Today, 19 October, Pan-Finno-Ugric Day is celebrated in appreciation of the culture and languages of the Finno-Ugric peoples. The ongoing Estonian Finno-Ugrian Days 2019 are dedicated to the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous Languages.
In the message he sent to Hanna Kosonen, the Finnish Minister for Science and Culture, and Prof. Dr Miklós Kásler, the Hungarian Minister of National Resources, Minister Tõnis Lukas said that the Pan-Finno-Ugric Day is one of the most prominent symbols of Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian cultural cooperation for more than 90 years.
The ongoing Estonian Finno-Ugrian Days 2019 are dedicated to the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous Languages
„As most Finno-Ugric languages are also endangered or even disappearing, the purpose of Finno-Ugrian Days is to highlight the importance of those unique languages and cultures, and to remind everyone of our collective responsibility to protect, and foster them,” said Minister Lukas.
Tõnis Lukas also invited his Finnish and Hungarian colleagues to the 8th World Congress of the Finno-Ugric peoples in Estonia next year in 17-19 June, 2020 at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu. The main theme of the 8th Congress will be “Cultural landscapes – language and mind“.
The tradition of celebrating the Pan-Finno-Ugric Day started in 1931 and was revived in 1988. Since 2011, Pan-Finno-Ugric Day celebrated on the third Saturday in October, has been an Estonian national holiday.