Abstract
On March 24, 2020, the international flower trade association Union Fleurs issued a statement on the situation of the ornamental plants sector hit by the Covid-19 crisis. In a study published in April 2020, Copa-Cogeca (European Farmers and European Agri-Cooperatives) echoed the findings of the above-mentioned international flower trade association, stating that the flower and ornamental plants sector was the agricultural sector most impacted by the coronavirus in the EU, as in most Member States, including Hungary and Romania, there was a historical drop in demand and consumption of almost 80%, and unfortunately the virus hit at the worst possible time, as the spring season would have been the peak period for ornamental horticulturalists. In my case study, I examine the flower growers of Curteni, a settlement in the Mureș region of Transylvania (Romania). How has this global phenomenon caused by the coronavirus manifested itself locally in a settlement where nearly 60 families make their living from growing and selling ornamental plants? Has this community been able to maintain its territorial/regional competitiveness? Have the people of Curteni joined the group of producers known in economic anthropology as farmers who chose to halt and wait, or did they find a quick and resilient response to the obstacles they encountered? How did this crisis become an identity-shaping factor in their lives? The pandemic has also exacerbated the situation in Curteni, made it more difficult to act and make decisions, and has brought new perspectives and values into play. The example of the florist community of Curteni shows that a new situation, and indeed any crisis, can bring about positive changes in the lives of communities. In any crisis, emergency, or exigency, members of a community may almost instinctively, but mostly also consciously, seek innovative responses to their problems. One way is to discover and exploit the opportunities inherent in a crisis, communally re-assessing and utilizing the available values, opportunities, and resources, and finding truly resilient responses.
Introduction
(Pandemic situation research in the Hungarian communities of East Central Europe)
The COVID-19 pandemic affected nearly all aspects of social, economic, and cultural life. Similarly to the total institutions described by the Canadian-American social anthropologist Erving Goffman in the early 1960s (Goffman 1991), the COVID-19 pandemic caused a total transformation of everyday life for both individuals and communities rather than merely affecting certain elements of social coexistence. In this sense, the pandemic gave rise to a total situation (Tamás 2021:47) that changed everything (Nistor et al. 2020a). Given that the government authorities and health bodies have successfully dealt with the effects of the pandemic and the associated total situation, we now have sufficient perspective to explore our predicament. Indeed, with the threat having been reduced and the pandemic concluded, it is now possible to review events in order to draw lessons and make adjustments.
In recent years, academics working in the fields of ethnography, sociology, and other related disciplines have begun to describe the processes of rapid transformation that took place before our eyes, introducing such terms as quarantine (lockdown) culture and pandemic situation. While the former refers to a temporary state (namely the lockdown period and the cultural products arising within it), the latter indicates a more protracted state of affairs, with circumstances that are “present for some time and may even determine the future” (Gősi – Magyar 2020; Vajda 2020:45, 2021:71; Jakab – Vajda 2022:7, 12–13). The pandemic situation cannot be understood without analyzing the contexts in which it arose and that sustained it. This explains why many institutions among the Hungarian communities of East Central Europe have recognized the importance of exploring the phenomenon. Among the first to address the question of “everything differently?” were researchers at the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, who later published a volume of case studies analyzing the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on Transylvania's1 Hungarian communities (Bakk – Gagyi eds. 2021). The Kriza János Ethnographic Society of Cluj-Napoca joined this initiative, co-organizing with the aforementioned university a traveling conference on Pandemic-Existence-Situations in 2021. The lecturers at this conference discussed specific case studies as well as methodological and conceptual issues. The selected conference papers then appeared in a volume co-published with the Budapest Museum of Ethnography in 2022 (Jakab – Vajda eds. 2022).
In 2020, the same museum (i.e., the Budapest Museum of Ethnography) initiated the documentation of so-called quarantine (lockdown) objects (Bakos – Foster 2022; Facebook 2023), while the Hungarian National Archives began to collect in a systematic way the notes and quarantine (lockdown) diaries arising during the COVID-19 pandemic (MNL 2020).
A further initiative came from the social science review of Socio.hu, which in April 2020 surveyed social researchers in Hungary on the topic of the pandemic, posing questions that pointed in the direction of foresight studies: Do we see what is coming, that is, “what can the toll of a pandemic take away from research, and what might be the spin-offs in the year of the lockdown?” Forty-six social researchers responded to this survey (Kovács – Takács 2020). In April 2020, the social science journal Replika published a collection of concise studies, assessments, diary notes, personal accounts, and reflexive essays on the outbreak of COVID-19, its individual and social effects in everyday life, the anticipated consequences, and the challenges facing experts and professionals (Fokasz et al. eds. 2020). In addition to the above, a more in-depth study of the economic and social ramifications of the pandemic was launched, resulting in the publication of two separate volumes on the subject with contributions from several specialists and university students based in Hungary (Kovács ed. 2021; Kovács – Szőke eds. 2022).
