merry christmas

below is my translation of a poem by the great Hungarian poet Ady Endre (1877-1919). I followed the form and rhyming of the original poem. suggestions re:word use, rhymes, whatever are accepted. enjoy.

Snow upon the cross in the woods
mighty winter night, the Moon above -
'twas a time ago. Sledge a-rattling
carries me through the woods, in a rush
mighty winter night, the Moon above.

My old man, back then was all gleaming,
Singing songs of joy towards the cross,
Son of my old man, that's what I was
Refusing carved idols, fresh and old
Singing songs of joy towards the cross.

Two stubborn calvinists on the sledge
Father and son we flew on, like time
One accepting, other rejecting,
Next to each other, notes of delight
Father and son we flew on, like time.

Memories from a mere score ago,
My sledge in the woods, towards the night
But now I stop to finish my deed,
To bend and honor that cherished sight
My sledge in the woods, towards the night.

the fun of winter

meme 2009

name three things around the world that surprised you the most in 2009.

1.

the friendship that is forming between neighbours in the street.

2.

the craze about flu (the way people are manipulated).

3.

how much sudden and unexpected help we were given throughout the year, just whenever we needed it the most. we were given a great kitchen table, a set of beds for example, for free. many friends just turned up and offered a helping hand in our house-renovations.
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name three things you learned about yourself in 2009.

1.

I am just as human as some other people I knew.

this is a bit hard to explain. I was always sure that I ranked high in the moral compartment, and my opinion has not changed.

what did, then? I have never thought I would ever commit certain things or fall for certain things. uhm... as this diary is public, I can not really go into details.

I came out a new and happier woman after it was over. my relationship with men, women, and my very own self as a women has never been healthier and fuller. my relationship with DH has never been better as well. there is a much deeper layer of understanding between the two of us.

2.

I am able to feel unconditional love (uhm, I knew this, but the year 2009 has brought me to situations where I had to chance to feel it toward at least three people, and it's not about erotica at all)

3.

I lived up to my inspirations: upon following an inner voice, I joined a choir, wrote a couple of pieces, and enjoyed myself in general. I earned next to nothing, but the balance... ? so far so good.
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name three persons that had a great influence on your life in 2009.

1.

my husband, who was there beside me when I needed him. with my experience, I am now able to understand him much better.

2.

z., a man half of my age.

he inspired me a lot.

it was his influence that took me to singing for example. by studying him and our relationship, I learned a lot about people and myself.

he inspired about six of my poems written in 2009, out of which only one was translated to English - my big thanks to Chris in helping me polishing the lines.

3.

arthur, an online nickname for someone I used to play back to back in an mmrpg. that thing is over now, I finished playing it for various reasons (another story indeed)

arthur supported and stood by me and taught me about unconditional, sometimes inexplainable love. he is now working very hard and is not available online and I miss him.

he inspired two of my poems written in 2009.

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name three things that came unexpected in 2009.

1.

I started singing in a women's choir.

2.

I joined a writers' club in spring. I also attended a writers' contest in my other name. I won nothing, but the experience was great.

3.

uhm, a love.
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name three wonderful and/or memorable events of 2009.

1.

I hosted a Dutch policeman - in return of him hosting me twice (in 2006 and in 2008); and also I hosted a young Hungarian girl from Transsylvania. she is the member of the guest choir. being a host made me feel able and caring. and it was great.

2.

our choir sang at the royal palace on 13 december.

3.

any event where my kids showed off their gentleness and love.
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name three somehow unfortunate and/or memorable events of 2009.

1.

my son was rejected from the high school we tried to get him into. the reason (we do not attend church on Sundays) left me bitter and sceptic about church-based schools.

2.

house renovations do not proceed in the speed I expected.

3.

we hiked much less as we used to do, I'm out of practice.

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name three things your family/spouse/kids achieved/made/succeeded in 2009. (if you have many of these, feel free to expand the list from three to, say... ten...?)

1.

the house renovations are going on quite nicely.

2.

DH has become an appreciated person in his other field of study (no, this is not the professional field. He got his PhD like 14 years ago.) It's about his enthusiasm towards saving our traditions and culture that gathers him acknowledgement.

3.

my son has become number one in mathematics among all the members of the seventh grade. he started the seventh grade in a completely different school and he seems to fit into the community.

4.

my daughter took up folk dancing and she likes it.
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name three of your plans for 2010

1.

be there for the kids just when they need me.

2.

be more active in the renovations, push it go forward. the main aim is to be able to throw a house-warming party on our tenth anniversary of buying the house.

