Beading is a cultural necessity in some rural villages of Hungary and Transylvania, where peasants have used embroidery and beads to lavishly embellish their costumes for hundreds of years. Remaining little changed over several centuries and almost oblivious to beads and beadwork in the rest of the world, the peasants of these villages have slowly evolved their own style of beadwork from thread embroidery and other embellishing methods. Based on field research, this article explores the cultural traditions, rich designs, and techniques of beadwork in four Hungarian villages—three in Transylvania (Romania) and one in southern Hungary.