Horváth Attila – Solymos Ede szerk.: Cumania 2. Ethnographia (Bács-Kiskun Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei, Kecskemét, 1974)
J. Vorák: Kolompár Kálmánné kiskunhalasi cigányasszony kézimunkái
Mrs. Kolompár actually stitch good luck into the cloth? I thought it better not to meet Mrs. Kálmán Kolompár in the Museum for the first time. The environment which was completely strange for her could have frightened her. Upon my request Mrs. Mácsai made it possible that I could have a talk with Mrs. Kolompár in one of the class-rooms of the school to which also Mrs. Kolompár 's grandchild went and in the kitchen of which — tahnks to Mrs. Mácsai — also Aunt Vilma could sometimes get at some scraps of food. Our meeting took place at the end of July 1963, some weeks after the cloth was presented. The information given on that occasion by Mrs. Kolompár to my questions about herself: she was 52 years old, born in Kiskunhalas, also her parents had always lived here but only in winter because in summer they roamed. She did not go to school and still does not know to read and write. She is a widow, her husband died long ago, her daughter moved off from Kiskunhalas and left her alone w T ith a grandchild. She learned to sew from her mother, to draw she tried of her own accord. It is most infrequent if any of the women living in the Row is sewing. The material for their dresses they buy in shops and have them sewn in most cases by Hungarian seamstresses. At making skirts for themselves they are somewhat better, she can also make blouses. 1 show her the cloth and ask if she minds that Mrs. Mácsai has given it to us. — Well, if she once gave it to you, let it be yours. Mrs. Mácsai told me she gave it to you because you preseved all sorts of things. And certainly this one can be preserved because there is no more of the kind. - Why did you make the cloth? — So that Patrika has luck. — Do the Kiskunhalas gipsies make such cloths for weddings? — They do. For weddings, christening feasts and also for burials. — Do they draw, stitch and embroider them? — Yes, they stitch them and also embroider them, just like the Hungarians. — Do the Hungarians make such for weddings here in Kiskunhalas? — That I don't know, but the gipsies do make such. — Also for burials? Do they embroider those, too? — Not the funeral ones. Those are just black like the ones of the Hungarians. — What is usually drawn on the cloths made for weddings? — Luck. Also this cloth is full of good luck, there is not one bit of misfortune in it. — And what do the women stitch on the baptismal cloths? — Only luck, pure good luck on those, too. — Do also others make cloths in Cserepes? — Not here, no other gipsy stitches such here. — Did you make such cloths to anyone else before? — No. To no one but Patrika. And I also sewed a curtain and cloths which I put on the wall. Also the blouse I have on I embroidered myself. A seamstress made it but I embroidered it so nicely. — How can one wish good luck with a cloth? - So that I draw and then stitch good luck in it. How did you embroider good luck into this, one? She began to show, explaining. Starting with the first figure of the cloth, I had her tell the denominations of each figure and their possible inter-. connections. The information given by her I exactly noted according to the numbers applied on the drawing of the cloth prepared for this purpose in advance. I bought from her the bodice she wore on that occasion and asked her to bring it along when she would come to the Museum the next time. (Fig. 6.) Between 1963 and 1969 we could acquire three bodices and a self-made „zsaba" (gipsy pocket), differing from the traditional ones, as well as three embroidered cloths from Mrs. Kolompár. Of all her cloths she claimed that they had luck in them. 2 2 In the property of the Thorma János Museum of Kiskunhalas : 69.20.1 — Blouse — In used condition, of factory-made material with printed pattern. It could be a middle-class garment. With supplements and embroidery of Mrs. Kálmán KOLOMPÁR. Colours used by Mrs. Kolompár: bright green, bright red. Shoulder breadth 42 cm., length of sleeve: 58 cm.; circumference at hem-line: 120 cm. Purchased 1969. 68.9.1. —• Bodice — Cut and sewn of finer linen by Mrs. 172
