Christmas

In Hungary 25–26 December, Christmas (Karácsony), are public holidays by law. The main evening is 24 December — Szenteste, "Holy Evening" — when families decorate the tree and gather around the festive table.

Traditional Hungarian Christmas dishes include fish soup (halászlé), stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta) and bejgli, a walnut and poppy-seed roll. Budapest's Vörösmarty Square and the square before the Basilica host some of Europe's best-known Christmas markets.

A family festival

Christmas is above all a family holiday in Hungary: presents are exchanged, midnight services are held in churches, and the nation's Christmas tree stands in front of Parliament.