Sprinkling Day in Alsófelsőszentmihály*

Poetry. Perfume. (Lots of perfume.) Coloured eggs and cake. (Lots and lots of cake.)

The ancient custom of “sprinkling” is still practiced in Hungarian villages on Easter Monday. It’s a suit and tie event for men as they set off for a round of visiting the homes of women, bottles of perfume in hand.

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Which, yes, they spray (generously) on the women.

Boys, too, participate — some quite unbridled…
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others following the full custom of preceding the spraying with a recitation.

At each house, the men are rewarded with coloured eggs…

Leaves are held against the eggs with pieces of stocking–then the eggs are boiled with onion skins.
Mothers plant wheat in the baskets a few weeks before Easter.

numerous kinds homemade cakes…

These cakes only look like they come from a shop. They are each a multi-step project and each woman makes several kinds. Photo: Susanne Skubik Intriligator

and everyone visits over a glass of wine.

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In Alsófelsőzentmihály this year, members of the American UU church partnered with the Szentmihály parish were visiting for Easter and I joined them as they accompanied the men from house to house.

Each visit was an opportunity to experience the generosity of Hungarian hospitality

and to get a glimpse of art of village self sufficiency. From skilled artistry…

newly planted orchards and next year’s sausage…

to off-the-grid hot showers!

* Alsó: lower. Felső: upper. Szent: holy. Mihály: – Michael. That is, Alsófelsőszentmihály is just a multi-syllable name resulting from the blending of the villages of Upper and Lower Saint Michael’s. Given the marked vowels, however, I’m still working on the pronunciation.

 

7 thoughts on “Sprinkling Day in Alsófelsőszentmihály*”

  1. Fabulous! This seems so clearly the enactment of an ancient fertility ritual sacred to recognition of the feminine aspect of God; it reminds me of other European traditions that have been, and in some cases, still are enacted around the egg — symbol pf the eternal life in which we all partake. Wonderful that you could share in this!

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  5. The cakes and the showers are awesome, but I’m afraid all that perfume would have me sneezing non-stop! Fascinating traditions. Love the unbridled boy. 😬

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  7. What a great posting. I hope I never encounter the name of that town in a spelling bee! SUCH an interesting custom, and such good text and photos to show it … and that you were there at the same time as a New York Times reporter. How cool is that? How wonderful for you to be invited into the homes of these local people. Yes, I can see that everyone is dressed in their best clothes, even the children. Whew, no place for a person with scent sensitivities! Besides washing their hair multiple times, it looks like clothes would need to be washed to get out the smell. I love the dyed eggs. What a great idea to hold leaves against the eggs with pieces of stocking, and then to boil them with onion skins. I love the off-the-grid hot shower, and the proud look on the man with the newly planted orchard and ‘next year’s sausage’. Oink oink!

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