The challenge of Christian education in post-Communist countries

One of the more well-known problems with Communism was the hostility toward religion.  The Communist party wanted to create a "new man," whose loyalties were to the state.  Religion, obviously, was not compatible with this new ideology.  The Communist governments used a number of tactics to harm the Church and limit its influence.  Christian education, as a result, was targeted by the government and suffered greatly under Communism.  The government seized schools and turned many of them into state-run operations.  Religious instruction was only permitted to come from certain people, and only within the church itself.  Religious elective courses were often not available in the state schools and those who signed up for the instruction were often discriminated against later on, when applying for scholarships or admission into higher levels of education.

After the fall of Communism, religion and religious instruction was no longer illegal.  However, the church was in such a state of disrepair from years of neglect, lack of funding, and a loss of parishioners that it was not able to quickly regain the same place it had in pre-Communist Eastern Europe.

After the fall of the state, there was (and, in many cases, still is) a lot of confusion about property rights.  Schools that were seized during Communism were all of a sudden in a state of limbo.  Would they continue to be public, state-run schools?  Would they returned to their former owners?  No one was sure about what to do with these buildings.  A lack of funding has also been problematic.  With the decrease in church attendance during Communism, naturally, came a lack of church income.  In many congregations, attendance is still lower than the pre-Communism attendance and many churches still lack funding.  Religious schools, as a result, are not always adequately funded.

Even though religion and religious education is freely allowed, it is not a priority for many people, and there is still seems to be a struggle for government recognition.  While we were in Ukraine, we visited a girls' dormitory at one of the Reformed high schools.  The school needed a dormitory.  The government deemed an old, run down, community health center as a suitable building.  Community members and church organizations volunteered their labor and materials and slowly turned the health center into the dormitory.  The building is now a comfortable place for students to reside.  The government did not care about the building before, but now that it has been restored, they want it back.  This is a huge blow to the school, which cannot afford to build another building.  Even though it is now freely permitted to operate religious institutions, it is clearly not being encouraged by everyone, and many Christian schools will continue to struggle until they receive the help, financial or otherwise, they need.

A Tanú

The movie The Witness, or A Tanú in Hungarian, is a comedic film that deals with the issue of communism in Hungary, which lasted until the late 1980s. It was banned for about a 10 year span due to its criticism of the once all powerful communist regime in Hungary, but since has gained a wide popularity fan base. The film depicts the life of a simple dyke keeper and communist supporter, József Pelikán, and his family. It starts out with Pelikán, as he is referred to, slaughtering a pig illegally to provide food for his large, motherless family and quickly escalates to Pelikán being locked up for this act after an accidental encounter with an old friend and officer, Zoltán Dániel. He is then released by the order of a higher power in the communist regime, Comrade Virág, and given special tasks which were created to give special privileges to Pelikán to gain his trust and allegiance to Virág and the communist regime. He becomes the CEO of a swimming pool, an amusement park, and an orange-research facility, and he does something wrong during every job; therefore landing himself in prison after each job only to be bailed out and placed in a new job by Virág, to the point where it becomes comical.

Eventually the ridiculousness reaches its height as Pelikán is asked to be the star witness in a show trial against his friend and alleged spy Zoltán Dániel. Pelikán is presented with a testimony that he must memorize which deals with absurdities of frogmen and other magnificent lies. He is fed twisted lies and sayings by Virág as a means of confusing and distancing him against his old friend in order to intentionally cause him to side with the communist regime. He is put through rigorous training and is styled to fit the part of a star witness with new clothes and a haircut. Even his facial hair is styled to fit the part of a star witness. After the rigorous training, memorizing, and styling, Pelikán comes to his senses and tells the truth in the court as opposed to the lies he was coaxed into saying by Virág. After the trial, he is again imprisoned for treason against the communist regime and order to be hanged, but just before his hanging is to occur, the government changes, the communists are kicked out of power, and Pelikán is released. He goes back to being a simple dyke keeper, the job which he never wanted to leave, and even runs into Comrade Virág, who lost all his former importance with the fall of communism, in a comical situation that brings the movie full circle with its ridiculous quotes and comical situations.

