Haferland Week to celebrate Saxons in Romania’s Transylvania in August

The 12th edition of the Haferland Week, an event dedicated to promoting the culture and traditions of the Saxons of Transylvania, will take place this year between August 8 and 11.

The theme of the 2024 edition will be 'History, tradition, and culture, yesterday and today in Haferland,’ as announced by the organizers, the M&V Schmidt Foundation, and the Tabaluga Foundation.

The rural civilization of the Saxons in Transylvania can be experienced over the four days of the event, in villages located between Sibiu, Brașov, and Sighișoara. The entire Oat Country area offers numerous opportunities for visitors, given that on this route are villages listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Among the already famous picturesque places is the property owned by King Charles III in Viscri, open to the public for visits, according to News.ro.

Among the notable events of the festival are a Saxon ball in Criț, a clasp exhibition in Viscri, a visit to the restored Saschiz fortified citadel, and a concert by rock superstar Peter Maffay in Sibiu. The ball is perhaps the most anticipated event, starring the German band HighLife.

This Haferland Week marks a major anniversary, namely the celebration of 700 years since the Rupea Fortress, one of the most beautiful and largest medieval fortifications in Transylvania, was attested.

Archita, Saschiz, Homorod, Rupea, Criț, Roadeș, Meșendorf, Cloașterf, Bunești, and Viscri are the ten villages on the itinerary of events. This year also marks 10 years since the inauguration of the Kraus House, a tourist landmark of the area.

Over 10,000 visitors are expected from Romania, as well as from Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, and the USA.

The organizers have prepared a series of special events for all ages. They also promise visits to fortified churches and traditional Saxon households, concerts, traditional Saxon music balls, organ concerts, folk dance shows, film screenings, public conferences, exhibitions of crafts, folk costumes, workshops for children and adults, farm visits, and organic product tastings.

Access is free to all festival events.

This year, the M&V Schmidt Foundation's board of directors includes the former British ambassador to Bucharest, Andrew Noble.

"I am very pleased to be a member of this family, not only the Schmidt Foundation but the Haferland family. I think it is very important that we start here, in a place where the spirit of the Romanian village is very much alive. The villages that are in Romania are at the base of the lives of millions of people, and in Haferland, we have ten villages that rediscover their roots and future. [...] To be with you from this perspective is a dream for a retired diplomat," said Andrew Noble.