When someone gets really lucky, or has set himself up with a great deal, we say they’ve grabbed a fistful of beard, alluding to the stroking motion of content one does on his facial hair. The saying dates back to pre-christian religious rituals dedicated to Slavic god Veles. Before the harvest would start, a maiden would tie together ears of corn that would represent Veles’ beard, a talisman that would protect crops from demons. With a rising trend of sporting beards in the last couple of years, old barbershops and new hipster hairdressers really have grabbed a fistful of it, gaining old and new costumers by the day.
But beards, especially here, are not just a fab, and barbershops have a long history in Zagreb. Leading up to World Beard Day this Saturday, September 3rd, Ethnographic Museum has decided to explore and share that history with its visitors. Opening on Friday, September 2nd at 7pm, the exhibition titled A Fistful of Beard (Puna Šaka Brade) will hold replicas of Zagreb’s barbershops, their tools, props, furniture and equipment from the 19th and 20th century.
Aside from being barbers, the men who worked at barbershops were usually also unlicensed practitioners of alternative medicine, such as bloodletting, so there’s going to b more than just barber’s tools of the trade on display at the museum.
The exhibition will open with a concert from a swing band B and the Boops and visitors will be able to get a trim of their beards the way men used to get in the early 20th century. The museum will also host a number of different humanitarian actions, workshops and various activities during Movember.
The exhibition is opened until November 20th 2016.
World Beard Day is, as they jokingly state on the day’s official site, celebrated annually on an international level with people from every nation and continent gathering together with their beards. It is held on the first Saturday of September and is characterized by the happiness of all people being with their beards and with each other.