In connection with the aforementioned pandemic situation research in Central and Eastern Europe, I launched an investigation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on ornamental plant producers in Curteni, a village in Mureș County in the central-northern part of Romania.
The field (The study area)
The village of Curteni lies in Mureș2 County on the right bank of the river Mureș and seven kilometers from the city of Târgu Mureș.3 The area straddles the border between the ethno-cultural (and landscape) regions of Székely4 Land5 and the Transylvanian Plain.6 Most of the inhabitants are Hungarian Calvinists. According to the 2011 census data, the village had a total population of 1,038, which included 929 ethnic Hungarians and a small number of Romanian and Roma inhabitants. The Hungarian name of the village – Udvarfalva – is thought to derive from the presence of manor houses [Hungarian: udvarházak] in the area; the village was first mentioned in 1,332 as Oduarfalua (Adatbank 2011).7 Until the Treaty of Trianon (1920) the village lay in Hungary, in a part of the Upper Maros district of Maros-Torda County. The latter half of the 19th century saw the growth of the production of ornamental plants in the village and the associated trade. This development occurred concurrently with the appearance of a middle class. Further growth in the sector was recorded under communism and during the post-communist transition (Nagy 2020).
In view of the secondary role of ornamental plants in the Hungarian-speaking areas, it is rare to find a place specializing in ornamental plant production with traditions dating back centuries. Indeed, only in a few places do local people grow and sell ornamental plants – a group of plants originally cultivated for their aesthetic value – for the purpose of (indirectly) meeting their material and energy needs, conducting economic activities, and securing a livelihood (Nagy 2020:119–120, 2021b:233). Reflecting the high standard of ornamental plant production in the area (both in Curteni and in the two neighboring villages of Chinari8 and Sântana de Mureș,9 the three of which today comprise a merged settlement with the latter as its administrative center), it is known throughout East Central Europe as a prominent place of production. Reflecting its unique situation and its political, economic, social, natural historical, and cultural attributes, the region has a tradition of plant cultivation dating back three centuries (Nagy 2020:121–125, 2021a:125). It flourished in particular under communism. Currently, both cultivation and sales are characterized by considerable diversity (Figs 1–2).
Semi-intensive and intensive small- and large-scale flower cultivation in foil tunnels. Curteni, Romania, 2018. (Photos by Zsolt Nagy)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
The people of Curteni were fully unprepared for the restructuring of the rural economy in the post-1989 period, which saw privatization measures as well as the restitution of land. Despite this unpreparedness, high-quality ornamental plants are now being cultivated on around 40–45% of cropland available for production in the area. Beginning in the 2000s, the cultivation of cut flowers on increasingly outdated household plots gradually ceased. Concurrently, new varieties and technologies were introduced, leading to a boom in potted plant cultivation under plastic foil on restituted land (Nagy 2020:126).
In recent decades, flower growing has dramatically reshaped village life. Much of the arable land in the area is now covered by foil tunnels and greenhouses, known locally known as “solars” or “seras” (Fig. 3).10 These constructions have become so important to local people's livelihoods that they can now be found in places where the cultivation of ornamental plants would have been unthinkable in earlier periods (e.g., on the floodplain of the river Mureș and in the former vineyards, including those abandoned during a phylloxera outbreak). Meanwhile, technological developments have made it possible for small producers to become large-scale producers in the space of a few years. Facilities can be automated through the introduction of modern ventilation, irrigation, humidification, heating, shading and other equipment and systems. Work processes – from the filling of pots with soil to plant protection measures – can be mechanized.
View of the village with facilities for the cultivation of ornamental plants. Curteni, Romania, 2021. (Photo by Zsolt Nagy)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
In recent years, owing to the problem of oversupply in the ornamental plant sector as well as the influx of cheaper but high-quality flowers from abroad, the people of Curteni have been required to increase supply and expand their markets. Whereas Târgu Mureș, a nearby city, used to be the main (almost exclusive) market for the plants, today flowers from Curteni are supplied to nearly the whole country (especially the Moldavian part), as well as to the adjacent countries (principally Hungary but sometimes also other countries in Central and Eastern Europe). The greater distances are usually covered by Romanian and Roma resellers, wholesale buyers, and middlemen known as angrósok,11 all of whom help bridge the gap. In the broader region, the village is now known as the “village of flowers.” This means that the cultivation of ornamental plants can also be viewed as a factor influencing tourism and shaping local identity. Since 2000, an annual flower fair and exhibition has been organized in the village. It is attended by buyers from various parts of the country (Nagy 2020:128–129).
Research questions and methods
I have been conducting socio-ethnographic research in Curteni since 2014. In the course of fieldwork spanning nearly three years between December 2018 and June 2022, I had the opportunity to make observations and record my experiences during a period of quarantine (lockdown) and social distancing (mostly dating to 2020–2021). My starting premise (mentioned above) was that the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus had transformed all aspects of life, including people's habits of purchasing and using flowers as well as their gardening habits.
