“His brow is wet with honest sweat. He earn whatever he can, and looks the whole world in the face, for he owes not any man. ”
- “The Village Blacksmith”
Henry Wordworth Longfellow
The Ornamental Metal Museum will celebrate International Blacksmith’s Day on May 22. Every year blacksmiths around the world open their doors to the public. We are pretty fortunate around here because Memphis is home to the only museum in the Americas dedicated to metal work. From 11:00 am to 2:00 pm admission to the Museum will be free, along with special discounts in the Museum Store, blacksmithing demonstrations by staff artists, and (for a small donation) metalworking activities for kids and adults.
Gather your family and go experience a magical day. Magical?, you question.Well, in days of old, blacksmiths were very often thought of as magicians, due mostly to his mastery of iron working and ability to understand the metallurgy of the iron that he used.
I know everyone thinks Europe when they think blacksmith. But blacksmithing was prominent across the world, especially upon the Iron Age’s arrival. The Egyptians called Iron “copper from heaven” and blacksmithing flourished all over Africa. The Mande blacksmiths of Western Africa held very important positions in society and often called upon by the chief for guidance in major decisions regarding the village. In Sokoto, Nigeria the people of Makera Assada are know for their blacksmithing skills. In fact, it used to be a great offense if someone chose any career other than blacksmithing. Navajo tribes were one of the first in the Americas to take on blacksmithing and as a direct result we have all that fabulous jewerly of turquoise and silver. I’m not going to even get into how blacksmithing gave birth to bladesmithing and the merits of great Samurai swordmen like Masamune.
Since metalwork was a neccesity of life, blacksmiths are throughout mythological tales from Aztecs Americas to New Guinea. In myth the most well known blacksmith is the Olympian Hephaestus, god of fire and metalworking. A son of Zeus, his forge was a volcano and he created all the weapons for his fellow Olympians including Zeus’ lightning bolt. My favorite blacksmith from mythology is from theVolundarkvida poem in The Poetic Edda . It tells of our hero Volundr who was renown for the beautiful rings of gold he forged and the glorious gems he put in them. After being captured by an evil king, Volundr escaped and got revenge by killing the king’s sons and then forging craftwork made of their eyes, skulls and teeth. Volundr then seduced and impregnated the king’s daughter. And just to add insult to injury, he spirited the princess away on wings he had forged all while laughing at the poor king. (pretty cold-blooded huh?)
Come to the Metal Museum on May 22. Feel the heat from the forge, hear the clang of the hammer and watch a centuries old tradition that calls us back to simplier times when honest sweat was valued and everyone endeavored to owe not a man.
