Nyergesujfalu(Hungary): Like death itself, this was no joke.
A grave-digging contest in a Hungarian cemetery may sound like the opening line of a comedy sketch. It proved to be anything but, as 38 competitors grabbed picks and shovels on Saturday.
The Hungarian Association of Cemetery Maintainers and Operators or Magyarországi Temetőfenntartók és Üzemeltetők Egyesülete (MTFE) organises the contest to showcase the grave-digging trade and its skills, and shake off death-related taboos.
The dry, summer-baked soil in the public cemetery in Nyergesújfalu, northern Hungary, proved a worthy adversary for the 19 two-man teams. They huffed and puffed and sweated as they raced for the title of quickest-dug and most stylish grave.
“Speed is the main thing here, not the beauty,” said Róbert Nagy, the victor with his teammate László Kiss.
“When you have to dig a grave for a funeral, you have to be very careful about the exact dimensions and to make sure that it is beautifully carved.”
Their winning time was 1 hour 21 minutes, digging to contest specifications of graves 1.6 metres (5½ feet) deep, 2 metres (6½ feet) long and 0.8 metres (2.6 feet) wide.
They shared a cash prize of 200,000 Ft (about $640).
The contest aims to improve the prestige of grave digging and attract young workers to a job that must still be done by hand in crowded graveyards where mechanical diggers cannot fit.
Hungarian Cemeteries Association President Jozsef Varga said the competition helps people understand the physical and psychological demands of the work, leading to greater respect for gravediggers.
The competition was first started in 2016 and now attracts crowds from across the globe to Hungary annually as participants and spectators.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters).
