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wiseheartWe celebrated the 1005th anniversary of the foundation of Hungarian state today. The fireworks were particularly spectacular this year, they would have made even Gandalf jealous. They fired them up from several of the bridges across the River Danube, on both banks of which the capitol is built - the Danube is fairly broad here, and so Budapest has nine bridges to somehow manage the traffic between the various parts of the city.
In earlier years, when they still fired the rockets from Gellért Hill, we could watch the fireworks from our balcony. No such luck with the new starting positions now, so we had to watch them on TV. But they were astonishing, above the river and the bridges and the ships on the river, with the Castle Hill, the National Theatre and the Parliament fully illuminated on both sides of the Danube. Our capitol is so poetically beautiful sometimes, one tends to forget allt he bad things that happen here. The music they played to the fireworks has been composed for this special event, and the rhythm matched that of the firing of the rockets - it was simply amazing.
I know, some people say that it's a waste of money - money which could be put to better use. For the flood victims, for example, or for hospitals or schools or whatnot. To a certain extent, it is true. But I also think that people simply need to celebrate sometimes. They need something for their souls as well. Like beauty and joy. They need to celebrate that after more than thousand years spent in almost perpetual warfare, while our bigger and stronger neighbours kept trying to eradicate us from the map of Europe, we are still here.
We are a small, insignificant and not always very pleasant nation. We have almost no resources, and we speak a language nobody else understand. 1/3 of our people live in exile, and we tend to backstab each other as a national sport. But we are still there. And I think this is worth celebrating. Even if we indeed could put the money to good use elsewhere.
In earlier years, when they still fired the rockets from Gellért Hill, we could watch the fireworks from our balcony. No such luck with the new starting positions now, so we had to watch them on TV. But they were astonishing, above the river and the bridges and the ships on the river, with the Castle Hill, the National Theatre and the Parliament fully illuminated on both sides of the Danube. Our capitol is so poetically beautiful sometimes, one tends to forget allt he bad things that happen here. The music they played to the fireworks has been composed for this special event, and the rhythm matched that of the firing of the rockets - it was simply amazing.
I know, some people say that it's a waste of money - money which could be put to better use. For the flood victims, for example, or for hospitals or schools or whatnot. To a certain extent, it is true. But I also think that people simply need to celebrate sometimes. They need something for their souls as well. Like beauty and joy. They need to celebrate that after more than thousand years spent in almost perpetual warfare, while our bigger and stronger neighbours kept trying to eradicate us from the map of Europe, we are still here.
We are a small, insignificant and not always very pleasant nation. We have almost no resources, and we speak a language nobody else understand. 1/3 of our people live in exile, and we tend to backstab each other as a national sport. But we are still there. And I think this is worth celebrating. Even if we indeed could put the money to good use elsewhere.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-21 04:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-21 05:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-21 09:04 pm (UTC)I'm glad you had an opportunity for a bit of joy.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-22 07:54 pm (UTC)As for the language...working on it... my Magyar neighbors moved away, so I lost my chance to practice. Not that I'd gotten very far yet. This autumn, perhaps, if work settles down.
Anyway, I am glad your people survived because it means you are here. And that, my dear friend, is a very fine thing indeed: üdvrivalgás!!!