Oldal 113 [113]
THE NC HUNGARIAN CLUB
In 2007, for example, at the International State Fair that I also attended, the
Hungarian Club in North Carolina sold traditional Hungarian food such as
stuffed cabbage, beef and chicken paprika, and different types of desserts, such
as krémes, rigó jancsi, and mézeskalács. At the cultural stand, there were pictures
of Budapest, the spas in Hajdúszoboszló, and Gyula, traditional embroideries,
and a short country profile of Hungary. On this occasion, some club members
— especially the older first-generational ones — wore traditional Hungarian
folk costumes. Some women at the cultural stand wore their ball dresses,
while at the culinary stand, sellers were wearing Hungarian embroidered shirts
or traditional costumes form Transylvania. For this occasion, club members
usually cook together, and the money they raise, goes to the club.
For the usual club meetings, members also prepare some food at home,
usually some special Hungarian dishes that they place on one table. Food is an
important source of the club’s discourse, members often comment on the food
and exchange recipes. It reinforces the notion that alike in other Hungarian¬
American organizations, in the Hungarian club in North Carolina, Hungarian
food serves as the widest platform for embodying authentic Hungarian
culture”®,
At some meetings, club members commemorate the Hungarian historical
or traditional holidays such as the anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, the
Hungarian Fight for Freedom in 1848, Easter, Christmas, etc., but mostly the
primary function of these social gatherings is to ensure members a regular
basis for meeting other Hungarians and speaking Hungarian.
The use of Hungarian is prevalent in the club. The conversations are
dominantly in Hungarian, though the children tend to speak among each
other and respond to their parents in English.
Adopting Papp’s typology of American-Hungarian organizations, the
Hungarian club in North Carolina can be defined as an ethnically rather
closed local organization with the primary interest of community preservation
evolving around cultural events, traditions supposed to be authentically
Hungarian”. In the Hungarian club of North Carolina, therefore, the efforts
to maintain the Hungarian language through cherishing Hungarian traditions,
or conversely, maintaining the Hungarian cultural heritage through the means
of speaking Hungarian have become intertwined and mutually compliment
one another.
266 Papp, Beszédből világ, 171
267 Papp, Beszédből világ, 435— 434
* 111 +