The Seven Dancing Hajdú in the town square of Hajdúbosormény, with a couple of extras.
In Eastern Hungary close to the great plains, in the town square of Hajdúbosormény, the 7 Hajdú warriors are dancing. There is one for each of the original 7 villages built on the land donated by Bocskay István in the 1600s. The dancers are rugged and fierce and carry their weapons of war. They all wear big bushy very Hungarian looking moustaches.
These are the people of my oldest named grandmother, Kerekes Katalin who was born in nearby Hajdúhadhaz.
The beautiful baroque buildings on the square contrast with the shabbier businesses and homes elsewhere in town. Around the corner, the building that houses the Hajdúsag museum is in need of a paint job. It looked so sad we were surprised that it was really open. But, we were in luck. We had the place to ourselves and were amazed at the quality of the exhibits in such an out of the way place.
Artist’s conception of bronze age couple with tools and adornments found in archeological dig in Hajdú region.
A special exhibit told of excavations of the Bronze-age treasures being discovered in nearby ancient burial grounds. An animated video in Hungarian told the story of those ancient people.
There were many exhibits of life in the Hajdú towns.
Illustration of men’s uniforms.
Beautifully embroidered ladies’ capes and men’s heavy fur coats helped keep them warm in winter. The massive fur coat on display had a pest strip tucked inside for protection.
Hajdú lady’s embroidered fur cape. “kisbunda”
An exhibit of an old style hut and household equipment gave an idea of what life in the area would have been like.
Village life. Corn grinder and bee hives.
I estimate my hajdú heritage to be about 0.1%. I’m proud of that little bit of these brave proud people.
Growing up in a Hungarian community we would go to parties where the grownups danced the csardás, dancing and stomping their feet as the gypsy fiddler played faster and faster. I can imagine the hajdú dancing to the music and keeping up just fine.
Note: The museum website had pictures of some of their exhibits but at the time of this post the site was infected with malware.
Édes-Orbán Family 