The Minority Question in the ROHU cross-border area: Slovak Culture, Tradition and History without Borders

The main overall objective of our project is to promote the traditions, culture and common history of the Slovak communities, in the context of cross-border cooperation and relationship at the Romanian-Hungarian border. A key aim of this project is to preserve Slovak folk traditions in close relationship with the Romanian and Hungarian traditions and history, and to recover our local and regional culture, so that the legacy of our ancestors will not be forgotten.Partners gathered in this project are: Commune of Şinteu (Bihor County) and The Organization of Slovaks from Csaba (Bekes County, Bekescsaba).Tradition and cultural heritage is part of territorial capital and identity. Cultural and historical values are crucial for creating and maintaining long lasting relationship between communities in the border region. The target territory covers two Slovak regions from Hungary and Romania, specifically the region of Şinteu, Bihor County and the region of Bekescsaba (a large and active community of Slovaks in Hungary). Despite common language, very similar traditions and resembling historical roots, Slovaks from this region have few harmonised contacts; their contacts are rather encircled around their families, instead of having large scale features.Lower Land was the term used in the past to describe the southern regions of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In the past many Slovaks would leave home in search of a living in those regions. These expatriates may have left their homes behind but they took their culture with them. The ,,Lower Land” is a part of Romania apart from the Bihor region. The term also includes a part of Hungary towards the Bekes Csaba situated close to the Hungarian-Romanian border.Slovak communities are part of the Romanian-Hungarian territory and history. In Romania, Slovaks were invited long ago by the landlords, and settled few Slovak villages, one of these being Şinteu, during 1812-1817. In Hungary, Slovak communities have a more active and animated existence, but they lack connections and unit with the specificities of communities from Romania. On the other hand, Şinteu (sk. Nová Huta) is a small community settled in the centre of beautiful Natura 2000 landscapes. Almost 98% of its population is Slovakian. But because of its quite solitary existence, this community is endangered and exposed to disappearance. The smaller the community gets, the greater are the risks of losing traditions, culture and self-identity.Through this project we will enhance and expand the cultural dimension of the local fairs/ festivals and their cross-border influence and impact (on preserving the cultural heritage related to local/ traditional products, production processes etc.). The project will identify and link different elements from this border area that associated with local production and jointly promote them through its activities. Our project is expected to enhance the cultural value of this region, but also of the experiences of the cross-border participants and travellers. Additionally, it will create a self-respect and awareness about local production and traditions that might increase cross-border economic and tourism activity. We aim at encouraging sustainable development at regional level by supporting an on-line network of actors that are linked to any cultural event, festival or competition of Slovak communities, in strong relationship with the Romanian and Hungarian communities. Our efforts will be sustained by activities of improving the circulation of multilingual information materials on cultural aspects related to the target communities.Our vision on this project is one of an integrated pool of traditions developed along this border, from Bihor County to Bekes County, but also integrating other counties from this eligible area. On one hand, we wish to establish direct and long lasting relationship between the two partners and their communities. On the other hand, we are aware about the fact that if we expect to have multiannual traditional and cultural events, we must develop and give to communities a tool of effective management of cross-border contacts, actors and events. Once this tool is generated and further properly managed, we expect an increasing of cross-border contacts and meetings that will strengthen cross-border trust and establish stronger relations. In order to reach a higher impact, our project will introduce a joint on-line network that will collect, arrange and present data about cross-border communities, institutions, NGOs and other actors that are related to the culture and history of Slovaks into the Romanian and the Hungarian territory. Our project will directly involve citizens, local and regional authorities and civil society and cultural organizations while developing interpersonal contacts and partnerships and creating a platform for sharing experiences from different sides of the border. This joint network will be one of the central pillars for the success of the project. In this context of the three cultures, cooperation will become an area in which actors will be able to step away from their local concerns and establish a privileged area for both social and cultural exchange. The national border will be in fact the opposite of being a barrier to understanding, as it will provide a way to allow a deeper and richer understanding of what traditions in the cross-border context mean.We will organize in Şinteu and Bekescsaba 2 workshops for public authorities, institutions, organizations related to Slovak minority, 2 open air events (“Living Slovak Museum: A Museum of Slovak Culture and Traditions”). We will disseminate events through different communication items like leaflets, adds, conferences, web page, logo etc.The total project budget is 71.500 euro, split between partners as following: 36.500 euro for LP and 35.000 euro for PP.The project will be implemented between December 2018 and November 2019.

Achieved: 1) promoting the traditions, culture and common history of the Slovak communities, in the context of cross-border cooperation and relationship at the Romanian-Hungarian border. 2) Enhanceing and expanding the cultural dimension of the local fairs/ festivals and their cross-border influence and impact (on preserving the cultural heritage related to local/ traditional products, production processes etc.). Finalized: 1) 4 cross-borders events: - 2 workshops regarding "The Slovak Minority Issue", one in Romania and one in Hungary; - 2 “Living Slovak Museum: A Museum of Slovak Culture and Traditions” Events, gathering and presenting information about Slovak communities and organizations from the cross-border area, about thei Slocak way of living in the past and in the present, about their history, their traditions, Slovak folk, Slovak food etc. ; 2) Purchase of equipment necessary for event organization: tents, wooden booths, outdoor furniture: benches and tables; 3) Develloping an on-line network of communities (set on a web site), organizations, institutions, actors and groups that share common interest in promoting and preserving Slovak culture and traditions.

Since the intensity level of cross-border cooperation is measured in the number and quality of cooperation initiatives, and in the number of participants of cooperation initiatives, this project aims to prove initiatives that have a high impact on both communities involved in the project. In this respect, partners will develop and organize a multi-annual event of sharing Slovak culture, art, tradition and history that will happen two times during the project implementation, and after termination, yearly in Şinteu and Bekescsaba. The event will be called “Living Slovak Museum: A Museum of Slovak Culture and Traditions”. We expect that there will be 1.025 participants per event. Partners and representatives of their communities will meet several times during this project: 4 joint project management meetings - in order to proper manage and organize the entire project; 2 official meetings – 1 workshop in Şinteu and 1 in Bekescsaba, in order to debate Slovak minority issues, to find ways of promoting Slovak culture and traditions, to establish contacts between communities and organizations related to Slovak ethnic minority from Romania and Hungary. We aim that all the established connections will become official through 1 Partnership Agreement that will be signed on a long term by at least 10 partners representing the Romanian-Hungarian cross-border area. Cross-border cooperation will also be strengthened through development of a web page that will act as an on-line network. Its aim is to establish new relationship between all the organization across border that are managing periodically events related to the Slovak culture and traditions. Thus, the level of cross-border cooperation is higher, since this web page will be active beyond the termination of this project. Partners will manage constantly this page so that information gathered in this network to be helpful for the promotion of Slovak culture and tradition and for connecting interested people.