“Whereas the public focus is on the immediate effects of COVID-19, the social scientist takes a step back and begins to ask questions based on the apparent evidence. And whereas people in general consider the issues to be self-evident, the researcher formulates questions and tries to keep the discourse open” (Máté-Tóth 2020:95). In my case study, I assigned differing degrees of emphasis to the various issues and questions, most of which may seem to have obvious answers: Was this community able to uphold its regional competitiveness? Did the people of Curteni add to the group of “stagnant producers,” to use a term from economic anthropology? Or did they react quickly and innovatively to the obstacles arising (i.e., was their response an effective and resilient one)? What were the local manifestations of the global pandemic in a village where the livelihoods of nearly sixty families depended on the cultivation and sale of ornamental plants? How did this crisis situation become a factor shaping their lives and identity? My aim was thus to explore how the pandemic, as an influential and defining phenomenon, tested the community's ability to adapt and shape a resilient response, how it became integrated into the structure of this community, and how it became a part of everyday life for local people.
Both the chosen field and the subject of research, as well as my premise and the research questions, led me – almost automatically – to use case studies. That is to say, “casing” as a qualitative socio-ethnographic and socio-anthropological method and a meso-level research tool was chosen because it enabled me to connect the empirical data with theorization and generalization (Ragin – Becker eds. 1992; Takács 2017). At the same time, however, the main aim (or focus) of my research has not been to draw general conclusions but rather to explore contexts and enhance our understanding of the pandemic by means of an individual case.
Context no. 1
(The ornamental plant sector and the global situation of ornamental plant producers at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic)
In the first half of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted less on arable crop production and animal husbandry than on other agricultural sectors, but there was a considerable effect on production in certain fields of horticulture, such as the cultivation of ornamental plants (floriculture) (Szőke 2021:111). On March 24, 2020, Union Fleurs issued a statement on the detrimental state of the ornamental plant sector amid the COVID-19 crisis (Unionfleurs 2020). Then, in April 2020, Copa-Cogeca, the united voice of farmers and agri-cooperatives in the European Union, published a study that reiterated the finding made by Union Fleurs. The study pointed out that, among the various agricultural sectors, the flower and ornamental plant sector (floriculture) had been most affected by COVID-19, with nearly an 80% decline in demand and consumption in most member states. Further, it noted that the virus had struck at the worst possible time, since the spring period ordinarily saw the highest turnover for ornamental plant producers (NAK 2020). Although there had already been many studies on the transport of perishable agricultural products and the effects of any transport restrictions, the experts had not anticipated (or prepared for) the problems that could arise in the case of fresh flowers (Szőke – Kovács 2022:125). To present the situation – which economic analysts classified as global, catastrophic, and impactful (Pintér 2021:87–88) – and to mitigate the damage, the aforementioned groups sent a letter to the European Commission, to which they attached illustrative infographics (Fig. 4) (Szűcs 2020). They requested that EU member states give special attention to the sector, calling for representatives of the ornamental plant sector to be assisted in locating and activating financial support.
Situation of the flower and ornamental sector in the spring of 2020, infographic published by Copa-Cogeca (the united voice of famers and agri-cooperatives in the European Union) (Facebook 2020a)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
In the end, substantial help from the authorities was delayed and lacking. Indeed, in 2020–2021, the only relief came from grassroots initiatives launched by producers themselves, albeit with little success. At the Dutch flower exchange, for instance, a worldwide campaign called Buy Flowers Not Toilet Paper was announced with the aim of preventing a situation in which producers were forced to discard their spring flowers in the spring of 2020. In April 2020, the Flower Council of Holland announced a similar initiative entitled Fill the distance with beauty. Despite all such efforts, shocking pictures of the “flower massacre” (Fabók 2020) with thousands of tons of trashed ornamental plants were published in the world press just a few weeks later (Fig. 5) (Siegal 2020).
One of the shocking pictures that appeared in the media on March 20, 2020 (AFP 2020)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
Meanwhile, most Europeans were flocking to the major shopping malls to stock up on toilet paper and other supplies for the pandemic and the anticipated lockdowns (Veres 2021:115; Balázs 2021:230). They had no time to celebrate Mother's Day and the other spring festivals by buying or sending flowers and ornamental plants. The rapid onset of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic constituted a measurable global problem for flower producers and traders in the major flower-producing countries of Europe (Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France, Spain stb.), Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia stb.), Asia (Turkey – Hannigan – Yazici 2021; India – Chetan – Yogish 2020; Gaikwad – Tambe 2021; Nepal – Acharya et al. 2021 stb.), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil stb.).
