Csangos

Csángó, Ceangăi

Total population
1,370 persons declared to be Csangos - (2002 census) 119,618 persons declared Catholic faith in Bacău County (2002 census) maximum estimated population of 260,000(Council of Europe report)
Regions with significant populations
Romania (Moldavia), Hungary (Tolna)
Languages
Csango, an old dialect of Hungarian; Romanian
Religion
Roman Catholics (almost exclusively)

The Csango people (Hungarian: Csángók, Romanian: Ceangăi) are a Hungarian ethnographic group of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in Moldavia, especially in Bacău County. Csango, an old Hungarian dialect, is still in use and many Csangos also speak Romanian.

Name

The etymology has been explained by a Hungarian word meaning "which sounds unpleasant", referring to the peculiar sibilating way in which they pronounced certain Hungarian consonants.

History, culture, identity

In 1211, King Andrew II of Hungary grants the Teutonic Order an area on both sides of the Carpathian Mountains to protect the borders. In 1225, the Hungarian king expels the Teutonic Knights who were ignoring his rule. In their place, Hungarian border guards are sent, who can be considered the first group of ancestors of present-day Hungarians in Moldavia.

In 1227, with the help of the Hungarian clergy and others, the Cuman Roman Catholic diocese of Milkó is established in the region today called Moldavia, the country of the Cumans at the time, for the pastoral care of the baptized Cumans. The Cuman bishop becomes a member of the Hungarian episcopal conference. To ensure the work of the new bishopric, canons, priests, soldiers and workers from Hungary move to Moldavia.

On November 14, 1234, Pope Gregory IX warns the Hungarian King Béla IV in a letter that many of his Hungarian and German subjects settle among the Vlach people living on the territory of the diocese of Milkó. They convert to the Orthodox faith and become one people with the Vlachs: "In the Cuman bishopric - as we were informed - is living a people called Vallah and others, Hungarians and Germans as well, who came here from the Hungarian Kingdom."

In 1342, King Louis I the Great of Hungary establishes a voivodship under the name Kara Bogdania out of his vassal territories to the east of the Carpathians. The name Moldavia appears later. Over the course of the 15th century, the majority of the people living in the Moldavian voivodship become Romanian-speaking.

In 1460, the king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus expels the Hussites from Hungary, who flee to Moldavia. They found the town of Husz and, at the banks of the River Dniestr, Csöbörcsök, as well as three additional villages.

1457-1504, during his reign, Moldavian voivode Stephen the Great repeatedly goes on raids breaching the borders of Transylvania. The Hungarians he captured on these raids he settles in Moldavia.

1479-1493, a great number of Székelys flee to Moldavia to escape the harsh rule of Transylvanian voivode Stephen Báthory.

1534-1572, the Franciscan monasteries of Moldavia get their Guardians from Csíksomlyó.

In 1571, the vicar of Tatros converts the Hungarian Hussites of the Husz and Románvásár area back to Catholicism.

1574-1591, the chancellor of the Moldavian voivode Petru Şchiopu puts the number of Moldavian Hungarians at 20,000.

In 1597, the bishop of the Moldavian Catholics moves his see to Bákó.

On April 13, 1562, John Belsius writes in a report to the Emperor Ferdinand I: "On the day of the 10th of April, Despot Vodă left Horlo to Zeplak (Szeplak / Tîrgul Frumos) finally on the 12th to the fortress of Romanvarasch (Románvásár / Roman). Despot Vodă ordered me to write this: Alexandru Moldoveanul forced all the people, with no exceptions, to be baptized again and to follow the religion of the Moldavians, taking them away from their own religion, he appointed a bishop of the Saxons and the Hungarians, to rebuild the confiscated churches and to strengthen their souls in their beliefs, and his name is Ian Lusenius, and is Polish." (Note: The translation and word choice need work.)

