An Insider’s Assesment of the Folklife Festival
Notes and Comments
Overall, the Festival was a great success and kudods to all participants, most of all to the crafts persons, dancers and performers who came from Hungary and also the local volunteers who assisted with translation, explanations, interpretation, background and general support to the Hungarians.
Public reaction was very positive; the interactive nature of the crafts and the friendliness and openness of the crafts persons was commented on often. The enthusiasm of the dancers and the rapport of other “performers” such as the cooks or craftspeople who demonstrated some aspect of their curlture was commented on by many. I was witness to the enthusiastic wedding interpretation of Szék staged on Saturday when lots of people got involved in the march and dancing with the bride–or dessing up as the groom afterwards.
Demonstrations and hands-on experience were a great success both with the children and the adults. Piroka Nagy’s children’s activities included an excellent guidebook for children to explore the Festival and collect peacock feathers. Both the book and the feathers gave information on Hungary and the crafts they viewed. This was immensely popular! When I walked around to the One World side of the Festival, I was struck by the static nature of the exhibits: touching was not always encouraged and in at least one instance even photography was forbidden! Not the welcoming atmosphere which prevailed in the Hungarian Heritage area.
Volunteers
The Festival depended in large part on volunteers. In the Hungarian Heritage area, volunteers, led by Zakia Williams, helped out in the crafts areas and the cooking tents with translation, interpreting, providing background information, relieving the craft persons when they went to lunch or had performances scheduled, and in setting up and packing things away at the end of the day. Most volunteers did a yeoman’s job, skipping lunch and stepping in as needed. [The craft people also hardly ever got to have lunch, or only picked up a tray to eat when things were not too busy–often after closing.] Unfortunately a very few assumed airs and skipped out on their duties or failed to show altogether. This left some of the craft persons without a voice. The Smithsonian was aware of the problem, but of course could not do much to “police” sugh prima donnas, though Zakia did her best to cover everything. Zuzsa Cselenyi also pitched in as needed, from hanging posters to keeping things going. Problems, I know, are part of any large project. Those who were open to the experience found the craft people friendly and developed a close relationship and genuine affection. I myself have made some good friends to follow up when I go to Hungary and Transylvania, Vojvodina next time. I personally know that some of the Hungarian volunteers here with the Korossi Fellowship, volunteering on their own time and expense, worked days before the event in setting up the structures and painting the Puli, and after a full 8-9 hour day helped with the dancer’s laundry into the small hours–for the duration on the Festival. Such dedication shows a commitment to the project beyond the mere gesture made by some.
Heritage House
There seemed to have been a lack of translators who were familiar with the crafts, history, background illustrated here. Either the person lacked English language skills or was weak in Hungarian, though the latter was the less usual case. It would have been good to assign truly bilingual people here, particularly those who not only understood Hungarian and were fluent in English, but those who were familiar with the crafts, dances, customs, and most importantly the areas being demonstrated. Fluency in English was particularly lacking. While one would not expect the translators to be familiar with all of the technical terms, and certainly translation under the circumstances of the Heritage House poses challenges in itself, the translators sometimes lacked familiarity with the Hungarian background and could not focus on what was essential to be transmitted and what was interesting, albeit less essential, information. (None of the translations were word for word or complete, nor were they desigend to be so.) For example, a translator at the Heritage House did not understand that the wall painting was freehand, not done according to a predrawn pattern, though if he or she had gone to the Peasant House or Domestic Crafts site the person would have seen the freehand process live. The point the interviewee made was that the drawing of the patterns for the embroidery is the most difficult because once drawn, the pattern is set. In the wall painting, the pattern allows for corrections.
Suggestions/Solutions
It would have been useful to contact local Hungarians who are familiar with Hungary. The participation of Kálmán Magyar and Cathy Lamont was great, but the volunteers from the major organizations (American Hungarian Foundation, Hungarian Reformed Federation) failed because often egos got in the way of real help. The American Hungarian Educators Association was not contacted or involved in any formal way. In reaching the local and regional Hungarian community the Embassy was probably at fault as well. Not only did they not recommend the AHEA, they also failed to use the local Hungarian listserv, UNICUM, to recruit Hungarian-speakers to volunteer. I myself had to contact the Cultural Attache to find out how to volunteer for the Hungarian Heritage component–and I coulld do this because I am in contact with him. The Smithsonian web site did not allow for selecting the kind of volunteer work one was interested in doing. Nor for that matter, did the Hungarian coodinator do anything to ensure that the appropriate persons were placed in the needed positions.
While I realize that the Smithsonian wants to keep all of the programs to the same profile, letting people chose where they would like to work, particularly when different languages are invovled, would be helpful. That said, the Embassy still carries the onus for not making possibilities for volunteer work more widely available to the Hungarian public, and for not indicating where Hungarian Heritage volunteers would be most useful. Information was disseminated by various Hungasrian groups, many of whom have no local base, yet not via the loal Hungarian listserv, Unicum. A great loss of potential helpers.
One last comment:
I worked as the liaison between the Smithsonian, the Hungarian community, and the Hungarian Embassy in the 1976 Festival, Hungary was one of only two countries from behind the Iron Curtain to participate (Romania being the other). The theme then was to connect the immigrant community with the homeland. In the Cold War atmosphere, most immigrant communities refused to work with the Communist regimes or the regimes themselves were unwilling to accept the terms. Yet the Festival was very successful for Hungary and the Hungarian diaspora in spite of all of the major Hungarian organizations boycotting it officially at least. Some associations currently involved, the Hungarian American Coalition, were not formed, but the American Hungasrian Educators Association insured that the Festival was a success. Many contacts were made which led to cooperation in the following years and deepened incipient contacts. In Albany/Árpádhon, Louisiana, it led to a trilingual school and Hungarian teachers coming to the community as well as community members going to Hungary to study culture and refresh the language. Kálmán Magyar, who also participated in this year’s Festival, was one of the important contacts for the American-Hungarian cooperation, as was Piroka’s Nagy’s father, Károly.
Enikő Molnár Basa PhD
Founder and Executive Director
American Hungarian Educators Association
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