Richard Halverstadt: August 20, 2010: St. Stephen's Day (Part 1)

Friday, August 20, 2010

August 20, 2010: St. Stephen's Day (Part 1)

August 20, 2010: Today is St. Stephen's Day, one of the major holidays in Hungary. Sometimes I think I lead a charmed life and today would be one of the reasons for believing that -- the weather was warm and not particularly humid; the atmosphere wherever I walked seemed like a holiday was in the air; and the sights to see were more than the eye could take in. You'll have to excuse me today because I have a lot of pictures to share with you. I also tried out the video feature of my camera but I haven't got the hang of it yet so the video shots you'll see are far from perfect but hopefully give you a sense of what the music was like. (Who would have thought that my camera that Ruth gave me for Christmas several years ago would now be so important to me, or at least important to my blog! Thank you, Ruth)

Anyways, back to the environment of the day: vendors were selling balloons for children; there were booths all over with delectable strudels, many of them stuffed with thick gooey berry fillings; street performers were more abundant than normal:

Hungarian street performers

Strudels for sale - yum!

Break Dancers performing - acrobatics too

Street Statues - just like San Francisco!

I learned that there would be a huge folk arts festival at the Buda Castle, so that's where I headed. I followed the crowds of people crossing the Chain Bridge to the bottom of the funicular where tickets were being sold. But before I could get to the ticket booth, charming music dragged me to a stage that was set up by the Danube where performers were singing and dancing classics. The singers all had quite full voices and the dancing was quite energetic with very high kicking, swirling of the girls in air, etc. I have pictures of one of the singers, Fischer Monica (In Hungary, the family name comes first). She and her husband both sang and there were other performers as well. Below are still shots of Monica and some videos that are a bit too short, but you'll get the idea of what I heard and saw.

Fischer Monica performs

After listening to several songs by these talented performers, I finally made my way to the ticket window and joined the throng of people wending their way up the path to the Buda Castle. Recall that in my August 16 blog entry, I mentioned that the path leading up to the top of the hill wound around gradually. Well, every foot of the path leading up the trail was filled with booth after booth of every type of craft you can imagine. The wares being sold were actually quite good quality. No "I've been to Budapest" tee shirts were among them. The crafts were all hand made and several vendors were demonstrating how they made their wares. And the people milling through the streets to look at their wares! The following pictures provide just a sampling of the crowds and what could be purchased.