3.

follow the path. work on listening and following the voice. nurturing the voice by getting experiences. reading more. listening to others more. helping and getting involved more in general.

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now it's your turn. and of the years.

looking back

at year 2009 -

I am in a mood for recalling the major events of this year, but I have another, non-blogging-related task to finish first.

I would like to ponder and evaluate, but the job does not allow me to.

The job is to write an article on pruning apples and the like in about 6500-7000 characters. this is part of my regular job.

I read Hungarian poetry, listen to some music, sing to some of them, and cry. I think I had a useful and interesting year and I don't cry because I have any particular reason to. I am kind of allright and I know it will all get better once I wrote that bloody article.

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kind of thinking of making the year 2009 into a meme.

name 3 things-type of one with the passing year on mind.

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like...

name three things around the world that surprised you the most in 2009.

name three things you learned about yourself in 2009.

name three persons that had a great influence on your life in 2009.

name three events that came unexpected in 2009.

name three wonderful and/or memorable events of 2009.

name three somehow unfortunate and/or memorable events of 2009.

name three things you achieved/made/succeeded in 2009.

name three things your family/spouse/kids achieved/made/succeeded in 2009. (if you have many of these, feel free to expand the list from three to, say... ten...?)

name three of your own activities (actions) that felt you with the feeling of love in 2009.

name three of your plans for 2010.

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I'll be back with my answers in one or two days. I'm eager to see yours :)

Please feel free to leave out (or combine) any questions from the meme. If you have your own questions, do not hesitate to incorporate them into this self-survey. All I'm asking is that the focus should be on the brighter, more constructive side.

what happened to Santa Claus

it is a Hungarian tradition to put shoes into the windows on the evening of 5 December.
it is also a nice way to motivate kids to clean up their shoes for themselves.
along comes the night, when Santa Claus visits us silently and fills up the shoes with fancy chocolates, candies, peanuts, tangerines and other fruits. in some families, non-edible presents are also bought by Santa.
it's not for us.
all we get from St. Nicholaus is edible.
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also incorporated into our family's activities for 6 December was a visit from a 'real' Santa. it was the neighbour on the opposite side of the road. on a side note - unlike many other Hungarian families, we do know who our neighbours are, and we organize get-togethers every month or two. but that's another story. back to Santa Claus.
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our kids are not really small. they noticed two years ago that 'Santa' had a black sweater underneath his usual red costume. last year they noticed the fake moustache.
we told them Santa was generally busy, so he asked a man to come instead. i think they accepted it quite well.
this time we started suggesting our kids that they were growing bigger and that Santa had many other, smaller kids to visit.
we did polished our shoes however and put them into the window.
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so we, the parents filled up the shoes during the night and went to bed. we knew the kids would be up against the curtains on the dawn of 6 december - to see what they got from St. Nicholaus.
(we usually go to the windows together - it's not a race, after all... there are just enough delicacies for everyone in the family)
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I was kind of ill so i stayed in bed in that morning. i usually get up at 6 or 6:30, but now i was tired. we waited for the kids to tell us to go and see the soes in the window - just like they do every year. or the way they used to do.
because this year it was different.
my son came up to us and whispered: 'we can get to see the shoes now, because i have placed my presents there as well'.
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upon examining the contents of the shoes we did find a small pack of candies that were unknown to us, parents. it was what my son bought.
he never asked anything like: 'do you put the chocolate there?'...
he just grew up.
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for an earlier post on traditions around St Nicholaus in Hungary click on the tag 'Santa Claus'.

a very short poll

hi there, I need you answers, if there's anyone out there :))
in two of my recent posts I embedded a YouTube vide (one for each post).
the one below was a professional female chorus from Hungary singing an Ave Maria, the other one yet below was one of Eric Satie's Gnossiennes.
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question time:
can you see and hear them?
because I can't...
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St. Nicholaus is coming - is he not?

this is going to be a short post about whether it is appropriate to tell the kids the truth or let them believe what they do believe.
it might not be a short post, after all.
I'm on the run to take my daughter to the folk dance session she attends twice a week and after that, I will check out the latest version of the legos in a local toy shop, with Christmas in my mind, and still after, I will be practising with the chorus, although my head aches like it is about to explode.
and yet after, I might be able to write this post.
I love y'all,
your tree.
but before I go, here's one fantastic piece of music:

Franz Biebl's Ave Maria - these ladies sing like angels. I am truly stunned by their performance.

