Hungary: Bird Mascot rules the town for a week

The Future of Europe Association (FEA) was established in 1990 with the aim to assist the children of Kecskemét (Hungary) become acquainted with children from other European countries through children?s meetings. The idea was simple: the association would invite children from other European countries who would be hosted by schools of Kecskemét and foreign children would stay with families and in the following year the foreign groups would invite their hosts for an exchange visit. Organised for the first time in 1991 the biannual event was held for the 9th time on 9-16 July, 2006 with a record-breaking attendance of 2000 foreign youth. During the previous occasions FEA hosted 9000 children from 80 settlements from 27 countries and its vision ramined the same: the children of today become a tolerant generation, free from all prejudices and accepting people and their differences. In 2006 participants came from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Turkey and Ukraine. The foreign groups had only one task: to bring along presents, music, dances and programmes that can be demonstrated without linguistic difficulties. A main feature of the festival is a folkdance parade on stage on the main square but programmes include theater and music performances, handcrafts and two youth camps. A new feature in 2006 was the concert of the Kodály-Bartók Youth World Orchestra. Named after the famous Hungarian composers the orchestra was composed of 90 young musicians from 20 countries, all participants of the local music summer school. During the week Csiperó, the bird mascot of the festival ruled the town of Kecskemét with its poster on virtually every corner of the town. It was created during the first festival in 1991 by one of the attendees. Since then the round-bellied puppet figure of a birdie became the symbol of the event. The next international youth and children festival will be held in Kecskemét in 2008. www.csipero.hu