“I’m grateful to be a librarian,” said the librarian of Pusztadobos, Jurkinya Krystyna Danuta, who was honored by the county organization of the Association of Hungarian Librarians with an award for the Library Culture of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County on the occasion of World Librarians’ Day.
The praise of the small village’s competent, hard-working librarian, who also set an example for his love of humanity, revealed that he had embraced the Hungarian language and Hungarian culture due to his Polish origin. We asked Krystyna, who is even more cheerful than usual, about the road leading up to this point.
Happy childhood
– I was born on a beautiful May Day morning in the town of Jaworznó, located between Krakow and Katowice, in 1969. I had a very good childhood and youth. I grew up in a nice big city. There were many children at that time. We played a lot on the playground of the housing estate, and when we got older, we listened to music on the tape recorder and talked until late at night. I also spent a lot of time with my younger brother in the countryside with my maternal grandmother. They were happy times, full of fun, games, delicious food and delicious sweet lemon tea, the taste of which I can still taste in my mouth. We often visited my paternal grandfather and my godfather in the beautiful mountains, where they live next to a small stream. I remember my grandfather’s house was the same as the cowshed. Close to animals and nature. I finished elementary school in my hometown, then studied for two years at the nursery school in Bytom. After that, I graduated from the Tadeusz Kościuszko High School in Mysłowice.
Love at first sight
Krystyna met her future husband for the first time when they were both still children. Then they met again after a long time.
– It was love at first sight, but the long distance…! – he recalls with a smile. He also reveals how he acquired dictionaries and Hungarian language books, and how his letters to Pusztadobos became more and more Hungarian.
– Almost from school, I got married in Hungary at a young age. My parents gave their blessing to our marriage, as they had known my future husband’s family for years, following a friendship made on vacation in Hajdúszoboszló. My father advised me to learn the Hungarian language first, because it won’t be easy without it. My mother, i.e. my mother-in-law, later revealed that she was most afraid of me, how I would get by in the then still foreign country without knowing the language, and whether we would understand each other at all, and she was not only thinking about language skills. At the Jagiello University in Cracow, of course, he would have had the opportunity, but love was stronger.
Wedding, but immediately!
– We chose the earliest possible date, and we took the oath at the town hall in Jaworzno in September 1988. It was not easy to organize the wedding so quickly, my parents almost had a heart attack. Finding an official Hungarian interpreter also turned out to be a big challenge, but after a lot of searching, we succeeded. There was no place for a restaurant, but for the holiday lunch at home, the food that was still available by ticket at that time was collected with great difficulty with the help of relatives and friends. On that Saturday, we held the wedding in a close family circle in the fifty-one square meter downtown apartment.
– And a month later, in the Roman Catholic church in Pusztadobos, we said the happy yes in a larger circle of family and friends. Fortunately, there was no need for a Polish interpreter at the church wedding, because the priest – an old friend of the family – knew us from before. It was a memorable, traditional village wedding. In a tent, with a wedding party of more than a hundred people, in the yard of the mother’s house. I remember that the “postman” brought the package, in which small and large boxes were hidden. After unpacking some, I was very surprised to discover a toy swaddled baby inside. We did not have such a custom. We had fun and danced until morning with delicious homemade food and cakes.
The young couple began their life together in Budapest, where their eldest son, Tamás, was born. But her husband went to Germany to earn money, so life called the young Polish woman home with her little son, who very quickly fell in love with the people of Pusztadobo.
– We lived with my mother for two years, then we moved into our own family home. Our youngest son, Misi, was born there – Ms. Krystyna continues her Hungarian story. – They were very good years. I learned a lot at that time: baking and cooking, kneading dough, cooking jam, hoeing, picking, sorting and peeling apples, bugging, kicking and breaking seafood and, of course, the Hungarian (puszta) language. The mothers also told the family stories. I know “who’s with who?” better than my husband. We also researched mom’s part of the family tree together with our dear relative Meggie. There are more than nine hundred of us in total!
Cleaner turned librarian
The young Polish woman quickly became a favorite among the people of Pusztadobos, she first went to the elementary school to clean. But he persevered in learning the Hungarian language, and it bore fruit. Because he hid the books, he became the most active reader of the local library. Its manager, who was about to retire, recommended him as his successor. Krystyna’s joy was complete when the mayor asked her to take on the management of the institution. Of course, he said yes, and he has been the librarian in Pusztadobos ever since. They are open to people of any age and are interested in reading, and can recommend something to everyone’s liking.
– For me, every minute that I can spend here, within the walls of the small Village Library and Community Theatre, is a holiday. I really like my job, which I consider my profession, and I like children and people. I really like to embroider, I like the traditional Beregi patterns the most. With our small team of specialists, I also tried folk crafts such as Békés county szűcs embroidery, candle making, macrame making, and now weaving. We also sing in the meantime. “Flower May” is beautiful! According to the text of Mária’s song, “this month of spring is so beautiful, as if heaven had come down to earth,” he says with sincere enthusiasm as parting words.
