Todays Prompt:  describe an heirloom that has been passed down through generations of your family. What is its significance to you personally?

This is my grandfather's fiddle.  Although, my father doesn't remember his father ever playing it (then again, my dad escaped Hungary when he was 19) as the family genealogist, he passed it on to me.

Violins play a prominent role in Hungarian folks songs -- especially, gypsy music. 

One of my favorite childhood memories is going to see Gypsy Joe and his orchestra play at the Hungarian Club and dancing the Csardas (ch-ahhr-dahh-sh) with my grandmother, on New Year's Eve.

Although, the appraiser didn't seem very impressed by the fact the stick is fashioned with real horse hair (or wild hog, I forget) considering all the miles this fiddle has traveled and the stories behind the hands that lived its music, in my eyes, it is a true treasure.

Aaaaand, I like to imagine my grandfather, playing it, just like this and (at about 2 minutes, 30 seconds in) start twirling like it was 1974, all over again, because violins do that to me. 

I guess it's in my blood, you know?  Hoop-pah!!!

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