a little of each

the blurred image I worshipped
lingers still
this is you and this is not you
I thought...
for times on, I thought
I knew the object from the shade it caused
here...
you
the one I thought were
and the one
really are.
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cats, chicken, food and singin'

above here's another proof that our cat means no harm to our chicken - actually, when allowed outside of the hen-yard, chicken eat up all her catfood from her bowl. in this photo, my husband holds Hős Hibor - a young barred hen named after a character in Michael Ende's book called 'The Neverending Story'. on the left side, my mother in law's holding the cat on her lap. it was the cat who wanted to be there :))

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last Sunday, as per usual, three of my kids' cousins visited us. I prepared a pizza dough and the toppings and they placed it on the pizza. in this photo, they are spreading the tomato sauce on the pizza - all home made :)

From left to right there are the three cousins, aged 3, 8 and 9; and my son, who turns 13 this December.

and finally, here's one piece of the music we are singing. also pictured are my new black dress the simple necklace I have to wear on the concert.
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autumn tales - part one

The cat frowned and pressed her mouth tighter.
She's been living in the house for nine years now.
These chicken are young, but... you just never know with them.
-to be continued-
(or not)





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'Autumn tales' is a series of small tales inspired by the life I'm surrounded with. The series may or may not contain more than one part.

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In fact there is a writers' contest (in Hungarian) for short animal tales. Anyone can submit one piece between 3,000-4,000 characters. I have not written anything as of yet. I'll just see.

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In fact, I'm just getting 'off' the addictive game I've been on for more than a year and a half. I'll just see how it goes. On or off - I know I have to find my way back to writing. I'm sure I've lost something, but I hope there are gains as well.

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Be patient :)

pumpkin story

It's daylight. You can come closer now.

Let me introduce myself: I am the guard of this house.

Hear my story:

Out in the pumpkin-fields, I enjoyed there - always thought that that was it.

But the days kept getting shorter. One morning people took me and many of my brothers to a strange place. First of all, there was the noise and the people. Lots of them.

People rushing around, coming and going by. Some touched me, some didn't even notice me. Some took my brothers away. Never me.

One afternoon the sky turned grey and the Sun hid high.

At that time, there were only two of my brothers left. I felt like never before. I felt abandoned and alone.

And then, along came that girl, hair of chestnut, eyes of autumn clouds.

She saw me, touched me, and smiled at me. She looked somewhere else and saw me still. The woman of the house lifted me up and brought me all the way here.

This is how I got home.
The man of the house took a knife and carved my flesh so that I can have the look I'm having now.

His grip was firm and the knife hurt. He kept talking to me. He made my face.

These are my clothes I'm wearing and this is my life. This is it. I am home.

It is daylight now. You can come closer and listen to my story.

But when darkness comes - stay away. I am to guard.

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I wrote this small piece to record and honor the enthusiasm of my daughter about her own pumpkin. With this writing, I tried to capture a simple-minded Jack, who tells about his life. All photos were made by my daughter. She was the one to select her pumpkin, she instructed her father to carve the face, she chose the gardrobe and the setting, too. Those are her clothes. Her pumpkin. My story. Part truth, part fiction.

autumn break

Here in Hungary, there's a one week school holiday.

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This year it starts with 23 October and ends with All Saints' Day.

23 October is a national holiday to honor the brave of 1956. The movement falied, but the spirit lives on.

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All Saints' Day is the first Sunday of November.

The tradition is to visit the cemetary and light a candle for the deceased. This is usually the time for an annual checkup for graves and their surroundings.

If you happen to visit Hungary on the first Sunday of November, be sure to visit one of the older cemeteries in a larger village. You'll be surprised by the ongoing cleaning arrangements during daytime and fascinated by the candlelight when night falls.

In the evening, many families light one or more candle at home as a rememberance to anyone they loved and lost. It might be one candle for all, or one candle for each.

These families might say a prayer, too.
In our family, we light one candle, recall the names of the loved ones, recite some of their best features and their role in the well-being of the family as a whole and say a little prayer as well.

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Halloween is not celebrated over here, although there has been a significant rise in events and parties associated with Halloween in the past years. It's coming from the American culture. I'm not against newcomers at all - as long as old traditions are left intact.

Carving pumpkins is fun, even kindergartens make their own lamps these days.

