Watch: Hungary's National Christmas Tree Put Up in Budapest
- 30 Nov 2023 7:14 AM
- Hungary Today
On Monday morning, following a decades’-old tradition, the Office of the National Assembly raised the country’s Christmas tree on Kossuth Square.
This year’s donation was an approximately 24-meter-tall pine with a trunk diameter of 80 centimetres and weighing five tons, originating from the garden of a family home in Hajdúszoboszló (eastern Hungary), the parliamentary press office announced.
The tree was planted in 1983. As there have been many storms in the country recently, the family decided to cut down the tree, Zsuzsa Hegedűsné Agárdi told public television channel M1.
She said that it had never crossed her mind to donate the 20-meter-tall pine tree for the country’s Christmas tree because she thought it was too late. Her husband had carried out the action as a surprise without her knowledge.
Agárdi was very sorry to have to cut down the tree, but was pleased that it was chosen as the country’s Christmas tree and will adorn Kossuth Square in Budapest.
The tree was cut down on Sunday with the help of more than fifty people and transported to Budapest the same day.
The country’s Christmas tree traveled for nine hours during the night until the ‘special delivery’ arrived in front of the Parliament on Monday morning.
The work began early in the morning on Kossuth Square, where cranes and trucks moved the tree, requiring a huge net, a large metal stand, and more than fifty people to set it up.
Many people on the square watched as the tree was set up. Some took a fallen branch as a souvenir, others travelled hundreds of kilometers from Transylvania (Romania) to see the country’s future Christmas tree. The most spectacular moment of the event was when the giant tree was lifted in the air and the trunk put into place.
Hungary’s Christmas tree will take its final shape at the end of the week, as it will take several days to decorate the green giant.
MTI Photo: Zoltán Máthé
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