Spectacular Flower Carnival Marks the National Holiday in Debrecen

Hundreds of thousands of flower floats decorated with fresh and dried flowers, a surprise composition and among them about 1,500 dancers, musicians and acrobats marched through Debrecen (eastern Hungary) on August 20 at the 58th edition of the Flower Carnival.

After the traditional consecration of bread in front of the Great Church, the fun run and the parade of old-timers, the carnival procession was again led by a composition of the Holy Crown, similarly to last year. Then, the flower floats, including the artistic groups, paraded in front of the audience in the seven grandstands and the crowds filling the streets.

The float of Debrecen and its Japanese sister city Tojama, entitled From Soul to Soul, referred to the strong ties between the two cities, while the joint composition of Oradea (Nagyvárad, Romania) and Debrecen, in the shape of a special water lily, was a reference to the beneficial effects of the thermal waters of the two regions.

Gedeon Richter Pharmaceuticals’ composition, The Four Musketeers, was based on the four main pillars of the factory’s activities, and Hungarian Post’s composition, Many Flowers, But One Garden, was inspired by fairy tales.

The shopping mall Forum Debrecen’s carriage took the audience on a journey to the blossoming world of fashion, while BMW Group Plant Debrecen’s flowers symbolized sustainability. The latter was also represented by the flower pandas of the CATL battery factory: in the spirit of sustainability, they decorated the composition with dried flowers and 30 percent potted plants that will be donated to public institutions after the carnival.

The Teva pharmaceutical company dazzled the audience with colored flowers made from “smile molecules,” the Cívis basketball club’s carriage was the scene of 3×3 sporting events, and the flower float of the Debrecen Vocational Training Center’s composition drew attention to the triad of vision, knowledge and innovation.

The flower float parade was rounded off by a surprise composition, The Dragon, by Compagnie Planete Vapeur of Nice.

The flower floats were accompanied by national and international artistic groups. The march included Tamba Taya (Spain), Ballet Ópera (Spain), Compagnie Planete Vapeur (France), Bandierai Degli Uffizi di Firenze (Italy), Bafofim Ballet Folklorico Fiesta Mexicana (Mexico), Stelzen Art (Germany), Ensamble Iberioni (Georgia) and Brazil’s Batala International, with over 250 drummers.

This year, the traditional night parade, cancelled over several years, has returned: artistic groups and flower floats marched from Szent Anna Street to Kossuth Square, illuminated in the evening.

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Czeglédi Zsolt