About 2,000 members of the Vietnamese community in Hungary gathered together on the afternoon of February 4 (the 25th day of the Lunar New Year) in the festival to welcome the Year of the Dragon 2024, held for the first time at a national theater in the host country, in warm weather signaling the arrival of Spring in this Central European country.
The organizer of the festival, as usual, is the Association of Vietnamese People in Hungary, an organization representing about 25 associations, social, professional and mass organizations of the Vietnamese community in Hungary, whose very effective activities and some significant efforts in 2023 were introduced in an 8-minute film within the framework of the "ceremony" part of the community Tet program.
It has become a tradition that highlights suitable for the needs of people of all ages have been prepared, such as the culinary corner, the calligraphy corner, or the souvenir photo corner - always the most popular and crowded place for people - with colorful backdrops, Tet parallel sentences, with peach branches and apricot trees elaborately displayed, creating a strong atmosphere of the hometown Tet holiday.
The image of the homeland with typical symbols during Tet, along with the cozy and bustling feeling is increased with the spectacular lion dance that starts the festival at 7pm.
Notably, in addition to the community members, there were also many distinguished guests from the Hungarian government, embassies of ASEAN countries, and Hungarian friends of Vietnam.
As an introduction to the gala night, memorable images of the community in 2023 through the biggest activities were shown on the big screen, of which the most meaningful was the Christmas charity program aimed at Hungarians in difficult circumstances (elderly people, disabled children, single-parent families...) in need of help, mobilized and coordinated by the Association.
The "ceremony" part of the festival opened with a New Year's greeting from the Head of the Organizing Committee, Permanent Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese People in Hungary, Dr. Phung Kim San.
In her welcoming speech, after reviewing some of Vietnam's positive developments through figures over the past year, Ambassador Nguyen Thi Bich Thao mentioned and praised the Vietnam-Hungary comprehensive partnership.
This is a relationship with a 74-year history, which has developed strongly and has been further nurtured, strengthened, and trusted after the recent very successful visit to Hungary by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh , as well as the visit to Vietnam by President Novák Katalin this year, which is the premise for a "model relationship," as the Hungarian President recently said, according to the Ambassador's assessment.
Ambassador Nguyen Thi Bich Thao also expressed her gratitude and respect for the people in the community who, over the years, have integrated with their second homeland, always preserving and nurturing the friendship between the two countries, contributing to the development of Hungary; at the same time, always being aware of preserving the image of Vietnamese people as hard-working, loyal, dynamic, creative and not forgetting their roots.
After the New Year greetings from two distinguished Hungarian guests - Mr. Lőrincz Daniel, Director of the Regional Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations, and Mr. Botz László, President of the Hungary-Vietnam Friendship Association, the famous Hungarian-Vietnamese Opera artist Ninh Duc Hoang Long once again successfully performed his favorite song, the patriotic aria "My Fatherland" by composer Erkel Ferenc.
It is even more meaningful that the author of this song, the father of Hungarian Opera, and also the composer of the music of the Hungarian National Anthem, is the great name of Hungarian scholarly music, whose name is given to the Erkel Ferenc National Theatre with a capacity of 1,800 people - the theatre with the largest number of seats in Central Europe - where the Vietnamese community has the opportunity to welcome Spring for the first time.
In the next 1.5 hours, there was a performance by the Ho Chi Minh City Art Troupe with the theme "Tet que huong - Xuan hoi hoi" to serve the community. The audience had the opportunity to enjoy the performances of a number of singers, traditional musical instrument artists, circus and dance artists, with performances imbued with the theme of homeland and country, recalling memories and feelings of home.
The show also featured a bamboo flute and erhu performance of the famous work "Hungarian Dance" by the great composer Johannes Brahms, which was highly appreciated and praised by the Hungarian guests.
The artists traveled 600km in a day to reach Budapest after the show in Prague, and early the next morning they continued their journey of more than 1,000km via Frankfurt, so the show was a great effort and passion of the group.
Having become familiar, the final part of the festival is the Spring Lottery: this year, more than 1,700 "Spring with prizes" tickets were sold, with valuable gifts and cash prizes sponsored by the Organizing Committee and many individuals and businesses in the community. This is a valuable support from the people in the spirit of joining hands to contribute part of the organization costs, and "get lucky at the beginning of Spring."
Also within the framework of Tet Cong Cong, in addition to charity groups that have been operating for decades such as "Rice with Hungarian Meat" or "Because we need each other," a new charity group called "Vianhu" was launched with the aim of joining hands to support the difficult circumstances of Hungary and Vietnam.
The spirit of sympathy and sharing, thus, is increasingly spreading and developing in the community.
The 2024 Community Tet is a step forward in terms of organization, when Vietnamese people in Hungary have the opportunity to be present at a large cultural facility of the host country, with the budget also doubling compared to last year.
This is also an effort of the Organizing Committee and the entire community, in the context of Hungary facing many difficulties in the "price storm" of the times, and people facing many challenges.
But as the name of the festival also shows, "Love Spring" is always hope, always faith in the future of the two homelands, this is also the message that Ambassador Nguyen Thi Bich Thao shared in her New Year's greetings to the community, and is what the Organizing Committee - Association of Vietnamese People in Hungary wants to send to all people...
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