The open air museum on the outskirts of Cluj, also known as the ethnographic park (or the outdoor museum of old mills, churches and houses), is again holding its “iarmaroc la sat.” What is “iarmaroc la sat?” (In the first draft, we misspelled it as “Lamaroc la sat.”) It means something like “annual village fair.” “Sat” is village, “la” is at, and iamaroc is a weird word that no one ever uses. I guess you could say it means something like “annual,” or “regular” fair or market. What is it, fair or market? Depends on the context. The Romanian dictionary defines as iarmaroc as a regular “târg.” “Târgul de cărți” is a book fair. Think of the annual Christmas market.
Where to go? Look on your satnav (or map, if you’re going oldschool) for “Romulus Voia.”
When? 15, 16, and 17th of May. On the fifteenth, doors open at 2 pm, and on the weekend, at ten am. It closes at nine pm on each day (but it might be a good idea to get there earlier, as people often pack up before it closes.)
Why? This is Cluj, an ancient city which has been taken over by rural migrants. As they say in rural Scotland, “Every day is a party.”
What is going on there? Among other things, a ceramics or pottery competition on the theme “Cucuteni.” The Cucuteni were the prehistoric culture of Eastern Romania, in places like Iasi. They had a lot of nice pottery, and there is a lot of speculation as to what happened to them.
Entire villages just seemed to disappear. Did they cremate their dead? And burn their houses? Or were they beamed up to another planet, or perhaps they were the people of Enoch who were taken in the rapture of times of old?
Maybe one day they all just decided to get up and walk to Western Europe, like Badea Cârțean or Constantin Brâncuși? But then, why don’t we find traces of their journey, or evidence of their final arrival?
Don’t want to make pottery? Or don’t want to enter it into a contest? Don’t worry, there will also be other workshops, and activities for children. There will be up to ninety stands from all around the country, so you might find something to do. (And if it’s not your thing, then maybe you could just stay home and watch “Nea Marin, Miliardar.”