"Besides the incredible development it means, the Modern Age, this industrio-technical civilization, also brings a number of negative effects. It destroys traditional micro-communities and their lifestyle: living in harmony with Nature."
(1, Tarján Gábor: Mindennapi hagyomány, 1993, p. 2)
The pace of life has turned faster. Objects, relationships and ideologies that surround us change in a rapid succession. Our life has become shallow, mechanical and consumption-centered. We pass beauty every day without recognizing its existence. Besides, we produce less beauty, because it needs too much effort on our side, and we do not have time any more. We do not care for each other, since we have our very own problems, anyhow. We have learnt our profession by the years, but we hardly ever know of anything else. Nature is all around us, but we do not even care.
What does it mean for us if the moon has a burr? If the sky is red above the zenith at sundown? If the cock cuckoos at night? If fruit-trees blossom for a second time? More often than not, they do not mean anything. We are almost never conscious of them: we cannot recognize the experience and wisdom inherent in these perceptions. We listen to weather forecasts and curse the weatherpersons if the forecasts turns out to be lacking in precision. But if we cast our eyes upon the sky, if we searched for the moon, we would be able to know the weather on our own.
A vast amount of wisdom, knowledge, experience and beauty lies hidden in the field of folk culture and folk art. Sadly enough, the role and reality of a living folk are is continuously diminishing. As it is rooted in old rural customs, it has already become practically non-existent in modern Western countries. The habitants of villages cease to wear folk dresses, and follow the fashion dictated by urban life and mass production. Folk music and poetry is only sporadically given over to the following generations.
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