Notes of the Humanist Johann Sommer about Saxons in Moldavia, from his work about the Life of Jacob-Despot, the Ruler of Moldavia:

"Despot was unyielding in punishment, especially against the ones who don't respect the sanctity of marriage, -according to the habit of those people-: this habit was copied by the Hungarians and Saxons living here, in this country. He started to build a school in Cotnari, which is mostly inhabited by Hungarians and Saxons."

Iasi, 14 January 1587: Bartolomeo Brutti's letter to Annibal de Capua

"These Franciscans are very few and they speak neither German, nor Hungarian, so they can't take spiritual care of these catholics, 15000 in number.

1588: The First Jesuit Mission in Moldavia Written by Stanislaw Warszewicki

"In the whole region in 15 towns and in all the neighborhood villages there are Hungarians and Saxons, but most of them don't know how to read, don't even recognize the letters."

1634-1653, Voivode Vasile Lupu asks Rome for spiritual leaders for 12.000 Catholic believers.

In 1641, Apostolic vicar Peter Diodat writes about the Moldavian Catholic Hungarian settlements and their population in a detailed report. In 1648, Marcus Bandinus, the Apostolic administrator of Moldavia, writes a more detailed report than Diodat about his visitation for the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The people of Tatros ask Archbishop Bandinus not to send missionaries who are not capable of speaking Hungarian.

In 1670, Archbishop Petrus Parčević reports: "Almost the entire Catholic population of Moldavia is Hungarian, speaks Hungarian and clamors for Hungarian priests". They don't understand the Romanian sermons and they are not able to confess in Romanian, that's why Parčević wishes the Franciscans of Csíksomlyó to maintain the missionary service in Moldavia. The Vatican denies this plan stating that Moldavia belongs under the supervision of the Polish Catholic Church.

In 1671, in a letter to the Sacred Congregation, Szabófalva and the Hungarians of five other parishes complain about the missionaries' abuses and announce that they will put themselves under the supervision of the Orthodox bishop if the problem remains unsolved.

In 1707, the greater part of the Kuruc troops defending the Székely Land flee from the army of Austrian general Rabutin. The noblemen fearing the retaliation also join them. An opportunity to return is not given to then before 1711.

In 1764, the Austrian imperial troops start a cannonade on the Székelys meeting at the boarders of Csíkmadéfalva during nighttime peace. Together with the intimidated inhabitants of the surrounding area, the survivors of the mass murder flee to Moldavia. A part of them goes even further to the Bukovina, where they found five villages. The others decide to stay and permanently settle among the Moldavian Hungarians.

In 1781, Péter Zöld, the priest of Csíkszentlélek, visits the Hungarian settlements during his escape. In a report to the bishop of Gyulafehérvár he writes: "The missionary fathers are all Italians, who don't speak neither Romanian, nor Hungarian. They serve this nine Hungarian parishes entirely miserably."

In 1807, Hammer, the Austrian consul residing in Jászvásár, reports the data of the Moldavian Roman Catholic parishes to Vienna: 10 settlements with 4.182 families and 21.307 inhabitants. In 1827, Hammer's successor Lippa reports 50.000 Hungarians.

In 1851, the Schematism of Moldavia mentions 22 parishes, in 16 of them they speak Hungarian. According to the source, the 22 parishes mean 208 settlements, because each parish served a number of villages.

In 1866, Josef Salandari, chief of the Moldavian Catholic mission, publishes a bilingual Romanian-Hungarian catechism in Jászvásár.

In 1884, the mission is closed, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jászvásár is formed.

In 1889, Bishop Camilli of Jászvásári writes in his Pastoral letter: "We command that in the churches the mandatory prayers of the encyclical shall not be said in any other language but Romanian."

In 1898, the Great Geographical Lexicon of Romania is published in Bucharest, stating: "The district of Bákó is mostly Romanian, […] but we can find old settlements of the land-working people who have Magyar origin and who preserved their language and religion […] to this day. There are settlements with hundreds of families where the people are not able to say even a word in Romanian, for example Forrófalva and Klézse."

