Festival of Trades and Crafts
Pál Bánszky (Kecskemét)

August 20 of the year 2000 will mark the fourteenth occasion that the Folk Art Society will be holding the Festival of Trades and Crafts in the Castle District of Buda. What was it-we might take a moment to wonder-that impelled the Society, and more specifically, László Péterfy, its president in 1987, to organize the first such event?

Photo: Csaba Bogár, Association of Folk Art Societies.

It was, above all, the need for renewal. In the 1970s already, various steps were taken, particularly by young folk artisans, to breathe new life into folk crafts, which were, by then, no more than the highly commercialized production of "folkish" artifacts, stylized objects reminiscent of the everyday implements of village life made purely for purposes of home decoration. A woodcarver, for instance, would be given prefab boxes: he had no part in choosing the wood, nor the shape and form of the box. His only job was to carve traditional motifs on the empty surfaces, and to make the decorative elements dominate. Non-functional versions of long-obsolete household implements were mass produced: laundry paddles for washing and "ironing", dippers of all sizes, and so on, and all these so-called works of folk art ended up in the glass display cases of living rooms, or among the "treasures" displayed on kitchen walls
In 1973, the Studio of Young Folk Artists was formed, an association of young people eager to revive every aspect of traditional folk culture, and professionals ready to contribute to such a revival. This was the time that the táncház movement got off the ground, and folk music groups began to spring up.
In 1982, the Studio of Young Folk Artists gave way to the newly-formed Folk Art Society, and it was the Society which was the moving spirit behind the first Festival of Trades and Crafts held in 1987.
The very date the Festival is held ties in with some age-old traditions. Mid-August marks the end of the wheat harvest, the most important of the agriculturalists summer tasks. Farmers take a moment's rest, and have their priests bless the crop that will provide the nation's bread for the coming year. Craftsmen, dancers and singers join the parade of farmers bearing harvest wreaths on August 20, an event which culminates in the blessing of the new bread in the Mátyás templom (Matthias Church) square.
Those displaying their wares at the Festival of Trades and Crafts-over five hundred exhibitors, members of Folk Art Societies all over the country-fall into one of two groups. The one is the group of artisans and tradesmen: furniture makers, potters, coopers, blacksmiths, dyers and weavers, people who make their living at traditional crafts that go back hundreds, nay, thousands of years. Designers, craftsmen, market researchers and businessmen all rolled into one, these people need to be both artisans and entrepreneurs. The other is the group of artisans who draw their inspiration from folk tradition (in respect of approach, sense of proportion, as well as the technologies and materials used), but are not themselves members of a village community. Some of them create folk artifacts for their own pleasure, or to please a loved one; others-and these are the folk artists-produce, by dint of sheer talent, articles that take as much skill and time as the artifacts produced by master craftsmen.

Photo: Csaba Bogár, Association of Folk Art Societies.

What the two groups have in common is the new orientation which envisions folk craftsmanship as both traditional and innovative, and, in the final analysis, an organic part of everyday life. In the past twenty-five years or so, more and more artisans have come to realize that it is time to restore the unity of aesthetic form and function, and that Hungarian folk art has never been just purely decorative. They have come to recognize that functional "designs" like the kutyagerinc (literally, hound's backbone), which herdsmen used to hold their cast-iron cauldrons over the fire, or baby rattles composed of identical elements, adumbrated, in some sense, the fitted parts that would form the basis of assembly-line technology. There has also been a growing awareness of the incomparable practical and aesthetic advantages that natural materials-a carved wooden bowl, a hemp rug, a hand-made wooden toy-have over say, plastic. There is the warmth and beauty of the natural materials, but more than that, the bowl, the rug, and the toy all bear the traces of human effort, and speak of the world of archaic structures and forms.
Artisans young and old who identify with the new folk art revival will explore various facets of the boundless world of forms. They will look for the form latent in a piece of wood or other organic material, and do no more than help it to surface; alternately, they will impose upon the material their own studied design. They will do crafts than anyone can learn; and they will execute works requiring consummate skill and expertise. They will give form to things, and they will create things; they will make everyday objects, and they will make works of art.
The Festival of Trades and Crafts provides visitors with an opportunity to purchase artifacts that are carefully-crafted, beautiful, and useful. (This is the occasion when the titles "Master Craftsman of the Year", and "Junior Master Craftsman of the Year" are awarded.) But more importantly, perhaps, the Festival gives people a chance to view first hand how a rug, a barrel, or a wooden bowl is made, how clay turns into a pot, and how iron yields to the blacksmith's blows. Our hope is that at least some of our visitors will feel inclined to try their hand at the easier work processes.

Photo: Csaba Bogár, Association of Folk Art Societies.

Children especially will be catered to. In 1999, like in previous years, there were special children's workshops on the terrace of the palace. In tents set up by craftsmen from the country's various regions, this year, too, children will be able to try the potter's wheel and the loom, and have a chance to make a glazed pot, or carve a wooden spoon. They can learn to walk on stilts, learn to make a kite, and learn how to fly it. And for their entertainment, there will be street theaters, pantomimes, and a Punch and Judy show.
From the very beginning, folk music and folk dancing have been integral parts of the Festival of Trades and Crafts. Three stages are set up as a rule, with bands and dance troupes performing one after the other. In 1999, there were guest performers from Belgium, Denmark, Greece, France, Croatia, China and Portugal, besides the various Hungarian groups. In the evenings, the stages give way to the táncház: Italy was the guest of honor in 1999 (in previous years, it was Poland, and The Netherlands). Besides the Italian artisans displaying their goods and skills, there were also craftsmen from Norway and the Czech Republic in 1999.
In the past thirteen years, the Festival of Trades and Crafts has become Budapest's St. Stephen's Day Fair. The harvest procession of farmers and craftsmen to the Matthias Church, the blessing of bread baked of the fresh harvest of wheat, the carnival mood, the display and sale of arts and crafts have added up to a new tradition which attracts over 100,000 participants each year. The Festival has indeed become one of the most significant events of Hungary's living folk culture.
As the organizer of the event, the Association of Folk Art Societies is proud to build on this heritage. Our aim is to be traditionists who are in tune with the latest trends, and are equal to the challenges of the twenty-first century. But we have taken to heart Zoltán Kodály's admonition: "Culture is not something that can be inherited. The culture of the forefathers soon evaporates if each new generation does not make it its own."