This opening of the Vancouver Olympics wasn’t the only closed-watched international winter sporting event this weekend. Over in the heavily Hungarian (81.75%!) Transylvanian city of Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Sunday witnessed the fourth installment of what we assume is the world’s most important international pig-killing (disznóvágás) competition, pitting teams from three towns in Hungary against three in Romania. According to this report, the results seem to suggest a narrow win for the teams from Hungary, depending on what was counted as a proper event. Towns in Romania are indicated by the use of their Romanian names in parentheses:
- Best hurka: Székelykeresztúr (Cristuru Secuiesc)
- Best hagymásvér (fried blood and onions): Nagygalambfalva (Porumbenii Mari)
- Best kolbász: Mikepércs
- Best lacipecsenye (a dish of fried tarja): Korond (Corund)
- Best töltött káposzta: Korond
- Best toros káposzta: Szank
In addition to these results, Szank won the award for best pálinka, for a so-called fogópálinka, named for the fogó, the person who grabs the pig while it is being killed. Meanwhile, the best szúró – the person who actually kills the pig – was from Nagygalambfalva. Finally, Derecske won an award for “best local specialty,” though it wasn’t clear in the report exactly what this is. So if this is taken as nine competitions, Hungary came out ahead 5-4, which is certainly not the massacre you might expect given all the advantages enjoyed by the “away” teams.
As with the Olympics, the organizers said that the objective of the event was not only to see who is best at killing pigs and having fun with just-killed pigs, but to foster understanding between peoples. So in this way everyone came out a winner. Well, except for the pigs.
