Today I'd like to show you some things (was sitting here and thinking for 5 minutes what to call them, but I can't find a word to describe them, so I'll just call them things), that you may have never seen, or heard of. I was lucky to be in the right place in the right time two weeks ago and not only take photos, but also talk to the crafters, to find out some details that I had no knowledge of.
Very few of you know, there's a tradition at some part of Transylvania, which refers to welcoming guests. This statement is a bit vague, as you can welcome guests in many ways, so let me get into details.
Gates and doors mostly, or mainly serve to keep people away from entering, you see armored doors, sophisticated alarms systems, which is most cases is needed unfortunately, because so many people can't respect private property.
As I mentioned in the beginning of my post, there are places in Transylvania, where the gate is not plain, simple and armored, but a real piece of art, that attracts the eye.
It is called Szekler gate, or Székelykalu in Hungarian, the original name. I was surprised to see this man carving one at the Transylvanian Crafts Festival, but he did and I knew this was my occasion to get the info I wanted.
The Szekler gates are artefacts made of wood, rich carving and painted. The Szekler gate is the more pigeon-long loophole or simply a big gate, which consists of a small and large gate under a edifice, with ornate carving and painting. Such ornate, carved gates all over Szeklerland adorn the cylinders of the fenced churches and the entrances of the cemeteries.
"The gate can say a lot about the host: it can testify to your system or tell you about your negligence." (Jávor-Küllős-Tátrai 1978:160) The strong, beautiful gate hinted at a pretty and well-kept house, and in the first minute he made a good impression in the eyes of the guest. Each Szekler gate is a masterpiece, unique in its kind. It is a symbol of affiliation for the Transylvanian Hungarians. Its social role is also significant, it is part of the hard-working life of the Szeklers, the Szekler gate is the character.
"The gateway is a way out of life and a boundary between the front door and the outside world. He stops and opens up to the request of good intentions.” (www.kiszely.hu)
The wonderful piece you see here is just for demonstrative purposes as the size of a real gate would make it difficult to transport it and find a proper place for it at the exhibition, not to mention the handling difficulties, but the carving is just as authentic and marvelous as the original ones.
So, what I know about these gates is the following: these beauties were ordered when couples got married and moved to their own place. Each gate is unique as these are made on demand and are personalized as well. Most of them have a welcoming message carved on the top, some funny, some more traditional and the very old ones even have it written in the old Hungarian language, which is not used anymore. I'm not sure these days, but centuries ago, the name of the family was also carved on them, as well as the year of making (the year is still carved on till today).
The cherry on the cake was seeing this young fellow, the son of the artisan, carving the gate. I don't know how old he actually was, could be 10, or 12, but regardless, I was really impressed.
He must have some serious skills to be let to work on this piece.
As I was standing there, taking photos, I saw the man was free, so I used the occasion to ask him a few details about the gates. First of all I wanted to know how much it would cost (approximately) a simple gate. Obviously price depends on size and the complexity of the design, but you need to get ready to pay somewhere between 5k euro and the upper limit, which is sky high. Just to be clear, this is just the gate, the fence is not included.
Next I asked about maintenance as wood needs to be maintained, if you want to have it for a long time. I was told that all you need to do is apply linseed oil twice per year and it'll do. The most important detail I wanted to know was how long can such gates last and I was told, 5 - 6 lifetimes, which ... blew me away honestly. I mean I knew they last as we have several very old ones in Transylvania, but I've never actually knew the specifics.
These gates have a specific size and format. There's the small door for pedestrian use and there's the big gate, that is, or used to be for chariots, now it is for cars. These gates are not just gates, these are statements as well as they stand out. I'm not sure I'd ever want one, because I don't like attention, but can appreciate them a lot and look at them with utmost respect and see them as real works of art.
Moving on, the next place where I needed all my strength (not to buy anything) as the amount of goodies you found here was ... oh, I can't even bother finding a word. I love wood and what the guy had on the right side of the table I love even more. Those tolls are for biscuit designing and I have been looking for something like that for ages. Here I found it, but when I was told the price ... well, it was easier to walk away empty handed. If you're a regular baker and make biscuits for guests or a larger family, then yes, it worth paying 35 euro for that roll, but I don't see why I should. There were the stamps as well, for the same purpose, those were cheaper, only 7 euro, but the problem was they don't cut out the biscuit, just apply the design on the top.
Better than these kitchen utensils were the logical games. I had two in my life I think and I know it used to give me a lot of headache to solve them. There were some wooden cars as well, which are perfect for small children. With these, there's no danger of breaking and eating small plastic pieces.
Here I had a nice chat with the guy. I saw he's working on a small piece, but could not figure out what it was, so I asked and he said it was a toy for kids to spin it, then the penny dropped as we had it when we were kids, but not made of wood.
This was the coloring phase, so to speak. He took a marker and held it against the wood, while the piece was rotating. When it was finished, he showed me how it works and wanted to gift it to me, but I said I'd prefer a kid to have it, but thanked him for the gesture. I truly hope some kid got to take it home and played with it.
Over the past two weeks I've been posting about the event and showed you a lot of toys and games made of wood, fabric, metal and what not. I was watching kids having a lot of fun trying them out and was wondering if they would prefer to have some of these, instead of the shiny plastic ones, that are in vogue these days and a must have, just to fit in. Any adult (not just parents) know these are healthier and better for them, the question is, are they willing to pay the price and allocate the necessary time to teach them how to play and to respect these one as well.
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