The Death of a Hungarian Wedding Custom

Every year for the past 100 years, Hungarians in the city of Roma would bury a double bass to signal the end of the wedding season and also would confess their sins that were committed against the instrument. Then they followed up with an all night party. A strange custom to be sure, but a custom nonetheless. Well 2008 saw that custom nixed from Hungary’s event calender. The bureaucrats in Hungary basically forgot to put it on the list of festivals that has been held every year on the first Thursday of every February.

The festival is included along with the carnival that celebrates the arrival of Spring. The custom is really a tradition of the gypsy musicians who have carried on the tradition year after year. However, the strangest part is that the local government of Roma had no choice but to ban the ceremony since it wasn’t listed on Hungary’s Festival List.  So even if it was an accident, it doesn’t matter. It’s not on the list, so it doesn’t exist.

And you thought our government was strange.