Spring and Summer Festivals in Our Countries ~ Teenagers' World

A study describing the summer and spring festivals of our countries

Spring and Summer Festivals

by Students from Greece, Hungary, Poland and Turkey.

Spring and Summer Festivals in Hungary

15h March-1848 Revolution Day

15th March is the public holiday in Hungary, therefore we don’t go to school. As a rule, we celebrate this holiday at school one day before. We usually recite the most famous poem of Sándor Petőfi who lived in that period and became our national poet.

On this day we commemorate the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848-49. There are usually speeches and music pieces performed. We usually wear a cockade with the national colours: red, white and green.

Source: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1rcius_15.

In April-Easter Holiday

Easter is an important religious holiday in Hungary. The day before, families with children paint easter-eggs of all styles and colour. A traditional breakfast follows of hard-boiled eggs, ham, braided cake bread, grated horseradish. Many families go to church this morning to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

On Easter Monday, many people carry on the tradition of „sprinkling”. Boys and men go to sprinkle girls and women.

While once young men used to pour buckets of water over young women’s heads, today they spray perfume or water and then ask for a kiss and a painted egg. Hollókő is a settlement (which is the part of UNESCO World Heritage) where we can see this tradition every Easter Monday. It is worth seeing!

Source: https://www.magyarorszagom.hu/husvet-unnepe.html

Galéria - Hollókő

First Sunday in May-Mother’s Day

We celebrate our dear mothers on the first Sunday in May.

Mothers receive flowers, sometimes hand-picked and other presents usually handmade from their children on this day.

In July-Balaton Sound Festival

Balaton Sound is one of the largest and most colourful open-air electronic beach festivals in Europe. It is at Lake Balaton in Zamárd and it has been since 2007. The festival is known for hosting the greatest artists and DJs in the pop and electronic world. Beach, Sunshine, Music. At Balaton Sound youngsters can party through the night and relax on the beach during the day.

Source: https://balatonsound.com/hu/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwwtWgBhDhARIsAEMcxeDpflq1V4I6g3SMw8a5lpeOtqNDdcLvfOFsR1IW5Iuzk_t2IlNtkUwaAiC_EALw_wcB

In August-Sziget Festival-The Island of Freedom

Sziget Festival is located on Óbuda Island in the heart of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. It is one of the Europe’s largest music festivals. Artists and performers come from all over the world to display their talents. There are 1,000 shows across 60 stages for 6 days straight each year. There are over 100 nationalities represented at Sziget. This peaceful gathering of different cultures for the common cause of music, celebration and entertainment is what the Island of Freedom is all about.

Source: https://csodalatosmagyarorszag.hu/programok/fesztival-koncert/sziget-fesztival-2023-budapest/

Festivals in Turkey (Afyonkarahisar YOMTAL)

19 May Youth and Sports Day, TURKEY

Also known as Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day (Atatürk'ü Anma, Gençlik ve spor Bayramı) is a national holiday in Turkey, always celebrated on May 19th. We celebrate it all day. We are holding a ceremony, we sing our national anthem. We do various sport events.

The holiday commemorates Mustafa Kemal's landing at the Black Sea city of Samsun on May 19th 1919, which is regarded as the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence.

"May 19 is the day when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk arrived in Samsun and effectively initiated our national struggle 100 years ago. May 19 is the day when the national will, the spirit of unity and solidarity and an unwavering faith revived to eradicate the occupying forces from our land. May 19 is the day when our nation stood back up. May 19 is the first step taken towards freedom and independence," the statement said.

In the statement addressed to youth, the president added: "Dear youth… We believe in you. Today, as was the case yesterday, we stand ready to listen to you to make your demands, expectations and dreams come true and to build a future that will make you proud. Let's join hands and further elevate our country."

Feast of Ramadan, TURKEY

Ramadan is 30 days.Every day fasting starts at sahur (a meal taken just before dawn during Ramadan) And finishes at iftar..During daytime, We mustn’t eat and drink. The main reason why religious festivals are not celebrated on the same days every year is because they are calculated according to the lunar calendar called “kameri takvim”.According to the Kameri calendar, Ramadan is celebrated on the first three days of the month Seval. Festival of ramadan, people visit neighbours, relatives and friends . Young people kiss their parents’ hands and receive best wishes and blessings from them. It is a tradition to give money or little gifts to those childreen who kiss one’s hands. Candies are served to visitors during Ramadan. That is why Ramadan is also called the “Sugar Festival. In the beginning, sweet foods were only served on Nevruz, but this gradually became a general tradition which spread to all other festivals and festival days. during Ramadan, people come together, celebrate and entertain each other. In cities and villages, children and young people in particular eet each other at festival places and have fun. Festival areas resemble fairs in these days. The Ramadan festival comes after one month of fasting. the fasting month is known as Ramadan Month. in summer when nights are shorter, people who fasted did not sleep after dinner but waited until sahur (a meal taken just before dawn during Ramadan). In this period, people orgainised many different forms of entertainments. Karagöz and ortaoyun were examples of Ramadan shows. In rural areas, people gathered in houses and in coffee houses where wandering minstrels used to play instruments and sing.

http://www.webokur.net/forum/konu/ramazan-bayrami-ingilizce-anlatim.9066/