In our tourist travels, we seek experiences in locales distinct from our places of residence or work. Tourism developments strive to fulfil this desire by showcasing and making tangible some unique local characteristic, thus attracting visitors to a specific place. In resource-poor areas, one of the simplest and least investment-demanding ways to achieve this is by turning a unique element of local culture into an attraction and celebrating it. This does not require costly infrastructure development, but it can still attract tourists. Our study focuses on these local celebrations, which are most often referred to as festivals, feasts or competitions. In the first part of this paper, our goal is to draw attention to a specific group of local festivals, events that focus on the culture of national minorities. Along with examples from Hungary, we present in more detail two festivals: one in Southwest Hungary’s Feked and the other in Southeast Hungary’s Deszk. In the second part of the study, we categorise local festivals based on the cultural elements they highlight. According to my research, four basic categories can be determined. Festivals can be created to celebrate a well-identifiable local cultural or economic phenomenon. There are local celebrations aimed at preserving or reviving disappearing or vanished local cultural elements. There are festivals that emphasise newly invented traditions. Finally, events based on humour or randomness can also be the basis of a tourist attraction.

Bhupen Hazarika was a multifaceted personality known for his contributions as a singer, songwriter, composer, filmmaker, writer, and social activist from Assam, a state in the north-eastern part of India. To honour his life and works, a memorial site is constructed in the Jalukbari area of Assam. The site is called ‘Dr Bhupen Hazarika Samadhikshetra’. It is located in Guwahati city, near Gauhati University, in the state of Assam, India. The literal meaning of the Assamese words Samadhikshetra is a burial site. Through empirical research, the paper investigates the conceptual framework of heritagization as applied to Dr Hazarika’s legacy, focusing on preserving, maintaining, and celebrating his contributions to society. The study emphasises the role of the memorial site, as a tangible example of Dr Hazarika’s cultural relevance by delving further into its architectural design, symbolic elements, and commemorative features. Beyond these tangible aspects, the study also addresses the intangible values, identity and collective memories that the site evokes and preserves. The paper also explores the close interaction between the cultural and constructed heritage of the site, emphasising the need for a holistic strategy to protect and preserve the cultural past. Despite controversies and challenges over selecting the last resting place of Dr Hazarika, the Samadhikshetra stands as a tribute to his lasting influence and gratitude for his artistic legacy. Through commemorative events and ongoing public engagement, the memorial site continues to serve as a sacred space where Dr Hazarika’s spirit can live on and inspire future generations.

My paper aims to present the dance culture of the 1940’s and explore its scientific approach to dance. According to results of my research, the “national-rescue activity” originating in Budapest looked for the promise of demonstrating “cultural-superiority” in youth-education. Movement-artists and newly formed amateur ensembles also played role in this. The initial dance-research followed the European research direction, considered the application of ethnological theories as the basis. When examining the interaction of city and countryside with a cultural-historical anthropological approach, my questions formulated in my writing: Did the village research and Scientific Institute-work in the 1940’s have an impact on the style of dance that also played a representative role, appearing as a result of the youth education efforts in Budapest? How does appear in the source-works that published the research-results of that time? My paper seeks the answers to these questions.

While analyzing the preservation of cultural heritage is more straightforward in homogenous households, inter-ethnic marriages present a captivating lens through which to examine cultural integration, social identity, and the preservation of tradition within diverse societies. This study explores the dynamics of inter-ethnic and homogeneous marriages among Meskhetian Turks and Azerbaijanis in Kazakhstan, applying the theoretical framework of dissimilation theory. By drawing on fieldwork conducted in 2024 which involved 45 interviews from two research villages, Turki Poselkasy and Kentau, located in the Turkestan province in the southern part of Kazakhstan, the research investigates the historical context and contemporary realities faced by these communities. In doing so, it highlights differences in culture, language, ​​and social norms that can influence the formation of both mixed and homogeneous marriages among minority groups in the region. The theoretical background of the study is grounded in dissimilation theory, which posits that individuals in inter-ethnic marriages tend to distance themselves from their own ethnic groups to establish new identities within the context of their relationships. Through interviews and surveys conducted across diverse settlements, the study explores social identities and groups as well as concepts of cultural and social differences including gender dynamics, to uncover the intricate mechanisms of dissimilation.

The image of Spain in the 21st century is defined by the coexistence of the descendants of different peoples who have arrived in the region over the past centuries and decades. Since prehistoric times, the history of the Iberian Peninsula has been marked by interactions between the groups that settled there; sometimes these relationships have involved a certain type of subordination and domination (for example, conqueror versus conquered), and at other times they have been characterised by the peaceful or conflictual coexistence of different societies. Thus, immigration, coexistence and assimilation have always been fundamental to the social and cultural life of Spain. To this day, cultural historians and philosophers have not been able to agree on whether the diversity of society has been an advantage or a disadvantage for the development of Spain. In this article, I will examine the approaches to this social and cultural diversity in different historical periods and the basic arguments used by scholars and scientists to support their beliefs. In analysing the issue, we look at prominent works and authors in Spanish cultural history, searching for and comparing possible arguments. We try to answer the question to what extent the search for homogeneity or diversity has been part of the Spanish self-definition in a given historical period.

Different types of fretted zithers appeared in the western and northern parts of Europe and in the Alpine regions 500-600 years ago to meet the needs of rural folk music. In the 19th and 20th centuries, in northern Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, zithers were constantly pushed out of village folk music. The final blow was the spread of the accordion to the zither. However, in some regions of southern Germany, Bavaria and Austria, zithers did not disappear, but underwent a number of significant modifications. In the first step, the volume of the instrument was increased (Salzburg form). This variety, called the Kratzzither was further developed in two different ways. To ensure that the zither could play with other instruments, the Scherrzither and Raffele were developed. Another development direction of the Kratzzither was the Schlagzither, which already provided a harmonic accompaniment to the melody. The systematic development of the Schlagzither made possible the birth of the Austrian and German Konzertzithers, whose harmonization already meets the requirements of classical music.

