The Raba Region Days in Szakonyfalu

Szakonyfalu, 26.05.2007

On this Saturday, the Slovenes from the Porabje in Szakonyfalu (Sakalovci) celebrated the Raba Region days (Porabski Dnevi). This festive event offered the Hungarian Slovenes from near and far to get together and discuss. The formal opening of the festivities consisted of the honour of two personalities who have contributed a great deal of their time and energy for the Slovene Raba Region in the recent past and in the present. The president of the Slovenes in Hungary, Mr József Hirnök, thanked both Mrs Erzsébet Kovács, a teacher, who has been promoting the preservation and teaching of the folkloric dance in the Slovene Raba Region for years and the cantor and organist Mr János Oreovecz, who has been serving the church in Apátistvánfalva (Števanovci) for almost all his life and who dedicates to the preservation of beautiful Slovene church hymns. The folklore group from Szakonyfalu, who were dressed in their traditional white and blue garbs, entertained the audience with regional Slovene dances. Afterwards, a young couple danced catchy Latin-American rhythms, and following their performance, the vocalist Maja Sener filled the audience with enthusiasm by singing Slovene songs from the Mura Region. Also the culinary offer, consisting of hearty home-made food, was worth noticing. The jocund atmosphere motivated the people from the neighbouring villages to go to Szakonyfalu, and people were laughing, singing and dancing the whole day long. The “Porabski Dnevi” were an eventful celebration offering a programme for both the young and the old .

Pictures Tibor Horváth / Joël Gerber