Monday, August 3, 2009

my love of hungary

What a day! Yesterday we headed to Mezőkövesd for the Matyó Folk Festival! This is why I have fallen in love with Hungary!

If you remember, I wrote about Mezőkövesd back in May when our friends Adri and Joszef gave us a tour. Well, I said it then and I will say it again.....the culture is so rich and colorful! Mezőkövesd is 150 km (93 miles) north east of Budapest. The people living in Mezőkövesd are known as Matyó. Their traditions are strong and unique. Wood carvings with beautifully designed nature motifs, handmade lace and embroidery so brightly colored it makes my heart skip a beat!

Sunday afternoon we hopped on a train with our friends David and Toni. It was a short trip there (under 2 hours) but somehow it felt longer coming home...why is that? The day was a very hot one 95f/35c! We arrived and the town seemed sleepy...really a festival here? I was a little worried I took us to the wrong place. And then Toni saw a group of women all dressed up walking to town. When I say all dressed up I mean dressed up!
We followed the women and ended up finding the festival. It was full of singing, dancing and crafts. At 6pm the parade started and I was excited! So much color and pattern. Even the men wore beautifully embroidered shirts and hats with bands of ribbon! It was exciting to see other countries like, Peru, Greece, Slovakia and Belarus participate in parade.

Enjoy the photos below. If you are ever in Hungary during the first weekend in August I highly recommend a trip to Mezőkövesd for the Matyó Folk Festival!

If you click on the photos they will open up larger so you can see more closly the clothing. Also, check out my flicker page to the right. Also, there is a video at the end of this post that is worth watching. The ladies singing and dancing.

Matyó Women
(Look at the woman on the left-the curvy waist of the top)
The ladies of Matyó
(I love the yarn pom pom hats!)
Men-all are Matyó except the shoes.
I cannot remember which country had these shoes.
Matyó Festival Photos
(houses, people, painted eggs,stuffed cabbage and artist at work)
Belarus
Peru
The artist Kovács Szabolcs signing the small bench I bought.
Click here to see more of his work. He is so talented!



1 comment:

Steven Greimann and Diane Kappa said...

Your photos are great! What a fantastic day!