Forty-four years ago, on April 28, 1957, the World Association of Twin Cities (UTO) was founded in Aix-les-Bois, France. In memory of this, we celebrate World Twin Cities Day on the last Sunday of April every year.
In Hungary, sister-city relations are of special importance, since the settlements of the separated parts of the country can maintain relations in this way.
The city of Tata has nine sister settlements, including three settlements in the separated parts of the country: Szőgyen in the Highlands, Szováta in Transylvania and Magyarkanizsa in Vojvodina. The "Cross of Brotherhood" stands in Szógyén and Tata
Physical meetings have been overshadowed and narrowed down by the virus, but fortunately they can reach each other online. Many ways and many times. Young people, schoolchildren and the elderly were addressed by the many imaginative programs launched by the Tata municipality in the virtual space, behind which Zsuzsanna Osgyáni, the employee responsible for external relations of the Tata municipality, was and still is.
There were conversations, series of interviews, messages, celebratory thoughts regarding the hundred-year separation, which were published in magazines and in the virtual space. In the framework of the public round table discussion, the mayors of Tata, Michl József, Méri Szabolcs of Szőgyéni, Zsolt Fülöp of Szóvata, and Róbert Fejsztámer of Magyarkanizsa shared their festive thoughts, which was also recorded by Tata Television.
The children solved joint tasks through the youth novels of Hungarian literature, poems connected us in the recitation of poems, there was joint singing, and then a series of clever playful contests addressed the lower school students of the national brothers of Tata, Szőgyéni, Szováta and Magyarkanizsa, for the last time families also got involved in the playful competition. The Meselánc was launched by Tata deputy mayor Balázs Rigó, in which the children performed brave feats, because "Közelfölde" did not give up! He bridged the distances, connected us through and through in the Carpathian homeland, with words, drawings, and videos.
Friends, acquaintances and institutions of the twin cities are held close by the common past, the twin crosses stand as a reminder in Tata, on Mindszenty Square, and in Szőgyén, in the memorial park in front of the Church of the Assumption.
Tata's "Szőgyeni Cross", on Mindszenty Square (Photo: Tata City Archive)
At the base of the crosses - just like in the hearts of the national brothers - flowers are now blooming, because the painful events of the past have been resolved into peace by the common memory, the countless meetings, and the many events that help each other.
You can read the original article at: velvidek.ma
