[Veroniva Horvath]

Yes, we lived with our maternal grandparents. They were trying to learn English, but we picked up a few words here and there. We usually learned the most when they did not want us to know what they were talking about. But, we did not find out until years later that Hungarian has 7 dialects! There was a Hungarian Bishop that visited St. Margaret of Hungary Church. We sat with a great lady of the parish, Clara Sonokey. She asked us to help make Fank. She only understood the first few sentences. She spoke Hungarian her entire life.

[Veroniva Horvath]

Probably laci pecsenye

[Veroniva Horvath]

We lived in the Buckeye Road neighborhood as well. We also attended St. Margaret of Hungary Parish and School. The Nuns were the Daughters of the Divine Redeemer. Two of our cousins belonged to the order. There were English speaking Masses and Hungarian speaking Masses. I especially remember that for special Holidays such as Holy Week, the services were in English, Hungarian and Latin. This was pre Vatican II. These services lasted for hours. In school almost every grade was required to attend these services and participate. In second grade, we became First Communicants. In 4th, 5th and 6th grade, we were in the Sacred Heart Guard and in 7th and 8th grade, we were in the Sodality. We attended Eucharistic Adoration once per month on the first Saturday. This was before the Vigil Masses. We have a very strong faith, which we attribute to our upbringing and our Mom.

[Veroniva Horvath]

We still have our grandparents immigration documents and their citizenship papers. We were so young when they passed away, but now would like to know how they decided to come to America and why they moved from Youngstown, Ohio to Cleveland, Ohio. But, we never thought about these things when we were so young. We had no idea what the future held.

[Veroniva Horvath]

Thank you for your message. As families moved out of the neighborhood, the Hungarian culture was left behind. It wasn’t their fault. These were the children who got married and were having children of their own. The places they moved to were multi cultural, however, like anything else, when a person is not around people who share their own culture, unfortunately, the culture is left behind. Now, we can only remember what used to be. But, we who love our culture can still keep it alive in our own way. We still eat Hungarian as much as we can. We still buy Kolbasz and Hurka and szallonna and paprikash krumpli. Cucumber salad, shredded zucchini with dill, palacsinta, stuffed cabbage and who could forget fank!

[Veroniva Horvath]

We lived on Buckeye Road as well. It was a cultural experience that most people would not understand. Everything was Hungarian, the food, the clothes you wore, how you worshiped, how you thought. I miss it very much.

[Veroniva Horvath]

We love stuffed cabbage, laci pecsenye, szallonna, chicken and veal paprikas, csirke at Easter, veal loaf at Easter, kolbasz, and so much more.

[Veroniva Horvath]

It is very difficult to keep up with The Hungarian language. All of our relatives are deceased now. But many years ago, our grandparents were trying to learn English. Hungarian was not offered in Grade School.

[Veroniva Horvath]

Hi, This is Rosemary and Veronica Horvath. We grew up on Buckeye Road in Cleveland, Ohio. We attended St. Margaret of Hungary Parish and School on E. 116th Street. We moved out of the neighborhood in 1977. We still make Hungarian food, but not as much as we used to.

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