We were outside Szekelyudvarhely today (with temperatures of 95 degrees F and above) at the annual Unitarian Meeting. The gathering also honors Orban Balazs, a Hungarian noble from the 19th century who documented the history of all the villages with Szekely heritage (the Szekely were one of the seven original Hungarian tribes that settled in Transylvania). Orban left his lands and belongings to the Unitarian Church when he died, including Szejkefurdo, the site of the meeting.
There was a service, a Unitarian communion, some speeches (including a few words by yours truly), a parade to Orban's burial site with laying of wreaths, a picnic, traditional singing and dancing, and general socializing. A number of people from Gagy went with us, including Mihaly Pal (Gagy's lay president), Eva Acs (the treasurer), Eva Tamasi (Eva Acs's mother), Csilla Nagy (and her boyfriend Oli), and Attila Laszlo (Gagy's 17-year-old organist from the nearby village of Szentabraham).
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| The entering procession |
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| Me giving the shortest speech of the day |
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| Maureen and Csilla Nagy enjoying kurtos kalacs (chinmey cake) |
On the way home, we stopped in Szekelyudvarhely (Magdika's home town) at a fantastic sweet shop and ate amazing pastries and ice cream.
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| Part of the selections |
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| Csaba (our driver and backup translator), Mihaly, Eva, Eva, Attila, Maureen, Jaffray, Rob, and Michael (clockwise from left) at Cafeteria Alexandra. |
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