Turul


The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a hawk or falcon, in Hungarian tradition and a national symbol of Hungarians.

Origin

The Turul is probably based on a large falcon, togrıl or turgul means a medium to large bird of prey of the family Accipitridae, goshawk or red kite. In Hungarian the word sólyom means falcon, and there are three ancient words describing different kinds of falcons: kerecsen , zongor and turul.
In Hungarian tradition, it presumably originated as the clan symbol used in the 9th and 10th centuries by the ruling House of Árpád.
In the legend of Emese, recorded in the Gesta Hungarorum and the Chronicon Pictum, the turul is mentioned as occurring in a dream of Emese, when she was already pregnant.
In older literature, this was interpreted as "impregnation", but the text is clear. the Turul's role is one of a protector spirit, that protects the little baby Álmos, from harm. In a second dream by the leader of the Hungarian tribes, in which eagles attacked their horses and a Turul came and saved them.
It is also said that the mythic bird, the Turul, is the original bird of the original Hungarians, the Magyars, who migrated out of the plains of Central Asia. The legend says that in 896 AD, the bird dropped its sword in what is now modern day Budapest, indicating to the Magyars that the area was to be their homeland. Thus, what they say was the beginning of the 1000 years the Magyars have lived in their now capital city area of Budapest.

Modern use

The Turul is used as in the design of coats of arms of the Hungarian Defence Forces, the Counter Terrorism Centre and the Office of National Security.
There were 3 large Turul statues, each with a wingspan of 15 metres, in Greater Hungary. The last of the three stands on a mountain near Tatabánya, Hungary, but the other two were destroyed. It is the largest bird statue in Europe, and the largest bronze statue in Central Europe.
There remain at least 195 Turul statues in Hungary, as well as 48 in Romania, 8 in Slovakia, 7 in Serbia, 5 in Ukraine, 1 in Austria. One of the most recently erected, as of 2012, on St Michael the Archangel's Day, is in Hungary's Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park.
Some of the Kingdom of Hungary postage stamps issued after 1900 feature the Turul.