The ‘remélés’ (originated from the Hungarian word for hope) is a masked end-of-winter and spring-waiting custom of Novaj (village in Heves country, North Hungary) linked to the end of the carnival season.
The main point is that the young, dressed in masquerade lads (whom are not married yet) of a fake wedding procession wander through the streets of the village with rattle and music. They visit the houses of the girls and make the girls and women sooty in exchange for eggs and ham. At the end of the day the boys fry these goods and eat them in the school. The number of participants of the procession is not fixed, although there are some permanent and indispensable genre figures such as grinder, feathery Jewish, chimney-sweeper. They mainly ascribe cleaning effect to the soot: release from evil., curses, disease and even predicts a good and better next year.
The responsible institution for the professional coordinating of the UNESCO Convention in Hungary:
Directorate of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Hungarian Open Air Museum