Overall, I thought this was a great movie. While it was difficult at times to keep up with the subtitles and the actions on the screen because of being filmed in Hungarian, it was still very funny, even after being translated into English. Sometimes films lose some of their comedy in translation, but this film did not. It gave me a deeper sense of the ridiculousness that was Stalinist Communism and gave me a better perspective on the inner workings of promotions given to communist supporters and the trials put against anti-communist peoples. This film was very brave in its portrayal of communist Hungary, and I can see why it was banned for ten years, yet it is because of this bold interpretation that caused it great success after communism’s fall. I enjoyed the quotations between Comrade Virág and Pelikán very much, for example “The international situation is intensifying.” Quotes like this just emphasized the absurdity of the beliefs of the rulers in the communist government, which reflects the ludicrousness of the communist rule. I recommend seeing this film, if not for learning more about aspects of communism, at least for a good laugh.

Kristin Kurtz

The nature of Roma Camps

What makes a person Hungarian?

Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are the group of inhabitants who are established in Hungary. But, as we have learned, living in Hungary is not the sole restriction in terms of being considered a true Hungarian. The Treaty of Trianon in 1920 divided Hungary into its present state which left some true Hungarians in close knit pockets of the surrounding countries. There are also Hungarians living in other parts of the world such as the United States which about 1.4 million Hungarian people choose to call their home. So, if there are Hungarians living outside of Hungary, what makes for a true Hungarian?
The Hungarian Language is large part of a true Hungarian person because it provides a common origin to those living in Hungary, or living in those Hungarian pockets elsewhere in the world. It is a linguistic unification. Hungarians are proud of their roots and traditions and the older generation very much so adheres to them consistently. Rather than the government or the Hungarian national border determining who is Hungarian, it is the ethnicity and cultural heritage which brings them back to the roots of who they truly are. Several traditions which are important to Hungarian history and culture are music, folkdance, ceramics, rich foods and of course, as we have learned on our excursions, an abundance of alcohol, especially palinka.
Every time that we go on our adventures with Janos and Robbie, I am always amazed by the communities of Hungarian people that we interact with and who are so close knit and so closely related to the people that we are coexisting with in Budapest. One main thing that stuck out to me when we were travelling through Ukraine was when we stopped at the secondary school in one of the Hungarian towns where we also went to the markets and hung out in the city center. Robbie was telling me that in the town if you look closely and pay attention to the clocks you can notice a small difference. The time on all the clocks was one hour behind the actual time in Ukraine because the town was made up of all Hungarians and therefore they followed Hungarian time because everything that they cared about such as their family back in Hungary, television shows, etc. were regulated by Hungarian time. And again the palinka form the gypsy minister confirmed the fact that true Hungarians enjoy some palinka, even if it tastes like rubbing alcohol.


Jordan Weaver

All Saints' Day

While we were in the Ukraine, we had the opportunity to observe the elaborate decorating of the graves of loved ones which occurs on the first day of November. All Saints’ Day is a very important holiday for Hungarians, especially Roman Catholics, on which they remember the saints of the Church as well as relatives who have passed away. People selling bright yellow mums and other flowers filled Beregszasz’s central square and surrounded the entrances of the cemeteries. Along with flowers, lanterns, usually red, holding votive candles are used, giving the cemeteries a beautiful glow at night. The multitude of flickering candles illuminating the graves evoked the image of a distant city at night.

It is said that November 1 was chosen to be All Saints’ Day in order to supplant the pagan day of the dead, called Samhain. Members of the Druid religion believed that Samhain, celebrated between the seasons of summer and winter, was a point in time when the worlds between life and death were at the closest proximity to one another and so they would recognize the deceased. All Saints’ Day has retained the decorating of the graves practiced on Samhain. While the Hungarians were typically not members of the Druid religion, as Catholics they began to celebrate All Saints' Day and to adopt the practices of other European Catholics.

Today, people travel long distances to place flowers and candles on the graves of loved ones to help their souls find their way. Special masses are held in remembrance of Christian martyrs and saints as well as the souls of other departed. While the holiday is Catholic, many Portestants also use the day to decorate the graves of loved ones.

