I just lately made a visit to a rustic I had by no means been to earlier than; Romania. However, whereas touring to central Romania and the center of Transylvania, the predominant language I used to be to come across was Hungarian. The metropolis I used to be heading for is known as Miercurea Cíuc, or no less than that’s what one will see on an official map of Romania. Most of the locals, nevertheless, will name it by its Hungarian title; Csíkszereda.
The City is the capital of Harghita County, one in every of simply three counties in Romania the place ethnic Hungarians, referred to as Székely, are within the majority. In Harghita county they make up c.80% of the inhabitants, though nationally the determine stands at c.5%.
As our automobile moved north from Braşov, homes turned adorned with a pairing of flags. The first was fabricated from a inexperienced, white and purple horizontal stripe and was simply recognisable as that of Hungary. The second flag of pale blue with a golden stripe and additional decorations, I didn’t recognise. This was the flag of the Székely individuals with the extra decorations being an eight-pointed star and a white crescent.
The nearer we acquired to Miercurea Cíuc / Csíkszereda, the extra the flags appeared to flourish.
In my very first weekend, there was a people pageant with the Csékely dressed up of their conventional costumes and dances being carried out on stage. The males appeared as if that they had simply dismounted from superb steeds, shades of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The girls wore flowing skirts, lots of black and purple stripes, together with white blouses and aprons with intricate element on the sides and cuffs. Not being an knowledgeable on this, I might see this being a standard woman’s costume for quite a few nations inside Europe.
It’s clear that the Székely individuals see themselves as ethnic Hungarians, not Romanians, proceed to make use of Hungarian as their first language and are eager to maintain their very own distinct identification alive. With the proportion of Székely lowering throughout the province, they might additionally really feel that their very identification is beneath risk.
Many of the homes within the area are fronted by spectacular wood gates, a few of that are intricately carved. The gate within the picture beneath I discovered significantly illustrative of the individuals.
Above the wood door to the proper of the primary gate, the colors used are these of the Hungarian flag. If one appears fastidiously, there are two Hungarian flags included, in addition to the Hungarian crest. The inscription above the door interprets to
“God helped construct this gate with Lázar Kovacs and his spouse Régina Bakó 1903”
Note: All photographs on this publish taken utilizing a cell phone.
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