardcore antisocial... Hahhaha 

Now this would be too much for me at the moment, but maybe after 30 more years in this boring city of mine among these annoyingly ordinary people and I will gladly choose a place like this...

Breakfast.

I started my morning in my favourite sandwich shop, Duran [Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street 7] I wrote about many times I think.

~Ohh how I love that place! Those tiny little jewels… 😚

 

Lunch.

I tried out another 'new-wave' street-food restaurant. This creative place is a tiny shop under 41 Museum blvd. [near Kálvin Square]. Its name is Mamma Sferico and sells pasta/rice+meat balls; in short: spaghetti balls/dumplings. The idea of these balls came from the Sicilian delicacy, the arancini. The shop is very new, it opened just in last December but already a success. 

I was in a hurry to get my bus back to Veszprém, so I just picked the basic pasta-beef balls with spicy tomato sauce. It was delicious! 

You can ask for 5 or 7 balls at a time. I ate 5 balls but I remained hungry a bit, so I think it's better ask the 7 balls. The price of a combo [balls + sauce] is the same as other street-foods in Budapest, from 1000 Ft to 1200 Ft. There are homemade honey tea and Tiramisu on the Menu and various soft drinks as well. The serving was very friendly too... Seriously the girl in the shop just couldn't leave me eat, just asked me again [because I'm from the countryside] and just talked and talked about her life in Budapest 😅 She was nice and probably a little bit lonely in the big city where you can rearly get a nice word [I experienced this feeling before…] but I was hungry!!!! …not to mention in a hurry… But if you are not as moody and antisocial as I am and have more patience when you are hungry than me, you will enjoy a nice talk by your meal for free. 😇

Next time I will try out something not to ordinary combo for sure like the rice-salmon balls with curry sauce or chicken balls with French cheese sauce or rice-beef balls with hoisin sauce or spinach sauce or... Playful place hey-heyy! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Oh and the best news that the owner is planning a food-truck from this shop in the near future, so maybe they will be on this years' Veszprém Street Music Festival in July too! …Oh god the only problem is which of my favourite food-truck will I choose then… My first love, the Meat & Sauce truck…? …or the Paneer cheesery heaven truck…? 🙏 🙌 🙇 ...oh I'm confused, I don't know this time although July is still in the future… *loud baby crying*

I'm utterly hopeless with my big "problems"…

Good Day!/Szép napot! ✌