15th March: Hungary National Day

Hungary National Day, Memorial day for the 1848 war of independence from Austria. 10 facts about Hungary:

1. Hungary is home to the largest lake in central Europe (Lake Balaton), and the largest natural grasslands in Europe (the Hortobágy National Park). Also there is the world's largest thermal lake, at Hévíz, and over a thousand natural springs.
2. Hungarians are great inventors. Their achievements include Albert Szent-Györgyi (discovered Vitamin C and created the first artificial vitamin) Ernő Rubik (Rubik's cube), László Bíró (the Ballpoint pen) and Dennis Gabor invented Holography.
3. As of 2007, 13 Hungarians had received Nobel Prizes (more than Japan, China, India, Australia or Spain) in every category except peace.
4. They're also pretty good at sport. There are only seven countries ahead of them in the all time Olympic medal ranking (not bad for a country with a population of just under 10 million) and boasts the second highest number of gold medals per person.
5. Clinking beer mugs is seen as bad taste in Hungary. This is because, at the end of the War of Independence in 1848, the Austrians executed high ranking Hungarian generals and clinked their beer mugs to celebrate. Because of this, Hungarians vowed not to clink beer glasses for the next 150 years. That time is up, of course, but it's still widely observed, especially among older people. Clinking wine and spirit glasses is fine.
6. There is a belief that the whole country is under a curse, the Curse of Turan. The theory is that when the country converted to Christianity under King Stephen, the pagans cast a curse on the Christians that would last a thousand years, if not forever. National catastrophes, wars, and even personal misfortune (including the fact that Hungary has the 9th highest suicide rate in the world) have been blamed on the Curse of Turan.
7. There are 14 vowels in the Hungarian alphabet.
8. The English word "coach" came from the Hungarian kocsi ("wagon from Kocs" referring to the village in Hungary where coaches were first made).
9. The capital, Budapest, was three separate cities until 1873 when Buda, Pest and Óbuda merged to become one city. Budapest has the oldest underground railway on mainland Europe (the London tube is older but isn't on the mainland) and the northernmost Islamic holy place (the tomb of of a Turkish dervish, named Gül Baba, who came to Hungary during the Turkish invasion in the 16th century). There is a statue in a Budapest Park of a chronicler of one of the Hungarian kings, called the Anonymous statue. The statue holds a pen, and it's said that anyone who touches the pen will become a better writer. (I haven't done that yet so how awesome will I be when I have?)
10. Hungary is famous for its paprika. At one time it was the second largest supplier of this spice to the US. Hungarian cuisine uses it liberally, especially in one of their national dishes, goulash.