Kovács Zsuzsa: Göcsej Village Museum. Exhibition Guide (Zalaegerszeg, 2008)

GÖCSEJ VILLAGE MUSEUM • \ They grew flax and hemp and with a very long procedure they made string and then cloth. Shirts, pants, sheets, towels, bread-cloths and all the textiles they needed were made of this home made fabric. In an extended family every woman wove the amount of fabric her family needed, then she could sell the extra bits and use the money as she liked. In a family of people living together in a very strict order, it was the oldest woman who decided on household questions and the oldest man on questions about farming, thus young wives could only make decisions about the money they earned from their weaving. Loom The huge loom was set up in the room only for the period of weaving otherwise it was taken apart and kept in the attic. Weaving was a winter occupation when housewives did not have to work in the field and had less to do around the house. This loom in the exhibition is more than 150 years old; its previous owner used it until 1954. As factory-made fabrics became available to the peasant households, weaving which was such a long and tiring work, started to disappear. After winter, from spring until autumn, women had a great many things to do: besides all the housework they had to work in the vegetable garden as well as in the fields. Despite so many women being in the house on many occasions none of them was available to look after the little children. So special constructions were built for them: one in which the children could only stand and another one, a sort of playpen, in which they were able to move about a little bit.