Exploring The Traditions of Kalotaszeg.1
On a cold, grey Tuesday afternoon Sara Meaker, my partner in researching the dowry rooms of Kalotaszeg set off from Huedin to hitch to the nearby village of Nearsova/ Nyarszo. We hitched because there is no public transport to many of the Kalotaszeg villages, there are no taxis in Huedin and we don’t have a car! We were lucky and were picked up within 10 minutes or so by a dealer in second and clothing who had been in the market in Huedin, he dropped us of at the Nyarszo turn turn off , a short walk to the village of Nyarszo.
As is often the case on these village visits first on or list was the protestant church, guided by the minister we learnt about the old furniture painting and the recently painted ceiling cassettes. A lectern painted in the 18th century by the Umling family, famous in Kalotaszeg for their painting of the wooden furniture and ceiling s in the churches of the area, was originally in the old wooden church which no longer exists.
Hardanger (vagdalasos) embroidery, made by local women was hung as decoration in the church. Nyarszo is village with a predominantly Hungarian population, this is a Hungarian church and inside were references to greater Hungary that existed before the Trianon treaty of 1920 when this area was part of Austro Hungary. The Romanian orthodox church stands across the road but there was no one could tell us who was the key holder.
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Most of the houses in the village are modern but there are some nice old gates and a couple of old blue houses still standing but in dire need of love and a lot of work
Next stop was Kati, a friend of Sara’s and a fellow member of Huedin Piata Market (HPM) a group of local producers who sell at the Huedin market on Tuesdays. Kati welcomed us with hot drinks and chat. She no longer has a dowry room, her painted furmiture, painted by a well- known Kalotaszeg furniture painter sits in her barn waiting to be sold. Painted furniture is highly sought after and most ends up being taken abroad. Kati also took us to her summer kitchen a room away from the main house, the room housed old photographs, some furniture recently painted by her daughter and some embroidered textiles, all embroidered by her and her daughter.
We left Kati’s at dusk as the sleet started and were enormously lucky to be spotted by the local goat cheesemaker who offered us a lift back to Huedin.
