Hungary allocates over EUR 750,000 for minority kindergartens
Lendava, 28 January - The Hungarian minority in the north-eastern Pomurje region in Slovenia has together with the Hungarian government secured EUR 751,000 for efforts to revamp or upgrade bilingual kindergartens in the Lendava area.
The Madžarska Samoupravna Narodna Skupnost (Hungarian Self-Governing Community) received the funds through an open call in Hungary and will now transfer them to the Lendava municipality, which is the founder of the kindergartens in question.
The day care centres in villages Čentiba and Gaberje will get additional facilities. A school in Čentiba will be renovated to make room for another three kindergarten departments in what will be a EUR 516,000 investment.
Moreover, all bilingual kindergartens in the Prekmurje region will get new sports and playground areas.
Presenting the investment this week, Hungarian minority MP Ferenc Horvath, who is the head of the Madžarska Samoupravna Narodna Skupnost council, said that marking Day of Hungarian Culture on 22 January, Hetes men's and women's folk costumes from the ethnically mixed region of Prekmurje had been included on the list of Hungarian national values.
Hetes is a cultural region near the Ledava river where a Hungarian ethnic group lived until the First World War, preserving their old-world culture. Hetes costumes boast rich ornaments on white textile, detailed and artistic embroidery and hand-woven ribbons or belts. There is also the influence of costume traditions from neighbouring Croatia and Slovenia.
Today, villages where Hetes culture is still kept alive are situated mainly around Lendava with most of its residents being Hungarian. Another five Hetes villages are in Hungary.