Immigrants from Transylvania
In the 18th century a new wave of people moved from Transylvania into Moldavia. They settled predominantly along the Siret river, some in villages with a history of Catholic peoples, but many founded new settlements. The Moldavians called these people Ungareni, because they came from Transylvania which was part of Hungary, as opposed to being Magyar/Maghiar by family ancestry. This practice of using the term Ungareni for Transylvanian is also used to refer to aspects of folk culture such as costume and dance.
In the late 19th century it was realised that there were non-Magyar elements in the group identified as Csango which has led to a range of theories attempting to identify a possible historic origin related to other populations from Europe to Asia; Cuman, Pecheneg, ancient Turkish, Hun, Atelkuz Magyar, etc. The theory of Cuman origin still persists today in articles about the Csango. The limited genetic research to date shows the csango (and Szekely) to have a substantial genetic pool close to Iranian, but not close to the Uralic groups of the Magyar, possibly supporting the view that they have origins in Alans or Huns. The research does not compare to an admix of Romanian as would be expected, but only to the Hungarian admix of Slav-German-Hungarian.
An alternative is the possibility of a Romanian element among the peoples moving from Transylvania, (the evidence of the non-Moldavian Romanian dialect being overlooked). The oppression and exploitation of peasants by the noble estate owners with enforced recruitment into the Austrian army led to many of thousands of Romanians and Hungarians crossing the Carpathians to Wallachia and Moldavia.
Transylvanian Romanian dialect
The majority of the Csango concentrated in the region of Roman and Bacău speak Romanian in a specific Transylvanian dialect, which must have been learnt in Transylvania and not in Moldavia. This Csango Romanian dialect is more widespread than the Csango Hungarian dialect, but is diminishing fast.
A number of facts may support this theory:
- These Csango were reported at the time to be bilingual in Romanian and Hungarian suggesting that they arrived with both languages.
- Observations from the time record that they wore Romanian costumes, and were Catholic.
- The "Magyarisation" of some the family names from 1825 when Hungarian priests worked in the Csango villages.
- Some complaints about the "blind national fanaticism" of the missionaries, and nearly to their expulsion.
Why would Romanians be Catholic?
In Transylvania, after the Unio trium in 1438, the civil rights of the Romanians were reduced further. This gave rise to conversions to Catholicism which was legally considered to be Hungarian identity independent of ethnic origin. In the Szekley region of south east Transylvania, the number of villages with minority Romanians continued reduced from near 400 villages in the mid 18th century to less than 300 villages in the mid 19th century, and has reduced even further since. All that remain are derelict orthodox churches, Magyarised names and the Csango.
The evidence leads one to conclude that a proportion of the Csango on the Siret valley are "Szeklerized" Romanians from south east Transylvania. One can further justify the multiple ancestry of the immigrants from Transylvania by the Greek Catholic communities within these Hungarian speakers in Moldavia that are clearly of Romanian ancestry.
| 1780 | Petru Zold uses the term Csango in a letter, the term latter adopted by Hungarian scholars, comments on them as wearing Romanian costume, and mostly being bilingual in Romanian and badly spoken Hungarian. |
| 1787-1788 | Concern raised regarding the lack of Hungarian speaking Catholic missionaries in Moldavia. Those in Moldavia were Italians, and could learn Romanian more easily. The Pope was not concerned, however two Hungarian missionaries were sent to Moldavia. |
| 1796 | Gospel in Romanian published at Kalocsa. A copy was found in Neamt county in 1962. Presumably for Romanian Catholics. |
| 1825 | Six Hungarian priests placed in Moldavia every year. But, by 1859 the payments were made to the "San Antonio" college in Rome and the gradual withdrawal of the Hungarians. |
| 1837 | Gego Elek sent to study the Csango by the Magyar Society of Sciences found so many non-Magyar elements in language, costume, appearance, customs and way of lift that he concluded that they of Cuman origin without considering a Romanian origin. |
| 1844 | Jernei Janos noted that the Hungarian language had disappeared, or was close to, in the Csango villages. |
| 1902 | Gustav Weigland adopted the Cuman hypothesis on the basis of their sibilant pronunciation which he assumed without proof to be of Cuman origin. |
| 1914 | Karacsonyi Janos theorised that the Csango were descendents of the Cabars, without any linguistic or ethnographic connections. |
| 1946 | They are given minority status in Romania and more than one hundred Hungarian schools are founded in Moldavia. However, they refuse to attend these schools and all are closed except the school in Lespezi exists until 1959. |
References
Ciubotaru, Ion H. (1998), Catolicii din Moldova, Iasi
Giurescu, Constantin (1972) Chronological History of Romania, Bucharest
Guglielmino, C R, De Silvestri, A, Beres, J (2000), Probable ancestors of Hungarian ethnic groups: an admixture analysis, Ann. Human Genetics, 64, pp124-159
Kapalo, James A. (1996), The Moldavian Csángós: 'National Minority' or 'Local Ethnie'?
Martinas, Dumitru (1999), The Origins of the Changos, The Center for Romanian Studies, Iasi
Tánczos, Vilmos (1998), Hungarian in Moldavia, Teleki László Foundation, http://www.kia.hu/konyvtar/erdely/moldvang.htm