The Calvin Hungarian Congregation of Ottawa will hold its Easter celebration online on April 12, 2020, at 11:00. For further information please click on this link.

Happy Easter!

In order to fully comply with the safety measures implemented across the entire country, we must suspend all community activities at the House. We will do so until it is safe to take part in mass meetings.

Please stay and be safe!

To Be Translated

for Babies, Wobblers, Toddlers & Parents
Cuddly games, rhymes & songs accompanied by musical instruments

Laughing, giggling & singing, live musical instruments based on the Kerekítő book series’ folk tales and cuddly games.

Our grandparent’s games are the cradle of emotional security and art education. The love language of the first-year rhymes, touch, hugs and smile, will accompany children for a lifetime.

Why is it different from other baby and mum events?

This is a unique network of events where Hungarian folk songs & rhymes are played with live musical instruments. It was brought to life by drama teacher Judit J. Kovács. Its main source of inspiration is from folk traditions, recognizing the importance for the little ones to first come across their own musical tradition.

Kerekítő’s fun, creative gatherings are all about learning through playing, with activities such as rhyme time, music, movements and fun games for babies, wobblers and toddlers. A great way for parents to spend quality time with their little ones, while singing traditional Hungarian childrens songs, nursery rhymes & enjoying themselves too.

Let’s play, sing and move together!

The entry is free!

The first session will be held at: 41B Forester Crescent, Ottawa, ON K2H 8Y3, between 10:00 and 11:00 AM on Sunday, October 27, 2019.

All subsequent sessions will be programmed on the fly based on common agreement.

If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to contact the organizer:

Dóra Nagy, Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Internship Program participant
Cell: +1 343-202-4853, e-mail: nagy.dora0529@gmail.com

Further information (in Hungarian) about the methods and publications are available at the www.kerekito.hu web site or on Facebook at ”Kerekítő Közösség”.

Terrific news!

The Foundation for Hungarian Theatres has initiated a new program that records and preserves the best of Hungarian Theatre. Encouraging access to these recordings, the project allows these productions to reach remote sites and locations where the public has been so far deprived of the magic of theatre.

The project has been put on track in 2017, and the selection is made by an Advisory Board formed by theatre managers and theatre professionals of note. The recordings are made in HD quality, and in accordance with the laws for intellectual property and copyright, and are conducted by theatre directors of the calibre of István Márton and Tamás Zilahy.

The Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., has purchased the distribution rights of several recordings and is putting them at the disposal of the Hungarian communities across North-America. At the moment, five shows are becoming available to the Hungarian community centres, with English subtitles and in high resolution, which we will present at the OHCC as part of out “Televised Theatre” series. We hope many will join us for the virtual tour of one of Budapest’s leading theatres, enjoying a sample of their work!

We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Foundation, its creators, and we thank the Washington and Ottawa embassies for initiating this program that nourishes the souls and rejuvenates our shared treasure, our native language. This endeavour cannot occur often enough since most of us – taking summer holidays in “the old country” – encounter significantly reduced levels of theatre activity during our visits. These virtual theatre soirées answer a real need and will be a perfect complement to the efforts of most community centres to host as many theatre productions on their stages as possible.

“If one steps into a capital (city) and would like that nation to reveal itself to his eyes, all he has to do is step into one of its theatres. Actors are guardians of the mothertongue, and the nation lives through its language. Should the nation foster a widely cared for network of playhouses, Transylvania would not be neglected by its performing geniuses.”

Historian László Kőváry, About Szeklerland (1842)

We second this implicit motion here, on the distant shores of the Big Waters, as well. Thanks again!

In 2017 the National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada launched a campaign that raised $7,550.00 to purchase the mini-bus seen above for use in transporting children to Hungarian language schools in isolated Hungarian communities in Transylvania.

Since more vehicles are needed to transport children to Hungarian schools, the NAHC has organized this campaign again between June 4 and October 23 to raise funds for yet another vehicle.

Donations can be made by:

• direct transfer to the NAHC bank account:
  34096-004-3409-5011541
• cheque mailed to NAHC, 100 Glouchester Street, Suite 352, Ottawa, ON K2P 0A4. Please make it payable to the “National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada” and specify “nahcminibus2018” as memo
• E-mail transfer addressed to the Treasurer of the NAHC at treasurer@kmosz.ca using “nahcminibus2018” as the password

Help support isolated Hungarian communities maintain their language and culture, together we can achieve more!

With the exception of the New Year’s Eve Party, the OHCC is closed until January 5^th inclusive.

We wish you good rest, merry Christmas, as well as happiness, health and strength for the New Year!

The second half of the beginner Hungarian course (LANG 1020B) at Carleton University is intended for students who already have rudimentary knowledge of Hungarian and they are interested in expanding their command of the language. Since the winter term course will draw on the material completed between September and December 2017, new students must take a placement test to ensure that they are placed at the appropriate level.

This course is also intended for second or third-generation Hungarian-Canadians who have learned and used the language at home, who can understand or speak the language to some degree but never learned Hungarian through formal instruction.

Registration is already open. The winter term classes begin on January 8, 2018.

Details on how to register are available at the university website: https://carleton.ca/slals/hungarian/

Inquiries can be sent directly to the course instructor as well: hungarian@carleton.ca

Sponsored by the Ministry Responsible for Nation Policy of Hungary

In many regions detached from Hungary in 1921 the local authorities and governments made it impossible for the Hungarian minority to study in its mother tongue. In these areas children would need to commute way too far in order to enrol into Hungarian classes.

The unitarian priest of Magyarzsákod (Maros County, Romania), Sándor Balázs, initiated a program in support of the affected children. According to the plan, with the help of the Transylvanian Federation, vehicles in the range of $8,000 each will be purchased and transformed into school buses. The National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada would like to join and support this effort by raising funds for at least one vehicle.

At the beginning of June, the OHCC management committed itself to this cause as well. In the period of June 4^th and August 20^th it donates the income of the OHCC’s events to this fund. So far, Canada wide, NAHC member organizations raised $3,900. We are calling upon everyone to contribute to this noble and important cause. Donations can be transferred directly as well by contacting the president of the Transylvanian Federation:

Bácsfainé Dr. Hévizi Józsával
Erdélyi Szövetség – Transylvanian Federation – Siebenbürgischer Verband – Fédération de Transylvanie
1052 Budapest, Semmelweis u. 1/3.
Tel: +36-20-374-1315
E-mail: erdelyiszovetseg@gmail.com or hevizijozsa@gmail.com

The NAHC will transfer the collected donations at the end of August, before the beginning of the new scholar year. All contributions are highly appreciated and we thank you in advance.

Teamed up with a few contributors, we began editing the radio program of the Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre. In the beginning, we will rely mostly on music, but, through the introduction of columns, our editorial board will strive to focus on the life of the House, as well as interests and needs of our community. The first broadcasting will take place this Sunday, July 16^th, at 7 PM on CHIN Radio 97.9 FM.

The live radio broadcasting is available on the internet, as well as through the free smartphone app from anywhere at any time. The Program Guide and Recordings will be made available on the OHCC Radio page.

We wish you a pleasant listening,
The Board of Directors of the OHCC