Collection: racka sheep were diverted on the Nine-Hole Bridge in Hortobágy

Hortobágy – The St. Dömötör Day collection holiday and crane festival has started. Thousands of people attended the sheer fall celebration.

Ákos Torbik, the representative of Hortobágyi Nonprofit Kft., Said at the opening that so many have never been on a recovery holiday. He pointed out that due to the pandemic this year, the program of the drive-out holiday and the equestrian days was missed, so it is understandable that many people were happy to visit the wilderness again.

He added that with the onset of cold weather, as the days get shorter, following the traditions of the old folk custom in Hortobágy, both shepherds and cattle are preparing for winter. The animals are driven from the steppe pastures to their winter accommodation, as they can no longer find food at the border.

St. Demetrius is one of the best-known patron saints of shepherds in the Great Plain, the collection of grazing farm animals took place in connection with the day of his name. The settlement and wage payment of the shepherds was also connected with the recovery, also known as entrapment.

The celebration of the day of Dömötör, the “dömötörő” among the shepherds, has always been a great event, for which they were well prepared in advance in the inn or in the medical shepherd’s house, even having fun for several days, holding a shepherd’s ball.

The shepherds of Hortobágyi Nonprofit Kft. They have a key role to play in nurturing the traditions of a unique pastoral culture that still lives today, in maintaining folk costumes and crafts, and in preserving the knowledge of the pastoral society that spans generations, the opening speech said.

On the collection feast on Sunday, there were also the foals exchanging their hoops, the hereditary shepherds of Hortobágy, the sheer five, but the various horse, gray cattle and buffalo teeth and carts were also driven around the foothills.

Joining the St. Dömötör Day collection festival, the Hortobágy National Park (HNP) will be held again this year, albeit without stage programs. The crane is a symbol of the HNP, and the famous crane ride is the most attractive natural event of the autumn sunsets.

According to the latest crane synchronization (counting) data, 103 thousand people are still in Hortobágy, 135 thousand have spent the night in the thirteen places for two weeks: in seven fishpond environments and in six flooded areas – explained István Kapocsi, HNP’s deputy director.

The daily, twilight-related movement of cranes is crane pulling, which lasts only a few weeks, but provides a lifelong experience for participants in related programs. Crane pulling is the most spectacular natural phenomenon in Hortobágy, the autumn festival of nature, which many people saw at this year’s crane festival.

Like the bridge fair on August 20, the Hortobágy fairground was filled with vendors on Sunday, where the local government organized a national unloading fair.