Why do Hungarians wear a cockade on 15 March?
Wearing a cockade is a tradition in Hungary on 15 March, when the country and the nation celebrate the outbreak of the 1848 civic revolution. But why do we wear that piece of textile on our hearts?
15 March is a day of national celebration in Hungary. In 1848, Hungarian reformists conducted a successful and bloodless revolution in Pest and Buda. Following that, the Hungarian National Assembly and the Habsburg monarch accepted the bills, resulting in the civic transformation of the feudalist Hungarian Kingdom.
Unfortunately, Vienna decided to crush those developments and the revolution in September 1848, but the enthusiastic people of Hungary protecting their newly won rights grabbed weapons and led a freedom fight. We wrote in THIS article what the Habsburg emperor needed to stop the victorious Hungarian forces.
The red-white-green cockade has become a symbol of the 15 March revolution, which is not surprising: the official flag of Hungary also consists of the red-white-green colour trio. But that is not the whole story.
Cockade is a French accessory originating from the home of successful revolutions. It became a popular accessory during the first days of the 1789 revolution, but French people wore it in their hats.
We, Hungarians wear it on our clothes, on the left-hand side, on our hearts. That is how we show our respect towards the heroes of the 1848 revolution, Angelika Orgona, a historian of the Hungarian National Museum, said.
You can check out Petőfi’s original cockade in this museum
According to her, women made ribbon rosettes of the national colours for their men, just like Júlia Szendrey, the wife of Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi (whose poems are well-known even in China), did in 1848.
The red-white-green rosette symbolises Hungary’s freedom, our independence movement and the country’s autonomy.
Petőfi’s original cockade is in the Hungarian National Museum, Lelépő wrote. Interestingly, in the centre, it had the Hungarian coat-of-arms, but without the Holy Crown of Hungary since Petőfi was a republican already in 1848. Not only Mrs Petőfi but also other actresses and wives made cockades before the revolution.
Petőfi donated his rosette to one of his friends, Kálmán Hajós, in 1849. Mr Hajós gave it to Dániel Hamary in 1879. Mr Hamary then donated the cockade to the Hungarian National Museum in 1895. He was a medical student in 1848 and a partaker in the 15 March events.
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