Page "Duda" Paragraph 10

As was the case in much of Europe, bagpipes in Hungary were associated with shepherds and a pastoral lifestyle, and were often used in Christmas scenes to evoke the shepherds of the nativity.

At the same time the duda was associated with the pagan lifestyle of the countryside.

Aside from the above-mentioned song about bagpipers needing to go to hell, according to János Manga ’ s article ‘ Hungarian Bagpipers ’ ( Acta ethnographica Academiæ Scientiarum Hungaricæ xiv ( 1 – 2 ): 1 – 97 ) there were many legends about bagpipes that could play themselves when hung from the wall on a nail or about pipers summoned to Witches ' Sabbaths to perform for satanic hosts.

Despite these stories, the duda never received the same sort of official censure in Catholic Hungary that bagpipes did in many Protestant nations.