In 1905, Radu Rosetti's article entitled "On Magyars and the the Moldavian Catholic Diocese" is published in the yearbook of the Roman Academy in Bucharest. Rosetti estimates the number of Moldavian Hungarians at 50-60.000 and adds that "it is highly probable that there was a considerable number of Hungarians settling in the Szeret and Tatros valleys when the Moldavian State was established [in 1342]".

In 1915, The Hungarians of Lujzakalagor ask for permission to use their native language of Hungarian in church. Bishop Camilli answers: "The claimants should know that the language of the people in Romania is Romanian and cannot be any other. It is unjust to ones nation and shameful to ones person, if somebody would speak a foreign language like Hungarian in this homeland."

In 1938, the text of a local announcement: "We, the mayor of the municipality of Ferdinand [Újfalu], hereby inform the people of the village that according to the 7621. decree of the prefect of Bacau [Bákó] County it is not allowed to speak any other language but Romanian in the town hall or any other public place. Services in Roman Catholic churches must be held in no other language but Romanian and Latin. The priests and cantors must not sing the hymns in any other language but Romanian and Latin... We will severely punish everybody who contravenes this order.”

In 1940, when members of five Hungarian villages from Bucovina resettle permanently in Hungary, about one thousand Moldavian Hungarians decide to migrate to Hungary as well.

1946-1947, more than a hundred Hungarian schools emerge in Moldavia. Romanian authorities close all of them down in the following years. The Hungarian school of Leszpéd remains in operation until 1960.

Munich Codex: Hussite translation of the New Testament to Hungarian dated in the text in 1466 in Moldavia Hungarian edition (text original Old Hungarian with modernized script, foreword, introduction in modern Hungarian, dictionary in German and Hungarian)link

2001 Report of the Council of Europe

For centuries, the self-identity of the Csangos was based on the Roman Catholic religion and the Hungarian language spoken in the family. It is generally accepted by serious scholars (Hungarian but also Romanian) that the Csangos have a Hungarian origin and that they arrived in Moldavia from the west. Some Romanian authors claim that the Csangos are in fact "magyarised" Romanians from Transylvania. This theory has also to be dismissed: it is not conceivable that these "Romanians" could persist in using a "foreign" language after centuries of living in Romania surrounded by Romanian speaking Romanians. Whatever can be argued about the language of the Csangos there is no doubt that this is a form of Hungarian.

The Council of Europe has expressed its concerns about the situation of the Csángó minority culture, and discussed that the Csángós speak an early form of Hungarian and are associated with ancient traditions, and a great diversity of folk art and culture, which is of exceptional value for Europe. It was also mentioned that, although not everybody agrees on this number, it is thought that between 60 000 and 70 000 people speak the Csángó dialect. The Council has also expressed concerns that despite the provisions of the Romanian law on education and the repeated requests from parents there is no teaching of the Hungarian Csángó dialect in the Csángó villages, as a consequence, decreasing numbers of Csángós are able to write in their mother tongue. The document also discussed that the Csángós want to be recognized as a culture and demand education and church services in Csángó.

At the time of this report's release, the Vatican expressed hope that the Csangos will be able to celebrate Catholic mass in their liturgical Csango.

Comments of the government of Romania, dissenting opinion on behalf of the Romanian delegation

The situation of Csango community may be understood by taking into consideration the results of 2002 census. 1,370 persons declared themselves Csango. Most of them live in Bacău County, Romania, and belong to the Roman Catholic Church. During the last years, some statements identified all Catholics in Bacău County (119.618 persons according to 2002 census) as Csango. This identification is rejected by most of them, who did identify themselves as Romanians.

Although it is claimed that the term Csango appeared relatively recently, it is predated by terms such as șaugăi and șavgăi, whose pronunciation is close to the more modern appellation of Ceangăi. The name Csango is used to describe two different ethnic groups:

• those concentrated in the county of Bacǎu (the southern group) and in the area surrounding the city of Roman (the northern group). We know for certain that these people are not Szeklers. They are Romanian in appearance, and the majority of them speak a Transylvanian dialect of Romanian and live according to Romanian traditions and customs. These characteristics suggest that they are Romanians from Transylvania who have joined the Romanian Catholic population of Moldavia.