In 2020, not only were the sales channels disrupted, but in many cases the flower shops and stores were forced to close. These developments exerted a domino effect on the entire supply chain (Mashable 2020), with the pandemic undermining the viability of the flower and ornamental plant sector and threatening the related investments, businesses, and jobs. In September 2020, AIPH (Association of Horticultural Producers) experts, having examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ornamental sector, concluded that producers, transporters, suppliers, and sellers, must remain resilient: “Ornamental horticulture firms needed to be resilient.” According to their ideas and recommendations, for this to happen there was a need for adaptability, flexibility, cooperation, creativity, and sustainability (AIPH – FCI 2020; Paysalia 2020; Massey 2023). The global difficulties outlined in the foregoing soon became well documented at the local level, including in the villages that were the subject of my investigation. This meant that the COVID-19 pandemic also represented an opportunity to “examine the creation and operation of resilient problem-solving and resistance strategies in a major crisis situation” (Turai 2023:31).
Context no. 2
(The COVID-19 pandemic in Romania)
The COVID-19 pandemic reached Romania in February 2020.12 On March 11, the authorities replaced in-person teaching at schools and colleges with online learning. On March 16, a state of emergency [Romanian: stare de urgență] was declared, leading to the closure of all restaurants and the banning of all indoor events on the following day. Concurrently, restrictions were imposed on public access to government offices. A partial and then a complete lockdown and quarantine [Romanian: carantină] were soon introduced, with people requiring a written statement or proof of employment to leave their homes in justified cases. Most of the national borders were closed, and air transport was also restricted. The measures primarily affected private individuals and small businesses. During this period, some 400,000–403,000 people lost their jobs, while some 45,000 businesses suspended their activities or closed down completely (Kis – Bana 2021:42; MTI 2020a).
In mid-April, the country entered the stage of community spread (Bolocan 2020). By the end of the month, however, it had passed the first peak of the pandemic. Accordingly, most of the restrictions, such as the lockdown and the rules governing the opening hours of shops, were gradually lifted during May and June (Digi24 2020). The country's borders were then reopened to European states with low infection rates. The state of emergency was replaced on May 15 with a less strict regime (a state of alert [Romanian: stare de alertă]).
In the second wave of the pandemic, which began in late October, provisions resembling those of the spring state of emergency were introduced in only a few settlements, with any decision in this regard being based on the rate of infection in the given county. By November, most counties and many cities, including much of Transylvania, were in the red zone,13 so partial lockdowns and stricter restrictions were reintroduced (Marica 2020). In late December 2020, the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine doses arrived in the country, with the vaccination campaign beginning on the December 27 (Gov 2021).
The third wave of the pandemic began in March 2021. The government's approach was more moderate compared with previous measures. The authorities provided ongoing information to interested parties about the number of confirmed cases, the ratio of recoveries and deaths, and the efficacy of the vaccination campaign (Datelazi 2022). In 2021, Diána Kis and Tibor Bana published a summary study on the Romanian government's measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, which offers insights on how the Romanian state managed the situation compared to the leaderships of other European states (Kis – Bana 2021).
Case study
(The pandemic situation and cultural responses to the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic among ornamental plant producers in Curteni)
Lockdown and the temporary disruption of sales
Social anthropologists refer to producer groups that find themselves in a suddenly changed world (e.g., in a pandemic) as stagnant (Schwarz 2002:50–52). However, in Curteni at the time of the epidemiological restrictions, I found no flower growers who had abandoned their production activities (even temporarily) out of caution or because they were taking a wait-and-see (Szabó P. 2002:77) approach.
The restrictions had a particular impact on local ethnic Hungarian producers, as the lives of families growing plants in foil tunnels are mostly organized around work, with their entire way of life being determined by this production method. On March 1 and 8, 2020, that is on the Romanian mărțișor and International Women's Day holidays, which mark the beginning of the spring sales campaign, they were still able to sell their early spring stocks. Although the Romanian state secretary for health had already formulated the initial proposals for social distancing, the flower shops and markets remained open at the time (Mediafax 2020). However, with the introduction of more restrictive measures on March 11, the demand for flowers declined significantly, as the opportunities for individual and community contact were severely limited, with certain traditional forms of social interaction rendered impossible for the time being.
Although flower growers in Curteni faced the same difficulties affecting the entire global flower market, the quarantine measures (lockdowns) introduced by the Romanian state did not initially constitute a real turning point in their lives and activities. This was because not everyone took the measures seriously, given that they were being imposed from above. Indeed, having pocketed the sums received from the early spring sales, the producers looked ahead with confidence to the next sales period, and even a decline in revenues due to restrictions at the time of the pansy season [Hungarian: árvácskaszezon] in early April, which ordinarily provides similarly large revenues, did not lead to despondency. In response to the unprecedented situation, which saw producers failing to sell around 80–90% of the pansies, an interesting phenomenon was observed in the village: a period of initial uncertainty was followed by a change of function, or rather a complete transformation of function. Among the various ethnic groups who live in the Hungarian-speaking areas, flowers and ornamental plants have generally played a secondary or incidental role in the cultivated plant structure of the production areas. Indeed, priority has ordinarily been given to crops that are of use in everyday life rather than to ornamental plants grown for their decorative value. In traditional peasant life, ornamental plants “did not have a very big role,” for they did not meet energy and material needs but instead “satisfied spiritual and aesthetic needs” (Péntek – Szabó 1985:137). This has not been so in Curteni, where for several decades, flowers have been grown almost exclusively for their economic value, that is, for the purpose of being sold. This also explains why streets in the settlement are rarely decorated by planted flowers, for local farmers see ornamental plants as an opportunity to earn money. Given their economic value, flowers are produced on nearly every square inch of soil in the backyards, with other categories of cultivated plants (vegetables and fruit trees) being mostly relegated to small beds in front of the gates or planted in groups or rows by the sidewalk and at the roadside (Figs 6–7).
