Bugac: the home of Hungarian traditions

According to Cartour Magazine, Bugac is one of the typical Hungarian market towns. It is located in the Great Hungarian Plain between the two biggest rivers of Hungary, Duna and Tisza and it is the sixth biggest town in Bács-Kiskun County.

The foundation of the settlement dates back to the 14^th century when it was first mentioned in a royal bull in 1391. Presumably, Bugac was founded by the Cumans, although there might have been a settlement in the Árpád-Era with stone houses and a basilica earlier.

People say that it is like time has been stopped here. All the typical animals of the Great Hungarian Plain can be found from “racka” lamb through horses to the famous Hungarian grey cattle. Bugac has a diverse geography, saline plain, moor, and sand-covered plains mark the wonderful landscape.

Unfortunately, no one can walk around as they want to,

because this is an environmentally protected area, hence only the marked routes can be used, but do not worry, there is still so much to see there.

The flora of the town is worth mentioning as well since all species typical of the plains can be identified in its territory. Among others, one can see Astragaluses (astragaluses dasyanthus), Red Helleborines, Irises (iris humilis) and Dianthuses (dianthus diutinus). Typical animals are bush crickets and Viperas (vipera ursinii). The latter is one of the rarest animals in Hungary; although it is not seriously endangered officially, its sentimental value is around EUR 2990. The average length of the vipera is somewhere between 40 and 50 cm. The most common animal of the plain is the European rabbit.

We have already reported about one of the biggest traditional events of Europe which is organized in Bugac in every two years, namely the Kurultáj. It is obviously the most famous and most popular attraction in the area. The event is organized by the Hungarian Turan Fund, who invite every people from the Highlands and Transylvania keeping their traditions to take part in this extraordinary event. Visitors can watch a wide range of programs like folk concerts, horseback combat demonstrations with the best warriors alongside interactive exhibitions, trying different professions and archery.

Kurultáj means assembly and the event itself is the assembly of Hun and Turkish nations as well:

The Azerbaijani, Avar, Bashkir, Bulgarian, Balkar, Buryat, Chuvash, Gagauz, Kabardino, Karachay, Karakalpak, Kazakh, Madjar tribe of Kazakhstan, Kirghiz, Kumi, Mongolian, Nogai, Uzbek, Madzsar tribe of Uzebekistan, Tatar, Turkish, Tuva, Turkoman, Uyghur, Yakut, Hungarian.

These 27 nations all perform at least one traditional show for the visitors and each other.

Interested how the Kurultáj looks like? Take a look at our gallery about the assembly or watch the below short movie:

Featured Image: facebook.com/kurultaj/

Source: cartourmagazin.hu/ kurultaj.hu