Abstract
This chapter investigates the neo-nationalist festival culture of Hungary through the example of the National Assembly of Hungarians (MOGY). MOGY is a three-day-long festival that has been organized far from all major settlements in the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld) around the feast of Assumption of Mary in mid-August, since 2009. This festival, which emerged as a grassroots movement, offers an initiation in a “re-inventing” of national identity, accompanied by entertaining musical, literary and popular-scientific programs. The chapter discusses the steady increase and development in both the number and the importance of neo-nationalist festivals in Hungary. By receiving more and more media publicity and state support, these festivals constitute one of the most significant rituals of “banal neo-nationalism”, representing a melting pot of esoteric, ethno-pagan, pseudo-historical, neo-nationalist ideas and practices. This examination shows how the festival re-assembles and reinterprets significant segments of Hungarian culture and the concept of Hungarian authenticity and tradition.
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Notes
- 1.
This publication is an outcome of the ERC CZ project n. LL2006 (“ReEnchEu”) funded by the Czech MŠMT and led by Dr. Alessandro Testa at the Department of Sociological Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague.
- 2.
Turul bird is the mythological bird of pre-Christian Hungarians, the clan symbol of the ruling House of Árpáds (cca. The end of ninth century to 1301).
- 3.
See more: https://szigetfestival.com/en/ Last access 19/10/2020.
- 4.
The concept of neo-nationalism (Gingrich and Banks 2006) differs considerably from earlier forms of nationalism that aggressively aimed at nation-building in the nineteenth–twentieth centuries. Neo-nationalism—as Eger and Valdez put it—is a subset of nationalism occurring within a context where national boundaries are settled and accepted domestically and internationally but are nevertheless perceived to be under threat (Eger and Valdez 2015: 127).
- 5.
http://www.magyarokszovetsege.hu/content/magyarok-szoevetsege Last access 19/10/2020.
- 6.
- 7.
Szeklers [Hung. székelyek] are a Hungarian-speaking minority of about 1 million people living in Transylvania, Romania. Their ancient writing is commonly called “Szekler runic writing”, presumably of Turkish origin.
- 8.
Pálinka is traditional Hungarian fruit brandy protected as a geographical indication of the European Union.
- 9.
- 10.
According to historical myths the leaders of the seven Hungarian tribes took a blood oath, a severe contract after conquering the territory of Carpathian Basin in 896.
- 11.
See Szilaj Csikó 2010 (25–26): 55.
- 12.
Quote from Ferenc Vukics the president of Fraternity of Hungarians from the official homepage of MOGY. http://www.bosztorpuszta.hu/csiksomlyo-es-bosztorpuszta-szivarvany-visszatert Last access 18/09/2013.
- 13.
Babba Mary is an ethnic name of Virgin Mary among Szeklers and Csángós (Hungarian minority group in Romania).
- 14.
Baranta is an invented “ancient Hungarian” martial art which was developed by Ferenc Vukics after 1990. Baranta tries to reconstruct the ancient Hungarian equestrian and melee fight based—among other things—on the kinetic elements of the stumbling folk dance. In addition to fighting tactics, Baranta places emphasis on knowledge of traditions (folk songs, folk dances, folk customs) and the development of national identity. Today, there are more than 2500 Baranta practitioners in more than 100 associations in Hungary and the neighbouring countries.
- 15.
http://www.bosztorpuszta.hu/boldogasszony-unnep Last access 18/09/2013.
- 16.
https://www.mogy2019.hu/single-post/2018/07/30/Gyogyit%25C3%25B3-faluba-jelentkezok-figyelem Last access 11/10/2019.
- 17.
http://www.bosztorpuszta.hu/gyogyito-falu-apajpusztan Last access 18/09/2013.
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Povedák, I. (2022). “Come, Look and Hear How the Past Has Been and the Future Will Be!” Festival Culture and Neo-Nationalism in Hungary. In: Nita, M., Kidwell, J.H. (eds) Festival Cultures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88392-8_4
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