This weekend I attended a festival that has been on my radar for a long time, but somehow I have never been able to attend. The festival is called Forgatag and it it held each year in Targu Mures. Translated to English, forgatag would mean whirlwind, which can be confusing, but a festival is always like a whirlwind.
The purpose of the festival is to create a community-building meeting of the Hungarian community of Marosv谩s谩rhely and tens of thousands of people descended from the city and it is also a cultural parade of Transylvanian Hungarians . It's a 3 day festival with hundreds of activities held in several locations for all age category, from the youngest, to the oldest. No matter what is the area of your interest, I'm sure you're going to find something that suits you.
This is an annual festival, always held at the end of August I think, so if you're visiting the city, this time of the year, look online for the schedule and try to attend as it's a lot of fun, especially if you have kids.
The event started on Friday, but I chose Saturday for my trip and my destination was the medieval fortress, which is not far from the city center.
There was a fair outside the walls, a very interesting one, but today that's not the focus of my blog, so I'm going to write about it in another day.
As soon as I entered the fortress, I saw the tents and the boards with the information one needs to be able to navigate better and also decide what to visit and when.
Even though the festival was organized for the ethnic Hungarian, everyone was welcome and the participants were f every nationality. I've heard many Romanian speakers, English as well and Ukrainians too. The fun is always for everyone.
Local news outlets were present right at the entrance, waiting for the interested parties with lots of information and printed papers and fliers.
As I mentioned, the majority of the activities were for kids and the main purpose was to show them there's life without electronic gadgets, as well as teach them about long forgotten activities. Most if not all the toys were eco-friendly, made of wood or canvas, as it's been for ages, before plastic appeared in out life.
In this tent you could participate in canvas painting with plants. This is not a usual activity you see every day, but this is how it's been done in the past and it's an environmentally friendly activity. It doesn't concern the festival, but the textile industry is one of the biggest polluter of the planet, so getting back to old customs is not such a bad idea.
Unfortunately photos don't have audio, but you should have heard the noise here, shouting, screaming because there was so much fun!
Meet the future builders. Also please note that all the toys and the tables are made of wood, which is a very good thing, a step towards a better tomorrow, their future.
Can you guess why are these kids standing in line? Yes, that's right, face painting! This activity is always attractive and no kid would ever skip it.
O tried to take a photo of the artwork, without being to intrusive. As you can see, I think it's a tiger, but it's rather good.
Doing puzzle under the table, in the shade 馃榾, what could be more fun?
There was several work stations for future painters too. This little guy decided to put a lot of dark brown dots on the face of the old man. I could not figure out why, but never question an artist's choice.
This was the area where there were the coolest and most interesting toys/games. I suppose this was the ancestor of tennis as it is a ball game, played by two, with some flag-like things, which was a piece of canvas on two sticks. I watched the lady with her son and can say it's not exactly an easy game.
This was even more fun. Fishing! 馃槀 Have you ever seen kids trying to catch a painted wooden fish with a wooden stick that had a hook on one end, out of a wheelbarrow? It takes a bit of a talent, but these little ladies loved it.
Next, in the background, another cool activity you have only seen in old English movies. These were the legs people used back in the 18th (I suppose) century, to avoid walking in mud. Streets were nothing like they are today, so they needed a tool to keep their shoes clean. Now you see these legs used only at the circus. These kids obviously could not take one step with them, but it was a lot of fun trying.
In the background there was the small stage, where you young lads were practicing for the big performance. Judging from the instruments and the folk costumes on display, I'd say there must have been about folk dance, which would make sense.
Can you guess what these tiny humans are doing? They are playing a strange but very cool game. Basically it's a race between a few players, to see who's snail gets in first. You need to pull the snail by winding up the yarn. I've never seen this one, but it's a cool one.
A band and a lady with an audience of all ages. This lady was telling kids what fun meant in the past centuries, how tea parties were organized, how the young ladies were asked for a dance and what the proper etiquette looked like back in those days.
This was one of the coolest thing there. For those of you not familiar with it, this is a loom, an apparatus for making fabric by weaving yarn or thread. Back in those days people had to be self sufficient, women were making fabric at home, then clothes using that fabric. Kids only know clothes from the department store, maybe fabric from the same place, but not many know how fabric is made.
Have you ever seen such tools? Do you know how to use them? :)
Need a ride? Jump in! This little lady is ready to drive you to your destination 馃槀馃ぃ I keep saying this was the coolest thing but this indeed was cool.
Look at this cool car.
Drawing can't be missing either, so here are two potential artists, trying to sort out colors for the big masterpiece.
The next coolest thing was this one. This is a sling-shot. We used to have something similar, when we were kids, but that was smaller and easier to use once you got the hang of it. You need some practice for this though, but kids loved it.
It's a very simple weapon. There's a bullet, or a ball in this case, which you place in that leather part, then pull the rubber band back, aim and let go of it. This looks like and it is a toy now, but have been used as a weapon in the past, when there were no guns or firearms. It's still a good one, I would fool around with it, but you can get into trouble in the city for that.
There was a health island too, where kids were taught about mixing chemicals together to get a reaction, about the Nobel prize.
This young gentleman was told about what blood pressure is and how it is taken.
I can honestly say I've never seen a similar event and that this was much needed. Instead of video games and all kinds of plastic crap, Saturday these kids had the opportunity to go back in time and experience a simple life. I think in order to be successful in life, you need to know the past. Teaching kids is never a waste of time and it is more efficient when it's presented as playing. So many kids had a lot of fun that day and I bet they are going to attend next year as well.
This was mostly for kids, but there were a lot of other activities, like book shows, folk dance and concerts in the evenings. I think next year I'm going to explore the rest of the activities, if my schedule allows.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
