Folklore and History
SAXON TRANSYLVANIA "SIEBENBURGEN"
Transylvania, with its romantic fortified villages and towns of 'gingerbread' houses, clock towers and turrets, red roofs and cobbled alleyways, its dark forests with magical glades, rugged mountains, canyons and caves, and its pastoral landscapes, folklore and traditions that seem to have survived from a previous age is without doubt a land that is familiar to every child as the setting for so many fairytales - Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood would all be at home here while even back in 1929, Walter Starkie observed,
"On the other side of the street a group of young girls were sitting sewing; one of them was as fair as a Saxon, but another had coal-black hair and a milk-white complexion. They reminded me of 'Snow White and Rose Red' in Grimm.".
Transylvania, with its romantic fortified villages and towns of 'gingerbread' houses, clock towers and turrets, red roofs and cobbled alleyways, its dark forests with magical glades, rugged mountains, canyons and caves, and its pastoral landscapes, folklore and traditions that seem to have survived from a previous age is without doubt a land that is familiar to every child as the setting for so many fairytales - Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood would all be at home here while even back in 1929, Walter Starkie observed,
"On the other side of the street a group of young girls were sitting sewing; one of them was as fair as a Saxon, but another had coal-black hair and a milk-white complexion. They reminded me of 'Snow White and Rose Red' in Grimm.".
According to legend the lost children of Hamelin emerged from the ‘Almasch’ (Varghis) cave into Transylvania - just to the north of Baraolt in 1284, lured there by the magical tune of the Pied Piper, a 'Romany' who had been cheated by the burghers after ridding them of their plague of rats. This is the 'romantic'explanation for what was, for many centuries a strange phenomenon: the presence of fair-haired, blue-eyed, German-speakers following ancient customs, yet isolated by hundreds of miles from Germany. The reality is that the fortified towns and villages of Transylvania were established in the 12th Century by settlers from the Moselle region, referred to locally as 'Saxons'. They were tempted to Transylvania by favourable market rights by the Hungarian rulers who wanted them there to guard the mountain passes against Tatar and Ottoman raiders. They created the 'Siebenbürgen', the seven fortified cities, while in villages they constructed fortified churches in which they could shelter during times of siege. Some of these churches are massive structures. The villages are often remote and although vestiges of the original populations may remain, clinging on to age-old traditions, many of them are in serious danger of losing their character as churches crumble. Various restoration projects have been initiated to rebuild the communities and to attract back some of the original inhabitants - many fled during the Communist years whilst after the 1989 Revolution the open door extended by Germany attracted many more to leave their way of life for the bright lights of the West. UNESCO has designated several of these villages and the mediaeval citadel of Sighisoara as Heritage Sites.