Having just gotten back from Hungary, I have to say it surprised me. I’ve never been there before and expected Budapest to look somewhat like Vienna or even Prague. Not quite! Budapest is absolutely gorgeous and seems a lot bigger than the cities mentioned. But before visiting Budapest, I was lucky enough to see some of Hungarian not-so-well-known history in Bugac.
Bugac is a village in the region of southern Hungary where the international festival “Kurultaj” takes place every two years. To understand where the idea of the festival comes from, it’s good to find out more about Hungarian history. What I’ve read almost everywhere is that the origin of Hungarian nation is unknown as there are no written relics. What is evident though is that they differ from all the nations that surround them, and their language is like no other. Most Hungarians believe that their ancestor was Atilla the Hun.
Organizers of “Kurultaj” festival are trying to show that although the “Finno-Ugric” origin of Hungarians was forced over especially in the communist era, people of Hungary are still well aware of their Turkic origin. Nowadays the researches agree that Hungarians show more similarities with Middle – Asian Turk people – linguistically and ethnographically. “We must show to the world that we haven’t forgotten our cultural roots, our ancient legends and traditions.” says the organizer of the festival András Zsolt Bíró.
More on http://www.kurultaj.hu
It was definitely a unique experience like no other. Seeing how people are aware and proud of their origin, how they treasure their ancestors was amazing. I felt like I went back in time – unforgettable.
More on Budapest later…
My Moveable Feast 