Traditional street view in the village: note the absence of flowers, the recently planted fruit trees, and the vegetable beds by the sidewalk. Curteni, Romania, 2021. (Photos by Zsolt Nagy)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
At the time of the pandemic, however, since it was not possible to sell the produced flowers, their aesthetic role and decorative function could come to the fore. The quarantine (lockdown) measures and the temporary disruption of sales gave rise to initiatives aimed at the planting of flowers (principally pansies) in public spaces, thereby transforming their function for the benefit of the community. On various social media sites, flower growers even called on their fellow producers to follow this example rather than simply trashing Curteni's pansies in the manner of the discarded tulips in the Netherlands. In this way, the pandemic situation saw a lifestyle shift, necessitating new interpretations and resulting in a temporary transformation in the overall appearance of some streets in the village. The manner in which the planting of flowers in the village's public spaces was a function, outcome or consequence of the epidemiological restrictions is best illustrated by the fact that after the lifting of the state of emergency in mid-May the same roadside flowerbeds remained empty – which is still the case today. Thus, the easing or lifting of restrictions from above indirectly resulted in the cessation of initiatives from below, with the usual local order in the village being restored from one moment to the next. The case exemplifies the concept of resilience, according to which when the coercive effect of a crisis, need or necessity ceases, the resilient system seeks to “bounce back” to some pre-existing state (Figs 8–11).
A changed street view at the time of the lockdown (with flowers) and after the lifting of the epidemiological restrictions (the ornamental plants disappear once again). Curteni, Romania, 2020 and 2021. (Photos by Enikő Páll and Zsolt Nagy)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
During the two-month lockdown, other initiatives could also be observed in the streets of the village. For instance, all three new streets opened during this period were named after flowers, one of them even being called Pansy Street [Hungarian: Árvácska utca, Romanian: strada Panseluțelor]. Furthermore, the giant messages made of tulips at the Dutch flower exchange in Aalsmeer or in the European flower fields at the time of the Buy Flowers Not Toilet Paper campaign, which was addressed to consumers worldwide14 (Fig. 12), were mirrored on a smaller scale in Curteni. Here, however, the messages did not constitute an appeal to consumers but were addressed to local producers worried about the pandemic, their sales, the future, and the success of the season. The messages encouraged them to put their faith in God. For me, the reactions of local people and their persistence in the face of difficulty – symbolically expressed in flowers with the word “Trust!” (Fig. 13) – meant that the people of Curteni could not be placed among the farmers who have lost all hope and purpose, referred to by economic anthropologists as the despondent (Szabó P. 2002:77).
Giant message at the Dutch flower exchange (Facebook 2020b)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
“Trust!” – message formed using pansies during the lockdown. Curteni, Romania, 2020. (Photo by Enikő Páll)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
All this is particularly interesting in the light of the global decline in demand for flowers and imported ornamental plants. Sales channels were disrupted, delivery routes were closed, and there was a ban on major public events, celebrations, and festivals (including the local Flower Festival), during which the flower growers would ordinarily have made huge sales. The restrictions also led to the cancellation of graduation ceremonies, weddings, and funerals, all of which were typically accompanied by a high demand for ornamental plants. Yet, even though all indications had suggested in early 2020 that the flower-growing community in Curteni would be in trouble once their cash reserves had been used up, they ended up holding a service of thanksgiving in May 2021, marking the conclusion of nearly a year of regulations. At this event, Curteni's flower growers gave thanks for a highly profitable period (Nagy 2023). Evidently, this was only possible because, after their initial uncertainty and loss of income during the pansy season, local flower growers had begun to adapt to the new situation, a process that was successfully completed by the beginning of the so-called summer season [Hungarian: nyári szezon] in May. Acceptance and integration on the part of individuals and the community were made possible by a readiness to adapt integrally and rapidly. All this helped to maintain regional competitiveness (Vincze – Bíró 2011:281), minimize damage, and sustain and increase productivity.
