The tradition of the Kossuth-cult in Cegléd (2014)

A special type of the Hungarian Kossuth-cult, which is connected to Kosuth Lajos’s (Monok 19th of September 1802- Torino,20th of March 1894) activities, afterlife and name, has been formed in Cegléd.

The birth of the tradition is connected to the 24th of September in 1848, which was the day of Kossuth’s recruiting speech, and continues with his election as an honorary citizen of Cegléd in 1867, not to mention his local advocates who were in a corresponding relationship with him as well as the delegation of the hundred people from Cegléd and the annual commemoration of the road to him.
The forming and the source of the Kossuth – cult’s tradition in Cegléd is the Museum Society of Torino’s Delegation of a Hundred. They are the inheritors of that delegation with 100 people from Cegléd, whose members visited Kossuth Lajos in Torino on the 24th of Januar, 1877.

Thanks to the return of the people from Cegléd, the Hungarian and the foreign Kossuth-cults were enriched at the same time. The delegation of the hundred people from Cegléd created the continuity, the diversity and the eras adaptive renewal during the time elapsed since then.

Since the homecoming the “real travelers” and the progenies who replaced them are gathering and commemorating on the anniversary of the meeting day with Kossuth Lajos. There is a traditional routine as the worship in the protestant church, a special assembly with a ceremonial speech, greetings, long banquets and a telegraph send to Kossuth (till his death). These were the regular elements of the tradition for decades.

The connection of Cegléd to Kossuth has multiple layers and is really strong: it is viewable not only in the sphere of the public life and public places but also in the sphere of the locals’ public life in the form of family stories, souvenirs, photos and traditions.

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