The Ceramics of Gorzafalva (Oituz)

Situated on the Eastern sides of the Carpathian Mountains, Gorzafalva had been the most important settlement of the Hungarian potters of Moldavia for centuries. This craft reached its height at the end of the 19^th century, when numerous potters from Bereck (Breţcu) crossed the mountains to settle down in the village. This was related to the fact that at that time mostly clay pottery was in use within the kitchens of Moldavia, and the attrition of clay was quite quick, plus a rapidly growing population insured the constancy of the market.

The potters of Gorzafalva were sustaining their families first of all by agriculture and stock-raising, pottery being in use mostly in the pauses of the major agricultural works or during rainy days. Nevertheless the village situated in the valley of the Ojtoz river became the biggest pottery center of Moldavia and of the whole country at the middle of the 20^th century, numbering almost four hundred active potters. This craftsmen community was producing millions of traditionally red-burned items, being able to satisfy the necessities of most of the villages in Central and Southern Moldavia.

Craftsmen were usually combining the Transylvanian and Moldavian traditional pottery with their own ideas and with the needs of the market quite flexibly. The acquisition and preparing of the material, the manufacturing, burning and ornamentation of the item was done by the potter himself. The pottery (pots for cooking, for food storage, saucepans and dishes, water-, milk- and wine-pots, lids and toys) ornamented with white clay, shiny and green glaze was sold either carried with wagons through the villages or at markets, being traded usually for money, grain or wine. The everyday needs of the population were signaled by the fact that up to the second half of the 20^th century no ornaments were made, but all the items were exclusively for everyday use.

However industrialization brought radical changes within the subsistence of the potters, while the modernization of the interiors, first of all the spread of the platen-stove and metal pots, reduced the demand for pottery. As a result, at the beginning of the 21^st century a single active potter can be found in Gorzafalva. He was given the chance to see how the pottery of Gorzafalva has gradually become an important symbol of Moldavian Hungarian identity and of Csángó folk culture.

Our exhibition commemorates the famous potters of Gorzafalva and the traditional craft itself. On a long term the documentary material and exhibition of the Csángó Ethnographic Museum related to the pottery of Gorzafalva means to serve the resurrection of this traditional ceramic art.

A kiállítást rendezte / Organizatori / Curators: Kinda István, Vass Attila

Fotók / Fotografii / Pictures: dr. Kós Károly, Pozsony Ferenc, Benedek H. János, Kinda István

Látványterv / Design / Design: Szőcs Levente

Támogatók / Sponsori / Sponsors: Bethlen Gábor Alap, Kriza János Néprajzi Társaság archívuma, Székely Nemzeti Múzeum, Kovászna Megye Tanácsa, Zabola Polgármesteri Hivatala