Referring to this year’s motto – The seven and the eight – he said: with the medieval word for lodging, they also wanted to refer to the seven virtues and the eight biblical happinesses, because they provide the basis of the event. He believed that 15 years ago, the KMN would signal to future archaeologists that a strong, colorful Hungarian cultural and social life took place in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania.
This year, he said, they were prepared with two gifts, a thousand-piece puzzle of Főtér, full of Hungarian sunbathers, and an old postcard depicting St. Michael’s Church, which was awarded the Europa Nostra award this year.
“15 years of Hungarian Days in Cluj gives us a new framework for the passing of time”
– said Kelemen Hunor, president of the Hungarian Democratic Association in Romania. He emphasized: the “we” also includes the Hungarians of Transylvania, Partium, Maramures, Hungary and the Carpathian Basin.
He pointed out: 15 years is not much when measured on a historical scale, but it is enough to be able to plan for another 15, a good tradition that should be kept alive. “Culture must not be abolished, but must be loved, understood and lived in. Community must not be freed, but must be built again and again,” said the president of the RMDSZ, according to whom the organizers of the KMN are doing just that.
Tibor T. Toró, the vice-president of the Transylvanian Hungarian Association, remembered the founding of the KMN and stated that the idea proved to be timeless. He believed that the key to success, among many other aspects, was “the historic settlement that gave reason, framework and meaning to the event, the city that can never be given up, Cluj”, the pillar of the spiritual bridge connecting the Hungarians of Székelyföld and Partium, the spiritual capital of Transsylvanianness.
“The political and spiritual heritage, past and present of our capital, Kincses Cluj, is a heavy but beautiful burden.
Compulsion and opportunity. In the past 15 years, the organizers of the KMN have successfully forgotten the compulsion and used the opportunity,” he said.
At the opening gala, the Kincses Cluj-Napoca award was presented, with which the Kincses Cluj-Napoca Association, which organizes the Hungarian Days, tries to draw attention to an outstanding work of life in Transylvania and Cluj-Napoca.
This year, the 94-year-old historian Ákos Egyed received the award for his outstanding activity in the field of Hungarian history and his tireless work as a community and science organizer.
2024-08-19 20:59:28