A Truly Hungarian Experience

This past Saturday evening I experienced a truly Hungarian event. I had the privilege to attend Bea’s (a student involved with FEK) Szalagavato. A szalagavato is a cross between graduation, prom and a dance show. It is a celebration for the graduating class at each high school. Each school’s event is a little bit different but I understand there are some similarities at each szalagavato. I will try and give you an impression of the evening but words are not quite adequate to describe all that was experienced.

The evening started with a procession of the students from each class all dressed in their class formal outfit. Each class chooses what their formal outfit will look like and then every student must wear that outfit for this portion of the evening. Once the students were lined up a speech was given in Hungarian and Spanish, (it was a bilingual school). I am told the speech was about how the students had grown up and are now moving on, etc. Then came the pinning of the szala (I believe this is what the ribbon is called) on each student as their name was read. The szala is a ribbon, it varies by school, but it has the years of graduation and the school’s name on it. So as the ribbons are being pinned on the students by the teachers’ music is playing in the background. For Bea’s class the song “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallic played.

After the pinning ceremony, comes the dance show. One aspect of the evening is the waltz that every class performs. Each girl wears a white dress similar to a wedding gown and the guys are in tuxes with tails. They then dance a very special waltz which they spend many weeks practicing. Each class also performs some kind of modern dance. Also in between each section put on by the classes there are other dance performances by other groups. At this show there was a set by what seemed to be some kind of professional Salsa dance couple and there was group of young rhythmic gymnasts. We were not able to stay for the entire evening but from what I understand the class then all goes out together after for a big party.

Once I figure out how to put video on here I will edit this post.