Hungarian Living

Hi, it’s Liz. This episode is special to me. It’s a Christmas story my mom, Elizabeth Szabo, wrote – and I wanted to bring it back during the holidays because this is the time of year when we think about family and traditions. My mom wasn’t perfect. But she understood something important: you don’t have to be perfect to create meaningful traditions. You don’t have to do it all, and you don’t have to do it flawlessly. You just need to make the effort to connect. She started Magyar Marketing back in 1988 because she saw that it was getting […]

Hello there, it’s Liz. And welcome back to The Hungarian Living Podcast. It’s officially Advent and that means we are headed into the Christmas season, and I wanted to bring back one of my favorite episodes about a tradition that’s really special to me – Mikulás, or St. Nicholas Day, which is December 6th. For kids growing up in Hungary as well as other European countries, the evening of December 5th is always exciting. I remember when we were living in Budapest in 1973. I was 8 years old and It’s my first memory of Mikulas nap. I shined my […]

Episode 110 Hello friends, and welcome back to The Hungarian Living Podcast! I’m Liz, and today we’re talking about something that’s very close to my heart – the tradition of name days. And if you are listening to this episode on November 19th then you are hearing it on the name day for Elizabeth or Erzsébet, as celebrated in Hungary! Before we dive in, I want to share a memory with you. For years after I moved away from home, my phone would ring on November 19th. I’d pick up, and there would be my mom’s voice: “Boldog névnapot, Liz!” […]

Episode 109 This is another one of the folktales that my mom translated in the 1970s. My mom translated many Hungarian folktales into English. This project is designed to preserve her words for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. This recording is by Landon, her grandson. Near the edge of the Bakony Forest lived an old woodcutter. It was a hard living for an old man, and he was very poor. The old woodcutter had little he could call his own, except a daughter. Kati was as clever as she was beautiful. In the village of Bakony, she was called […]

WHEN IS A STUDENT A KING? Episode 108 This is a Hungarian folk tale translated by my mom, Elizabeth A. Szabo, and read by her grandson, Landon. King Matthias had many students working for him in the palace. One of these students, named Marton Nagy, was out travelling in one of the villages of Hungary. When he felt tired he stopped at an inn and knocked at the door. “My name is Marton Nagy,” said the student, “and I work in the King’s court. Could you give me a room for a night?” Now many people had heard that the […]

Hi there! It’s Liz. We have so many great opportunities for learning coming your way this fall through The Hungarian Store! In this episode I’ll do a recap of our recent Hungarian Heritage Expo and also talk about our upcoming classes. This is episode 107 Newsletter sign up! Intro As you know, we are all about encouraging you to discover, celebrate, and share Hungarian heritage. We try to provide as many opportunities as possible. Some are free and some have a charge. Believe me, we would love to just do everything for free, but we are not funded by any […]

Episode 106 In this special episode Landon reads a folk tale his grandmother, Elizabeth A. Szabo, translated into English way before he was even a twinkle in MY eye! THE KING’S GOLDEN LAMB Long ago, in the kingdom of Hungary, lived a King named Matthias. The people of Hungary loved their king because he was such a good king and very, very just. The king of Prussia had heard that King Matthias owned a golden-fleeced lamb, and so together with his daughter, a beautiful princess, he decided to pay a visit to King Matthias. “We hear you own a beautiful, […]

Episode 105 Hey Everyone! It’s Liz with The Hungarian Living podcast. I am sure I underestimated how much effort and energy the Hungarian Heritage Expo takes and to host three in a matter of 13 months is a little bit crazy so I do apologize that things have been a bit inconsistent in the podcast department. It’s already August, which is crazy to me. But here we are. And for this episode we are going to talk about my mom, Elizabeth Szabo, a little because it is her birthday month. If you knew my mom, you know she was amazing. […]