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I chose some close-ups of autumn's presents to accompany my words. How many objects can you name?

care for a game?

here's one small workout to your logical muscles.4 of the matches form a shovel. the helmet is on the shovel, right?

all the rest is just decoration for those who can not solve the problem...

the task is to move (not more than) TWO matches so that the helmet is not on the showel anymore.

now, you must be careful to keep the formation: that is the matches have to form the same shovel.

move two matches.

it's the wind singing

it's me, delivering the morning

to mourn and fly as one

for times uncountable

among blackened leaves

and etcher twigs

you'd better get away

to air

with tree-tops burning your flesh

a tortured forest panting -

the night is to come if that is what you wish for

look dear, how the fallen founders

taking circles to be taken up, carried and let fall...

look, how it reaches the heights to see

only to shrivel and wither

under my will

it crawls under litter

can not die

yet

for I keep it alive -

the night is to come if that is what you wish for

the land slowly awakens

collapsed

it is not yet over, I am here

and your hands are bleeding

for this I love you so much

hear my words and get ready my dear

to rise and fall

to be taken wherever you want to go

for I take you -

when the night comes if that is what you wish for

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-

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well, this is some troubled writing.

apart from that, I am fine.

I wrote it today, in Hungarian, with Z. in my mind:a story quite past its time...

it's like hearing fire crackling well after you have cleaned the ashes....

the sound lingers on because the fire burnt you somewhere you did not expect.

I wrote it out, now only to let myself think about it. I hope you are not disturbed as much as I was when I first read it.

I don't consider it a poem - also, suggestions to vocabulary and grammar are accepted: this writing is a translation.

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Z. inspired 4 poems during his time.

this might be the last one on the way, the fifth one.

all the first four had the image of 'knife' and/or 'killing' and/or 'death' within. this one, written today is no exception. you might say it's far obvious.

it was the seemingly uncureable stomach ache, the seemingly uncontrollable fatigue and dizzines and seemingly unexplainable heart discomfort I had - far too obvious.

my body's response was way too clear.

that's why I cut it off before ... before what?

sometimes I think I was way too late with the knife.

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well, there is no knife here - it's the bleeding, the blackness of the ashes, and the ache it left... and the sound of crackling.

it is not a poem, these are my thoughts condensed...

these lines help me to decipher the events and feelings, and they help me well :)

and yes, I exposed myself again.

if this is the way, my way - I don't mind.

I take every step the path offers.

for as someone once said it's not the traveller who chooses the path, it's the path that chooses the traveller...

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cheers? or God bless you?

whatever:)

I'm already feeling much better.

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photo: seemingly unrelated, taken by my daughter on 18 September. It depicts a Sun. quite a disturbing image I think.

This is how the bathroom looked like 10 days BEFORE the guest arrived.
-to be continued-

house renovations

Dear all, those duties seem to peak these days.
we do the bathroom floor, install the toilet and do some cleaning as well.
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Our city is in a friendly relationship with the small city of Wageningen of The Netherlands. Some of you might remember my recollection and photos of my memories of my time in Holland. I was there in 2006 and in 2008 and now. Every second year a bunch of people travel there and every other year, the Dutch return.
During the 4 days of the visit, people from various ngos visit the other ngos of the other country, gathering experiences, listening to lectures, but basically, strengthening the ties between the two nations.
During both of my visits I was hosted by a friendly middle-aged couple and now our family is to host the husband of the same couple. He's a policeman, and is going to visit the local police station here, but his bread and breakfast is our duty.
He is to arrive Thursday and the toilet is not ready yet.
Hm... I'm off to help my husband out in the renovations...
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tunnel ----

this is what we've been doing - I'll be back with some writing soon.

summer has gone

School has started.
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My daughter is in the third grade, my son is in the seventh. He now starts in a yet another school. After our attempts to get him into a church-based school failed (reason: we, as a family do not attend services of any church. See? it's not your stand, but your reputation that counts. too bad for pagans like us, heh.) So I opted to remove him from his class, that did him no good at all. His classmates were underachieving and/or undergifted and/or disabled and/or of bad background. The level of education, for various purposed was extremely low and my son adopted himself to that low level. Which means he did not develope quite well.

This new school is an average state school, but his class is having extra singing lessons. I don't think *that* could be that bad.... There are 17 pupils in his class, and only 4 of them are boys. A much smoother atmosphere I guess. No more agressive behaviour from overaged mates I trust.

We'll just see.

My son has two more years in elementary education and at the age of 14 he'll be directed to a secondary school. Perhaps we'll head for the one state secondary school I wanted to avoid in my thoughs about his future this spring. But times are changing - and so are my thoughts. I want him a peaceful and strong community where he can boost up his abilities to his maximum.

