Nagybakónak, Hungary: There’s energy in them there hills

Chasing down some copper and iron wall lights, we found ourselves in the village of Nagybakónak, in the county of Zala in southwest Hungary 17 km from Nagykanizsa. Deal done, we spotted an interesting looking hand-drawn sign with one word – Forrás (spring). Curious to know more, we followed it. And the one after. And the one after.

The road got narrower and soon lost its surface. It’s not something I’d have driven on after the rain but the day that was in it was one of a succession of hot dry days; standing water and mud were minimal. It made it easier to see the massive potholes and long ruts that could high centre or bottom out a car with low clearance. And nary a warning anywhere.

Eventually, we happened upon a small parking lot with sounds of children playing wafting down the hill. Delighted, we were sure we’d found a swimming hole.

But, no.

Instead, we found an old scout camp from the 1930s that has been fitted out with picnic tables and cooking fires and painted arrows on trees to mark the various trails that converge at the springs. What water there was in the stream was maybe ankle-deep and in the small pond, knee-deep. It was cold, clear, and shallow. Okay, we thought, it must be a starting place for hiking into the nearby hills.

But, no. Well, yes. But that’s not all it is.

We were in the Kőszikla gorge at the Árpád (Esperanto) springs. There are two springs, now named after world-famous Hungarian Esperantists. I hadn’t known that there was an Esperanto movement in Zala. In case my Hungarian was playing tricks on me, I double-checked the translation and the names and yes, Gyula (Julio) Baghy and Kálmán Kalocsay are two of 18 notables

who—whether born in Hungary or elsewhere—made major contributions to Esperanto literature, the propagation of Esperanto culture, or the use of Esperanto as a universal auxiliary language, and who lived for a great part of their lives in Hungary.

Baghy started to learn the language in 1911. He came from a theatrical family and was in the business himself. He was called up during WWI and ended up as a prisoner-of-war in Siberia where he began to work for the Esperanto movement in earnest. Apparently, he’s most famous for his poetry, difficult to master in any language.

Kalocsay, also a poet, was a surgeon who specialised in infectious diseases. He began learning the language as a teenager and went on to write Plena Gramatiko de Esperanto (Complete grammar of Esperanto) and co-compile the Enciklopedio de Esperanto. He was one of a group of writers in Budapest in the 1920s and 1930s who formed the Budapeŝto skolo (Budapest school).

This wasn’t quite what we’d expected to find. But Zala has a magic all of its own.

There’s a curious memorial, a spring with no water, bearing the name Árpád, erected by the scouts to mark their old haunt and to preserve the name they’d originally given the spring. Further up is a spring with water. I had one leg over the back of my high horse as I inwardly ranted at the louts who’d littered and ruined my photo before I copped on to the fact that the clever kids were using the cold running water as a fridge. The plaque on the wall bears the names of the two Esperantists.

But all this is by way of a preamble. The main discovery is that, like the healing forest in Dobrovnik just over the border in Slovenia, there are energy lines (leys) crossing at this spring. Thought to be the nerve currents of the earth, they possess regenerative properties and are said to strengthen the immune system. Unlike Dobrovnik, where everything is mapped out with numbered healing stations, the map of Árpád forrás shows three lines and where they intersect. [As an aside, in Hungary, ley lines are called St George lines, and in China, they’re known as Dragon lines.]

In 1921, amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins made a discovery. He noticed that ancient sites, at different points around the world all fell into a sort of alignment. Be the sites man-made or natural, they all fell into a pattern, usually a straight line. He coined these lines “leys,” later “ley lines,” and in doing so opened a world of supernatural and spiritual beliefs.

According to what I’ve read, the Árpádian churches and places of pilgrimage were built along these lines, which may well be why the scouts called the spring, Árpád forrás.

For those willing to open their minds and consider the possibilities, it works like this. The aura around each individual and indeed around the earth gets damaged, torn, stained. Gaps appear. Spending time in places where special energies flow can help restore balance. Now, certainly, one could argue that spending time in nature would do that anyway, regardless of the healing properties of ley lines, but isn’t it more magical to think that these ancient electromagnetic forces crisscrossing in just this spot could up the restorative power a notch or three?

The radiesthetic measurements were done by Hungarian naturopaths Ágnes Bencze and József Marosi. If you’re interested, there’s an interesting lecture on radiesthesia here. I’m a great fan of the pendulum myself so you can perhaps understand why I find all this so exciting.

The greens were full-on. The light was almost unnaturally natural. If you had the place to yourself it’d be amazing. It’s recommended to spend 2-3 hours hiking the hills and the canyon to get the maximum effect. Next time, we’ll be better prepared.

The nearby village of Nagybakónak comes with its own legend. It was back in the day when Kálmán Könyves, aka the Book-Lover or the Bookish, was King of Hungary (he reigned from 1095 until he died in 1116, and did double duty as King of Croatia from 1097 until his death, too). One time, as the king was travelling to Dalmatia, the wheel of his carriage broke. By chance, the accident happened close to the local miller’s mill, a man by the name of Bakó. Our miller fixed the wheel and then he and his wife treated the King to a lovely lunch. So impressed was the king with her cooking and his wheel-fixing that he made a grand sweep of the surroundings saying that he was giving the whole area to Bakó for his work. Not a bad return for a morning’s work.

The village is showing signs of rejuvenation. New builds and renovations are underway. And while some houses have clearly been abandoned, others are on the market.

What a morning that turned into eh? We got the lights we came for. We discovered the energy of Árpád forrás and are alreay planning to come back and hike the canyon. And now I’m thinking about learning Esperanto, an artificial language that draws from English, German, Polish, Russian, and French. They say it’s easy to learn and with 100,000 speakers in the world, I’m sure I’d find someone, somewhere to chat to.