All right, now that the sunstroke has passed and I don't have the urge to puke all over the keyboard... I feel much better. Good enough to write about the Festival of Folk Arts. (Housed, as always in the Castle District, around the Castle in Buda.)

It was good. But hot. The sun was shining so damn much I got a glaring red sunburn and a not so slight sunstroke. But I still enjoyed it.

So by now I know about the layout of the place and the vendors who make the good stuff. I also know who sells the cheap but good quality things. And I had my wishlist ready.

When we got to the square where the fair started from, we were quite surprised, because there were even more vendors than there have been ever before. I mean I pretty much expected half of the vendors not to show up in such a bad economy, but no, there were even more. Go figure.

Anyway, since the French came to visit the fair and brought their own vendors. They were on the right of the entrance in the little square, and the lady where you could make your own wreath from dry flowers and hay methinks was gone. I used to make them every year and go around wearing my wreath throughout the fair. People used to ask me where I bought it or if they could take a photo with me (mostly tourists). But not this year. I was pretty sad. But moved on.

So, we went on, and found some very very pretty Hungarian jewelry. The ring I almost bought looked very pretty... until I saw the crack in it right before I made the purchase. So I declined politely. I hurt the poor woman, for which I am sorry, but the ring was cracked. And it was so pretty. :(

Anyway, we moved on and we found another Hungarian jewelry booth. The woman there had old motifs from all parts of Hungary, and most of them were székely motifs. (The Hungarians living in Transylvania. Yup, it used to belong to us, before it was taken away, like the other 2/3 of the original country.) And since it was much cheaper than silver pendants in a shop (which look generic anyway), and the woman dropped the price by 300 if I bought the second one, I bought two pendants. One is a wildflower from old sewings in the uplands, the other depicts two lilies entwined, taken from székely carvings. (My treasures will be shown at the bottom of the post.)

Anyway, we went on, and bought a leather belt for each of us. Luckily, my dad came as well, so he got himself the belt he wanted. These belts last long and are so very very perfect... I can tell you, they are. I also got their address, so now I know where to go for more. :)

I also saw people dressed in traditional clothing. Women in the matyó dresses, guys in the csikós (wrangler) clothes... and more. Once a year it feels so nice to see people still keeping up the traditions.

Anyway, there was a man who knew how to make very neat bracelets, and I was a return customer of his... I did plan on returning to him again this year. But he wasn't in his usual place, so I went in search for him. I found him 5-6 booths away from his usual place, luckily, and bought myself a black bracelet studded with old motifs. (See at the bottom with the rest of my findings.)

And the last on my wishlist was a hairpin. I have no idea how that type is called, so hairpin it shall be called here. I went to the booth I always admired for the pretty hair ornaments and bought one especially cheap... which was a wonder, because that guy usually sold his stuff for a much higher price than any other... oh well. I was happy to get myself on a pretty hair ornament like that for so cheap.









And then we found the wreath lady nearly at the end of the fair. Which wasn't fair. By then I was nearly dying of sunstroke and heatstroke, even though I put my head under the water at every fountain. Well, they weren't real fountains, just... free tap water for all the people at the festival. Thing is, I didn't feel like making a wreath so far in, so... this year I didn't. *sniff*

We even met the woman who made my favourite ceramic figures, and we bought the final one, the frog. It'll be my birthday present, but I don't care. Pretty froggie makes me happy.

And then, not long before the exit we came to a booth where the seller was... a friend of mine. She refused to accept my money for a metal wing I bough off her, so I gave her one of my butterflies, a green and yellow one which was actually made to be a brooch. She liked it quite a bit. Who knows, I migth ask her is she'd sell my stuff... for a percentage. :)

And then we finished looking through the booths, and it had taken us nearly 6 hours to do so. Of course we at in the middle as usual and sat in the shade, but still. It took us half a day. But it was fun!

And we went home and I realized that I forgot to switch my camera back from ISO 1200, since I had set it on that for making photos of the fireworks. *facepalm*

So I'm very sorry for the crappy quality of the piccies.


And here is what I bought: