"It is a national treasure, and its place is even among the Hungaricums," said Sándor Tamás, President of the Kovászna (Covasna) County Council, who submitted the proposal.Continue reading
János Árpád Potápi, Secretary of State for National Policy at the Prime Minister’s Office, gave a speech at a commemoration event in Szeged on Tuesday to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Kálmán Mihalik, the composer of the Szekler hymn. Potápi said that the tasks ahead of us in national policy were defined together with the national regions, and we are implementing them together, and we can be justly proud of the results achieved.
The Secretary of State stressed that the priority goals of Hungarian national policy include strengthening identity, supporting families, and from 2015-2016 onwards, economic development, as Hungarian businesses beyond the border are increasingly employing Hungarians.
Today, we can talk about an almost unified Carpathian Basin in education, culture, economy, and media, despite the fact that there are borders,”
the politician said.
Potápi also considers it a major achievement that in addition to the feeling of national belonging, there is also the experience of national solidarity. Young people visiting Transylvania or Vojvodina take it for granted that they will encounter Hungarian children and the Hungarian world there.
The event was also attended by Katalin Szili, the Prime Minister’s envoy, who said that Europe will only redefine itself in the world if it thinks in terms of a Europe of nations. She added that
every nation must have symbols – such as the anthem or the flag – which have a function both outwards and inwards, towards the community.
In many places in Europe, regions have their own anthems, she said, citing the provinces of Austria as an example. Szili added that the Szekler anthem contains everything that means the will to fight, to stand up for each other and regional identity.
The poet György Csanády wrote the poem, which later became known as the Szekler Hymn, in 1921, and it was set to music by Kálmán Mihalik in the same year. The Szekler Hymn was included in the list of Hungaricums.
Featured photo: MTI/Rosta Tibor
