March 15th is a national holiday in Hungary. It stands for democracy and freedom and it commemorates the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.The revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire, ruled by the Habsburg Dynasty. Today during the national holiday in Hungary Hungarians proudly wear cockades.
Katalin Gulyás, from Hungary living in the Netherlands (Limburg) about March 15th and her memories about that day:
My name is Katalin Gulyás, more Hungarian my name could not even be as the only Hungarian word the world knows is ‘goulash’, only I write it differently. I was born and raised in Hungary; I would say in a traditional Hungarian family therefore 15th March will always have a special place in my heart.
Today is one of our biggest National Holidays, the very same day on 15th March 1848 on the streets of Budapest revolutionaries gathered at Pilvax-a popular coffeehouse of the era where the most influential intellectuals shared their political views-put on for the very first time in history the red white green ribbons and marched to various places to demand freedom. Surprisingly the very first day of the revolution happened without a single gunshot-unlike the following years but that is now history.
What it means to me to be Hungarian on this special day is, my ancestors stood up against a huge empire, with small chance of success, still they did have the courage to provide the future generations-in my case-the freedom to choose where I continue my life.
As a child I do remember going to school to celebrate this day by dressing up fancy. We did not have lessons-as a student I just loved it- but all day was dedicated to the revolution and to remember freedom cannot be taken granted, there were people long time ago who sacrificed themselves so we now can call this day, a National Holiday.
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