Magyar Hírek, 1988 (41. évfolyam, 1-22. szám)

1988-04-22 / 8. szám

jr Folk College in Adánd The fresh smell of lime overpow­ers the early spring breeze as we en­ter the old manor from the park. Something is coming to life again here, just as under the leaf-mould and at the branch-tops: by the au­tumn at the latest the students of the Fekete István Institute for the Train­ing of Skilled Agricultural Workers will be able to move in again after having weathered the complete reno­vation of their college, an 18th centu­ry baroque manor house, in tempor­ary rooms. * My guides are doubly at home: András Kecskés, the headmaster of this training school for operators of agricultural machinery, and Péter Neisz, an instructor at the school will be among the first to live in this his­toric monument. They are also or­ganizers of an event to take place be­tween July 18th and 31st. Ádánd, this small village of 2,000 in County Somogy is getting ready to host an International Folk College. It has been convened by the local Dániel Berzsenyi Cultural Society. Tibor Pollák, the Chairman of the Society told us the story of the foun­dation and operation of the Society. This young man around thirty, is full of energy. He is a man of enterprise and a poet as well. He is a produc­tion programmer at an oil company in Siófok, 15 kilometres from here, his poems were published in a num­ber of journals. Nothing happened at Ádánd for many years, while the population was slowly eroding, for only a coop­erative farm and the school offered employment. The locals had to travel far to get the kind of entertainment people appear to be in need of to­day. An amateur dramatic society which still functioned here twenty years ago now exists only in the memory of the forty-fifty-years old by now. * And then... Suddenly folk col­leges had a new lease of life all over the country. People in some of the villages in this Sió riparian district— Szabadi, Siómaros, Siójut—were amongst the first to gather together to listen to noted lecturers and to get their bearings on the business of their own localities and of the whole country by discussing things amongst themselves. A cultural so­ciety emerged and a village-house opened at both Siómaros and Siójut. Ádánd remained passive for years, but something started there in 1986 too. The charter of the cultural socie­ty of Ádánd is dated September 1986. The duties it prescribed to its members, who now number some one hundred and forty included the following: “Improving the cultural life, entertainment, and access to in­formation of the people of the vil­lage; rekindling and maintaining community life and the traditions of the village; beautifying and attend­ing to other means and possibilities, which could promote the retention of the population. The Society will initiate and help local ventures to further the above objectives. Activi­ties abroad mean that the Society will do something for cultural rela­tions as well. The Society will main­tain study-circles, clubs and various specialised sections.” These plans did not remain words only. A folk college, a women’s choir, and a children’s dance group materialized, plus a motoring club. The Council gave them land, the cooperative farm lent them bulldo­zers and the people rallied to build a rallye-cross course with many hours of voluntary work. An international competition took place there in 1987, and the tens of thousands of specta­tors generated a large profit for the Society. * A Folk College also enjoys a good name. Gyula Fekete, a noted writer, gave a talk about national ills: the ageing of the population, the low birth rate and social policy troubles. An animated discussion followed his talk. On another occasion Ferenc Ber­­ky, the economist, outlined the re­port of the Club of Rome on the world situation. He also described the anatomy of business ventures and elucidated development oppor­tunities in Hungary. His talk was fol­lowed by an animated discussion on the development opportunities of Ádánd. New plans were drawn up, cover­ing a hotel and a golf course, justifi­ed by the location of the village, that is its proximity to Lake Balaton. * The Folk College may this year be profitable financially and not only spiritually. It will be run in Hungar­ian, for Hungarians at home and abroad. The lectures will deal with Hungarian society today, with histo­ry and literature. Participants will meet as many locals as possible. An interest in village business, and ad­vice is expected from them. The pro­ceeds will be devated to a Central European House on the pattern of Western European Europa houses abroad. Their starting capital is an old store building donated to the So­ciety by the local cooperative farm. ISTVÁN BALÁZS AN INTERVIEW The Southern Diocese of the Hun­garian Lutheran Church unanimous­ly recalled Dr Béla Harmath from Geneva as their Bishop. Formerly the minister of the Deák-tér congre­gation, we had since 1980 been the