Csenge Virág Zalka's Blog, page 8

2023: The year in (good) books

Even though this year was more than chaotic for me, I still made time for reading. In fact, it was my favorite thing to do when I wanted to relax and tune out in the evenings. Because of this, I slightly overshot last year's numbers  - especially because there were a lot of short children's books on the list this year :)I finished a total of 101 books, almost 19,000 pages. Below you can see

Warm-hearted heroes and elaborate cursing (Hungarian Roma folktales 1. - Ferenc Jóni)

This is a spinoff to Following folktales around the world. I have been collecting books of Hungarian Roma folktales, and it is time to start reading them. Hence, this new blog series. The only change is that there will be no Connections section (since most tale types are familiar).I encountered the tales of Jóni Ferenc in the archives of the Museum of Ethnography, when I was doing research for my

Folktales about adoptive fathers (International Father's Day)

It's father's day, and I felt like making another post, so here it is. (Everybody calm down, this is a stock photo)We are celebrating fathers - and father figures - all around the world today. I already posted about the importance of caring fathers in folklore a few years ago. Today I decided that I want to highlight stories about adoptive fathers - because adoption is a topic near and dear to my

Myths, Vikings, nostalgia: International Storytelling Festival in Budapest

The 10th International Theater Olympics is currently happening in Budapest, and as part of the event series, Karinthy Theater decided to put on a storytelling festival! I attended as part of the audience, and immediately felt at home: I got to hear some of my favorite storytellers, and after 11 years, we had a mini-reunion with tellers from the second Holnemvolt Festival, Berecz András and the

A to Z Challenge Reflections: Body Folktales

 WHEW!I am usually a very organized A to Z participant. In the past several years, I have had all my posts scheduled before the start of April, so I could spend my time going around and visiting other people. This year, things unexpectedly piled up. The Internet went out for days, my phone died, I went on a spring break trip and work crashed down on me after... I started April with A-M scheduled,

Z is for the Zygomatic bone (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! The zygomatic bone is your cheekbone; it's part of the skull. Since I have already done cheeks this month, I'm going to look at folktales about skulls.Sosruquo and the giant's skull (Abkhaz legend)One of my favorite tales among the Nart sagas of the Caucasus. The heroes encounter a huge skull, and decide to bring its owner back to

Y is for Yoke (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! Alright fine, this letter was hard. Yoke is a term used in body building for the neck, trapezius muscles and deltoids together. So, I basically just went with neck. Sue me.Edao plays hide and seek (Marshall Islands)Edao is the resident trickster of Marshallese folklore, famous for dirty jokes and shapeshifting abilities. There is one

X is for the Xiphoid process (Body Folktales)

 This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! The xiphoid process is a small projection on the bottom of your sternum. It's not exactly a popular folktale topic, but I did rustle up some stories featuring breastbones in general.The singing breastbone (Scotland)A princess' lover is seduced by her younger sister, so she drowns the girl out of jealousy. A harper finds the body of

W is for Wax (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! In case you ever wondered: yes, there are stories about ear wax.Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears (Gabon)Ear and Mosquito go bathing together, and ear begins to treat his skin with oil (wax) after. Mosquito ask for oil and Ear promises to lend some, but never fulfills his promise. He just puts the rest of the oil back inside the

V is for Vertebrae (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! This one was more difficult than expected on a short amount of time, but I did rustle up one interesting story.The vertebra (Iceland)A farmer sees a ghost come into his backyard, and in fright he tosses away his pitchfork and runs. Later he returns, and finds a single vertebra pinned on the point of the pitchfork. He realizes that the