May 1, 2011: Transylvania Day 3: Segesvar, Korond, Zetelaka

May 1, 2011: After a fine Hungarian breakfast (cold cuts of meat, cheese, bread, tomatoes) plus coffee or tea, we took a tour of the Torocko museum. As we waited for everyone to arrive, a horse drawn cart drove by. 

Horse drawn cart in Torocko

I also got another shot of the beautiful mountains that surround Torocko.

As we walked to the museum, we passed a house where there were cut branches leaning against the house. We were told that for May 1st, if there was an unmarried young woman living in a house, boys would come to her house during the previous night and decorate her house with a tree branch showing interest in her. Each boy was allowed to put only one branch in front of the home of one girl and that was all. Of course all the young girls would compare notes to see who had been given the most branches. Also, these branches were typically decorated with ribbons and other decorations. I will show pictures of some in successive days of my blog -- stay tuned. 

May 1st: tree branches are left at the houses of single women by young men during the previous night

At the museum, there were a number of interesting items and customs displayed. For instance, in one room there were two painted chairs, each chair with a curved shape on the top of the back of the chair where the right side of the curve was fatter than the left side of the curve. These shapes were on the tops of the backs of both chairs but on one chair the fat part was to the right and on the other chair the fat part was on the left. The custom was that these two chairs would be placed next to each other at the table and if the two fat parts were close to each other, then the husband and wife were on "speaking" terms; if the narrow parts were close to each other, then the couple was having an argument. This was a signal to any house visitor who entering the house would either stay to visit if the couple was not having an argument, or would leave if the couple was having an argument. (The picture below shows the two chairs but unfortunately the fat part of one of the chairs has broken off.)

These chairs show that the husband and wife are not having an argument (because the shapes at the tops of the chairs are aligned to indicate this)

Another interesting custom is found in the clothes that young women wear. The status of the young woman can be seen immediately by looking to see how she is dressed: In general, the brighter the clothes, the younger the woman. Note the sash that hangs from the cloth belt in the picture below. If this sash hangs to the left on her body, she is not married and not engaged; if this sash hangs in the middle of the belt, then she is engaged. Also, the more elaborate the belt, the more wealthy her family is.

After we left the museum, we went to Segesvar (Sighisoara in Romanian) a Saxon town. On the way we passed a field of canola -- bright yellow flowers extending as far as the eye can see.

Canola field

Upon arrival in Segesvar, we first encountered a Greek Orthodox Church.

Greek Orthodox Church in Kolozsvar

However, as we walked toward the path leading to the top of the hill near where the bus parked, the buildings became more interesting and old. The first building we encountered was the mayor's house.

Mayor's house in Segesvar

The main building of interest on top of the hill was the old watch tower built in 1556. The following pictures are of this tower and the buildings around it.

Two men dressed in Hungarian clothing marched through the streets to announce the history of the city to tourists. They did this in any language that the tourists spoke.

This is also the city where Dracula was supposed to have been imprisoned. However, the house with the plaque denoting this was rather unimpressive - today the building is used as a coffee house.

Dracula's House

On the hill there are also three churches of great historical interest: the Hill Church to which some covered wooden steps were built in 1642:

wooden steps leading to Hill Church - built in 1642

Hill Church

building adjacent to Hill Church

Building adjacent to Hill Church

The Roman Catholic Church built in 1892:

Roman Catholic Church built 1892

Monastery Church built between 1482 and 1515 (no pictures could be taken inside this church).


After that we visited Korond (Corund in Romanian), a village known for its pottery. 

At the end of the day, we traveled to Zetelaka where we would spend the next two nights of our trip. Many of the houses in Zetelaka had very elaborately carved gates such as this one. I'll be showing more gates in subsequent days.