Hoeing definition: use a hoe to dig earth or thin out or dig up plants. The writing is not referring to any other meaning of the word. Naughty people!
Reading the news it’s diffcult not to see how frustrated people are. Everywhere – frustration and anger know no limit and border. But I remembered a saying I often heard (and loathed) in my childhood, and it gave me hope. There is a solution after all, we only have to listen to the ancient old wisdom of the Hungarian countryside.
“They should rather go and hoe instead of…”
Replace the dots with your actual misery. If you are frustrated, go and hoe, if you are angry, go and hoe, if you are sad, go and hoe, if you are broke, go and hoe. That is, go, hoe, and your life is sorted.
The saying was especially popular when someone complained and didn’t show gratitude for the very little they had. Even if in reality it was closer to nothing than very little. Go and hoe!
It was also used against city people who obviously knew nothing about life. Instead of their fancy ways guess what they should have been doing. Go and hoe!
The popularity of this wisdom not only shows that country life was limited to the very basics – work on the fields and around the stock -, but you can discover in it the influence of Catholicism in daily life: work hard, be grateful for what you have, bow your head and take whatever comes, complaint is for the lazy – you will be rewarded when the time comes.
We still use this saying jokingly, when we hear about something people do and we consider it silly and pointless. But I wonder if there is at least a small portion of real wisdom in it. Anyhow, it’s clear that the level of violence is at its all time high worldwide and we get more and more detached from the earth and each other.
In times like this, bygone traditions may feel like romantic and show an ideal state of existence that we must return to. But… I was there and that wasn’t easy either.
Hoeing is tough.
Ps. The photo shows my father who is still managing his land at 78.
