One year after the start of the standard Rovas town sign movement, almost a hundred signs are already aside the country roads.
Runic town signs spread in Hungarian countryside
While it is not uncommon to find a settlement’s name written out in both Hungarian and the language of the local minority if they make up a large enough section of the population, what is increasingly happening is that signs featuring the town’s name in Hungarian script (rovásírás) – mistakenly called Runes or Runic – are also being put up, and local governments have no say in the matter, as the permits required are issued by the roads authority.
The issue that brought this to light was that such Rovas signs were erected leading into Hódmezővásárhely, the city that under the leadership of Fidesz parliamentary faction leader János Lázár had previously banned the Hungarian Guard paramilitary group and the Árpád-striped flag.
László Sipos, the director of the Rovás Alapitvány, which has spearheaded the project, said erecting the signs began in 2003 in Székely Land, and that the aim is to make the sign apolitical, although he acknowledged that far-right party Jobbik has been a strong proponent of the signs.
Milán Árva, the communications director of the Hungarian Road Authority, said that a Rovas town sign technically is registered as advertisements and not official road signs, and that response to them has been primarily positive. The local government of Hódmezővásárhely, however, has not been as receptive to the idea.
(Politics.hu – original source)
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