The Goose Festival

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Daniel and I went back to work this week and we've both been run ragged. The kids returned to school on Monday with their batteries completely recharged and a lot of learning from before the break completely forgotten. Aargh!

Anyway, in spite of feeling utterly exhausted this morning, we both woke up early and made our way to Nyíregyháza to attend the famous "Goose Festival". As far as I understand, the Goose Festival is celebrated across much of Europe at this time of year and is historically intertwined with the Feast of Saint Martin (November 11).

According to legend, in the year 371 (or 372, nobody is quite sure) Saint Martin was in hiding from a bunch of people who wanted to make him a bishop. Unfortunately, for reasons I have been unable to Google, Saint Martin decided to hide out with some geese and his disingeneous hiding position was quickly revealed when they started to honk. Not only was the reclusive Saint Martin forced to take up the position that he had been hoping to avoid, but he became forever linked to the traitorous birds that had caused his downfall when he was later made the Patron Saint of Geese.

In addition to its links with the Feast of Saint Martin, the Goose Festival is also important for other reasons. Firstly, the Festival marks the end of the harvest season and is the time of year when animals are traditionally slaughtered and the new wine is ready for tasting. The Goose Festival also marks the unofficial beginning of Winter, and it is said that the conditions on Saint Martin's Day can be used to predict what sort of Winter will follow, hence the expression "If the geese at Martin’s Day stand on ice, they will walk in mud at Christmas."

As far as I can remember, there wasn't much ice around on Thursday so it looks like we're in for a mud-free Christmas. Yippee!

The Nyíregyháza Goose Festival was held in the Sóstói Múzeumfalu. This is a sort of Old Town where a traditional Hungarian village has been recreated. There are lots of little shops where people make items such as barrels, wheels, shoes, hats, gingerbread, etc much like they would have done hundreds of years ago. There are also houses, pubs, a fire station, a millery, a well and lots of other buildings that we weren't able to identify. It's a pretty cool place.

At today's Goose Festival the centre of the Old Town had been turned into a bustling stage and marketplace. There were lots of handmade items and foodstuffs to sample and buy. Daniel and I chowed down on yummy lángos and hot mulled wine while we watched a lot of weirdness unfold on the stage. Probably the strangest sight was the goose beauty contest where owners had dressed their geese up in colourful costumes in the hope of winning a prize. The competition was eventually won by a bandana-wearing goose named Lady Gaga.

After the beauty contest, we watched a bunch of old people push their grandchildren around an obstacle course in wheelbarrows. This was even more scary than it sounds as the wheelbarrow appeared to made out of sticks and the children were unable to hold on to it as they had to clutch a life-sized goose statue instead! It was quite impressive stuff and all of the oldies and most of the kids seemed to be having the time of their lives.

All in all, the Goose Festival was a lot of fun.

- Amanda