The white stag is the central symbol in my novel The City of Earthly Desire, and appears in the emblem of my fictitious village of Ószabad in the narrative. There is, however, a real village in southern Hungary that features the white stag on its emblem - this village is Óbanya, which I visited for the first time this past Christmas.
Obánya's village emblem served as the model for my own fictitious rendering of Ószabad's emblem. In my novel, the communists eventually change Ószabad's emblem, replacing the white stag with a red star. I described the alteration in the following manner in the book:
Reinhardt was five when the communists changed the village’s emblem. For nearly two centuries the emblem had been a crest depicting a white stag standing between two green hills below a dark blue sky punctured by the sun on the right and the moon on the left. A few local party members and some AVO men from Pécs unveiled Ószabad’s new, updated village emblem during a small official ceremony all the villagers were forced to attend. The green hills, dark sky, sun, and moon remained the same, but the white stag had been replaced by a massive red star. The party members burst into applause. Having no real choice in the matter, the villagers joined in.
Seeing the emblem firsthand was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of any real white stags around the village, but I did see a few of the more common light brown variety.
Reinhardt was five when the communists changed the village’s emblem. For nearly two centuries the emblem had been a crest depicting a white stag standing between two green hills below a dark blue sky punctured by the sun on the right and the moon on the left. A few local party members and some AVO men from Pécs unveiled Ószabad’s new, updated village emblem during a small official ceremony all the villagers were forced to attend. The green hills, dark sky, sun, and moon remained the same, but the white stag had been replaced by a massive red star. The party members burst into applause. Having no real choice in the matter, the villagers joined in.
Seeing the emblem firsthand was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of any real white stags around the village, but I did see a few of the more common light brown variety.
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