Thousands including many of the 20,000 Saxons who arrived in Transylvania for a celebration marking 800 years of their presence in the region last weekend, are expected to take part in the 2024 edition of the popular Haferland Week.
The festival, which runs from Aug. 8-11, offers visits to fortified churches, concerts and guided tours. There will even be a medieval wrestling exhibition as well as the usual traditional dancing shows, organizers said in a press release.
On Sunday,the last day of the festival, there will be a ceremony for the 700th anniversary of Rupea fortress, a towering medieval monument of major historical importance that looms high over the landscape.
Visitors will be invited to enjoy a mock-up traditional Saxon wedding, complete with a traditional lunch and a Saxon ball featuring German band, HighLife.
Also featured is an Instagram contest, with a big prize of two nights of B&B at the Casa Kraus, a gorgeous boutique hotel (and onetime vicarage for the resident Saxon priest) sitting on the hill outside the church at Criț
In a premiere, 21 young people will have a chance to enjoy a one-off adventure in Haferland via The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Romania.
The twelfth edition of Haferland Week, a popular festival celebrating the Saxon community and its traditions will begin on Thursday and end at the weekend.
Some 10,000 visitors from the country and around the world are expected at the event. As before, the festival will take place in ten villages in the region known as the Land of Oats (Haferland): Archita, Saschiz, Homorod, Rupea, Criț, Roadeș, Meșendorf, Cloașterf, Bunești and Viscri.
The 2024 edition of Haferland Week takes place under the high patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Philipp von und zu Liechtenstein, of the Princely House of Liechtenstein, and – for the first time ever- under the auspices of the Royal Family of Romania.
Visitors can explore fortified churches, or enjoy organ concerts and traditional music, guided tours of Saxon households and even a demo of a Saxon medieval fight as well as the traditional Saxon dancing, and dances, parade of traditional costumes, exhibitions and lectures.
One of the special moments will be a ceremony of the 700th anniversary of the first attestation of the Rupea fortress, one of the most important historical monuments of the Saxon civilization in Transylvania.
There’ll also be a traditional Saxon wedding, including a lunch with a traditional menu, a traditional Saxon ball in Criț featuring the popular HighLife band on Saturday, and a guided tour through the village of Roadeș. Visitors will be able to view a traditional Saxon household on August 11.
Children have their own entertainment, such as sewing, lace-making, wood painting, mini-loom weaving workshops as well as a DIY workshop at the Solar Tower in Rupea or the Haferland carousel.
“Over the past 12 years, the Haferland Week festival has managed to become one of the biggest, most beautiful and beloved displays of the Saxon community in Romania,” says Michael Schmidt, president of the M&V Schmidt Foundation, co-organizer of the event.
“This success is confirmed by the public year after year, but also from distinguished personalities…This is the second year that Haferland Week takes place under the high patronage of a member of the Princely House of Liechtenstein and, at the same time, the first to take place under the auspices of the Royal Family of Romania,” he added.
“On behalf of our community, I would like to express our full gratitude for this honor. Thanks to the efforts of the community and the support of Haferland’s friends from all over the world, this area, one of the most beautiful in all of Central Europe, is reborn today before our eyes. We invite you all to our home, to the Saxons, to convince yourselves.”
At this year’s edition, the festival is for the first time a partner of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, a global program founded in the United Kingdom that offers international recognition and a structured framework of non-formal education activities for young people aged 14 to 24.
The program is sponsored internationally by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, and nationally by HM Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown.
Thus, the 21 young people, together with a team of instructors, will participate in a four-day adventure camp in the heart of Haferland, with hiking on Via Transilvanica, treasure hunts, workshops, culinary experiences, campfire, etc.
“The project carried out with The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Romania Foundation is complementary to our activities dedicated to children in the after-school program of the M&V Schmidt Foundation, which is why I believe very much in this initiative”, said Veronica Schmidt, co-founder and vice-president of the M&V Schmidt Foundation.
“Children learn not only from what they study at school, but also from life experiences. This partnership helps them discover the land of Haferland by participating in authentic rural life, by contacting the traditions, customs and history of these places. ..At a time when the new generation is more attracted to the online world, this partnership is an opportunity for teenagers to expand their horizons, take on fresh responsibilities, face up to challenges and take the first steps towards adulthood.”
The Land of Oats is known for its gorgeous scenery and this year the organizers of the festival will launch a photo contest on Instagram.
Participants are asked to post a single image or video from Haferland Week 2024, tagged @saptamana_haferland between August 8-16, 2024.
Details of the prize_ two nights for two at Casa Kraus_ are available here.
Details: Haferland is sponsored by the Brasov County Council and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with Penny, Transgaz, CEC Bank, Hochland, Bosch Romania Foundation, Rompetrol, Geiger, Aqua Carpatica, Domeniile Sâmburești, CON-A, Automobile Bavaria and MHS Truck & Bus.
The co-organizers of the festival, the M&V Schmidt Foundation and the Tabaluga Foundation / Peter Maffay Stiftung, benefit from the support of the partners: the Democratic Forum of Germans in Transylvania, the Association of Transylvanian Saxons in Germany, the Evangelical Church C.A. in Romania, through the District Consistory of the Evangelical Church C.A. Brașov, the Cultural Center of the Transylvanian Saxons in Bavaria, The “Dimitrie Gusti” National Village Museum in Bucharest, the Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation, the ADEPT Transilvania Foundation, the Nowero Association, the Rupea City Hall, the Discover Archita Association, the Vânători City Hall (Vânători county). Mureș), Saschiz City Hall (Slovakia county) Mureș), the Women’s Neighborhood Association of Saschiz and the Bunești City Hall (Bunești county). Brașov)
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