In Hungary, it was the land reform of 1945 which caused one of the most significant changes in the land policy. This measure, aimed at allocating land to landless peasants, utilized a total of 3,220,000 ha, which were distributed among 642,000 beneficiaries. As a result, each beneficiary received an average of 2,9 ha of agricultural land, on which they could make a living, albeit under difficult conditions. Historical research has examined this phenomenon, allowing us to understand its effects on Hungarian agriculture and the peasants. It is a less known fact, that not only agricultural lands but also – according to the previous works – in approximately 2800 settlements 300,000–450,000 building sites were distributed. As a result, new farmstead centers, settlements and residential areas emerged. This topic is a less researched area of the history of the Hungarian countryside, even though it caused many changes in the society of these settlements. To provide a more comprehensive understanding of these phenomena, the aim of my presentation is to illustrate this process using the example of Hajdúnánás, a small town located in northern Hajdú-Bihar County. This includes the occupation of agricultural lands, payment of expenses (such as contributions and redemption fees), the distribution of building sites, and the settlement and development of the Újházhely residential area. For this research, I utilized historical sources including electoral registers, house tax records, maps, statistical data, archival sources, legal documents, and interviews.

The archive of the Association of Folklorists and Ethnographers of Sibiu County, currently in the patrimony of the Sibiu Socio-Human Research Institute, was founded in 1977, at the initiative of Professor Ilie Moise. The archive contains collections and recordings, questionnaires, manuscripts, studies and ethnographic works, carried out by more than one hundred researchers of traditional culture in the main folkloric and ethnographic areas of Romania, since 1950 until today. The study presents the most important manuscript collections from the archive's inventory, with a focus on materials of some minorities, especially the Transylvanian Saxons, proof of the cultural interferences so evident in the southern Transylvanian area.

The meaning of bridges is often mentioned in town twinning and other international contacts. In general, this word has positive connotations, as bridges enable interaction and communication and ideally create close relationships. Bridges are usually referred to in a metaphorical sense, but in sometimes they are real structures, such as those dedicated to a specific partner or between two partner communities from different countries. While the significance of the former is symbolic, the latter also fulfill a function in the real sense. In a figurative sense, common elements of everyday life can also form a bridge and bring people together, such as customs, origins, sources of economic income, geographical location and historical experiences. Real bridges can not only connect people and cities, but also act as monuments that remind us of a relationship again and again. By describing selected examples of imaginary and real bridges, the article also addresses the following questions: Is the bridge metaphor mostly just an empty phrase? How are imaginary and real bridges perceived by the public? Are imaginary bridges (e.g. relevant activities, everyday cultural similarities) and physical bridges really connecting elements in European diversity? To what extent are they helpful in understanding the foreign? The article draws primarily on the author's many years of research into town twinning but also on a number of other bilateral relationships in the Central European context. Observations, surveys, media analyses and other research tools serve as sources.

The Hungarians living in the present-day Transcarpathian region have lived peacefully for centuries together with the majority Ruthenian/Ukrainian population, as well as with the Romanian, German, Roma and other ethnic groups, who live in a similar minority to the Hungarians. Ethnographers and tourists visiting the region are convinced that these nationalities have retained the characteristics of their culture to this day. At the same time, it is worth observing how this long historical coexistence is reflected in the way of life and mentality of these people. The parallels between Ruthenian and Hungarian language and folklore, folk customs are excellent examples of interethnic relations, but I have also encountered similar examples when researching the traditional material culture of the villages in Ugocsa. In the field of folk architecture, for example, the gate called tőkés kapu, as well as the abora, aszaló [the dryer] and the barn. Interethnic phenomena between Hungarians, Ruthenians and other nationalities of the region can also be observed in folk costumes (the guba, or the shoes called bochkor). Throughout history, in Transcarpathia, which belonged to different state formations, it was noticeable that culture was not strictly tied to peoples. Thanks to the tolerance shown towards each other, the nationalities of the region have preserved their ethnic and religious characteristics and identity, but we can also find many similarities in their cultures. When studying the interactions that mutually enrich each other's culture and provide a colorful and attractive image to the region, it is often impossible to find out who borrowed from whom and when. During the ethnographic research of the local communities, the main point is to take into account the ethnic interaction of the nationalities living here, as the folk culture of the local Hungarians is determined by the aggregation of the cultures of different ethnicities.

It may be safely stated at present that the triad of past, tradition and memory has accelerated at an incredible pace. Memory seems to keep the events of the past alive for ever shorter periods of time. Rites, memories and remembrance are now handed down as written sources in the form of textbooks. How does the narrative of the teaching aids that have emerged in the 21^st century then evolve and what are/have been their achievements in the construction of national identity? How do hon- és népismeret [Our homeland and its people] textbooks function as tools for building a national community? The subject hon- és népismeret taught in grade schools examines and discusses national culture and the processes of cultural reconstruction in a rather specific cross-section. Beyond exploring the interdependence and interlocking of the context and practice of ‘knowledge creation’/‘knowledge transmission’ in primary educational institutions, this paper aims to explore some salient observations on its generational relationship to memory. The importance of this subject and textbook is/has been undeniable, both as a tool for national and social community-building on the one hand and as a tangible archive of the process of heritage transmission/patrimonization on the other hand.