A Foreigner’s Journey into the Hungarian Soul

As I’ve traveled some of the world, having been to 33 countries and living on five continents no other people has fascinated me as much as the Hungarians. What is the difference?

Why do Hungarians hold more fascination for this author than some of the world’s classic western peoples such as the English, Germans, or the French?

• Why not the dynamic Americans (in whose country I was born)?
• What about the Mediterranean peoples; the lively Italians, the traditional Portuguese, and the singing Spaniards (whose blood courses through my own veins)?
• Why not the unorganized but passionate and interesting Latin Americans whose historical heritage is my own?
• Why not the racially mixed Brazilians in whose friendly land I spent three beautiful years of my life?
• Why not the Byzantine and Balkan people surrounding Hungary whom I also lived among? It seems that these last groups in their surreal lands often consider their own national interests as the peak of all morality. They use intrigue as Pele once maneuvered a football. In the Byzantine heritage, intrigue is as a sport to be played with intensity and pride!
• Why not the ancient religious warriors of the Middle East?
• And would it not take volumes to explore the exotic minds of the Asian peoples beginning from India through China to Japan and Korea?

So why the Hungarians? I honestly cannot at this time give a simple and straight answer. As Job, the ancient man of wisdom never discovered in his earthly life WHY he was tested and then doubly blessed maybe I will never know why, but something compels me to explore the secrets of the Hungarian soul.

One thing is sure. I will never understand what it is to BE Hungarian- I won’t even try. I saw two young men at Múzeum Körút in Budapest putting leaflets on a pole to advertise a Christmas program. The title was, “The meaning of Christmas and the coming of Jesus.” I took one of their papers thinking, “This will be interesting.” I asked the boys, “Who is putting this on?” They said it was a religious society. I asked, “Which one?” They answered, “A group from India.” “Hindus?” I asked. “Of course!,” they replied. I threw the paper away. What do a group of Hindus, who worship 350 million gods know about the Christian message of Jesus, who claims to be the only one way to the only one God?

In the same way, how can an American born person of Spanish blood know what it means to be Hungarian? I can never tell my Hungarian friends what they feel or what it means to be a part of this fascinating nation! What I can try to do- in a very limited fashion is describe how this foreigner sees the Hungarian soul and try to explain what a foreigner can perceive. I can share with Hungarians what a foreigner observes and what we can learn from our observations. But the final judgment is up to you…my Hungarian reader.

However, it is necessary to describe and interpret issues of morality, conscience, motives, and ethics in such a journey into the soul of a people. This means we have to agree on some rules! Where should those rules come from? Who makes them? Since we have a Christian heritage it makes sense to observe these issues from a biblical perspective. Is that fair? You can answer that. I can only present a case for which you are the judge and jury. But I have chosen this perspective because Gellért Hill reminds me that the Magyars are still a Christian people.

Unlike the French, who in their revolution displayed a naked prostitute on the altar of the cathedral the Hungarian nation has not made an open rejection of the God they chose for themselves after St. Géllert was martyred, sent careening down the hill sealed in a barrel with nails driven inward to pierce the flesh of this apostle to the Hungarians. Since Gellert, countless Hungarians have given their lives, their flesh, their dignity, their prosperity, and even their personal dreams away for a cause bigger than their own individual lives.

Therefore my Hungarian reader, having a Christian heritage, being part of a nation that has not openly rejected her faith, please consider it fair that we also look at a biblical perspective which gave our civilizations its moral and ethical base and find surprises for us all.

Please, please, please, don’t stop reading thinking what will follow is a harsh judgment. I am not writing this book to preach- but I do want the security of a firm foundation for moral questions. I cannot preach as to what you must do- lest I bear the shame of the one whom vizet prédikal de bort iszik (preaches water while drinks wine). This I cannot do. The founder of our faith said, “Do not judge and you will not be judged. How can you say to your brother, ‘Here, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is a beam in your own eye! First take the beam out of your own eye, then you can help your brother take the speck out of his eye.”

The beam in my eye is too big to remove the speck from yours. However, as we look at the positive light from this book, which reveals something of this mysterious, but merciful God we may see that we have missed some of the hope need to face the future.

The content of this book will treat what this and other foreigners have seen as reflections on the Hungarian soul that appear in everyday life. As all human cultures display virtue and vice so can we explore what surfaces from our experience of living among Hungarians. The virtues of Hungary are many (though most Hungarians won’t admit to this) but as every coin has two different sides so every virtue usually has a vice that is behind it. How the coin falls will determine what side one will see. However, this illustration falls way short. A coin can be simply described by its weight, metallic constitution, what is inscribed on it, its size, and value in the market.

I will use four methods as the basis to demonstrate most of my discoveries in this journey into the Hungarian soul. They will be the national anthem, as it reflects how a nation chooses to view itself as a whole rather than individuals. I will use the proverbs, the közmondások to look at the people’s perspective toward the issues of everyday life. I will use interviews with Hungarians from different ages, different occupations, and different regions. And lastly, much of my understanding has come from my own study of Hungarian history.

One fascinating aspect about exploring the Hungarian soul is that the journey leaves no simple answers. One can observe some aspects of it in such a journey- only to discover how much more one does not know about this complex people. Often it has been said, “As a language, so its people.” Hungarian is the eighth language I have studied and though it has its own logic it is complex, rich, deep, (makes wonderful poetry!) and confusing, THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT! It stands alone among languages. I would say the same about the Hungarians.

Hungarian culture, Hungarian soul, morality, conscience, motives, ethic, Christian perspective