Mardi Gras in Mohacs

Well, not really but close. In Mohacs, a town about 30 miles from here, a festival is held towards the end of February and has been for hundreds of years. Many of the people we asked about it, confessed that they had never been. Some said that the festival is really by and for the townspeople of Mohacs and that there was no program or printed flyers about it. Sounded to be a lot like the earlier years of Mardi Gras in San Luis Obispo. It turns out that our landlords live in Mohacs and they invited us to join them on Sunday for lunch and the festival. It sounded like fun to us so we boarded a local bus that from my investigation was supposed to be an express bus trip of about 45 minutes. Boy, was I wrong! We had seats, but the aisles were full and we stopped 15 times between Pecs and Mohacs where people got off and others got on. I’m going to have to work on my reading of the bus schedules. We finally got to Mohacs an hour and quarter after we started – I was really glad the trip was over because after the last shuffle of people at the last stop I ended up with a kid staring out from about 6 inches away from my face.
Personal space is definitely compromised on public transportation.

We had directions to Eva and Sandor’s house so we took off to find them. We had no trouble and were greeted heartily by Eva who was cooking a mountain of food. They have three boys, Tamas, Bolas and Andrew (or something close to that). Tamas, his girlfriend, her parents and Sandor were walking around town, so Eva sat us down and poured us a generous shot of Palinka (the clear brandy that Hungarians often start their meal with). It warmed us all the way down and Eva suggested that Andrew take us to see the festival and meet up with the others. We wandered the main street of town which was closed to cars and had booth after booth set up with people selling crafts, good eats, candy, hot wine, lots of masks, and other traditional items.

We met the others and after introductions all around, we headed back to the house for lunch. Again, we started with Palinka – and followed with duck soup. We were all served broth with noodles and a platter of roast duck and roasted vegetables were placed in the center of the table. Everyone sort of picked a bit of duck and some vegetables to go in the broth and dug in. We were getting sort of full when Eva said that the first course was over and she started clearing the table and brought out the main course. She served mashed potatoes, peas with rice, fried pork chops, more duck, pickled cabbage and some fruit. We washed all this down with some of their home-made white wine and beer. Even though we had thought we were getting full, we found ourselves eating with gusto. We finished off with a custard filled pastry, chocolate cake and coffee.

About this time, we heard the noise starting to build outside and we were told to get our coats on because the parade was right outside on their street. We all dashed out and saw group after group of men dressed in sheepskin and wooden masks. One group had a coffin and it was explained to us that the tradition is for the men in masks to scare or kill old man winter. They put him in the coffin marched him down the street and then tossed him in the Danube River. The men, in their travels down the street used their pitchforks or other wooden shafts to goose the women in the crowd and toss feathers in their hair. This is all met with gales of laughter and good natured kidding all around. Again I was reminded of the early day of Mardi Gras in SLO. [Not sure what the good-natured girl attacks have to do with the end of winter unless they are exhibiting early spring behavior. Carol got a wooden spear nudged into her arse when she wasn’t looking.] The men all had bottles of what looked like red wine or rum punch that they stopped and sipped from during the parade which started, stopped and crept through the main street of Mohacs down to the banks of the Danube.

It was getting colder so we made our way to a hot wine stand and all had a cup while we watched a bit of traditional dance on a stage in the town square. We then meandered around the streets where we saw lots of teenagers kidding around with each other, little kids running around, food stands and of course long lines to use the few toilets available. We made our way to the river, caught a glimpse of the coffin floating away, watched more traditional dance on another stage and then our group took to the stage to see if our Hungarian dancing skills were any better than our Hungarian language skills. (Not for me but Carol got the hang of it.) It was then time to take a stroll along the banks of the Danube and make our way back to the house. We sat down and warmed up a bit and began talking about the best bus back to Pecs for us to catch. The boys pulled up the schedule on the internet and we discovered that the fast bus left in 20 minutes. We hurriedly said our goodbyes and scampered back to the bus station. We jumped on the express bus and were delivered back in Pecs in about 45 minutes. We stopped for a bite to eat, then walked home commenting on another fun adventure in Hungary, and we have just scratched the surface of things to see and do.

I wonder how long it will be before the town leaders of Mohacs get worried about liability and close down the celebration. Since it has been going on for 100 years or so, I think they are safe for a few more years.