Recognizing opportunities and creating loopholes
Flower growers in Curteni tend to have a sophisticated web of market relations, which represented an advantage in the crisis situation. Most of the producers had previously sold their products on the wholesale market, where the trade mostly took place in the gray or black economy. Producers' net residual income tends to be high, since flower growers typically do not pay tax on their income as required. During the crisis, the ability of flower growers in Curteni to think and work independently came to the fore, as did their real market-oriented economic behavior (Kiss 2002:99). They were aware that they could not clearly assess or influence the macroeconomic processes. Yet, rather than wait impassively, they decided to defend themselves by actively adapting to the situation. At the time of the strictest regulations, in many areas of life a possible course of action was the legitimate or tacit development of so-called loopholes (Turai 2023:38).
An obvious first step on the part of producers was to refrain from trashing the unsold pansies and other spring ornamental plants (as the tulip producers in the Netherlands had done). Instead, they composted the plants, making new mixtures from the potting soil and recycling the pots. Such measures significantly reduced the financial losses.
Most producers in Curteni also recognized and took advantage of a further opportunity, one that also contributed to the financial viability and profitability of horticultural enterprises in 2020–2021. In Romania, many people lost their jobs in the wake of the state of emergency and the restrictions. With the lifting of the restrictive measures in May, most employers signed new contracts, but half a million jobs had been lost in the country (MTI 2020b), with a majority of companies having been affected in some way by the pandemic. Although most flower production businesses rely on the labor of family members, the flower growers of Curteni had previously employed day laborers and short-term workers to perform specific tasks at their cultivation facilities. Since, alongside vineyards, flower growing and ornamental plant production – which are usually classed as mixed crop cultivation – are the most labor-intensive types of farming, the epidemiological restrictions exerted a particular impact on the sector – not only in Romania but around the world (KSH 2020). Since the major flower producers, which typically operate on large areas of land covering up to several hectares, were less affected by the restrictions on workers and the social distancing rules, they tended to be avoided by the authorities. Indeed, the workers involved in production at such sites were allowed to go to work. Thus, many of the inhabitants of Mureș County who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, willingly took cheap casual jobs in Curteni.
Local producers had previously had direct contact with customers and/or resellers in the past. At the time of the pandemic, imported plants from abroad soon became unavailable, the flower shops closed,15 and the flower sections of the larger shopping centers were empty. All this meant that the people of Curteni suddenly found themselves at an advantage. Several major competitors – the transnational corporations, the importers, and the flower stores – could no longer compete, for the international flower trade had ground to a halt. Thus, in this instance, the inability of a major group of producers to be resilient helped another smaller group to attain resilience. Whereas previously a few pots of flowers displayed at the garden gate (or simply an open gate) had indicated to customers and resellers arriving in the village that a flower grower was operating in the backyard and that there were ornamental plants for sale, during the pandemic local producers started to advertise themselves using far more effective communication means and marketing channels. Alongside signs of different dimensions at entrances and on fences, much larger billboards, banners, and other advertising surfaces appeared. These notices were visible from afar to potential wholesale buyers, who could then supply flowers from Curteni across the country without hindrance (Figs 14–17).
Boards and banners advertising flowers to potential buyers (“Flowers at the back” – “Greenhouses” – “Licensed flower and ornamental plant producer” etc.) during lockdown. Curteni, Romania, 2021. (Photos by Zsolt Nagy)
Citation: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 2025; 10.1556/022.2024.00007
The growing online presence and improved communication of the flower growers in Curteni in 2020–2021, and the associated increase in online horticultural services, may also be interpreted as a positive shift and a change born out of necessity.16 This gave new opportunities to customers, as they could also shop online during the pandemic. In many instances, they could even ask for professional advice from experts, regardless of where they were. The COVID-19 pandemic forced people in Romania to digitize at an accelerated pace (Bakó 2021:95), a development from which the flower growers in Curteni also drew benefit. Although online communication and interfaces were not entirely new to producers in the village, their use of such technology and practices became more visible and intense. The opportunities provided by the Internet increased in importance during the pandemic.
A further aspect for analysis
(The “cocooning” trend and the gardening boom during the global pandemic – in Europe and in the Romanian village under investigation)
Although the mansiobotanical, atriobotanical and curiobotanical studies (Szabó T. [E.] 1995; Nagy 2021c:254–255) relating to the pandemic period have yet to be concluded, it is worth making some general statements about the impact of the epidemiological restrictions on people's indoor and outdoor gardening habits. The statistics clearly show that more and more people around the world took up gardening as a hobby during this period. In October and November 2020 (i.e., at the start of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic), acting on behalf of the Flower Council of Holland, the Motivaction research agency conducted a survey on the demand for flowers and ornamental plants among German, French, English, and Dutch consumers. Some 60–65% of respondents stated that they had tried to make their homes more pleasant during the lockdowns by introducing flowers and ornamental plants. Further, some 25% of respondents stated that owing to the pandemic, they had purchased far more ornamental plants than they would have done ordinarily (Flowercouncil 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic had thus become a period of “blooming balconies and kitchen gardens” (Gergely 2021:111). The fact that many people took up gardening while staying at home is reflected in the evolution of purchasing habits (affecting various products and goods – Veres 2021:126) and the changing topics of conversation in online communications (Lénárt 2021:297). The “cocooning” trend was well-documented in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as outside Europe (e.g., in China and Australia – Paysalia 2020). In Hungary, the trend was confirmed by a survey conducted by Plante (Plantebudapest 2020), and further evidence is offered by the quarantine (lockdown) object collection of the Budapest Museum of Ethnography (Bakos – Foster 2022:197).
