Hungarian American Christmas Traditions and Celebrations by Mihaly Horvath

Hungarian American Christmas Traditions and Celebrations
- A Christmas Party with Magyar Nativity and Carolers

By Mihály Horváth, Cleveland, Ohio

What is more of an American Christmas tradition than the annual Christmas party for family and friends? What is more of a Hungarian tradition than a Nativity play and Hungarian Christmas carols? Take these two traditions, from two cultures, and have them together where the Hungarian nativity and carolers perform at the Christmas party.

Nearly 20 years ago, on the weekend before Christmas, my wife Judit and I had a Christmas party at our home for a few friends. Since then, this has become an annual event with 50-70 family and friends getting together with all the trappings of food, drink and decorations to celebrate the Christmas season.

As members of the Hungarian Scouts in Cleveland, one year I invited the boys and young adults from the local Hungarian scout troop to come to our home on the night of the party to present their yearly Nativity play. This is called betlehemezés. The boys would spend a couple of weekends before the holiday visiting the homes of individual families with young children or senior shut-ins to present their ten minute program about Jesus’ birth. I figured what a wonderful program it would be for our guests to see this beautifully done program first hand, in the company of their spouses, many of whom were not of Hungarian ancestry.

The boys come dressed in traditional Hungarian shepard cloaks and they bring a small nativity with them as the center piece of their program. The play is presented in the Hungarian language and whispers of translation can be heard in the background among the guests. The dialogue, memorized over the years, or perhaps on the car ride over, is quite jovial at first before settling down into the true meaning of the Christ child’s birth. The entertaining, yet solemn presentation concludes with a burst of applause from the gathered guests and a passing of the hat provides a little Christmas cheer for the scouts to use for programs in the New Year.

More recently the Hungarian girl scouts have resurrected the tradition of visiting homes, like the boys, before the holiday to sing Hungarian Christmas carols. This is called kántálás. They will show up at one’s home wearing colorful Hungarian shawls, ring the doorbell, and proceed to sing a dozen or more carols, some in English as a surprise, to the gathered family in the doorway. Many times they are invited into the warmth of the home to perform their caroling and later offered cookies, cakes and treats for their fine performance.

Of course, the girls now come to our home too during the big party, to share their beautiful voices singing the lyrics to many familiar Hungarian Christmas songs. Year after year, along with the boys’ Nativity play, they all come to our party to share their talents. The guests are in awe, both Hungarian and American, of the boys and the girls and of the wonderment of Hungarian Christmas traditions at an American Christmas party celebrating the joy of the Christmas season!