Zsuzsa wrote me about an important holiday celebrating freedom, that takes place in Hungary on March 15th. It’s National Day and it’s called Nemzeti ünnep in Hungarian.
Here in Hungary we have a national holiday on the 15th of March. On the 15th of March in 1848 our revolution and war of independence began. At that time our nation was overtaken by Austria-Hungary. It meant that Hungarians were not allowed to speak their language and have their own government despite the name of the Empire…
We unfortunately lost our revolution and war for independence, but the love and wish for freedom remained in our hearts. Every year on this day, Hungarian fathers and mothers teach their little children about the importance of the freedom and independence for our country.
With love,
Zsuzsa (Hungary)
P.S. Here is a picture of the ribbon we wear on our coats over our heart on the 15th of March.
(Nemzeti Ünnep literally means in English National Day, and we have more than one National Day. But we do not have any other short form for the name of this event :). We call it, az 1848-as forradalom és szabadságharc ünnepe, which can be translated as: The Day of the Revolution and War for Freedom in 1848 .)
Thanks Zsuzsa!
-Lisa
Note: You can find a Hungarian poem that’s popular on this day in the comments below. If anyone can provide an English translation, please add it to the comments. Thanks!
Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Hungary Page for some Hungarian Children’s Songs!
This article was posted on Friday, March 17th, 2006 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, Holidays Around the World, Hungarian, Hungary, Languages, Nemzeti ünnep - National Day in Hungary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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March 17th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Zsuzsa wrote…
We have some poems related to the event.
Below is the Hungarian text to the most popular poem in Hungary for this day. It’s called “Nemzeti Dal” in Hungarian, which means “National Song” in English. The poet was one of the leading characters of the revolution, Sándor Petofi…
Nemzeti Dal
(Hungarian)
Talpra magyar, hi a haza!
Itt az ido, most vagy soha!
Rabok legyünk, vagy szabadok?
Ez a kérdés, válasszatok!
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Rabok voltunk mostanáig,
Kárhozottak osapáink,
Kik szabadon éltek-haltak,
Szolgaföldben nem nyughatnak.
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Sehonnai bitang ember,
Ki most, ha kell, halni nem mer,
Kinek drágább rongy élete,
Mint a haza becsülete.
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Fényesebb a láncnál a kard,
Jobban ékesiti a kart,
És mi mégis lancot hordtunk!
Ide veled, régi kardunk!
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
A magyar név megint szép lesz,
Méltó régi, nagy híréhez;
Mit rákentek a századok,
Lemossuk a gyalázatot!
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Hol sírjaink domborulnak,
Unokáink leborulnak,
Es áldó imádság mellett
Mondják el szent neveinket.
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
If anyone can provide an English translation, please add it to the comments or email me. Thanks! – Lisa
November 4th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Dóra Zakor sent me this English translation of Nemzeti Dal:
National Song
Get up Hungarian, the country is calling you!
This is the right time, now or never!
Will we be slaves or free?
This is the question, choose one!
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
We were slaves until this time,
Our forefathers were damned,
Those who lived and died free
They can’t lie in servant soil.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
Fugitive, derelict man,
Who doesn’t dare to die now, if must,
Whose paltry life is worth much
Than the honour of the country.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
The sword is brighter than the chains,
It adorns arms,
And we wear chains still!
Let us have our old sword!
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
The Hungarian name will be nice again,
Worthy of his old, great fame,
We will wash down the shame
Which has been here by the centuries.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
Where our graves are lying
Our grandchildren fall on knees
And they list our holy names
By blessing prayer.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
Many thanks to Dóra Zakor for sending this translation!
-Lisa
January 15th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
HI.
i’m 14 and i am doing a project on Hungary. it has been pretty tough on finding things that i need to find on hungary. i just wanted to let you know that this has helped me out ALOT!! please keep doing what your doing so other students will have good research to look up.
thanks for your time,
brandi from Ola High School. 9th grade.
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 am
There is a more accurate English translation of the Nemzeti dal (National song) in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemzeti_dal
May 6th, 2008 at 2:11 am
It’s a nice day to me. :)
In my town, we celabrate March 4, too, cause Szolnok’s battle was this day in 1849.
Brandi, if I can help you (because I’m Hungarian), write me an e-mail: ftpetra@freemail.hu
I hope my English isn’t bad…
Petra
March 15th, 2024 at 2:51 pm
Thanks a lot, is there more on Petofi, Sandor?