• those of Szekler origin, most of whom settled in the valleys of the Trotuş and the Tazlǎu and, to a lesser extent, of the Siret. Their mother tongue is the same as that spoken by the Szeklers, and they live side by side with Romanians.

Hungarian sources

Migration of the Hungarian Csángós

Their music shows the characteristic features of Hungarian music and the words of their songs are Hungarian, with very few dialect differences in vocabulary.

The anthem of the Csangos refers to Csango Hungarians multiple times.

The Csangos did not take part in the language reforms of the Age of Enlightenment, or the bourgeois transformation that created the modern consciousness of nationhood (cf. Halász 1992, Kósa 1998). They did not have a noble stratum or intelligentsia (cf. Kósa 1981) that could have fashioned their consciousness as Hungarians (Halász 1992: 11). They were "saved" (Kósa 1998: 339) from "assimilation" with the Romanians by virtue of their Roman Catholic religion, which distinguished them from the majority Orthodox society.

Romanian sources

The Csangos, the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the western part of Moldavia, have been the object of numerous disputes between Romanians and Hungarians regarding their origin, their culture, their traditions and the ethnical minority they belong to.

Official Romanian censuses in Moldavia indicate the following:

year	Roman Catholics in Moldavia	Hungarians in Moldavia
1859	52,881	37,825
1899	88,803	24,276
1930	109,953	23,894
1992	240,038	3,098

School Controversy

In 2001, the Romanian authorities banned the teaching of the Hungarian language in private houses of Klézse village despite the recommendation of the Council of Europe. After 1990, Hungarian parents in Klézse (Cleja), Pusztina (Pustiana) and Lészped (Lespezi) requested repeatedly that their children should be able to learn the Hungarian language at school either as an optional language or as their native language, in 1-4 lessons a week. They did not want education in Hungarian but the teaching of the Hungarian language to their children. At best their petition was registered, but in most cases it was completely ignored. With the help of various forms of intimidation and humiliation, the Moldavian Romanian nationalist triumvirate (church, state authorities and school) achieved their aim: in no Moldavian village did parents make any request for the term 2001/2002. Seeing the possibility of organizing Hungarian courses outside school they gave up the humiliating process of writing requests without results. The MCSMSZ maintains its standpoint according to which the community should claim their legal rights, but the population is not so determined. Romanian leaders of the school inspectorate in County Bacău as well as the authorities and the church declared at a meeting that they do not want to give any possibility that the official instruction of Hungarian in Csángó villages12 could become a reality. In their opinion the Csángós are of Romanian origin, and some allegedly sporadic requests for teaching Hungarian at schools reflect not real parental demand but Hungarian nationalist ambitions all around the Carpathian Basin.

In the village of Arini (Magyarfalu in Hungarian) the village mayor and the Romanian-only teachers of the state school, filed a complaint with the local police about the "unlawful teaching activities" of Gergely Csoma. Csoma teaches Hungarian as an extracurricular activity to the children of Arini. Following the complaint, the local police started what Csango activists have described as an intimidation campaign among the mothers of those children who are studying their maternal language with the said teacher.

In 2008, members of the European Parliament sent in a petition to the European Commission on the obstruction of the Hungarian language education and the alleged systematic intimidation of Csango-Hungarian pupils in Valea Mare (Nagypatak). As a feedback on the petition of László Tőkés MEP, the leader of the High Commission on Minority Affairs responded: in a written notice they would warn Romania to secure mother tongue education for the Csangos of Moldavia.