Here they are, after the opening ceremony, still wearing their nice clothes.

Some photos of our summer menu:

the first one is a picture of an evening meal. bread slices are covered in egg and then are fried in oil. as a side dish, slices of eggplant are sauteéd and a ligth vegetable salad is there to balance off the juicy fat of the other two components of the meal.

this one here's a lunch. roasted chicken with sauteéd potatoes. and guess what, some salad. I love summer salads - they are so easy to make, so delicious... with a pinch of fresh hot pepper, there's a tint of spicyness to them just to tease the mouth.

this one's a cake, with apricots on top.

oh, what, another salad, yes.

summer offered lots of fruits and yes, we did take care of them - so that we don't have to worry about having a taste of summer in the winter :)

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and yes, the fourth anniversary of blogging has peacefully gone. I would like to express my thanks for all your heartfelt comments and good wishes I recieved during these four years. There were times when a simple 'I hear you - no matter how far away you practically are' meant half the world to me....

there were times I hope when my simple words were able to contribute to someone's faith in the ultimate good will and turn of events.

Even if my English sometimes has some hiccups - I'm sorry for that.

I learned a lot from you. and I do not confine to the language at all.

I will keep on blogging and continue to use the potential of this surface to connect people and keep those precious friendships and/or relationships I have been given over the past four years.

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with a view to another four years - God bless you all,

your crazy and indefinite tree...

does my reflection trouble me?

anyway, it's been a long time since I last posted any music on my blog.
keeping the upcoming 4th anniversary of this place in my mind, here I go with one piece I like to listen to these days -

if you can't see a thing, click here to enjoy Same Mistake by James Blunt.

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as I was unable to make YouTube embeddings work on my blog, here's another link to a much more complex and enjoyable version of the very same song, by the very same singer...Same Mistake... again.

oops: HERE

the Moon rested on his shoulders

He had a star held
in his left hand
with white trails of pillows behind

He heard the pumpkin growing
inch by inch
waiting patiently
for another turn of the sky

He smelled
the Earth gently puffing out
today's sudden rain
like it was the downpour of some desparate child
left alone among the crazed crowd of anger
and silence
kills it all

He kissed the star
and let it glow
alone

and the Moon rested on his shoulders

-

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the four meme

Here's another meme I saw at Aine's.

It is called 'the four meme' - and just above her take on the blogosphere's contagious fun (a.k.a. meme) she's pondering about the importance of the number four for her and for mankind in general.

For me, the number five always seemed more attractive for some reason I can not name.

Number five makes me think of the four elements (earth, fire, wind and water) plus the spirit. There are five fingers on each of our hands and legs.

But now back to the meme ->

The compilation below reflects my attitude towards the worlds as of today - it's not a general picture of me, but rather a quick sample of my present state.

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Four Movies You Can See Over and Over

Lord of the Rings

S.Darko

The Butterfly Effect

Macskafogó (a Hungarian animated movie)

Four Places You Have Lived

the town I was born in, plus the one I've been living in since 1995

-now that's only two

Four TV Shows You Love(d) to Watch

no tv at the moment

Four Places You Have Been on a Vacation - (in cronological order)

Bulgaria, seaside

Prague

USA

The Netherlands

Four of your favorite foods

dark chocolate (I do love the 100% version)

hot herb tea

radicchio

beef

Four Websites You Visit Daily

Google (does it count?)

YouTube

a Hungarian version of an MMORPG site (y'all, I'm an addict)

my blog and your blog, too

Four Places You Would Rather Be

The High Tatras

canoeing on River Tisza

Mongolia

anywhere where's the weather is anything but bloody hot like right here and now

Four Things You Hope to Do Before You Die

Visit Tibet and/or Mongolia

Go skydiving

Hear that some of my writing(s) helped someone in some way in his/her journey to a more complex and balanced life

See my kids (grandkids) lead a happy life

Four Novels/Books You Wish You Were Reading for the First Time

(I guess this is for books that had the greatest impact of any kind on my life...a tough question)

Hundred years of solitude by G.G.Marquez

Oryx and Crake by M. Atwood

Poems of József Attila (an acknowledged Hungarian poet of the early XX. century)

Birdy by W. Wharton

a new wall

Reconstruction mode [ON]

This photo below depicts the installation of a fresh-new door between the old kitchen (going to be a bedroom for the parents) and the other parts of the house. By separating a bedroom a relatively narrow corridor is also created, but there are downsides to every coin.

