Hunglish.orgWhat makes August 20th in Hungary a day of rest for the Hungarian people: Is it a holiday, a day to remember or is it merely an excuse to get the day off from work?
Hungarians just celebrated August 20th. For Hungary, this is something like the 4th of July in the United States. It is the birth of their nation.
It is also a celebration of the Pagan holiday of "new bread.” This celebrates something about the wheat crop production.
I've always thought it was clever the way the Romans would simply adopt the old holidays and simply give new meaning to them. You have to hand it to them: They had the whole colonozation thing down.
It also commemorates the settling of the Carpathian Basin by the leaders of the seven tribes via light sport aircraft through a giant cone slalom course along the middle of the Danube.
August 20th celebrates the handing out of piles of marketing brochure, free newspapers and paraphanalia.
It celebrates the age-old Hungarian tradition of price-gouging on everything from langos to beer.
Does that "new bread” cost so much more? Will the prices return to normal once all the stores open?
The 20th celebrates dumping tons of phosphorus and sulfur contaminants into the river via an intricate rocket and mortar propulsion systes as large crowds "ooooh” and "ahhhh.”
Most of all though, August 20th is about that universal human desire to not do any work.