An Hungarian Easter

Balaton Fishing at Easter - photo by Nigel A.  JAMES

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Chocolate Sins are no Sins!

The German word for Easter, Ostern, has nothing at all to do with the east as in the English word Easter; it has, instead, to do with the old pagan goddess of fertility, and, the chocolate rabbits that are eaten in great quantities owe their existence to the fact that rabbits were an ancient symbol of  fertility. In Hungary, however, things are different.

The Hungarian for Easter is Huswet (pronounced whoshvait). This word has nothing to do with any of the German or English understandings of the word; instead, it takes its reference from the words meat and sinning! The first half of the word, HUS, means meat, and the second half of the word, VET means sin.

Easter in Hungary, is a time of fasting, and meat is strictly taboo! Hence the name Meatsin! The eating of chocolate eggs and chocolate rabbits, however, are not even remotely considered bad. Neither of them, after all, are made of meat!

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Evelyn Schliegl-Schellenberg

Evelyn Schliegl-Schellenberg - photo by Nigel A.  JAMES

No time for No time

Evelyn Schliegl-Schellenberg - a revealing very quick peep

Just sitting back and letting things happen is not the way that Evelyn Schliegl-Schellenberg lives! With her seventieth behind her, this dynamic little rocket of a lady has a schedule that puts most other people to shame!

And, her packed-full agenda depends upon which direction she is presently taking.

She is not only a freelance guide, lecturer and writer, but also a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a lover of deep music, and, much more as well. And the popular talks which she holds in Vienna, are, for one very good reason, both captivating and very, very interesting; for her subject is the place where her heart is - Great Britain.

Evelyn fell in love with Great Britain whilst on an exchange trip. She was fourteen years old. And now, many years later, her passion is still just as strong as the day when she first saw the white cliffs of Dover coming out of the mist!

And it is to this land of the timeless mists that she goes with her groups. But, instead of continually moving from one location and from one hotel to another, Evelyn organizes all of her trips as one centre tours. No daily stress of packing and unpacking - and no hurried breakfasts. All very civilized for people of taste!

And, the thing that people love is history, and this is where Evelyn comes into her own. Being the expert that she is, she is able to add spice to her tours with her knowledge of everything British!

But, whether listening to her husband singing (he is one of Austria’s finest singers), or, holding one of her lectures, or simply being a very good grandmother, Evelyn knows that the more you take out of life, the more time it will give you. There is no such thing as no time for her!

All comments welcome - diarikom@gmail.com  - thanks!

Devecser

Devecser Hope - Schnitkunst by Nigel A.  JAMES

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Beyond the Bitter Red

There are no limits to the number of guises that disasters can muster, but the poisonous tragedy that swept into Devecser, a small, once beautiful town in Hungary, was, most possibly, the worst kind of all!

Last year, a dam broke at a nearby aluminium plant releasing years of stored up lethal toxic waste to cascade through the town. What it left behind was a trail of dark red destruction that bore all of the qualities of life that had been!

Up in the high part of town, where the flood never reached, a semblance of normality has returned. Shops are once again open as usual, and some of them are even displaying their wares on the street. But there is a sort of pretence, a kind of ignoring; for down on the plane are the forests of trees that will never see blossom again, the earth that is dry of all life, the rivers and streams where fish can no longer swim, and, worst of all – the houses that no longer stand there! And it was there that I saw the impossible!

Whilst tanking my car last week, I saw, deep within the forest where children once played, a clump of golden daffodils. They were growing where no life can exist! Maybe, nature is stronger than everything we can throw at it, and maybe the daffodils will spread; and maybe, and who knows, the forest and the streams will, one day, return to the full green of life!

There are, after all, limits to our understanding of the ways of creation; I’m sure it has some surprises left up its sleeve! There could, after all, be something beyond the bitter red taste of destruction!

Vocabulary help -

Guises – Formen/Gestalt


Muster – (to muster) – aufbieten





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OH, to be in England!

April Arriving in England - Schnitkunst by Nigel A.  JAMES 

Home Thoughts from Abroad


Robert Browning (1812 – 89)



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OH, to be in England now that April’s there

And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England – now!



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And after April, when May follows

And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossom’d pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops – at the bent spray’s edge

That’s the wise thrush: he sings each song twice over

Lest you should think he never could re-capture

The first fine careless rapture!

And, though the fields look rough with hoary dew,

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children’s dower, -

Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!


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