Although analysts tend to agree that this heightened focus on plants was less typical in Portugal, Spain, and the Eastern European states (including Romania), nevertheless even in these countries, consumer demand for flowers and plants exhibited similar, albeit less pronounced, growth (Paysalia 2020). The flower growers of Curteni made excellent use of this development. Here too, one of the basic premises of the study, namely that the quarantine measures (the lockdowns) resulted in significant shifts in everyday practices and cultural behavior patterns, is valid. The increase in indoor plants throughout Romania in 2020 reflects the work-from-home trend, social distancing, online education, and the rise of virtual opportunities. As people were spending far more time at home, there was a need to make their apartments, rooms, and interior spaces greener. The extent of this trend was in direct proportion to the time people spent in front of the screens while being compelled to stay at home. All this gave rise to the so-called balcony and terrace gardening (Woods 2021). Suddenly, there was greater demand for “urban” ornamental plants (Dányádi 2019), whose cultivation was a specialty of the people of Curteni.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand for such plant categories increased, a trend that the flower growers of Curteni were quick to recognize and capitalize upon. Evidently, several factors were at play. According to Romanian sociologists, staying at home for lengthy periods had a negative impact on the quality of life (Iftimoaei 2020), so “many people took up gardening, cultivating yards that had previously lain fallow and populating balconies and terraces with useful plants” (T. Veress 2020:8). According to real estate market analysis, towards the end of the first wave of the pandemic, buyers became noticeably more interested in family houses with yards and in apartments with balconies (Jakab – Vajda 2022:16). Importance was also attributed to a balcony of several square feet or even a windowsill of a few square inches – if they were suitable for cultivating plants. Buyers of flowers and ornamental plants expressed interest in opportunities to transform a small part of the world, to have dominion over it, and to shape it according to their personal ideas – even if it was only a windowsill. This false sense of exercising control became dominant at a time when people seemingly had no control even over a tiny virus. Gardening thus became a means of expressing and fulfilling one's creativity. Unlike the mandatory household tasks, it constituted a voluntary home task and an escape from boredom. As people had more free time, they were able to take care of the plants (Bulgari et al. 2021).
Moreover, gardening as a hobby meant getting closer to physical reality, in contrast to the online opportunities that distanced people from the physical world. At a time when holding hands and embracing were forbidden, the garden or plants on a windowsill served as substitutes for the absent physical contact (social effect). In a period when the use of digital devices came to be associated with loneliness and feelings of emptiness (often leading to depression and the loss of all hope and ambition), gardening and plant care became means for filling the vacuum as well as recreational (Gősi 2020:35) and therapeutic (AHTA 2020) methods for releasing tension and diminishing anxiety. In uncertain times, gardening is a proven way of reducing anxiety, and it can also express our hidden desire to belong somewhere and to be healthy in the face of illness (Haller – Kramer eds. 2006; Haller – Capra eds. 2016; Haller et al. eds. 2019).
At the same time, the pandemic was also a period when abandoned small gardens and family plots became full of plants and flowers.17 The role of the countryside increased, with the advantages of gardening and being surrounded by nature becoming increasingly obvious (Gagyi 2021:41).
Conclusions
Despite the problems affecting the ornamental plant sector during the global pandemic, the findings presented above reveal why the ornamental plant producers of Curteni were able to remain profitable and successful and why they then came together to organize a thanksgiving celebration. Without the increased interest of consumers and buyers and the increased demand for indoor plants, potted plants, balcony boxes, carpet beds, and tray plants, they may not have succeeded. Their situation would certainly have been more difficult if the quarantine measures (the lockdowns) had been more prolonged, similarly to those imposed on Dutch and other European producers. In Curteni's case, however, in addition to local people's strong will, there were also opportunities for flexible adaptation and resilience. At the same time, many behavioral patterns, types of contact, and cultural products linked to the pandemic survived its specific context, becoming integral parts of everyday life for the flower growers of Curteni. By highlighting their case, I wanted to draw attention to two things specifically.
Historians and sociologists are of the view that pandemics, wars, and natural disasters – as the biggest killers of our time – exert a decisive influence on global and local history (Diamond 2001:196–197; Tamás 2021:47). Most of the everyday practices, schemes and scenarios that regulate and enable such events were also seen in previous pandemics and war crises. Indeed, similar cultural responses and forms of behavior are being reproduced now. In publications on this topic, the word impulse tends to be used to describe people's inclination to begin gardening en masse during tough times (Harrison 2015; Snow 2018), leading to an increase in the demand for various categories of plants and even to what might be referred to as global gardening booms. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the “only” difference compared to previous pandemics was the unprecedented nature, magnitude and duration of the crisis management restrictions imposed by national governments and their institutions.