Secretary of the Educational Depart­ment of the World Lutheran Federa­tion. They placed their confidence in a man who as a country minister, then at the Deák-tér congregation, as a professor of theology and staff member of the World Lutheran Fed­eration had always given evidence of his commitment to his God and his people. What do traditions mean, what kind of national roots can Lutherans in Hungary be proud of? “Right from the beginning breth­ren of other nationalities also had their place in the Hungarian Luther­an Church” says Béla Harmati. “Merchants and students from Sop­ron and Northern Hungary who tra­velled in Germany and other coun­tries were the first to spread Luther’s ideas here. Later, following an era of persecutions, the Lutheran Churches reorganized after the edict of toler­ance of Joseph II included Slovake and German Lutherans in Northern and Southern Hungary, as well as German and Hungarian Lutherans in Transylvania. The Churches of the Reformation further developed the heritage of Hungarian Churches, which belonged to the Western Christendom ever since Saint Ste­phen the King through their Ger­man, Swiss, Dutch and Scandinavian connections while they took an ac­tive part in the progress of the Hun­garian language, culture, education and national consciousness by hold­ing divine services in the vernacular, by establishing schools, publishing books, and translating the Bible. Pro­testant anti-Habsburg attitudes and national consciousness were particu­larly evident in the years before and after the 1848/49 Revolution. Many notable figures of the early 19th cen­tury Reform Age were Lutherans. In our diocesan church at Deák-tér we proudly cherish the memory of Sán­dor Petőfi, a Lutheran, who was a pupil of our school and of Lajos Kossuth, whose sons were christened there. I also intend to cling with grateful appreciation and custodial love to the Biblical, reformation and evangelical traditions of our Church. Generations of my forebears back as far as the 18th century served these traditions as preachers and teach­ers.” What kind of a role did the Luther­an Church fill in the history of Hun­garian culture? “Luther said that well done work was also worship, that everybody was a minister of the Lord in his own environment. People must endea­vour to live according to their call­ing. This teaching of Luther’s meant that the hierarchy lost its special role in the Church. With the emergence of the lay element democratic fea­tures gained strength. This assisted the progress of culture. Education gained a powerful em­phasis. Schools were established next to every church. Everybody was required to read the word of God in their own language, thus Bible trans­lations were made, and the printing of books in the vernacular was en­couraged. The schools laid emphasis not only on basic education but also on sending pupils abroad to widen their horizons. This became the means of spreading the latest knowl­edge. Samuel Tessedik, minister at Szarvas was an example. He preached to his flock about progres­sive methods of agriculture. Educa­tion in the vernacular meant that lo­cal idioms became literary lan­guages. This was true not only of Hungarian but also of Slovenian lan­guage. The first literary work in Slo­venian was the Shorter Catechism of Martin Luther. That work is looked on as the beginning of Slovenian writing.” After the nationalisation some schools were every denomination kept some of its schools except for the Lu­therans. A rumor has been going to rounds that the famous Lutheran gim­názium in the Fasor would start up again. “Two of our schools survived na­tionalisation: the Fasor boys’ gim­názium and the Deák-tér girls’ gim­názium, both in Budapest. Our lead­ers offered both to the state in 1952. There really is talk about the re-esta­­blishment of the Fasor gimnázium. It depends on two essential conditions: obtaining vacant possession of the building and getting the necessary money. Following a resolution of the National Presbytery we asked every Lutheran congregation to specify the sum they could regularily contri­bute.” Bishop, you have travelled the world for ten years on World Lutheran Fed­eration business. In your view that is the standing of Hungary in the world, how well do they know us? “In spite of its small size the Hun­garian Lutheran Church is well known and respected throughout the world particularly since the 1984 meeting of the World Lutheran Fed­eration in Budapest. That was a good opportunity for thousands of people to come here and to become acquainted with our country, with the life of our Church. Contacts are made difficult by so few Hungarians being familiar with foreign lan­guages. It may be worth considering taking over efficient teaching sys­tems, from Switzerland for instance. There are few works giving informa­tion about Hungary. Much more is needed.” Is there any living contact between 30

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