In celebration of the summer solstice, the Sister City committees of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and Taszar, Hungary, were hosting Sanziene or Szentivan-Ej, a Romanian-Hungarian Midsummer Garden Party.
The combining of the Romanian and Hungarian cultures offers the community a chance to celebrate these two countries’ midsummer traditions through ethnic music, dance and food.
“To celebrate the tradition of the midsummer, surrounded by the beauty of the Sister City Garden, allows us to share the culture and art of our countries in the most beautiful of settings,” Romanian Sister City representative Ramona Cornea said in a news release.
Historically, Romania and Hungary have often been at odds. However, they have found the Sister City organization in Rockford, which promotes people-to-people diplomacy, to be a common ground for many of their cultural celebrations. Because the Sister Cities of Cluj-Napoca and Taszar are two of the smaller Sister City groups in Rockford, the dovetailing of their celebrations is viewed as a natural solution to bringing their distinctive cultures to the Rockford community.
Today’s event is a fundraiser for the Romanian foreign student exchange program. Two high school students from Cluj-Napoca, Diana Matei and Tudor Oltean, will be visiting Rockford July 7-30. The students will be introduced to the American culture through visits to school programs, meeting with area teens, and visiting the many art and cultural activities in the Rockford region.
