Hungarian Virtue at the NATO SHAPE Festival

In the spirit of NATO’s “Together We Are Stronger” slogan, community-building events – such as the annual SHAPE festival in Mons, Belgium – are held alongside multinational exercises. The goal is for soldiers serving with NATO SHAPE to celebrate the Headquarters’ diverse, international community together.

The deeper understanding of each other’s cultures contributes to strengthening camaraderie during the performance of duties, thus enhancing interoperability and making daily cooperation, planning and execution of tasks based on international alliance more effective. True to the traditions, the Hungarian community took seriously the goal of the festival this year, too, and earned further international recognition for the famous Hungarian hospitality.

The festival was opened by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). Following the traditions, General Alexus G. Grynkewich welcomed the national military representatives in a sporty, civilian outfit. After his welcome speech, the Szolnok-based Tisza Dance Group created an unforgettable atmosphere by making the participants move in front of the grand stage. The nearly 80-year-old folk dance group has been led by Captain Szabolcs Kabdebon for five years. During the history of the dance group, the dancers have appeared on stage in almost every European country, as well as in the Far East, in Japan. Their international experience was perceptible at the SHAPE Fest, where they performed dances from various Hungarian areas to authentic folk music, and then successfully introduced the international audience to the world of Hungarian folk dance.

Meanwhile, at the Hungarian tent, the volunteers waited for those interested in Hungarian cuisine, with goulash soup and chimney cake based on traditional recipes, using Hungarian ingredients. Both scents and tastes were persuasive, as there were long queues at the tent and hundreds of plates were consumed of the dishes unusual in Belgium.

Besides Hungarian culture and cuisine, two soldiers in hussar uniforms made sure that military traditions also come alive at the festival. With their special appearance, they represented our homeland’s rich military past and willingly took pictures together with the interested audience. A peculiarity of the day was when the Hungarian hussars visited their Belgian mounted police colleagues, who were responsible for the festival’s security. It was also interesting that it turned out that the Belgian patrols were riding on well-trained horses of Hungarian origin. Of course, numerous photos captured this uncommon moment.

Besides the colourful audience of the festival, the Hungarian tent had several important visitors during the day. National Military Representative of the HDF Major General Dr. László Sticz received Lieutenant General Ludovic Pinon de Quincy, SHAPE’s Deputy Chief of Staff, István Balogh, Hungary’s Permanent Representative to NATO, and Levente Bánfalvi, Hungary’s Ambassador to the European Union. Major General Sticz also had a discussion with Brigadier General József Szűcs, Executive Coordinator of the NATO Military Committee’s International Military Staff. The major general also received at the tent the Canadian, Czech, Romanian and Swedish military representatives serving at SHAPE.