This afternoon Daniel and I attended a ceremony at school to commemorate the 1848 Hungarian Revolution (a brief history lesson can be found in this previous blog entry). Students have been going missing from our classes for several weeks in the lead-up to today's ceremony, so it was great to finally be able to see exactly what they've spent so much time practicing for. Many of our Grade 2, 3 and 4 students sang in the school choir and half of the Grade 2 class also put on a special Hungarian folk dance number. The girls were absolutely in love with their big skirts and fancy braided hair. So cute!
As it was a Hungarian ceremony, there were of course many long speeches and recitations of famous stories and poems. Usually I find this sort of stuff pretty dull, but today everyone seemed to be putting a lot of effort into making things as dynamic and stirring as possible. I thought two of the Grade 8 boys did an awesome job reciting Sándor Petőfi's famous poem, Nemzeti dal. This poem - along with the list of twelve demands (12 pont) - played a central role in inspiring the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, and really cemented Petőfi's reputation as Hungary's national poet. Sometimes it feels like every second street in Hungary is named after him, with every alternative one being named after Kossuth Lajos, another major revolutionary figure. So much for originality!
Anyway, Daniel and I were pleased to be able to wear our cockades again today, although we both got told off by the Grade 3s for wearing them incorrectly. Apparently the cockade must always be worn on the left side of the body, over the heart. Makes sense.
- Amanda
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