Hungarian Heritage Review, 1991 (20. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1991-01-01 / 1. szám
TOROCKO parents, parents and children lived under the same roof, the term “smoke” stood for at least six or seven people. The miners in these two isolated settlements at the foot of the “Transylvanian Ore Mountains” were mining gold, silver and iron for more than 700 years until the mines stop yielding and the people were forced into agriculture. Having been miners and not farmers Torockó came in contact with miners of other countries. This explains the ree phenomenon. Besides the basic elemei Hungarian folk art, the Torockó cost broideries show a distinct influence of th< so-called “úri hímzés” (stitch-work of the i in itself is an individualistic mixture Hungarian with the Italian and German si colors, the folk art of Torockó is the riche of all the Transylvanian needleworks. The town of Torockó as well as the neighboring Torockószentgyörgy were established as mining towns at the end of the 11th century. The first official census, taken in 1178 by a royal mining commissioner, recorded 1082 “smokes” in those two settlements. Since a “smoke” meant a chimney, it indicated a family unit, and since in those days grand—continued next page JANUARY 1991 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 35
