Happy New Year from Hungary!

A member of the Neptun Diving Club and Rescue Team holds a champagne in Lake Mályi on 31 December.

 

We stand on the threshold of 2024 full of expectation and hope, trusting that we can face our tasks with renewed energy, vitality and momentum, said President Katalin Novák in her New Year’s greeting speech broadcast by public media.

In her address to the nation, the President recalled the memorable events of 2023, “when we had reason to rejoice and be proud”, including the visit of Pope Francis to Budapest, the Nobel Prize of Katalin Kariko and Ferenc Krausz, the World Athletics Championships, and the football team’s qualification for the European Championship as the group leader.
Katalin Novák said it was good to see the President of Hungary being received with respect in all 30 countries she has officially visited this year.

They know that we are a talented nation, with a strong sense of self-awareness, one with a strong mind and a strong spirit,”

she said, adding that even if they do not always understand us, they listen to us.

The President recalled that there is war in Ukraine and Israel, mass protests, economic and political instability in the world. Here at home, although there is anxiety and a struggle for everyday life, we can live in peace, she stressed.

Katalin Novák described 2023 as the year of encounters and thanked people for helping us to walk with open eyes, ears and hearts. The President recalled December 2003, when we looked forward to the New Year in the knowledge that Hungary would soon become a member of the European Union.

Today we see the benefits, the difficulties and we have not forgotten for a moment that we were promised full membership,”

she said, adding that this week the postman in Brussels delivered some of our money among the letters of formal notice.

At the end of her speech, Katalin Novák wished all Hungarians a hopeful New Year.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has also shared a light-hearted video, answering some cheeky questions from his social media followers.

Traditional revelers crack their whips during the last day of the Old Year in the East Hungarian town of Hajdúszoboszló on 31 December. According to a centuries-old tradition, on 31 December 1559, the locals scared off the invading Turkish army with the sound of bells, the cracking of whips, burning straw and the lighting of the church tower.

Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom and Budapest, celebrated the end-of-year Mass of Thanksgiving in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Assumption and St. Adalbert in the North Hungarian town of Esztergom.

 

Spectators also filled the grandstands during the traditional Old Year’s Eve horse races in Budapest’s Kincsem Park.

Featured Image: MTI/Janos Vajda