During the last two to three years, many articles have been published on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Romania in general and on the Hungarian communities in Transylvania in particular. There are many approaches (Gergely 2021:105). As part of the discourse, the media began to propagate a kind of negative myth about this global phenomenon. Indeed, one rarely reads an article on the topic that also explores the potential positive aspects and constructive elements of the pandemic. When positives are mentioned, they are usually referred to as mere “side effects” (Gergely 2021). True, the pandemic situation made action and decision-making more difficult and acute (Tamás 2021:47–48). Yet it also introduced more effective solutions and values, the effects of which are by no means incidental or secondary, still less negligible or unimportant. The example of the flower and ornamental plant producers of Curteni illustrates how a new situation – indeed, any crisis situation – can (also) bring positive changes to the life of communities. In any situation of crisis, need or necessity, members of a community will almost instinctively and actively seek innovative solutions to their problems. As cultural researchers, we should not only explore the crisis itself but also seek to identify the cultural dividing line (Nagy 2013) – from which it is possible to move on in at least two directions. The decision will always lie primarily in the hands of individuals and local communities. A possible response is to seek out and utilize the opportunities presented by a crisis. This involves the communal re-evaluation and utilization of the available assets, opportunities, and resources, with the aim being to muster a resilient response.
Acknowledgment
The writing of this paper was supported by the “Lendület” Project of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA): Locality Embedded in the Web of Global Transitions. Ecological anthropology mediating between local communities and global changes in the Carpathian Basin (Lendület-2020-56).
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Zsolt Nagy (1991), ethnographer, is a research assistant at the Institute of Ethnology, HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities, a member of the Lendület Ethnoecology Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), and a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Hungarology Studies, Babeş–Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). Due to his ethnobotanical, ethnoecological, economic ethnographic and historical horticulture research in Transylvania (Romania) and Hungary, in 2019 he received a degree in Horticultural Engineering from the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (Târgu Mureș, Romania).
Known in Romanian as Transilvania (or Ardeal) and in Hungarian as Erdély.
In Hungarian: Maros.
The city's Hungarian name is Marosvásárhely.
The “Székelys” (or Szeklers), a Hungarian-speaking ethnic group in Transylvania, form part of the Hungarian ethnic minority in today's Romania. There are several contradictory theories about their origins.
Also known in English as Szeklerland. In Romanian: Ținutul Secuiesc (or Secuimea). In Hungarian: Székelyföld.
In Romanian: Câmpia Transilvaniei. In Hungarian: Mezőség.
Unlike in the case of other Hungarian villages in Romania, the history and society of Curteni have yet to be explored in a monograph. Moreover, to date, researchers have not conducted an ethnographic survey of the village. Olga Nagy is a partial exception to this; she recorded folklore and socio-ethnographic data from the 1950s but did not publish most of the data. Based on her data and on other archival and media sources, in the summer of 2025, I shall publish the social history of the village between 1949 and 1989 in the series Emberek és kontextusok [People and contexts], published by the Transylvanian Museum Society. (Nagy, Zsolt: A felbomlás modellje [A model of disintegration], manuscript accepted for publication).
According to the 2011 census, there were 347 ethnic Hungarians in a total population of 698. The Hungarian name of the village is Várhegy.
According to the 2011 census, there were 1,012 ethnic Hungarians in a total population of 3,441. The Hungarian name of the village is Marosszentanna.
From the Romanian words “solar” (= foil tunnel) and “seră” (=greenhouse).
From the Romanian word “angro” (=wholesale).
The first case of COVID-19 was officially identified in Romania on 26 February 2020, with the first registered death occurring on 22 March.
This category included settlements and counties where the 14-day notification rate of newly reported COVID-19 cases per 1,000 population was three or more.
Unlike in Romania, in Hungary there were various government measures and plans aimed at preventing bankruptcy among flower shop owners. However, even in Hungary there was no real compensation for the losses (24.hu 2020; BKIK 2020; Agrárszektor 2021). In Austria, the reopening of gardening stores was part of the relaxation of measures gradually introduced from April 2020 onwards (Kis – Bana 2021:40). Romania did not follow this example.
According to flower producers in Curteni, strategies born out of necessity were needed in order to overcome the challenges facing them. The expression “strategy of necessity” used by the informants is not identical with the semi-conscious strategy of necessity described by ethnographers in connection with peasant farms (Balogh 2003:179, 2009:289) and their search for solutions or used as a term when analyzing cooperative communities (Szabó Á. T. 2004:100, 103, 2009:153, 162, 228; Kinda 2011).
On “nostalgia gardening”, community and voluntary gardening done out of nostalgia in difficult times see the essay by Alice Walker (In Search of Our Mothers' Garden, 1972 – Walker 1983).