We had two friends helping here.

Later on the same day. The wall is higher.

Outside, it's much more peaceful in the garden.

wine, good reading and chicken

Jason's having another writing contest. Check out all the fine entries HERE. the contest is open until 15 July.

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(I'm out of practice these times and don't really feel like entering. It's just not my time these days, no, definitely not...)

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This summer we only had two hatchings so far. I have already posted photos of the first litter, and these here are of the second one. Congratulations to Hajas (pronounce as huh-yush), who, despite her mature age (she's bordering 4 years, I guess, but that's just a guess..) managed to hatch 11 and raise 10 babies. These two photos were made in June 23 by my son, who found interest in recording his favourite hen.

The photos below were made on July 8 by me. Hens guarding youngsters are always allowed to have their way in the garden, while every other chicken are kept in a closed yard.

This summer we had lots of rain. This shows. Just have a look at our vegetable garden. In some of the rows there are the second sowings of salads and peas.

exposed again...

oh, what did I just do a few days ago...

I entered a room where a chorus held its normal Saturday rehearsal.

I said hello and told them I liked to sing. And also that I would like to sing in a community.

Oh and yes the chorister said allright no matter you were unable to read the notes, it's your voice that's important.

Oh yes and I am to be auditioned this Friday evening.

Keep your fingers crossed.

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Anyway...

If any of you think this crazy tree has just gone way too crazy these days, no thanks I am all right. On the plus side: I always loved singing. My range varies with my state of health, my ear is fine. I think singing with lots of people together is a fantastic experience.

On the negative side howevere, there's the lack of musical training, the lack of vocal strength in certain ranges, and many more I can't even possibly think of.

I was open about not being able to read the notes and not having any experience in singing in a chorus at all.

The chorister was positive.

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Baby chicken, yes we have 10 more. Photos are coming soon.

whew

My first ever public appearance as a writer of poems and/or short stories has gone fine. As I mentioned in my other blog, I have joined a writers' club early this spring. We meet every month, learn things, solve problems, do homeworks, and so on. I find it extremely useful in having my creativity flowing.

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Yesterday we had an evening in the local library where everyone read her/his own poems/writings for a maximum of 8 minutes.

There were us, the leader of the group and attendants of the library and some yes, some other people, too. The evening was part of the events organized around the 80th National Week of Books.

I read three of my poems.

I was excited, talked about being excited to relax myself, took a deep breath, and began to read. Oh, my.

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The first poem was a short one about the ever-presence and continuity of water, the second was rather a pagan song to welcome the spring season, but the third one... that one was a tough one. Being therapeutic, as most of my writings are, it is a very personal poem.

Well, I survived.

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a Hungarian wedding

On May 16 we attended a wedding of a middle-aged baranta teacher. His pupils wore the red+white+black dress they use for trainings and shows. It was surely a sign of respect. Most of the people invited also showed up in one of their most traditional clothings. This is how we went from the meeting place to the church.

Inside the church.
Outside, the ceremony is over.

A herb garden that represents the area of Hungary.

Two scourges at a time. They both hit and crack!

Scourges were used not only to guide animals, but also as a source of exercise.

'I'm gonna show you baby that a woman can be tough'...

Two short sticks against one long stick. It is quite tricky to manage the long one, but you can slide it from one side to another, and surprise the attacker from a hit from an unexpected angle.

Two short sticks against one another. It is not unusual to fight in a lying position. Well, in an attack you just do what you must I guess ...

A curved Hungarian sword against a war-axe.

A pheasants could just as well use his scythe to fight with - the blade is dismounted from it's normal position so that a long object that resembles a sword is created.

A Chinadish is broken by the couple. The number of pieces are counted. If there are only a few pieces, say, 2-15 the guests chants something that means that the number of broken pieces represents the number of kids the couple is going to have together. If the china is broken into a 'hundred pieces' - the guests cry out that the couple is going to have quite a number of years together. Either way, it's a win-win situation...

An bowman on the horse, shooting fixed targets.

Paprika stew in in the making.

A cereal meat (spiced up with herbs and some veggies) is being prepared for the vegetarian guests.

Meat being prepared for serving. Note the traditional hat worn by one of the cooks.

The showman (?) delivers and presents the courses of the dinner with a small set of funny poems. The bride and the groom are now sitting at the main table (not seen in the photo).

A traditional meat-soup to start with:

My husband and our daughter having a helping from the second dish. It was a paprika stew made from sheep.

An apple pie, served at the end of the meal.