William Penn Life, 2016 (51. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2016-11-01 / 11. szám
Tibor's Take with Tibor Check, Jr. What is a falvédő1 IF YOU ARE an American-Hungarian like me, you often browse the internet for tidbits of info pertaining to our beloved culture and nationality. Sometimes, I will acquire or be given something that has Magyar pedigree of unique or interesting character. This past July, I married the love of my life, Monika. I have mentioned her in my musings several times over the years. Although she is not of Hungarian heritage, she has adopted my culture and embraces the little nuances of being the spouse of an American-Hungarian. Our esküvő (wedding) was not of the scale or grandeur of my sister Lizzy's wedding due to several personal reasons. Nevertheless, our nuptials were what my new bride and I wanted. Over all, our celebration was a smaller and quieter affair attended by only our closest relatives and friends. Such a small event made for a much more cozy and intimate ceremony. As with most weddings, the usual gifts of money were presented to us. We also received many special handcrafted gifts. One such gift in particular was lovingly given to us by my parents: an antique falvédő. A similar styled falvédő was also given to my sister Liz when she was married in September 2015. Unfortunately, our falvédő ended up back at my parents' home as our vehicle offered insufficient cargo space for transporting all our gifts back to our residence in D.C. The transfer of this item, as well as that of other large gifts, would have to take place at a future time. For those of you not familiar with the term falvédő, let me explain. Falvédő is a word that contains a slightly different meaning and purpose depending upon the age of the Hungarians you are conversing with. To older American-Hungarians, a falvédő is a quaint and ornately embroidered cloth that is hung upon a wall in one's home. Many falvédő are one-of-a-kind and include a short saying or proverb that was stitched by hand onto a material usually comprised of linen or heavy cotton. Most falvédő cloths are embroidered in one color, but on occasion more elaborately decorated versions feature several hues. They also feature various types of characters, such as animals or flora, adding charm and meaning to the presentation. Most falvédő end up on the wall of a kitchen as most depict subjects related to cooking or eating. Other popular falvédő locations include parlors, dining rooms or living rooms. Many of these folk art creations utilized sayings created by Petőfi Sándor or suggested ideas of sentimental intentions. Hungarian wall hangings provided a way for young girls and women to hone and improve their sewing abilities. Long winter evenings proved to be an excellent time to introduce girls of the household to this important and valuable homemaking skill. Girls and young women would make falvédő cloths for their dowry chests. In the villages, the girls and women who produced the most intricate and artistic of wall cloths would earn informal bragging rights as to being the best at creating such artwork. It was common to have sewing circles where women would gather at a host home to sew, share life experiences and catch up on any new sewing techniques or practices. The industrial revolution aided in the advancement of the falvédő hobby as pre-printed pattern cloths were sold at stores, thus eliminating a time-consuming step in the sewing process. By the mid 1950s, the popularity of the hobby waned to where only a few older women continued on with the time-honored tradition. The Communists printed and sold color falikárpitok (wall hangings) to tourists and visitors until the fall of Communist dominance in the 1990s. Many Hungarian women who emigrated to America continued the artistic hobby on our shores, but the tradition of falvédő creation ceased as those generations aged and passed on. Today, falvédő is still meant to be hung on a wall but serves solely as wall protector. The modern falvédő are heavy plastic coated sheets with some sort of design printed onto the cover. You can purchase a falvédő that looks similar to a shower curtain for nurseries, messy kitchens or bathrooms. During my last visit with relatives in Csőt, Hungary, I had an interesting conversation with my younger cousins who thought it preposterous that a wall hanging could be hand-embroidered and serve a decorative purpose, rather than being something merely protecting a wall from soiling. It was not until my cousin Olgi intervened with her recollections did cousins Dzsenifer and Rebekah understand the concept of the old version of falvédő. It should be noted that Olgi is 62 years young and the girls 13. A particular falvédő has hung in various sections of my parents' home for as long a I can remember. It has been there so long that it is overlooked and considered to be just another part of a wide spectrum of items contained 6 0 November 2016 0 WILLIAM PENN LIFE
