Christmas in Hungary
In Hungary we called it karácsony. It's an old Slavonic word which means solstice, because in this day the darkness is the longest in the year. So 24th of December was a special day in the past too. The birth of Jesus brings light to the dark. In Hungary the little Jesus brings the gifts at 24th night so we unboxing the gifts also that day. In the Christian families the little Jesus brings the gifts and in the non-believing families the angels, elf or fairy or something like that brings the gifts. Some family put gingerbreads on the Christmas tree. Me and my family puts szaloncukor in the tree. Szaloncukor is a type of candy filled with fruit jelly or marzipan or coconut ect. It's covered with a thin chocolate layer. In most of the family's Christmas table there are fish. Some family eats halászlé (fish soup) or töltött káposzta (filled cabbage). We usually eats fried fish. The cake which can be found in every Hungarian family's table is bejgli. Bejgli is a rolled cake filled with walnuts or poppy seeds. Gingerbread (mézeskalács) is also common and some family has Zserbó in this day. Zserbó is a cake which has apricot jam and ground walnuts are filled between sheets of shortcrust pastry, then the top is covered with a layer of chocolate. According to an ancient tradition the head of family cut an apple in as many pieces as there are family members and everybody get a piece to the family being cohesive and healthy.
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