Reguly Festival

The first Reguly Festival is a cultural and scientific-educational event which is going to be held between 11.07-14.07.2019 in Zirc, Hungary.

The multi-purpose festival remembers Antal Reguly’s lifework, connects the visitors to the culture of peoples who speak Finno-Ugric languages and with its special programmes based on the Finno-Ugric languages joins to the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Antal Reguly was born 200 years ago on 11. July 1819. in Zirc, Hungary. He was engaged in exploring the roots of the Hungarian language, in studying Hungarian ethnography and in collecting data on the culture, history and folklore of people s speaking Finno-Ugric languages during his field works. He spent a three-years period in Russia, in the territories of indigenous peoples as Khanty, Mansi, Komi, Mari, Mordvin and Udmurt. He collected linguistic and folklore data, ethnographic materials and he also made the same research in the Baltic region and in Finland among the Votes and Sámi. He is also known as a cartographer and as the author of the first detailed map of the Northern Ural.

The festival starts with a half-day scientific-educational conference dedicated to Reguly’s lingustic, historic and cartographic researches and to the questions of handling his scientific inheritance.

During the four days of the festival visitors can take part in various programmes in connection with Finno-Ugric languages and cultures by the agency of representatives of the above mentioned peoples. The guests from Russia will hold presentations in their endangered native languages (with Hungarian translation) about their everyday life and about the possibilities to preserve and improve these languages. Visitors can join to language workshops where they can learn some basic phrases and grammar of these languages.

On the cultural events visitors have the opportunity to participate in folkdancing, folk music, handycraft and culinary workshops and concerts held by the representatives of indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia. The cinema room with non-stop screening of Finno-Ugric documentaries is also waiting for the audience.