Cowboys in Europe

The BBC has an article about Europe’s cowboy country by Candace Rose Rardon:

Founded in 1973, Hortobágy National Park is situated within eastern Hungary’s section of the Great Hungarian Plain. At eight hundred square kilometers, the park is both the country’s largest protected area and the largest continuous natural grassland in all of Europe. The region is especially well known for the semi-nomadic mounted herdsmen (or csikósok) who once roamed Hortobágy’s expansive alkaline pastures and steppes, collectively called the puszta. Pictured above, in traditional dress (a blue or white linen shirt and trousers with a black, wide-brimmed hat and feather), the herdsmen hold a similar place in the country’s cultural memory as cowboys do in the western United States. Despite the puszta’s bucolic roots, life has not always been pleasant here. After World War Two, during the period of intense Sovietization that swept across Central and Eastern Europe, Hortobágy became the site of a dozen Communist forced-labor camps. From 1950 to 1953, the State Security Authority (the Hungarian secret police known as ÁVH) deported an estimated ten thousand people from southern Hungary, many of whom were kulaks, or wealthy peasant farmers, and forced them to live en masse in the puszta’s sheepfolds and cattle sheds. It was only after Stalin’s death in 1953 that the camps began to close and deportees were released. In 1999, Unesco declared Hortobágy National Park a World Heritage site, in honor of the puszta being as significant culturally as it is naturally. Although no longer nomadic, the herdsmen now are employed by the national park to help preserve their traditions, some of which aren’t quite as long-standing as others. In 1923, Austrian artist Ludwig Koch painted a scene of a herdsman riding two horses, one foot planted on each backside, while steering three more horses in front of him, a feat locals say Koch must have imagined, not seen, as it was not how the herdsmen rode. But determined herdsman and horse teacher Béla Lénárd later brought the vision to life in 1953, and the formation has since become famously known as the Puszta Five. It is still performed today in shows at the national park and across the Great Hungarian Plain. Located two hundred kilometers east of Budapest, the eponymous village in the centre of Hortobágy National Park is easily accessible by bus or train from the nation’s capital, with both options taking three or four hours. Once in the village, recognizable by the iconic Nine Arch Bridge at its entrance (at nearly two hundred meters, it’s the longest stone bridge in Hungary), visitors can explore bird-friendly fishponds and animal parks, shop for embroidered felt coats known as szűr at the Craftsmen’s Yard, and sample traditional meals at an original eighteenth-century inn, or csárda, located next to the bridge. For a true taste of tradition, be sure to order slambuc– the herdsmen’s savory dish of noodles, potatoes and bacon, prepared together in a huge kettle over the fire. For an introduction to the cultural traditions of Hortobágy, the Pásztormúzeum, or Herdsmen Museum, is an ideal place to begin. Housed in a former carriage house just opposite the tavern (traditionally, the two buildings together comprised a csárda), the museum features several large-scale dioramas that replicate the herdsmen’s historic way of life, along with written explanations provided in several languages, including English. The herdsmen’s kitchen was roofless and made from reeds, and was one of several temporary structures that the csikós built as they shifted their grazing herds through the puszta every year. Located about two kilometers from the Nine Arch Bridge is the three-hundred-year-old Hortobágy Máta Stud Farm, one of Hungary’s foremost breeding centers. Visitors can hire horses, book riding lessons, attend lively equestrian shows, or join horse-drawn carriage tours through the national park. Inside the park, it is impossible to miss the handsome herds of Nonius horses often gathered around the distinctive t-shaped sweep wells that are a much-needed source of water on the puszta. The Nonius breed (Nóniusz in Hungarian) was first developed two centuries ago to assist Hungary’s military as heavy-boned draft horses; breeding efforts today spring from a desire to preserve the horse as an important part of the country’s heritage. In addition to the Nonius horse, several other breeds of domestic livestock have strong connections to the Hortobágy. Herds of water buffalo and Hungarian grey cattle are still tended within the national park, as are curly-haired Mangalica pigs and Racka sheep, known for their characteristic corkscrew horns. Altogether, some fifty thousand sheep, nine thousand cattle, four hundred horses, and two hundred water buffalo make their home on the vast, open plains of the puszta, and are looked after by more than two hundred herdsmen who live in nearby villages. Included in the park’s carriage tours is the opportunity to briefly ride one of the Nonius horses, followed by a demonstration of the herdsmen’s renowned horsemanship, as well as of the specific practices unique to their traditional livelihood. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when highwaymen (or betyárs) would roam the plains and attack travelers, it was vital for horses to be trained for conflict. The herdsmen taught their horses to lie flat on command, immediately concealing them in the grassland. They also familiarized the horses to the sounds of gunshots by striking the ground with their whips. Several festivals are held in Hortobágy each year, and make for especially compelling times to visit the national park. The Bridge Fair is held on St. Stephen’s Day each year (the 20th of August) ,while the St. George’s Day Drive-Out Celebration takes place around St. George’s Day in late April. The St. George’s Day celebration is a spring festival in honor of the new grazing season, during which herds of Racka sheep and Hungarian grey cattle are led across the Nine Arch Bridge before being taken out onto the puszta. The festival also involves folk dancing and traditional meals, as well as the National Fair of Organic Products, all additional reasons to visit this fascinating, lesser-known region of the country.

Rico says that, given the European phobia about gubs, cowboy action shooting is limited, but not unknown...