Iszkaszentgyörgy 2016

Iszkaszentgyörgy ran a memorable cultural capital year that included several innovative projects, like the Finno-Ugric resident ambassadors from Udmurtia, Estonia and Finland. Iszkaszentgyörgy also welcomed representatives of previous Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture: Bygy (2014) and Obinitsa (2015), thus setting a good example for future capitals of culture.

• The “Warm-up” event of Iszkaszentgyörgy took place already on the 5^th of December, 2015. Guests gathered around in the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim Castle to listen to the welcome speech of Attila Gál (mayor of Iszkaszentgyörgy) and Gyula Porga (the mayor of Veszprém).  International guests included Tõnü Kiviloo, the mayor of Kõpu, Darali Leli and Zoja Lebegyeva Udmurt artists and Annela Laaneots ülemsootska. She gave to Dániel Waliduda, the project coordinator of Iszkaszentgyörgy Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture a Finno-Ugric flag to show professional support
• Iszkaszentgyörgy programme year’s first official opening event was a concert in 27 of January of Dr. Daithankar Dhananjay santur artist from India, who welcomed the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture from Hungary .
• On 22 of February, Kalevala Day was celebrated in the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim Castle. Eszter Ruttkay-Miklián, the head of Reguly Antal Museum and her husband showed how to make a real Khanty and Mansi tent in Iszkaszentgyörgy.
• In March, Sofia Onina, Khanty lektor of University ELTE, Budapest held a presentation about Khanty and Mansi people to the residents of Iszkaszentgyörgy.
• On March 17th, Iszkaszentgyörgy turned into a vivid Estonian and Seto village. In the morning, Seto guests helped in the preparation of the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marina Kaljurand’s reception and installed the photo exhibition in the Cultural Centre of the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim castle. The exhibition introduced the highlights of Obinitsa, Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2015.
• On March 18th, Seto guests visited the Cultural Centre of the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim Castle. In the afternoon Hungarian and Seto programs took place by the local Patchwork Club and the international guests. Next day they visited the Hungarian Ethnography Museum in Budapest with the leading of Peter Aranyi, the member of the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture Programme Bureau. They were singing Seto folk songs and dances to the audience.
• On March 22th, mayor Attila Gáll welcomed Marina Kaljurand at the Municipality Hall. Marina Kaljurand placed a wreath for the memory of the Hungarian Revolutionists of 1848 and officially handed over the new board which shows the direction of the Estonian brother village of Iszkaszentgyörgy, Kõpu.
• The events were continued in the Cultural Centre where the Minister hold an irregular history lesson to the pupils of Iszkaszentgyörgy and the audience about the importance of our Finno-Ugric family. After that the choir of the Primary School of Iszkaszentgyörgy sang Estonian song, then the Seto choir sang some traditional Seto songs, finally the folk dancers of the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2016 made their extraordinary show and Péter Aranyi, the Hungarian communication director of the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture Programme Bureau announced that applications for the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture 2017 were open. After the event the Minister was guided around the baroque wing of Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim Castle by Ari S. Kupsus, Finnish honourable citizen of Iszkaszentgyörgy.
• In July of 2016 a cultural delegation visited Iszkaszentgyörgy from its “brothertown”, called Kõpu. “It was a pleasure and honour that 23 guests arrived to Iszkaszentgyörgy Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2016 from the village’s Estonian sister town Kõpu. They stayed in the village between the 4th and 15th of July and were accommodated in the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim castle. Fortunately, the weather was amazing during their visit, sometimes even too warm” – says the official website of Iszkaszentgyörgy Finno-Ugric Captial of Culture.
• On Monday 11 July, on the World Population Day, a round table discussion took place in Iszkaszentgyörgy about demographical changes in the world and its effects on the Finno-Ugric peoples. The event was open there were 13 people taking part to it, among them member of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples, Estonian Oliver Loode, journalist Péter Aranyi and activist from the Finno-Ugric association MAFUN, Sampsa Holopainen from Finland, who are all coordinating the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture project. In the round table discussion the topic of population was dealt from different points of view. The people discussing shared their personal thoughts and experiences.
• On August 10th, a lecture on the Sami people was held in the cultural house of Iszkaszentgyörgy, IKSZT. The lecture was held by Markus Juutinen, who has lived in the Sami area and studied, taught and researched the Sami languages. Markus told us generally about the Samis, Sami languages and the Sami lifestyle. On the lecture, there were many pictures visible, video clips shown and also Sami music was played.
• 15th of October, the Kindred People’s Day is highly regarded in the Finno-Ugric community. Iszkaszentgyörgy Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2016 acknowledges the importance of this day and has the purpose the maintain it beyond this colourful year. Thanks to this day the village organized photo exhibition about the Finnish Juhannus by Károly Csorba (opening remarks by former Hungarian ambassador to Helsinki György Krausz, Hungarian and Udmurt folk songs by students of Primary School in Iszkaszentgyörgy) and in the garden of the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim castle many cultural programs and activities went on for the 15th of October including performances from Hungarian traditions, music and after the brief Grape Harvesting March (which was rejected by the heavy raining) the day continued in the Cultural Centre of the castle with folk dance shows not only by the Iszkaszentgyörgy group but also by other neighbouring villages like Sárkeresztes and Pátka. The day ended with Ball.
• On 3rd of December there was the final event of the Iszkaszentgyörgy Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture programme in the Cultural Centre of the Amadé-Bajzáth-Pappenheim castle. The event started with the welcome speech by mayor Attila Gáll, member of the Hungarian Parliament Gábor Törő and Petri Tuomi-Nikula ambassador of Finland. Dániel Waliduda held a presentation about the whole year. Exclusive guests: Choir of Primary School of Iszkaszentgyörgy, Mordvin folk music group OYME, Finnish cellist Anni Kallioniemi and Khanty folk singer Larisa Miljakhova.

• Visibility-raising: Iszkaszentgyörgy raised its visibility internationally. Many articles were published about its programme in Finnish, Estonian, Udmurt, and even Polish language in online and print media.
• Community-building: The diverse various Finno-Ugric cultural programme – including music, cuisine, literature, fashion and visual art – brought together the Iszkaszentgyörgy local community
• High–level diplomacy: Estonian foreign minister Marina Kaljurand visited Iszkaszentgyörgy during the cultural capital year.
• Academic presence: many well-known Hungarian scholars ofFinno-Ugric Studies visited the village. They held presentations or simply participated in the programmes. Everyone who were interested in Finno-Ugric issues had a chance to get first-hand information about Finno-Ugric languages and peoples.