The rivers run silently, swirling around the pillars. The current brings foam and here and there the white bodies of dead fish float in it. The bridge and the main street are full of people. Giggling and chattering teenagers and grown men alike fall silent as the ceremony starts, and the wind brings the sound of distant bells ringing. Some songs were sung and some poems recited, along with a few speeches.
People bend over the guardrail, and throw flowers into the dirty foam.
Young people in Budapest also feel the need to remember what was once a river, and they are preparing a similar demonstration for 20 February, where veteran speakers of the once-famous Danube Movement will speak. All of this, and more. The Tisza was once a Hungarian river, its source as well as its estuary belonged to Hungary. It provided the setting for innumerable songs and ballads, children's counting songs - even shepherd dogs were named after the two rivers, the Tisza and the Bodrog. Local specialities, Szeged fishermen's soup and Upper Tisza fishermen's soup, were often in competition with each other, but both were considered better than Danube fish soup.