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. […]

Episode 104 Hey Everyone! It’s Liz with The Hungarian Living podcast. And this is just a quick episode to tell you about our next Hungarian Heritage Expo. It is coming up August 25-29th and we are super excited about it! If you are not familiar with the Expo, it is an online event and it is free. It is a celebration of Hungarian heritage and culture, and we have some amazing presentations coming your way. Did I mention the Hungarian Heritage Expo is in English? Well, it is. Even though I have been learning Hungarian for a number of years […]

You may have wondered where I disappeared to. Well, let me tell you, I prepared the podcast and then I was so sick and then I lost my voice. Today we will talk about the upcoming Hungarian Heritage Expo and I will definitely touch on Hungarian food and books relating to Hungarian things – as long as my voice holds out! This is Episode 103 The big news is that the Hungarian Heritage Expo is starting this week! I am super excited. If you haven’t heard about the Expo before – it is March 13-16th and it is 4 days […]

It’s 2025 already and I can hardly believe it. Time seems to be flying by! Have you thought about what you can intentionally do this year to share your Hungarian heritage with the people within your circle of influence? We’ll cover that and more in this episode of The Hungarian Living Podcast. This is episode 102. Hi there! It’s Liz and I am delighted to be back with you on the podcast. If you know about what we do at The Hungarian Store you can imagine things are really busy during the holidays as we are shipping Hungarian goodies all […]

This is The Hungarian Living Podcast. And today is going to be all about exploring your ancestral addresses. Stick around! In the last 15 years or so I have been curious about a lot of different things regarding my ancestors and relatives as well as my husband’s. Why did they leave where they were? Why did they go where they went? Between my husband and I, our families lived from coast to coast and all around Europe. It isn’t practical to just travel around the country or the world visiting places and cemeteries. But, through the years we have been […]

Wow! We are officially at 100 episodes of The Hungarian Living Podcast! Woohoo! That is something to celebrate! But The Hungarian Living Podcast is not really about me, it is about you and your Hungarian heritage – and supporting you with creative ways to learn more about it. Let’s dig in! Welcome to The Hungarian Living Podcast. I am Liz, your host. Today we are talking all about the variety of ways you can make a deeper connection with your Hungarian heritage. And, in fact, if you are already deep into it, I am sure you can teach me a […]

Our Hungarian Heritage Expo starts this week and we are excited!

Hey there! It’s Liz and today we are going to talk about a fun and free event coming up July 17-20. It’s the Hungarian Heritage Expo – an online celebration of Hungarian heritage and culture and it’s free – and you don’t want to miss it! I am so excited about our upcoming Hungarian Heritage Expo! There are so many others around the world who, like yourself, are doing what they can to share their Hungarian heritage with those around them. And you get the benefit of hearing what they have to say and letting it inspire you to try […]

n this episode of The Hungarian Living Podcast I talk with Dr. Doug Cantrell about immigrants and coal mining and, of course, we focus a bit on the Hungarians!

Hi there! Today on the podcast we are going to talk about our upcoming online Hungarian Egg Decorating class. If you love folk art or you just love art in general, you probably just want to sign up and be a part of the fun! You don’t have to have Hungarian heritage to enjoy it! Easter is coming up at the end of this month. Eggs have long been a part of the celebration! Have you wondered about egg decorating and the history behind it? We’ll talk all about it in our upcoming Hungarian Egg Decorating Workshop! You can take […]

Hello! It’s Liz and today on the podcast we are going to talk about our upcoming Survey of Hungarian Folk Music class, stay tuned! Check out our full list on upcoming online classes HERE! We are super excited about our A Survey of Hungarian Folk Music class offered through The Hungarian Store and it starts on March 4th so hurry up and get registered so you can be a part of the fun. Here is the link to register. Zina and I have been discussing a class like this for the last couple of years and, finally, the time has […]

A Survey of Hungarian History Class Register Here! Today on the podcast I am talking about our upcoming Survey of Hungarian History class. Stay tuned to learn more about it Hi it’s Liz and welcome to this episode of the Hungarian Living Podcast. When I visit Hungary, I love hearing about the history of the medieval castles, the mansions and palaces, and the traditions and festivals that celebrate everything under the sun. Even though I have visited Hungary multiple times, I feel like things are just starting to sink in. When I am working on genealogy and wondering why my […]

Storytelling Workshop: Recording your family’s story for future generations How can we share our treasured memories with future generations? Hi, it’s Liz and today we are talking about our upcoming storytelling workshop: recording family memories for the next generation. You have the memories all sitting in your mind. Sometimes you speak them aloud and sometimes you don’t. But, whether you want to believe it or not, there will come a day when you will unable to speak your family stories. Let’s preserve the most important ones so they are available to family members for generations. — This is the goal […]

Hi, it’s Liz –welcome to The Hungarian Living Podcast. Today our topic is about family recipes and how to pass them along. If you haven’t noticed, life is flying by. I am in my late 50s and I am really starting to think about what information I am leaving behind for my family. What are the important things to share? Have I shared them in a way that makes it easy for them to access? We have a basement wih lots of boxes full of documents and important information. And while that is its own project, what I am talking […]

