Aranylakodalom: Fifty years of Cleveland’s Hungarian Scout Folk Ensemble

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Founded in 1973, the Hungarian Scout Folk Ensemble recently celebrated its Golden Anniversary, with 200 performers on stage and over 1100 people in the audience. Fifty years of learning and performing folk dances, fifty years of living Hungarian folk culture, fifty years of Cleveland teenagers being immersed in the language and customs of their parents and grandparents. Over the span of the Ensemble’s five decades, 410 young members, often second and third generation Cleveland Hungarians, have explored their roots, both in Cleveland and on four ethnographic research tours to Hungary and its surrounding countries. On occasion of this Golden Anniversary, a commemorative 192 page book with over 700 photographs was assembled; this paper will present an overview of the book, which includes the group’s background, history, and current state, as well as a synopsis of Hungarian scouting regös work on four continents worldwide. From the regös scout movement in 1930’s Hungary, to the 1960’s Gyöngyösbokréta movement in North America, and parallel to the 1970’s táncház movement in Hungary, with extravagant gala anniversary performances every five years, this scout ensemble transcends boundaries; its members are Hungarians in a true global context.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Endre Szentkirályi studied English and German at Cleveland State University, has an MA in English from the University of Akron, and earned a PhD from the University of Debrecen. He has edited several books of oral histories, as well as authoring Cold War to Warm Cooperation: the Military Service of Cleveland Hungarians 1950-2014 (Zrínyi Publishing) and Being Hungarian in Cleveland: Maintaining Language, Culture, and Traditions (Helena History Press, 2019). A lifelong Clevelander, he danced for ten years as a young adult member of the Ensemble. He currently teaches English and German at Nordonia High School near Cleveland, Ohio.