Czech Language Day in Romania and celebration of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Czechs in the Romanian Banat in Bucharest
27.09.2023 / 16:25 | Aktualizováno: 12.10.2023 / 16:34
The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Bucharest, together with the National Village Museum "Dimitrie Gusti", compatriot associations and media partner Radio Europa 2 in Bucharest, organized the celebration of the Day of the Czech Language in Romania and the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Czechs in Banat. The event took place as part of a series of celebrations of this year's important anniversary, which began in the oldest surviving Czech village of St. Helena in the Banat region. It culminated in a day-long performance of customs, traditions, music, dances - traditional Czech Beseda and cuisine of the Banat Czechs in the Bucharest open-air museum.
The opening of the event was attended by the Special Envoy for Compatriots, J. Krátký, and the main afternoon part of the programme was opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, J. Lipavský, Ambassador H. Kaiserová, Advisor to the Romanian President on National Minorities, S. Nistor, State Secretary of the Government Office for Multi-Ethnic Dialogue, E. Lacziko, MP of the UDSČR, A. Merka and the President of the Czech branch, S. Bouda. The event was also attended by representatives of the Romanian Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, members of the Chamber of Deputies of Parliament from minorities and diplomatic corps.
In his speech, Minister Lipavsky supported the further development of our compatriot community and its efforts to become independent from the common Czechoslovak representation in the country. He brought guitars as a gift to the schools in Svata Helena, Eibenthal and Gernik so that the children could strengthen their musicality so typical for our community in Romania.
More than 100 Czech compatriots from all the municipalities in the region came from Banat for the event and most of them joined the cultural part of the celebration programme. Several folklore singing and dancing groups performed. The event also included the inauguration of an exhibition of Banat, paintings, costumes and traditional instruments, which was created in cooperation with the expert curators of the National Village Museum. At the same time, traditional products typical for this part of Banat were presented on this occasion, ranging from sweets to various types of sausages and spirits.
During the celebrations there was also a space to commemorate the Czech Language Day, which according to Romanian law falls on September 28. In this context, there was a presentation of books published in the Czech language in cooperation with Czech teachers sent to Czech schools in Banat.