Out of the Land They Loved


This picture represents a Saxon village, this would be where my parents were born. One returned to live there for many years afterwards, and one never saw his homeland. In their own ways they miss the land and the people.
I know that my father who has less ties to Transylvania isn't certain he wants to go back, but he still speaks fondly of the place he was born. My mother and her family returned to Transylvania until she was thirteen, and then they left. The land left an indelible mark on her. She misses what she had and never really said goodbye to the land she loved. She left behind friends and family. In many ways, her longing to move closer to her mother might have something to do with her unspoken wish to return to her homeland.
Because they were Germans, and are Germans, it affected her personality, she is hard to decipher and family is all consuming for her. She seems angry at times about life, and expects everything from everyone. My father is different, loves where his lives, and won't move for the life of him. He loves his family and adventures that he can take them on here. Never, ever on a plane. A boat perhaps, plane no.
Whatever the reason, they both love Transylvania, and when there is even a small piece of information going on in Romania, they rip it apart trying to get more information. They are out of the land they loved, but still very much drawn to it.

Comments

Unknown said…
That's so nice that your family has such a close tie to the old country. I bet it was interesting growing up understanding the culture.

I never really had the old world ties so much. Most of my family immigrated to the American colonies in the 1600's; the later wave of immigration was to Ontario on the 1800's. The ones who immigrated to the colonies were mainly of noble English birth or Scottish royal lineage; through them, we have our family legends; still, we don't celebrate our culture as much as we should.

Through the family that immigrated to Ontario, they made their way down to Louisana and brought us our French culture, which we still retain some traces of.

What, what I'm longwindedly getting at is that: culture is a really nice thing and that's so refreshing to know that your parents care about the home of their birth and that you care enough to write about it. =)
Anonymous said…
What a great topic...

I left Transylvania when I was 12. I also have a German background (Schwab), but because of politics in the region we lived in, my family ended up speaking Hungarian over the years.

It is a beautiful land with rivers, lakes, mountains, valleys, forests, you name it... and all of us that were born there keep have it in our hearts.

I remember visiting my Grandparents vineyards that has been in our family for many generations. They were hardworking people with a little piece of land beside their house and their beloved vineyard for their wine and palinka (Hungarian Moonshine). They raised cows, pigs, chickens, geese, and my brothers and I went out with the cows in the grasslands so they could eat, and we could play. I remember climbing trees, picking cherries, and climbing fences. I would pick the walnuts in their green covering from the tree and open it to eat the raw walnut inside. They had an outhouse, and we went to the neighbourhood pump to get our water and carry it back to the house.

I still have cousins in the regions, although our family went from one of the biggest families in the area down to only a few smaller clusters...

Mostly everyone went to Germany or to Canada for better opportunities. We still keep in touch with our family in Germany, and will do so as long as I'm alive.

Unfortunately life is not easy for the people that live in Transylvania. Yes, some of them are more fortunate than others, however, a lot of the people there do not have high incomes, and therefore their quality of life suffers.

Relatives of ours were just there visiting, and upon return they said that it is so sad to see all the bad roads, and homes in disrepair. Most everyone they met complained about something or other.

On a brighter note we are going to pass our stories of the old homeland down to our children and grandchildren. We will go back to visit when our children are older so that they can see where we came from, and they can see some of the wonders of the region.

Thanks for starting this blog.
Mummy-in-Law came from Transylvania--no joke! Don't know much about it, except for Dracula of course, pleased to have found you.