Hungarian Heritage

My heritage is half Hungarian.  My mother's father, Janos Rozgonyi, pictured on the right....

was born in Abauj-Torna, Telkibanya, Hungary, in 1887.  When he emigrated to the United States in 1906 he became known as John Rozgonyi, later Rozgony.  

Yesterday we ventured down to Washington, DC  to view the Hungarian Heritage presentation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.  My mother had once told me my grandfather, who died before I was born, had been a shepherd in Hungary.  I showed the photo to several Hungarians who confirmed, based on his clothing, that he was indeed a shepherd.  The gentleman on the left, one of the performers, wore the traditional garb of my grandfather and was very excited to see the photo (note: all photos can be enlarged by clicking on them)....

The fellow on his right is a present-day shepherd in Hungary as is this fellow....

A visitor asked to try on the suba, which is made from the skin of 10 sheep and which the shepherd would use for protection from the cold and the rain as he slept under the stars....

I could imagine my grandfather as a young man wearing this as he tended his sheep.

I also brought along a photo of my grandmother, Matilda Ferency, born 1903 (second from the right), and her sister, Julia (first on right)....

Matilda's parents, Steve Ferency and Susie Almasy, came from the Jaszo Aubou Megye and Bodrok-Halasz Zemplin Megye regions, respectively, in 1895 and 1898.  They were married in Union City, CT, in 1901 where my grandmother would be born in 1903.  Matilda and John would eventually meet in Terre Haute, IN and be married in 1920.  He was 34 and she was 17.

When we got to the textile displays we had a nice chat with the exhibitor and volunteer there....

She said the style of my grandmother's traditional dress would have been been determined by the region her family had lived in.  This accounts for the two sisters having the same style while the other three ladies wore different outfits.  I think these outfits were worn for the Hungarian social dances that were held in the Hungarian community in Terre Haute.  My mother often spoke fondly of these dances she attended when growing up.  

I've spent the morning going through old photographs and documents my mother passed onto me about her family.  I am eager to compile it into a Family History document now that my interest has been rekindled.  In the meantime I thought I'd share more photos from the Folk Festival.  Because it was raining and because there was no line we decided to eat lunch first.  We both chose the sausage (#6)....

I just missed this lovely dance....

But this group followed....
                    
The rain had stopped so we decided to check out the exhibits.  This one had various hand-made musical instruments....

The fellow explained that the guitar-looking instrument--an utogardon--which is hollowed out from a log, was developed originally from a drum after drums had been outlawed during the Hapsburg ruling period.  You hit the strings with a stick....

The next exhibit was on Blue-Dyeing....

I bought the House Blessing banner later at the gift shop....

Bone and horn carving is one of the handcrafts done by shepherds....

Coppersmithing is an important trade....

....and used for sheep-bells....
                               
Other crafts are horsehair trinkets....

Wood carving....

They are also famous for their leatherwork and saddles....

Colorful painted furniture....

Their fabric handicrafts are just as colorful....

They embroider everything....

And even paint these embroidery designs on their walls....

I'm beginning to understand why I love color so much!  This is the beginning of a wedding headdress.  They tie sprigs of rosemary onto a frame that fits over the head....

Here is another hat decorated with rosemary....

Then it was time to go back to the stage tent to watch more dances.  This is the tail end of a shepherd's dance.  It began with just the flute expressing the sorrow of a lost lamb and then the joy of finding it.  Then each dancer came out separately to dance this joyous reunion until eventually all three dance together....
                 
There were more handicrafts to be seen like the hair ornaments made from straw....

Candles and cookies impressed with decorative molds....

Hats for all kinds of occupations....

There was a fashion show of new creations based on traditional dress.  Here are just a few of them.  The traditional....

....and what it inspired....

Traditional and the inspiration....

I loved this dress!

Traditional and what it inspired....

Traditional and the modern....

As well as these....

 The back....

They also had cooking demonstrations given by Ilona Kollár who also makes this doll and the ones shown at the top of the next photo....

They also had various play/learning stations for children--one where you could get your hair braided in the Hungarian fashion....

I'll end with a few of the informational signs....

Here is additional video provided by the Smithsonian.... 

                   
This link will give you even more videos of the Festival.  Enjoy!