FOREWORD

"Where's the sleigh, Santa Claus, where's the sled, where's the snow?" - sings the People's Band. For most young children, the winter season begins with the feast of St. Nicholas, which also brings plenty of excitement for adults.

It is a special but very divisive few months. Some of the wiser generation are "on pins and needles" as they wait for the "human" months to end and with them the winter holidays. The snow, the city squares, houses and flats dressed up in festive lights. In many places, the main squares of towns and cities are filled with a buzz of children on skates, while parents sip hot drinks on the edge of the rink and listen to Christmas tunes on the loudspeakers. Winter sports - sledging, skiing - and related winter recreational activities are also growing in popularity. Crowds of people hike in the mountains at home and abroad, resting in a "Hut" and ending the day with a sauna toast or a huge party of board games.

For those who don't really like the winter months, they prefer to curl up in a warm room with an exciting book, a recreation magazine or a series, and spend the dark, cold days by the light of Christmas scented candles.

For me, winter is a season of wonder, of closure, of new beginnings, of expectation and fulfilment, of cold and warmth, of mental and physical recreation.

Dear magazine readers! May you too experience this strange ambivalence of winter!

I wish you an enjoyable winter!

Dr. Katalin Nagyváradi
KERT Vice-President
Adjunct Professor
ELTE PPK, Institute of Sports Sciences, Szombathely