The Eighth Tribe, 1974 (1. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1974-04-05 / 1-2. szám
Page 2 THE EIGHTH TRIBE April 5, 1974 THE HUNGARIAN HERITAGE The most important aim of the “Eighth Tribe” is to preserve and transmit that particular Hungarian heritage with which God has so richly blessed us Hungarians. This immense richness is our national property and it is our obligation to hand it over to our youth, regardless of the part of the word in which they happen to live. They have a Godbestowed right to this heritage. This is the cement which holds us together and which makes us conscious of the values of our origin, thus securing for us a place in this human world. What is this heritage, these values of which we speak? When we gaze into the star-lit sky, we see there the Trail of Hosts. Others call it the Milky Way, but we know that the hooves of Hun horsemen are kicking up the sparks among the stars. This is but onei tiny pearl in the great wealth of our heritage. The glorious empire of Attila, Prince Csaba, Árpád, Lehel — these are all parts of this heritage. The Zrinyi’s, the Katica Dobo’s, the endless line of brave warriors and heroes of liberty, these are all our heritage. The very first law declaring freedom of worship for all in this world is our heritage. Yet all this is only the wealth of our history, a long, glorious, but tragic history, through which, while defending the West and fighting against oppression, our nation was bled to destruction. The wealth of the Hungarian spirit and the Hungarian soul is even richer than this. Our legends and folk tales come from ages long before Western civilization existed. Our songs and dances are the colorful expressions of the Hungarian soul and the Hungarian temperament. Madach’s “Tragedy of Man”, the poetry of Petőfi and Arany, the music of Liszt, and the everlasting creations of a long line of Hungarian poets, writers, composers and artisans are all part of our heritage. We must know them, preserve their works and hand them down to the young, so that they may proudly call themselves Hungarians. Few nations have such a rich heritage. We are wealthy. Let us not keep this great wealth from our sons and daughters, our grandsons and granddaughters, just because they were bom and reared in a foreign land. When the English, the Scots, the Irish, the Spanish, and those of other nationalities came to the American continent, they brought with them their own special culture and built this culture into their new homeland. The various cultural backgrounds have made the warp and woof of this continent richly colorful. Let us share with them the rich hues and vivid threads of the Hungarian culture, and make our new home even more colorful and beautiful. Our heritage is equal to any. We hungarians have also one very unique treasure. One that we should always keep in mind. It is our greatest heirtage:— THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GREAT SECRET. Once upon a time, very long ago, a wandering holy man brought this secret to our fore-fathers, into the Scythian prairies, near the Baikal Sea. This holy man happened to be one of Paul’s disciples. Our fore-fathers carved the words into a stone tablet so that the GREAT SECRET might never be lost. Their Táltos and Samans kept this sacred tablet and taught the people according to its letter and its spirit. In the knowledge of this GREAT SECRET the Huns grew rich and mighty. In the spirit of the GREAT SECRET, the seven leaders of the Hungarian tribes made their blood-alliance and Arpad led the nation into their new homeland, in the Carpathian Basin. In the knowledge and the spirit of this GREAT SECRET, the Hungarians were able to build a rich and prosperous country in this new land. Then, somewhere during the centuries, the stone tablet got lost and the GREAT SECRET became forgotten. Only a very few could remember the words and hand down this knowledge secretly from generation to generation. An old Szekely whispered it to me one dark night, high in the mountains, as we sat beside the fire. And now I am handing it down to you that you might all know it. Thus were the words of the GREAT SECRET carved into stone: STRONGER WEAPON THAN SWORD OR SPEAR... SAFER DEFENSE THAN SHIELD OR BASTION ... MORE LASTING IN VALUE THAN GOLD OR SILVER ... IS THE FAITHFUL LOVE ONE TOWARD THE OTHER This lost stone tablet is our greatest and most important heritage. ALBERT WASS THE EIGHTH TRIBE Editor ........................................................... Sándor E. Chomos Contributing Editor .............................................. Albert Wass Published and printed by.................The Bethlen Press, Inc. P.O. Box 637, CLigonier, Pa., U.S.A. — Twice monthly, beginning June, 1974. Monthly April and May, 1974. Second class postage paid at Ligonier, Pa. Subscription: $8.00 yearly.
