Local services
The most important goal of Saturday’s event is to preserve and pass on the old Hungarian Christmas ritual games to posterity.
The Nádudvar Nativity Playgroup was formed 20 years ago. The members learned the ritual game from the elderly, who used to go from house to house at Christmas as children.
“The last time they did a nativity play was in 1953, and they brought together the same group who used to go around the city or village as children. And although they no longer remembered the full text, every song, they put it together from fragments based on their memories,” Mihály Vetró, the leader of the Nádudvar Nativity Playgroup, explained.
The three-kings walk (In Hungarian: csillagjárók) and nativity play are the oldest Hungarian Christmas folk customs, but in many regions, they almost completely disappeared in the last century. The process of re-introduction of the custom began 12 years ago. “It is important to re-teach it so that this tradition can be revived because we are in the last minutes, not even in the hours. Those grandparents who did this as children are still with us. We can still pass it on from them,” Andrea Molnárné Pelei, the leader of the “Nagylétai Csillagjárók”, emphasised.
The Debrecen Nativity Scene Meeting’s work preserving and passing on traditions became an intellectual cultural heritage in 2015. The organisers’ essential goal is to safeguard the specific festive game in every Hungarian-populated region so that children do not only encounter the currently fashionable Christmas customs.
“We must ensure that our traditions live on. If, in addition, the community finds new phenomena interesting, of course, they can have a place in our lives. Still, it is very important not to replace our identity, not to give up our rites and customs that are our identity”, Deputy Mayor István Puskás underlined.
Fourteen traditionalist groups arrived in Debrecen for the meeting, several from Hungarian-populated areas across the border.
Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu
