Maundy Thursday
(Christian holiday)

The Feast of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist and the beginning of Christ’s Passion. In earlier times, this day was also known in Hungarian as “Green Thursday”.

On Maundy Thursday, church bells and altar bells rang for the last time during the solemn Gloria of the evening Mass. After that, they fell silent until the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. Many folk beliefs were associated with this final ringing of the bells. For example, in the village of Kiskanizsa, people would shake the fruit trees at the sound of the bells to encourage a plentiful harvest.

During the silence of the bells, wooden clappers (called kereplő) were used to mark the hours and signal the start of ceremonies. This task was traditionally carried out by children under the guidance of the church bell-ringer. These Holy Week rattles served both as a sacred ritual and a kind of playful activity. The children formed small groups, divided up the village between themselves, and at the bell-ringer’s signal, ran through the streets making noise with the clappers, loudly proclaiming the reason for their noise.

In return for their service, they were often rewarded with eggs by the households.

A liturgical custom inspired by the Gospel is the washing of feet on Maundy Thursday. For centuries, this was a part of formal church ceremonies, often carried out by high-ranking clergy, even kings, who washed the feet of twelve poor individuals, such as beggars. A related folk tradition was observed in places like Gyergyószentmiklós, where the priest washed the feet of twelve children. In Istensegits, a Székely village in Bukovina, wealthier farmers would wash the feet of twelve invited poor men and then host them for a meal. By the early 20th century, a simplified, symbolic version of this ritual – family foot-washing on Maundy Thursday – became widespread.

Another tradition, both liturgical and magical in nature, is the symbolic punishment or burning of Pilate (Pilátusverés, Pilátuségetés). In villages such as Csanádapáca and Sükösd, on the afternoon of Maundy Thursday, during the Lamentations of Jeremiah, when the priest struck the altar steps with the book in memory of Christ’s death, the congregation would briefly strike the pews with sticks – symbolically punishing Pilate. In Eperjes, boys with soot-darkened faces would noisily smash wooden crates outside the church. The fragments were later used to start the fire for the Easter Vigil. In Bakonybél, on Maundy Thursday evening, young men would burn a straw effigy of Pilate by a spring called Borostyánkút.

To commemorate Jesus’ vigil on the Mount of Olives, older women would keep silent prayer vigils on Maundy Thursday night at calvaries or roadside crosses. They would not set out from church but from home, usually alone or in small groups. This devout practice, rooted in late medieval customs, reflected a deeply personal and contemplative form of folk piety inspired by the Gospel.

Among both Hungarians and the southern Slavs living alongside them, there was a widespread custom of ritual washing in a river either on Maundy Thursday evening or early on Good Friday. This ritual washing was always carried out in complete silence. People who stayed at home were given water to wash with, and even horses were sometimes led to the river. This cleansing ritual was believed to ward off illness and misfortune.