White Sunday

 

Fehérvasárnap (Dominica in albis)

The Sunday following Easter Sunday was given the name of White Sunday, or Maiden Sunday.

A sweet custom is connected to this day, on which friendships were declared for a lifetime.  Young women sent trays called komatal ("friendship plates") laden with eggs, ham, and challah bread to their best girlfriends - sometimes with a bottle of wine to complete the tray - and covered it all with a decorated cloth.  (In some regions, they decorated "friendship branches" instead.) The delivery was accompanied by a song: 

Komatálat hoztam,

Meg is aranyoztam.

Szűz hozta szűznek,

Koma hozta komának,

Ha nem tetszik komának,

Hazaviszem azon az úton, amelyiken hoztam.

or

I brought you a friendship plate,
I even gilded it for you
A gift from a virgin to a virgin
Brought from friend to friend
If the friend doesn't like it
I'll bring it home on the same road I traveled to get here.

If the potential friend accepted the tray and returned the favor, the two girls became best friends forever, and called each other "mátka" - a term of endearment similar to what a man would call the young woman he was courting.  They would then be bonded and be with one another for the rest of their lives, attending all the important milestones.  (In a few regions, the bond would only last for one year.) 

They would be bridesmaids in one another's weddings and the guests of honor at their wedding parties.  They would become each other's children's godmothers, who would raise the children if the real mother died.  As a token of their "mátkálás", the godmothers would give their godsons red eggs on each Easter.

The folk song Kis kece lányom (seen below) is about this custom.

My precious kece-maiden, dressed all in white

The rose in thy hand is white as well

I tell you, I tell you, turn to me,

My mátka-woman

Citrus menthol, kajai roses

I would go to the dances, if there was a pretty girl

I tell you, I tell you, turn to me,

My mátka-woman

***

Young men had similar friendship customs, held on different days of the year, where they would pledge their loyalty to their own friends, and become honorary brothers in the process.  Their song is widely known even today: 

Koma, koma, komálunk,
Esztendeig kapálunk.
Ha élünk, ha halunk,
Mégis komák maradunk.

Friend, friend, we are friending one another,

We'll hoe together for the year

Whether we live, whether we die

We'll remain friends regardless.

But there was a second, less widely remembered verse as well, and it featured women.

Mátka, mátka, mátkálunk,
Éltül holtig, kiskarácsony napig.
Ha megcsalsz, ha megversz,
Mégis mátkák leszünk.

Friend, friend, we are friending one another,

In our lives, in our deaths, until the day of the new year*

If you cheat me, if you beat me,

We'll remain friends regardless.

And a final dance that was based on this tradition, performed by children.

* literally: "little Christmas", i.e. New Year's Day