Stephanie

Worship in Romani Churches

Throughout their wandering history, the Roma have adapted to their surroundings, created new comforts and worlds of their own in unfamiliar places. The Roma are a people with an incredibly unique cultural history and place in society today. They are a people on the fringes of society. Historically, the Roma have faced two extremes from the hands of their home governments; utter neglect or forced assimilation. Today, most Roma live as squatters. Small Romani ghettos speckle the Eastern European landscape and are filled with dilapidated shacks, bare-footed children and an incredible lack of resources. While most Roma receive some sort of social security from the home governments, the people as a whole are continually neglected and left to face their own harsh realities.

And yet, even with their seemingly autonomous status in the many nations they call “home”, the Roma are open to a variety of religions. As a migrant, wandering people, the Roma have typically adopted the dominant faith tradition of their host country. While the Roma in Eastern Europe are most commonly Catholic, Orthodox Christian or Muslim, they have continued to maintain specific aspects of their own indigenous faith practices and preserve their own particular worship flavor.

In the Ukraine in particular, the Roma villages we were able to visit have welcomed and adopted the Reformed Christian tradition. These communities are full of welcoming individuals and families, smiling children and vibrant worship services. While most Hungarian Reformed church services in the area involve traditional hymns, doctrinal prayer and long messages from the pulpit, the Roma give a Reformed worship service their own twist. Typical Hungarian Reformed services emphasize reflection and quiet observance over long interludes of rambunctious worship—singing is kept to a relative minimum in terms of its place in the service. The Roma on the other hand revel in music and emotion. Their worship services are filled to the brim with energetic praise and singing. Roma women raise their voices in high-pitched song while musicians strum guitars swiftly. Worship is a joyful time. It is not only a time for reflection, prayer and Biblical teachings but a time for dancing, clapping and celebration.

Alison Winters

“The Witness” by Peter Bacsó

During our trip to the Ukraine, we were given the opportunity to view a Hungarian film, “The Witness” by Peter Bacsó, set during the Stalinist period of communism lasting from 1949 until 1956. At the end of World War II, the country faced enormous war damages creating a poor economy and extreme inflation of currency. By 1949, Stalinist communism in Hungary under Mátyás Rákosí came to power. The film was created in 1969 but was not released until 1981. By 1979, Hungary’s new economic reforms and increased liberalism made the release of this film a possibility. Even after its release in 1981, the film could only be seen at one theatre in Budapest originally.

“The Witness” tells the story of József Pelikán who is a dike keeper and member of the communist party. This film has many satirical elements in it. Initially, Pelikán goes to jail for slaughtering his pig. He immediately is bailed out of jail and brought mysteriously to the home of fellow communist, Comrade Virág. Pelikán returns to jail a few times over the course of the film for various absurd reasons. On behalf of the communist party, Virág continuously bails Pelikán out telling him that one day, the communists will ask something of him. Eventually, Pelikán is asked to testify against his friend Zoltán Dániel in a show trial. In show trials, many lesser communists were forced to memorize scripts of trials in which they would testify. The judgment was made before the trial. This was a component of the purges that occurred during the Stalinist period. In fact, one of every four communist party members suffered some form of persecution from 1948 to 1953. More communists died at hands of the communist governments of Eastern Europe than under their inter-war predecessors.

Pelikán was said to have free will but was, in reality, pressured into testifying against his friend Dániel to keep Virág from committing suicide. Over the course of the film, Pelikán becomes consumed with following Virág’s orders and forgets about his former duties. One scene shows Pelikán sitting in a tree practicing his lines for the trial as the water from his dike-keeping duties has flooded his home and surrounding areas. When the trial finally begins, Pelikán decides to take a stand for Dániel and defies Virág. Because of this, he is accused of being an informer and is sentenced to death. In the end, everyone is set free, but many were not so fortunate in reality. The film demonstrated communists’ paranoia and incompetence as they accused many of being traitors and consequently charged those people with ridiculous accusations. I enjoyed being able to see and better understand through this film how Stalinist communism might have been for a party member.

Claire McWilliams