Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip

These whips were the everyday tools for the shepherds in Hungary. There were various kinds of whips according to the type of the animal needed to herd. Heavier and rougher whips were used to control „mangalica” pigs and cart-pulling buffalos. These animals were actually hit by the herdsman to make them move towards the desired directon.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip Lighter and thinner whips were used to herd white cattle and horses. To control these animals, in most of the time, only cracking the whip over their heads was enough. Actually hitting them even with the lighter whips inflicted visible bruises, which made the animal worth less, and the loss was deducted from the shepherd's wage.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip The whip actually consists of two parts: the handle and the whiplash. The handle was made of hardwood most of the time, but there are examples for metal handles as well. The shepherd made the handle for himself, and decorated it according to the customs of the region by carving symbols or attach leather stripes to it.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip

The whiplashes were made of leather stripes or hemp. Leather whips were expensive prepared by craftsmen and only the shepherds of the noblemen could afford it. For the poorer herders the best option was to use hemp as whiplash material and they usually spinned the hemp themselves while they were caring for the herd.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip Expensive leather whip.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip Whip made of hemp.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip The whiplash, either made of leather or hemp, was crafted by spinnig stripes. Shepherds used 32, 24,18,16,12,8,3,2 threds to spin the whiplash. The shape of the whiplash was like the shape of a snake. A bit thinner at first, then growing wider, then getting thinner and thinner towards the cracker. If the whip is not like the shape of a snake, the shepherd hits himself with it.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip

Materials for making a hemp whip: metal rings, threds of hemp, some leather stripes to attach the rope braid to the handle.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip To make a whip, shepherds prepared the handle first, then they thrusted it into the earth. Then they fixed the main thread (usually a thicker thread of hemp) to the handle and then, tied the end of this thread around their waist. After this process, they fixed the other thinner threads, which they spinned around the main thread. The more threads they used, the more beautiful the whip became.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip To spin eight threads one should pull left 1 over left 2,3,4, main thread, right 4,3, then pull it back to the left under, between right 3,2. After this left 1 will be left 4 and left 2 will be left 1, then repeat the process from the right hand side.

Traditional Crafts The Hungarian Bullwhip

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery

It was in the beginning of the eighteenth century that the present style of Hungarian folk art took shape. Flowers and leaves, sometimes a bird or a spiral ornament, are the principal decorative themes. The finest achievements in textile arts are the embroideries which vary from region to region.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery The reason embroidery has become so widespread in folk art lies in the ancient custom of dowry. It was expected that a well-to-do peasant family provide their marriageable daughter with a dozen ornate pillows and embroidered sheets, two to four decorated featherbeds and six to eight embroidered tablecloths.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery

The most famous regions are: Mezőkövesd, the land of Matyó art crafts in the Hungarian Great Plain. Kalocsa in Southern Hungary. Kalotaszeg in Transylvania.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery

Matyó folk embroidery, originating in Mezökövesd, is popular both within Hungary and abroad. Shawls, tablecloths and aprons of black material are thickly embroidered with a dense accumulation of multicolored flowers. There is a symbolism in the colors used in Matyo art: black represents the soil, red is the color of summer and blue stands for grief and death.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery Fancy Matyó needlework

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery Richly decorated tablecloth.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery In Kalocsa on the Danube in Southern Hungary the ”Writing women” draw their designs on white or pastel colored fabrics. Daisies, marigolds, cornflowers, poppies, lilies, tulips and roses furnish the colorful motifs. Kalocsa designs are also applied to wall decorations.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery Tablecloth from Kalocsa.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery A beautifully embroidered pillow from Kalocsa.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery One of the favorite destinations for lovers of ethnographic art in Transylvania is Kalotaszeg. Among the embroidery made in Kalotaszeg, the most characteristic is what is known in Hungarian as írásos (literally: „written") embroidery. The dense, meandering pattern of this embroidery is first drawn or "written" on the cloth and then sewn with red, blue, white or black thread.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery Typical motifs from Kalotaszeg.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery Nicely embroidered pillow from Kalotaszeg.

Traditional Crafts Hungarian Embroidery