Hungarian Conservative

This year’s Sziget Festival will take place from 7 to 12 August. Among the headliners announced on Wednesday is American singer Halsey, who has already received three Billboard Music Awards, an American Music Award, and has been nominated for a Grammy three times. The superstar is preparing for a new album release this year.

The Széchenyi István Hungarian School and Kindergarten in New Brunswick (New Jersey) celebrated its 50th anniversary. The welcoming speeches were followed by an award ceremony, where former school principal Gyula Varga was awarded; then, former principals shared their experience and thoughts on preserving our language and culture.

With his monumental canvases, Munkácsy conquered the whole world. Following huge success in Europe and America, he worked on immortalizing the Hungarian conquest.

On the occasion of the 180th anniversary of the birth of the great 19th century painter Mihály Munkácsy, the municipality of Békéscsaba and the cultural institutions of the Munkácsy Quarter are organizing a year-long series of festivities.

The European Festival Awards serve as a platform to acknowledge and celebrate the outstanding contributions of festivals across Europe. From showcasing remarkable performances to fostering community engagement and promoting cultural diversity, these awards recognize the festivals that go above and beyond in creating memorable experiences for attendees.

In her speech, President Novák of Hungary recalled the most memorable events of 2023, a year ‘when there was reason to rejoice, to be proud,’ including Pope Francis’s visit to Budapest, the Nobel Prize awarded to Katalin Karikó and Ferenc Krausz, the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, and the Hungarian national football team’s qualification as group winners for the European Championship.

While the Christmas traditions of the Pilis Swabians have evolved and changed over the years, they have been largely preserved, and the spirit of the German Hungarian settlers is still alive, allowing the locals to honour their ancestral heritage at this time of year.

‘Based on early ticket sales, we can see a tremendous interest in the 2024 festival. Next year, Sziget will once again host major global stars,
top performers of the day, and freshly discovered, contemporary musical gems,’ Tamás Kádár, the main organizer wrote in a statement.

Tibor Bolla, the CEO of the Budapest Transport Company revealed that the vehicles of the light fleet are adorned with more than five kilometres of LED lights, incorporating 140,000 LED bulbs.

As Budapest commemorates its 150th birthday this year, a grand celebration awaits all who join in the festivities.

The new national stadium opened its door exactly four years ago today—its inaugural game was an international football friendly between Hungary and Uruguay. Since then, it has seen many great clashes and has routinely been filled to the brim with fans in the past few years.

‘Living in a republic means striving to treat each other well,’ the mayor said, adding this was the kind of homeland the heroes of 1956 had wanted. He said the symbol of the revolution, the Hungarian flag with a hole, sent the message that unity was only possible if no one was being told, in the name of any ideology, how they ought to love their homeland.

Szilvásvárad, the home of the nationally treasured Lipizzaner horse breed, has been announced as the new location of the event. In the past, the Gallop was organized in the capital city.

Many people of faith have taken to X to share their appreciation for the 20 August displays of religious imagery at the fireworks and lights show. They include Dutch political pundit Eva Vlaardingerbroek and American columnist Rod Dreher.

Our nation marked the 1023rd anniversary of the foundation of its state. Celebratory events were held all across the country, from Esztergom to Debrecen, with the greatest festivities taking place in the capital city of Budapest. There, the holiday crowd was treated to an Air Show by the pilots of the Hungarian Air Force and Europe’s largest fireworks and lights show, among other things.

In her remarks before she presented the highest Hungarian state awards on the occasion of the 20 August national holiday, President of the Republic Katalin Novák stated: ‘We need role models with whom we speak the same language, with whom we share a common history, who are like us, yet more and better than us, whom we can look up to while recognising ourselves in them.’

During a ceremony held in commemoration of the foundation of the state where high state awards were conferred, Chief of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás stated that as Hungary is celebrating the 1023rd birthday of its nationhood, the nation must take stock of its history. He also added that the anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian state is an apt occasion to express gratitude to those who, with years of effort, have served their communities, big or small, through exceptional achievements.

Tamás Kádár proudly announced that the total attendance of Sziget this year was estimated at over 420,000. He added that although it is less than last year, the company cannot complain.

According to László Kövér, Hungarians ‘cannot shy away from the challenge today to protect our families and our nation, our Christian culture and way of life, while also cooperating with all fellow nations in the Carpathian Basin and Europe to contribute to the triumph of the culture of life in Europe.’

The Sziget Festival will last six days, until 15 August, on the Óbuda Island in Budapest. Performers from sixty-two countries will arrive at approximately forty venues, and the audience will come from over a hundred countries.

Spread across 76 hectares, this year’s festival was set up in three weeks. The maximum daily capacity is 90,000 people, including both festival staff and attendees, making Sziget the country’s tenth largest city for the six days of the festival. The main stage was constructed in ten days, with a floor area of over a thousand square metres and a six hundred square metre LED wall serving as its backdrop.

As every year, the Cake of Hungary is selected ahead of August 20, with those attending the holiday events being the first to taste the creations of Hungary’s best pastry chefs. The competition this year was won by the torte named Tipsy Fig Respectus of the Levendula és Kert (Lavender and Garden) cake shop from Szigetszentmiklós, located on Csepel Island. Essential ingredients of the cake include Aszú wine, figs and honey.

 ‘There are few Hungarian brands in the entertainment industry like the Sziget Festival, and we will forever be grateful to its founders for creating it. We are planning a grand celebration this year, which also signifies the beginning of a new era for us: we not only want to preserve the legacy of the past 30 years but also lay the foundation for the next 30,’ Tamás Kádár stated at a press conference in May.

The minister reminded all that the independent Hungarian Ministry of Finance was the first lasting success of the revolution. In April 1848, Lajos Kossuth began working on the establishment of the ministry, and it started its operations in May of that year.

The Hungarian doctor was the first to introduce hand sanitation standards in a medical institution, which led to childbed mortality rate decreasing from 18 per cent to just two per cent at his Vienna obstetrical clinic. However, his ideas were tragically never accepted by his peers which led to his death in a mental ward.

May this day also be the day when, contrary to the will of so many, we turn to our still-existing and beautiful country, which is prosperous to an extent never seen in history before, and consider, each and every one of us, how we can help it make no more mistakes.