Between June 3 and 5 the Patara Festival was held in Tata – in the Castle and on the shores of the Öreg-tó – for the 14th time already. However, it was for the first time that the Representation Office in Hungary of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) participated in the event, during the first day of which it organized the second Competition for high school students with the title Honeycomb and Pomegranate.
During the Festival, the traditionalists from Hungary and abroad presented contemporary clothing, military technology, authentic battle scenes and weapons that could be tested by both children and adults. Besides the military show, the visitors were able to get acquainted with everyday life in the 16th–17th centuries, contemporary crafts, customs and dishes. The Representation Office of the Organization of Turkic States was present at the Patara for the first time. During the first day of the Festival a competition for grade school students is traditionally held. This year almost 1.000 of them were taking part, however, this time high school students also joined them in order to match their skills in the competition Honeycomb and Pomegranate, organized by the Representation Office of OTS for the second time.
As Ambassador János Hóvári, the Executive Head of the Representation Office of OTS underlined in his opening remarks, the competition could not have a more notable venue but the Castle of Tata and the Öreg-tó and their environs. As he put it, the assignments in the competition were compiled in way that they should include tasks and questions on the Ottoman times of the 16th–17th centuries, as well as the history and the culture of the Turkic peoples. The teams that participated in the competition had received the background materials necessary for their preparations weeks before. Three of these (all videos) can also be found on the website of OTS. Ambassador Hóvári added: besides organizing the competition, the Representation Office was also making efforts so that the visitors to the three-day Festival would be able to learn about the culture, the gastronomy and the traditional attire of the Turkic peoples.
The teams were competing at the stations within the Castle of Tata for several hours. At each point, they had to fill in a test and had to know their way around contemporary weapons, the everyday and holiday attire of the Turkic peoples. At the same time, there were questions on the geography, the capitals and history of the Turkic states, and the competitors had to recognize the banners and the national anthems of the member states too. The competition completed early in the afternoon was finally won by the Karachay team of the Folklore Crafts High School and Dormitory in Nádudvar (Hajdú–Bihar County). As it is remembered, last year the competition was won by another team from Nádudvar – Tündük. This year, however, they had to make do with the third place only, since the second place went to the team Akcsek. of István Fekete–Mihály Vörösmarty Grade and High School from Ajka (Veszprém County). While handing over the prizes, Ambassador Hóvári highlighted the commitment and the knowledge of the teams, hoping that the young participants in the competition would be interested in Turkology, the culture, the history and the present of the Turkic peoples in the future as well.
On the second day of the Festival, after the official opening ceremony, the Representation Office of OTS gave a reception in the Esterházy Residence in Tata which was – besides the Ambassadors of the Turkic states accredited to Budapest – attended by H.E. Sebastian Kęciek, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Budapest, Major–General Tibor Bozó, the Chief of Staff of the Command of the Hungary Army and Brigadier General Gábor Lőrincz, the Commander of the 25th György Klapka Rifleman Brigade of the Hungarian Army. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Hóvári pointed out that the Patara Festival in Tata is one of the most monumental historical traditionalist events in Central Europe which brings generations and peoples closer to one another, and by evoking knowledge about history and military history, it paves to way to getting better acquainted with one another, to a more sincere understanding of one another. He stressed that the Hungarians and the Ottomans were waging wars for 300 years, only to live in friendship and supporting each other for the next 300 years. And today, among others in the framework of the Organization of Turkic States, they are cultivating fruitful political, economic, cultural and military relations.
The final results of the second Honeycomb and Pomegranate competition:
- the Karachay team of the Folklore Crafts High School and Dormitory in Nádudvar (Hajdú–Bihar County)
- the Akcsek team of István Fekete–Mihály Vörösmarty Grade and High School from Ajka (Veszprém County)
- the Tündük team of the Folklore Crafts High School and Dormitory in Nádudvar (Hajdú–Bihar County)
