It has led to a mythology of the lost cause, which is perfectly enshrined in the Himnusz, the Hungarian national anthem. One cannot go to a Hungarian gathering without seeing a map of the pre-Trianon borders of Hungary. This is the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon, which resulted in millions of Hungarians being assigned to Czechoslovakia, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. Listening to spoken Hungarian makes me feel as if I were being washed by the gentle waves of the Danube as it flows through Budapest. As a child born in the Hungarian neighborhood of Buckeye Road in Cleveland, Ohio, I did not even know that English existed as the language of my home and neighborhood was strictly Magyar. Still, just letting the language wash over me, while understanding only bits and pieces, sends me back to my roots. Although I can speak Hungarian (ungrammatically), I have a difficult time understanding the language when all the long agglutinative words are strung together in paragraph lengths. Today was another Hungarian festival, this time it was the Tavaszköszöntő at the First Hungarian Reformed Church of Los Angeles. Melinda Borbely Singing Hungarian Folk Songs
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