The first song of the lark – February 19

According to the Hungarian tradition, the lark sounds for the first time on February 19, the day of Zsuzsanna (Susanne). Its singing shows the end of winter and the coming of the long-waited spring, alfahir.hu says.

Zsuzsanna and the sacred tree

The Christian tradition celebrates the day of Zsuzsanna, whose story can be read in the book of Prophet Daniel. The prophet’s name appears not only in the Old Testament documents, but it earlier appeared at the one of the Middle Eastern Bronze Age Hurrite peoples, the Ugarites. There, Daniel is the god of wisdom who protects the widows and the orphans. Probably, one of these stories linked to the horse peoples was included among the books of the Old Testament. The biblical story goes that in Babel, former center of Nimrod, a godly woman called Zsuzsanna was innocently accused by two corrupted judges because she refused to commit adultery with them. First, the court sentenced to death the woman, but then Daniel appeared who could prove the woman’s innocence. The Hungarian folk tradition changed the a little the ancient story. In our country lived that belief that Zsuzsanna, the Csango Susan is the protector of fruit trees. It is quite possible that the old tree cult from the ancient shaman belief had been projected in this story, alfahir.hu says.