The official Romanian point of view changed in 2006, when President Băsescu condemned communism during a joint session of the Romanian Parliament and called it an illegitimate and barbaric regime. According to him, his intention is not a witch-hunt, but to discover the truth and to ask for a historical apology for the victims. Therefore President Basescu has established a presidential committee for analyzing the Romanian communist dictatorship, which consists of leading Romanian historians and personalities. This committee has prepared a 700 page document, which analyzes the atrocities, the oppressiveness, the collectivization of the regime and its negative effect on the economy and society. The document describes the situation of the ethnic minorities during the communist regime. On page 536 3 paragraphs describe the forced assimilation of the Csangos in Moldova and the responsibility of the Catholic Church.

"The assimilation policy of the communist regime had fatal effect on the Csango community in Moldova, which counts a population of appr. 60,000, and lives in the counties of Bacău and Neamt. The first attempts of the forced assimilation of the Csangos in Moldova date back to the time between the two World Wars, in which process a significant role was played by the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church in order to protect itself from the forced integration with the Orthodox Church tried not to prevent the assimilation of the Csangos. Therefore, they did not provide education and religious services in Hungarian for the Csangos.

The Csango anthem

The Csango anthem:

Hungarian Lyrics	English Translation
Csángó magyar, csángó magyar, Mivé lettél, csángó magyar. Ágról szakadt madár vagy te, Elvettetve, elfeledve.	Csángo Hungarian, Csángó Hungarian, what has become of you, Csángó Hungarian Bird fallen down from the tree Abandoned, forgotten
Én Istenem mi lesz velünk? Gyermekeink, s mi elveszünk! Melyet apáink őriztek, Elpusztítják szép nyelvünket!	Oh My God, what will happen to us? Our children, and of us nothing! They are destroying our language, The treasure from our forefathers!
Egy pusztába telepedtél, Melyet országnak neveztél De se országod, se hazád, Csak az Úristen gondol rád.	You settled down in the steppe, that you called a country. But no country, no homeland, Today only God thinks of you!
Halljuk, áll még Magyarország, Úristenünk, te is megáldd! Hogy rajtunk könyörüljenek, Elveszni ne engedjenek.	We hear Hungary is still standing, Our Lord, you too bless it to be compassionate to us, not to let us vanish.
Idegen nyelv bébortja nyom, Olasz papocskák nyakadon. Nem tudsz énekelni, gyónni, Anyád nyelvén imádkozni.	You're oppressed by foreign language Italian priests stand on your neck you're unable to sing or confess, use your mother tongue to say prayers
Mert mi is magyarok vagyunk, Még Ázsiából szakadtunk. Úristen, sorsunkon segíts, Csángó magyart el ne veszítsd!	Because we are also Hungarians, Stemming from far away Asia. Our God, help our fate, Don’t let the Csángó Hungarian perish.

Population

It is difficult to estimate the exact number of the Csángó because of the elusive nature and multiple factors (ethnicity, religion and language) of Csángó identity as well as due various states policies of intimidation, oppression and forced assimilation from Romanian authorities.

As far as ethnic identification is concerned, in the census of 2002, 4,317 declared themselves Hungarians and 796 declared themselves Csángó in Bacău County, reaching a total of 5,794 out of the county's total population of 706,623. The report of the Council of Europe estimates a Csango population ranging from couple of tens of thousands to as many as 260,000 (the total Catholic population in the area). However, census figures are not completely reliable as Hungarians reported being afraid to or pressured to not have themselves recorded as Hungarian.

In terms of religious affiliation, the total number of Roman Catholics in Moldavia is 239,938 (2002 census), but only 43% of these live in settlements where Hungarian is spoken. As far as language use is concerned, the Council of Europe gives estimates that put the total number of Hungarian-speaking Csángó people between 60,000 and 70,000.

External links

• Homepage of the Hungarian Csángós
• "Dumitru Mărtinaş" Roman-Catholic Association
• Association of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldova
• Council of Europe Recommendation 1521 (2001) on the Csango minority culture in Romania
• Song of the Csangos — National Geographic Magazine
• (Romanian) Fundaţia culturală Siret
• (Romanian) Comunitatile catolice din Moldova
• Romanians Roman-Catholics Museum (csángó museum)
• Association Friends of Csangos
• Csángó Ethnographical Museum