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Georgian institutions and the public are celebrating Mother Language Day today, commemorating mass protests that forced Soviet authorities in 1978 to abandon plans to strip Georgian of the status of the official state language of the country.

The celebrations have included messages from officials marking the date, and occasions including a graduation of ambassadors of the Georgian language who will teach it to ethnic minority communities across the country.

Vato Makharoblishvili, the Head of the Georgian mission to the European Union, called the celebration an “essential part of national identity, history and national self-consciousness.”

The Embassy of Georgia to Hungary also posted a message on Twitter for the anniversary that said the day marked Georgia’s “courageous victory over the Soviet repressive machine.”