St Istvan's Day and Mike's Birthday

Yesterday was one of Hungary's largest national holidays and also Mike's birthday. Mike says the entire country celebrated his birthday with parades and fireworks! It's like having a July 4th birthday in the US.
St. Istvan's Day is celebrated in honor of King Steven (Istvan) who was Hungary's first Christian king, crowned in the year 1000.
All kinds of huge celebrations are held throughout the country. The Virag Karnival (Flower Carnival) is celebrated here in Debrecen. The highlight of the celebration is a huge parade with lots of floats covered in flowers. This float depicts the royal crown--no one knows why the cross on top of the crown is crooked.
We watched the entire parade, almost three hours long. It included many dance troupes which stopped along the way and performed for the audience. Several groups were local and there were many from other countries including this group from Turkey (I think).

There were other festivities throughout the week which culminated in fireworks last night. Nancy was too tired to go to the fireworks, but we saw the tops of them from our balcony. Thanks to our friend Mary Jill for this picture of the fireworks.
All in all it was a great holiday. Can't wait 'til next year!