Mosonszentmiklós

Village Firefighter Trials, 2014

 

Photos taken at the annual Firefighter Trials hosted by our village of Mosonszentmiklós. Due to the very chilly, damp and windy conditions there weren't as many spectators as usual, but there were about 20 teams from a number of villages in our region and plenty of their friends and family there to cheer them on. There were teams of firefighters, women's teams, and several youthful teams of both boys and girls. We were happy to see kids enjoying themselves and taking an interest in volunteer firefighting things.

 


 

 

 

Photos of some of the old fire trucks. Jer was dressed in baggy clothes but still was a bit chilly with the strong wind and not very warm temperatures.

 


 

 

 

Left, an old seat attached to an old wheelbarrow... evidently just something for fun and photo ops!; Center, the day's batches of bean goulash being cooked up; Right, our mayor welcoming all the teams in the opening ceremony.

 


 

 

 

Left, the various teams all lined up at the opening; Center, a male team preparing for the fire extinguisher challenge (they had to hold them straight in front of them at chest level); Right, a women's team doing the same challenge. Women  hold them over their heads.

 


 

 

 

Left and Center, children of firefighters enjoying their day; Right, homemade palinka (a kind of distilled liquor like brandy) made of various fruits. We had a taste of the plum left to age over dried plums (the dark one) and although Jer is not a fan of palinka, this one was quite nice.

 


 

 

 

Photos of women's teams doing various challenges.

 


 

 

 

Left, one of the teams was from nearby Slovakia (even Jer could tell that by the lettering on their jackets). Like other ethnic Hungarians who live just north of the Danube, they spoke Hungarian as well as Slovakian; Center, the male youth firefighters from our village watching their older counterparts in the fire truck pulling event; Right, a team starting to get their feet in the straps of the long ski of the  synchronized team walking event. This is one of the funniest events to watch... many of them do very well, but when it goes wrong, it can go very wrong!

 


 

 

Left, a crowd watching the fire truck pulling event. This always has a good crowd; Right, a team pulling the fire truck. This event was done by the adult male, adult female, and youth teams of both sexes. (with widely varying results, of course... but they all gave it a good try!)

 


 

 

 

 

Far left, a woman in the event that is about tossing a kind of valve (don't know what it's called, but it divides the water from one source into several hoses) that is quite heavy; Left, a close up of the thing they are tossing; Right, the event where teams have to take turns scooping up water from a large tank and then run up and try to throw it through a "window"  and into a tub. The team that collects the most water in the time allotted, wins; Far right, a view from behind.

 


 

 

 

 

Far left, someone always has this cotton candy machine at village events; Left, the bean goulash was done and we had some; Right, a special spoon with a thermometer attached for the cook... "so he could tell when it was getting to be too hot for people to eat"; Far right, the awards, trophy and winner's palinka on a table in the tent.

 


 

 

Left, the closing ceremony and the giving of the various awards; Right the final posing for a photo after everything is finished. All in all, a very good day in spite of the chilly and damp weather!