St Piran's Day campaign celebrates Cornish-Hungarian ties

Following the success of the inaugural Wales Week Hungary programme, Magyar Cymru's newest campaign - celebrating Cornwall's St Piran's Day - has attracted widespread attention in the lesser-known Celtic nation, with Cornish-language television and several local news outlets reporting on the initiative.

At the centre of the campaign was a heartfelt video message, recorded in Hungarian and Cornish with the help of Celtic culture enthusiasts from Hungarian online community ‘Keltaklub’. The video featured several lines in the Cornish language – a nod to Cornwall’s distinct identity and rich cultural heritage, which are of particular interest to Kernow fans in the Central European country.

Throughout St Piran's Day, Magyar Cymru’s blog and social channels showcased Cornwall and its culture to Hungarian readers, with contributions from writer Bíborka Farkas, whose recent novel ‘Druidaösvény’ introduces ancient Cornwall to a Hungarian audience.

Magyar Cymru founder Balint Brunner, who co-ordinated the video, said: “We’ve been building cultural ‘bridges’ between Hungary and Wales for years, and so we felt St Piran’s Day was the perfect opportunity to recognise and showcase Cornwall’s fascinating culture and beautiful language too.

“To do this, we joined forces with Keltaklub to reach out to our Cornish friends and celebrate this special day with them – while giving Kernowek a go!”

Hungarian writer Bíborka Farkas, admin of Facebook community ‘Keltaklub’, added: “I’m a huge admirer of Celtic cultures – and Kernow is no exception! I’m especially pleased to see that this incredible language still forms an important part of Cornish identity today.

“All my respect to those determined to protect, embrace and use this wonderful gift – and I’m glad I have had the opportunity to learn a few words myself!”

Other content on Magyar Cymru’s channels included basic Cornish phrases for Hungarian speakers, an introduction to Cornish music, as well as showcasing academics who have built links between Cornwall and Hungary.

They include fluent Cornish speaker Siarl Ferdinand – a recognised researcher in the field of Cornish language education who resides in the Hungarian city of Hódmezővásárhely – as well as a Hungarian academic who dedicated her PhD studies to Cornish language revival.

The initiative also piqued the interest of Welsh and English-speaking media in Wales - as well as Breton news outlet Breizh-Info, which covered the story in French.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Keltaklub for their enthusiasm throughout this project, as well as Pellwolok an Gernewegva for the Cornish-language translations.