Today on the podcast I am going to tell you about a freebie you don’t want to miss out on Hi! It’s Liz! And We’ve got a quick bonus episode for you – If you know us, you know we love to find fun ways to encourage you as you share your Hungarian heritage with the ones you love. And, with Valentine’s Day coming up, we thought we would share a little bit of Hungarian love with you! if you enjoy Hungarian folk art or you are playing around with the Hungarian language and you want to add something fun […]

What is Hungarian Living? On this episode of the podcast I am going to explain a bit about the concept behind the phrase Hungarian Living and why we use it. Hello! It’s Liz and today we are talking about the term “Hungarian Living”. Why we use it, what we mean by it, and why you might want to endeavor to add more Hungarian Living you’re your life! A little bit about my background. All of my great grandparents came from Hungary and three of my four grandparents were born there. Maintaining a connection to their Hungarian heritage was very natural […]

Regions of Hungary: Treasures of the Countryside Hello! Hello! We will be doing a series of free online travel webinars. Have you registered yet? More details on this special opportunity coming up in this episode! Hey – It’s Liz with The Hungarian Living Podcast. If you are new around here, welcome. And if you have been here for the previous 88 episodes Thank you for hanging with me! Our topic today is our free Regions of Hungary: Treasures of the Countryside online Travel Webinar sessions. We will be doing two in January and two in February and we would love […]

So, you want to learn Hungarian? I don’t want to scare you away from this exciting challenge! Coming up in this episode of The Hungarian Living Podcast are some things you want to think about as you consider studying Hungarian. Welcome to The Hungarian Living Podcast. Yep, it has been a bit since we have released a new episode. We added so many new things to our Hungarian world over the last several years – which has been amazing and fun. And, we have more Hungarian projects coming up this year. So, we are excited. And we are also trying […]

We’ll post the show notes soon!

After not traveling to or from Hungary since December 2019, I was pretty sure I had forgotten all my little tricks and tips for traveling. So, really, up until the last minute, I was adjust and readjusting what I was carrying along for the plane, what I was checking and all that stuff. I think I did ok. I arrived in one piece

If you have other areas of Hungary to visit on your mind, or you want a private tour, let’s talk! We know that sometimes our tour dates to not necessarily align with your available dates for travel. For example, maybe you are going on a cruise and your final stop is Budapest. You can extend your trip for a few days and we can find you a driver/guide who can get you to those important areas of Hungary you would like to visit. We can take care of all of those details and you can have the fun!

We will be doing several podcasts on some of our road trips because we normally take quite a few of them and we always learn so much when we do and we thought it would be fun since summertime is typically the season for road trips!

Hey there! You are listening to the Hungarian Living podcast where we explore all sorts of things that revolve around Hungarian heritage. Today we are talking a bit about tours to Hungary and Transylvania and, specifically, our tours to Hungary and Transylvania through our other business, Magyar Living Tours, so, stick around. Since we have […]

During the Christmas season in many families in Hungary, the Bethlehem players visit the homes of relatives and friends, bringing to them the story of Christmas. Each boy and girl has a special part in re-creating the Bethlehem scene.

Tasting Hungarian food, hearing the Hungarian language, learning about Hungarian history or seeing Hungarian folkart patterns can spark curiosity and questions about heritage. You don’t have to know any of these things perfectly yourself to encourage others! When you share something that interests you, your excitement might draw others in. And from there you might find that it leads to an interest and from there you might find that someone becomes enthusiastic about discovering more.

Episode 80 This is part 7 of the icipici series of Celebrating Christmas with Hungarian Style on the Hungarian Living Podcast. Food traditions are always important around the holidays. This episode has an observation and a little bit of encouragement to continue cooking Hungarian food and teaching others how to do it, too! Have you […]

I encourage you to bake some of these cookies and invite some friends or cousins over for an adult mézeskalács decorating party. Of course, the kids can be a part of this too, but, sometimes its nice to have some mulled wine and have a creative party with some adults you enjoy spending time with!

You might want to start a tradition of having palacsinta on Christmas morning or the day after Christmas or whenever you have special guests visiting from out of town. As far as I am concerned, palacsinta is good for any time!

I grew up hearing lovely Christmas carols in Hungarian. I am sure hearing the sounds of Hungarian — and repeating them — has helped me in my pronunciation as I have been more intentional about learning Hungarian in the last several years. I am thankful my mom played these songs during the Christmas season every year. Hearing the songs brings back some nice memories.

Take some time to think about your favorite traditions and what and how your house plans to celebrate. Write down the ones that were most meaningful to you as a child. If you get together with family and friends, it might be an interesting discussion!

Szaloncukor is a Hungarian candy that is wrapped in foil and can be hung on the Christmas tree. It is customary in Hungarian homes to hang these beautifully wrapped candies on the Christmas tree as a decoration. Traditionally,