Day of National Mourning

So today as I was leaving the house to walk across the road to work, I noticed that all of the students - including those from the class I was about to teach - were assembled in front of the school apparently waiting for some kind of ceremony to commence. I wish it wasn't so but these kinds of surprises are a regular part of life over here and it can get a little frustrating at times. This is especially true on occasions like today when I'd spent a lot of time prepping for a lesson only to have three quarters of the students whisked away to some other activity or find that the class has been cancelled altogether. AAAAARGH!!

Anyway, I'm trying to become more flexible about these things, so today I pretty quickly accepted that my lesson probably wasn't going to happen and joined the crowd of students and teachers waiting in front of the school. Soon the national anthem started to play (yay, another opportunity to show off my awesome Hungarian national anthem singing skills) followed by a bunch of speeches, then a parade of upper level students carrying thirteen black and white portraits. At this point I started to recall some Hungarian history and correctly concluded that the officious-looking gentlemen depicted in the portraits were the 13 Martyrs of Arad.

On 6 October 1849, thirteen Hungarian generals were executed in the town of Arad. This unlawful event came about after Hungary surrendered to Austrian (Habsburg) rule after a brief but ultimately unsuccessful period of independence. In Hungary, the 13 generals are exalted as martyrs in the fight for freedom and 6 October is commemorated as the country's Day of National Mourning.

Overall it seems like a pretty depressing thing to dwell on, but I'm kind of getting used to Hungary's insistence on focusing on the sad and tragic events of its past, rather than celebrating its successes and achievements. I'm also getting used to accepting that sometimes Hungarians do things and they don't know why. Like today, for example. After the sombre ceremony remembering the thirteen generals, the kids all went back inside, put on their running shoes, then set off on a run around the town. When we asked our fellow teachers why this was happening, we were told that it had something to do with the events of 6 October 1849 but nobody was able to explain exactly how the execution of a bunch of dudes 160 years ago translated into a tradition of running. It was weird.

But, you know, I'm flexible so I just rolled with it and enjoyed another student-free class.

- Amanda