ststephen

Saint Stephen was the first Hungarian king, also known as state founder. He established the Christianity as a state religion and executed all the pagan believers, including his uncle, Koppány. Koppány’s body was cut in four pieces, which were sent to the four major strongholds of the Kingdom. To make the his story complete, “his right hand”, known as the Holy Right, is kept as a relic.

In the past centuries, the myth of Stephen was always modified by the actual authorities. Maria Theresa after the long process how she could get back the Holy Right, she made a National Holiday of 20th August (Stephen died on 15th August, and offered the state to the Holy Virgin on the same day). In the following 150 years the church and the politics built a serious cult around this day. In 1949 the Russian influence twisted a bit on the rituals. The Catholic Church had to step out of the picture, the Holy Right stayed in the Saint Stephen Basilica. But the Hungarian folk celebrated the Constitution, the New Bread, and of course the newly formed People's Republic of Hungary with unbroken enthusiasm.

2011. augusztus 20. alkalmából kisütöttük Szent István király kenyér aktját, majd Tordas község hivatalos huszadikai ünnepségén azt rituálisan felszeltük és elfogyasztottuk a helyiekkel. A szobor péniszének pontos méreteit Virág nagymamájának útmutatása szerint, a Szent Jobb alapján határoztuk meg.

Nowadays, by the strengthening of the right wing ideology and state power, nationalism became a commodity. New red-white-green colored shops are constantly opening, services spiced up with the authenticity of true traditions are offered like Hun Karate Club, Koppány butcher, etc. Through the products, marketing and shop decoration you can easily see that complete chaos around remembrance and history writing, how saint and profane is mixed, how the turul birds are flying over the head of Holy Mary…

Contributing to this flux, for the annual National Holiday we made a human-sized bread nude of the first Hungarian king, and we ritually sliced him and ate his body parts with fat and onion (contributed by the local municipality), together with the celebrating locals in Tordas. An important part of the bread was the genital, which's size was measured and concluded by the only remaining and mummificated body part of the king, the Holy Right. The measurement method was taught by Virág’s grandmother.