Chicago is Da World
a doorway to ethnic media in the american heartlandHungarian Gulyas Festival
Hungarian Gulyas Festival www.gulyasfestival.com
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As we read right now, someone somewhere is thinking of great gulyas, and thinking of how great it can be. Why?
They can become the winner of the upcoming annual gulyas festival. If you don’t have faith in what we say about the food, take a look at the folks who took part in last year’s festival. They seem pretty happy.
And, in case you want to know more before you eat your Gulyas on July 11-12. Here’s an explanation about Gulyas and Chicago.
Immigrants
Chicago emerged as a primary destination for Hungarian immigrants at the end of the nineteenth century. The first Hungarians reached Chicago in the 1850s as part of broader westward migration within the United States. The first arrivals were tradesmen, shopkeepers, artisans, and their families. Among them were also the emigrants of the 1848-49 Hungarian Revolution against the Hapsburg Empire. Many of them were from the gentry, with formal education and therefore able to move into positions of civic leadership.
Hungarian immigration increased dramatically between 1889 and 1913, largely as an exodus from Hungary’s countryside. These rural immigrants tended to form communities in the industrial South and West Sides of Chicago, where they could find a steady supply of jobs. The earliest settlement was established in South Chicago in 1890 near the factories of the Illinois Steel Company. The area populated by Hungarians was known as the Bush (Bozót).
Hungarians gradually abandoned South Chicago and by the 1920s had moved to the industrial areas of East Chicago, Gary, and Joliet.
In the 1910s Hungarians settled mainly in Burnside, also called Triangle. Burnside had numerous Hungarian stores, shops, and restaurants located near the intersection of Cottage Grove and 95th and Hungarians made up 25% to 40% of the residents on some streets.
It was the West Side settlement in the 1920s that became known as Little Hungary as a large Hungarian-owned factory, the Sinko Tool Company, was situated there and employed many skilled Hungarian workers.
After World War I the Trianon Treaty had deprived Hungary of two-thirds of its territory, leaving three and a half million Hungarians as an ethnic minority living outside the nation’s new borders.
Immigrants coming from Hungary between the two wars were predominantly intellectuals and of urban background. They had little in common with the older working-class immigrants and tended to settle around Logan Square and Humboldt Park.
The post-World War II era brought more political refugees to the United States, with one thousand Hungarians taking up residence in Chicago under the Displaced Persons Acts of 1948 and 1950. After the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, thousands of Hungarians, called “fifty-sixers,” sought refuge in the United States, with many settling in Chicago.
Hungarians have participated in the growth and development of Chicago as entrepreneurs, designers, businessmen, artists, and scholars. A considerable number of scholars of Hungarian origin work at Chicago’s institutions in medical research, computer science, engineering, and mathematics.
Although community building began with the creation of social clubs and mutual benefit societies in 1892, the most important tool of ethnic cohesion was the parish. The Roman Catholic Parish of St. Stephen, King of Hungary, emerged as a major cultural center for Hungarians regardless of their religious affiliation and this tradition continues today.
Chicago has been home to a variety of Hungarian organizations, churches, dance troops, clubs and restaurants over the years. Below is a listing of the currently active organizations:
Hungarian Parishes Founded Profile
Free Hungarian Reformed Church
Hungarian Baptist Church of Chicago
Norridge United Church of Christ (from1914)
St. Stephen Catholic Church 1934
Hungarian Civic Organizations Founded Purpose and Goals
Hungarian Club of Chicago 1922 Civic organization to promote Hungarian culture – provides scholarships to Hungarian American college students Hungarian Society of Chicago
Hungarian Scout Troop 19 1946 Promoting the preservation of Hungarian language and culture
Toborzo Folkdance Group 2000 Continuing traditions of Hungarian and Transylvanian folk dance
Hungarian Communion of Friends National organization promoting and supporting independent, nondenominational religious life in the Hungarian tradition, charitable work and cultural-educational endeavors that further established Hungarian values
2009 is the year of Hungarian Culture in America and Chicago is hosting a number of special events such as a series of classical concerts along with annual cultural events.
Upcoming Events in Chicago:
May 16 Hungary Through Imagination – Classical Concert
Viktória Vizin and The Oak Park Concert Chorale. The website is: www.hungariancommunity.com
May 30 Szaszka Folk Band – Folk Dancing
July 11/12 Gulyas Festival, website is: www.gulyasfestival.com
August 29 75th Anniversary of St. Stephen’s Church
Mass by Cardinal Francis George
September 12 Traditional Hungarian Folk Wedding Dinner Dance
Details on the above organizations and upcoming events can
be found at hungariancommunity.com, and chicagohungarians.com
Bibliography
“Hungarian Americans.” In Gale Encyclopedia of
Multicultural America, vol.
1, 1995, 692-709.
Fejűs, Zoltán. A Chicagói Magyarok két nemzedéke,
1890-1940. [Two
generations of Hungarians
in Chicago, 1890-1940]. Summary in English. 1993.
Schaaf, Barbara. “Magyars of the Midwest.”
Chicago Tribune Magazine, May 6,
1979.
Eva Becsei, The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago C 2005
Chicago Historical
Society.
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