IN THE TOWER OF THE CHURCH, IN MEMORY OF THE HUNGARIAN FARMING COMMUNITY OF CLUJ-NAPOCA WHO WERE VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM (1949–1989)

Visiting hours:
Tuesday and Thursday between 10-12 and 16-18
For groups by prior registration

THE MEANING OF THE WORD “HOSTAT”

The word Hostat used to refer to the community, originally denoted the area outside the city walls. For centuries, it came to describe the distinctive way of life of Cluj-Napoca’s Hungarian farming community. In this sense, the term referred to the areas outside the medieval walls of the city: Hidelve, Kétvízköz, the surroundings of Külközép and Külmagyar Streets, as well as Mănăștur.

Today, however, the name refers to a community of families living in several peripheral streets of Cluj-Napoca. Most of them no longer live in the historic Hostat areas, as the industrialization and expansion of the city gradually pushed them towards the outskirts.

CHANGES

A significant part of the traditional living environment of Cluj-Napoca’s Hungarian Hostat community, including its system of enclosed streets and close-knit neighbourhoods, was destroyed as a result of urban redevelopment. Apartment blocks were built in place of the former houses and gardens.

Between 1970 and 1985, the Romanian population increased, and housing estates were built on the sites of the vegetable gardens in the historic areas inhabited by the Hostat community: around Pata Street, in the Pillangó housing estate, Borhanci, Kül-Magyar, Honvéd, Téglás, the Sugar Factory area, and around Pacsirta and Liliom Streets.
This uprooting, the loss of homes and land, had dramatic consequences and even drove some people to their deaths. A large proportion of the younger generation became factory workers in order to secure a stable livelihood. Collectivization, industrialization and later the demolition of their homes forced farming families to radically change their way of life.

The year 1990 marked another turning point in the life of the Hostat community. Many people recovered parts of the land confiscated by the state. As employment opportunities in the factories declined, some returned to vegetable cultivation. Since the change of regime, many Hungarian and Romanian residents of Cluj-Napoca have consciously chosen to buy from Hostat growers who remained in the community and continued the traditional practice of growing and selling vegetables at the city markets.

Others invested the money they received for their land in businesses or sought better opportunities for making a living abroad, particularly in Hungary.
Although the community became geographically dispersed, and most of its members were forced to abandon traditional farming, the sense of belonging to the community survived. Since the change of regime, community gatherings and activities have continued in new forms, through traditional events and rituals as well as in virtual spaces, providing new opportunities for meeting and maintaining connections among community members.

The Bethlen Gábor Choir participates in numerous religious and secular events. Since 1998, traditional harvest and grape-harvesting celebrations have been held every year at the headquarters of the Kalandos Association in Hidelve.

TRADITIONAL HOSTAT HOMESTEADS

A characteristic feature of the traditional Hostat homestead was its spacious courtyard, where alongside the dwelling house, there were various outbuildings needed for everyday farming activities. The dwelling house itself consisted of only two parts: the front room, used on festive occasions, and the small room, where everyday activities took place.

Each house had a porch enclosed by a wooden fence, and painting the houses green was a common practice. Two windows faced the street and one opened onto the courtyard. In addition to the dwelling house and the farm buildings, the summer kitchen played an important role in the courtyard; it was known as the “summer cooking house”.
In earlier times, the houses were made of wood and had thatched roofs. The gates were tall, made of wooden planks and opened in two sections. According to tradition, the name of the head of the household and his wife, as well as the year the house was built, were inscribed on the gate.

The interior furnishings were simple. The table was usually placed between the two windows. Clothes were kept in a brown-painted chest. Two beds stood on either side of the room; one was decorated with pillows and covered with a colourful blanket. In front of each bed stood a long painted chair.
Other household objects included a painted coat rack, on which jugs and floral-patterned porcelain plates were displayed, as well as a cupboard. Secular and religious images were placed on the walls.

Kitchen utensils played an important role in everyday life: pots, pans, forks, spoons, floral-patterned porcelain plates, chopping boards, kneading troughs and washing troughs.

The most important traditional agricultural tools included the plough, harrow, scythe, sickle, spade, hoe and flail, as well as various types of carts used for transportation, including carts fitted with ladders.

TRADITIONAL DRESS

Hostat dress was never entirely free from the influence of the various forms of clothing worn by the urban artisan and merchant bourgeoisie. Nevertheless, it retained its distinctive character as the dress of a farming community, as both its makers and wearers preserved their occupation as farmers and vegetable growers for generations. Their characteristic dress made the Hostat growers recognizable at the markets of Cluj-Napoca and testified to the identity of the producers and the quality of their goods.

The clothing of the old farmers of Cluj-Napoca was broadly similar to that of Hungarian farmers in other Transylvanian towns and to the clothing worn by the inhabitants of smaller market towns. A Hostat gravestone dating from approximately a hundred years ago depicts the same type of loose, pleated trousers, short jacket with two rows of buttons and lapels, broad-topped boots and turned-brimmed hat as those worn at the time by the farmer-citizens of Turda, Aiud, Dej and Zalău, as well as by the inhabitants of other market towns and “noble villages”.

The traditional dress of a male farmer from Cluj-Napoca consisted of a collarless shirt with loose, flowing sleeves. In summer, he wore loose, pleated trousers; in the other seasons, grey or blue trousers decorated with braiding. He wore a waistcoat with brass buttons and, in winter, a blue jacket over it. Married men also wore a white ‘szűr’, a traditional Hungarian woollen outer garment. Black boots were worn with the trousers. On his head he wore a black fur hat with a narrow, turned-up brim.
On festive occasions, men usually wore a red bow tie with their shirt, while older men and those attending funerals wore a black one. When working, they wore a protective apron over their trousers.
This style of dress changed under the influence of the black Hungarian costume decorated with braiding that became fashionable among the middle class after 1848. Shirts with collars and cuffs became widespread, as did black waistcoats with pointed bone buttons, black trousers decorated with braiding and ‘vitézkötés’ (traditional Hungarian braided ornament) motifs, and stiff-legged boots.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the braiding became thinner, embroidery on the waistcoat went out of fashion, the boots acquired braided leather edging and buttons, the hat became softer, and the bow tie gradually became merely a formal accessory.

After the First World War, the black coat with a fur collar became widespread, while the black ‘szűr’ was abandoned. Braided waistcoats and jackets gradually disappeared, although decorated trousers and short jackets with two rows of buttons continued to be worn.
Women’s dress adopted certain elements of Western bourgeois clothing more strongly than men’s dress. Older women wore several loose, heavily pleated and relatively short skirts in shades of grey or brown. In summer, the outermost skirt was always made of printed cotton. Their upper body was covered by a close-fitting jacket in a similar colour.

The skirts and jackets worn by girls and young married women were lighter in colour. Girls wore their hair in a single braid tied with a long red ribbon. They wore high-heeled boots, stitched at the sides and edged with red leather. During summer field and garden work, they worked barefoot.

The fabrics were purchased from shops. They did not weave or embroider their clothes at home; outer garments were made by specialized Hostat tailors, seamstresses, furriers and shoemakers. Their clothes were made from factory-produced materials, and the traditional boots were replaced relatively early by leather sandals and tennis shoes.

From the 1960s onwards, the practice of abandoning traditional dress became increasingly widespread. Traditional clothing was gradually replaced by modern garments and urban-style dressing habits.

Tünde Gál