The Haferland Week Festival will take place this year in Romania between August 6 and 9, celebrating local Saxon culture with a series of events themed “Longing for Transylvania.” The event will take place in 10 localities: Archita, Saschiz, Homorod, Rupea, Criț, Roadeș, Meșendorf, Cloașterf, Bunești, and Viscri.
According to the organizers, the theme is an invitation for the Saxons in Romania and those who have left the country, for Romanians as well, and for Hungarians.
The public visiting the UNESCO World Heritage fortified churches and villages of Haferland during the festival period will have the opportunity to attend approximately 60 events for the whole family. Concerts, theater performances, traditional dance shows, conferences, guided tours to historical landmarks in the area, craft workshops for children and adults, as well as dances and concerts of traditional Saxon music are included in the program.
This year, the festival will include a Maria Tănase recital performed by Luisa Zan and Jazzpar Trio, as well as a jazz concert at Cetatea Rupea performed by Luisa Zan, Mariano Castro, and Muse Quartet in Cloașterf.
As every year, the traditional Saxon ball will take place in Criț, assisted by the Saxon music band Flamingo Sound from Nuremberg. Also hosted there will be the exhibition “Agapi, Half a Century of Love,” which explores the relationship between memory, identity, and the transmission of family values, signed by the artist and actress Kira Hagi.
The festival will also host a new edition of Youth Haferland, the third this year, in which young people from Romania, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic will participate for the first time. This year’s edition will take place under the patronage of the president of the Romanian Senate, Mr. Mircea Abrudean, as well as former athlete Nadia Comăneci.
“Haferland is not just a point on the map; it is a living memory, a bridge between the past and the future. What you are building here is more than a festival, it is a natural return to what Romania has most valuable,” said Nadia Comăneci on Wednesday, May 20, during a press conference hosted at the Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum, as reported by News.ro.
During the conference, the founder of the festival, Michael Schmidt, donated a Saxon dowry chest from the year 1897, from the collection of the Schmidt Foundation.
“Through this festival, we support local communities, protect traditional crafts, promote cultural tourism, and create economic opportunities for people in the area. Romania has demonstrated that diversity is a form of wealth, not a reason for separation. Intercultural dialogue has become a source of stability and development, and the German community in Romania represents a remarkable example of resilience, responsibility, and community spirit,” he said.
Year after year, the Haferland Week offers the opportunity to get to know and live in the center of a rural civilization, that of the Saxons of Transylvania, which is still preserved today in the area of the villages located between Sibiu, Braşov, and Sighişoara.
(Photo source: Săptămâna Haferland on Facebook)
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