Csángó
Encyclopedia
The Csango people are a Hungarian ethnographic group
of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in the Romania
n region of Moldavia
, especially in the Bacău County
. Their traditional language, Csango, an old Hungarian dialect is still in use, though the larger part of them speak Romanian
.
Pope Gregory IX
to Bela IV,
king of Hungary
"In the Cumani 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."
Roman
, 13 April 1562:
Report of the Habsburg Agent, John Belsius,
to the Emperor Ferdinand the First
"On the day of the 10th of April, Despot Vodă left Hîrlău
(Horlo) to Tîrgul Frumos (Zeplak = Szeplak) finally on the
12th to the fortress of Roman (Romanvarasch)"
Despot Vodă ordered me to write these: Alexandru
Moldoveanul forced all the nations, 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."
After 1562:
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 (Moldavia).
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.
Roman 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."
Miron Costin
(17th century Moldavian writer): Grausame Zeiten in der Moldau 1980(German translation) Chapter 18 par 28 about Csangos massacre few German soldiers
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
. 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 language. 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 Csángó language in the Csángó villages, as a consequence, very few Csángós are able to write in their mother tongue. The document also discussed that the Csángós make no political demands, but merely want to be recognized as a distinct culture and demand education and church services in the Csángó language.
At the time of this report's release, the Vatican
expressed hope that the Csangos will be able to celebrate Catholic masses in their liturgical
language, Csango.
, 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
.
The name Csango appeared relatively recently, being used for the first time, in 1780 by Petru Zold. The name Csango is used to describe two different ethnic groups:
and the words of their songs are mostly Hungarian, with some dialect differences.
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 Greek Orthodox society.
Official Romanian censuses in Moldavia indicate the following:
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 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 natives were forced to subject to the will of the missionaries in order to avoid conflicts with the authorities who had political understandings which were more important than the well- being of the Christians.
In these schools, teachers specially trained in Magyar language have been brought and they were paid according to the presence of their students in classes because they didn’t have anyone to teach. These teachers have been repeatedly banned from the communities they visited, the villagers manifesting a very hostile attitude towards the missionaries, telling them: "Go home, we are Romanians!"
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 from 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.
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).
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, "Although not everybody agrees on this number" (it may be higher or lower).
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in the Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n region of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, especially in the Bacău County
Bacau County
Bacău is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeş-Făget, in Transylvania.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 706,623 and the population density was 113/km²....
. Their traditional language, Csango, an old Hungarian dialect is still in use, though the larger part of them speak Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
.
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.Middle Age sources
Perugia, 14 November 1234:Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX, born Ugolino di Conti, was pope from March 19, 1227 to August 22, 1241.The successor of Pope Honorius III , he fully inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII and of his uncle Pope Innocent III , and zealously continued their policy of Papal supremacy.-Early life:Ugolino was...
to Bela IV,
king of Hungary
"In the Cumani 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."
Roman
Roman, Romania
Roman is a mid-sized city, having the title of municipality, located in the central part of Moldavia, a traditional region of Romania. It is located 46 km east of Piatra Neamţ, in the Neamţ County at the confluence of Siret and Moldova rivers....
, 13 April 1562:
Report of the Habsburg Agent, John Belsius,
to the Emperor Ferdinand the First
"On the day of the 10th of April, Despot Vodă left Hîrlău
(Horlo) to Tîrgul Frumos (Zeplak = Szeplak) finally on the
12th to the fortress of Roman (Romanvarasch)"
Despot Vodă ordered me to write these: Alexandru
Moldoveanul forced all the nations, 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."
After 1562:
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 (Moldavia).
He started to build a school in Cotnari, which is mostly
inhabited by Hungarians and Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
."
Iasi, 14 January 1587:
Bartolomeo Brutti's letter to Annibal de Capua
"These Franciscans are very few and they speak neither
German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, nor Hungarian, so they can't take spiritual care of
these catholics, 15000 in number.
Roman 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
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
, but most of them
don't know how to read, don't even recognize the letters."
Miron Costin
Miron Costin
Miron Costin was a Moldavian political figure and chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Aron Vodă încoace] was meant to extend Grigore Ureche's narrative, covering events from 1594 to 1660...
(17th century Moldavian writer): Grausame Zeiten in der Moldau 1980(German translation) Chapter 18 par 28 about Csangos massacre few German soldiers
Munich Codex: Hussite
Hussite
The Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Hus , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
translation of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
to Hungarian dated in the text in 1466 in Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
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 TransylvaniaTransylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. 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 language. 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 Csángó language in the Csángó villages, as a consequence, very few Csángós are able to write in their mother tongue. The document also discussed that the Csángós make no political demands, but merely want to be recognized as a distinct culture and demand education and church services in the Csángó language.
At the time of this report's release, the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
expressed hope that the Csangos will be able to celebrate Catholic masses in their liturgical
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
language, 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 CountyBacau County
Bacău is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeş-Făget, in Transylvania.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 706,623 and the population density was 113/km²....
, Romania, and belong to the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. 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
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
.
The name Csango appeared relatively recently, being used for the first time, in 1780 by Petru Zold. 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
Their music shows the characteristic features of Hungarian musicHungarian music
The term Hungarian music may refer to:*The music of Hungary, which includes many kinds of music associated with Serbian, Roma and ethnically Hungarian people...
and the words of their songs are mostly Hungarian, with some dialect differences.
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 Greek 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 |
Hungarian sources
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. The chances or rather the lack of chances of adjusting to official Romanian educational system must be mentioned, too. After 1990 parents in Klézse (Cleja), Pusztina (Pustiana) and Lészped (Lespezi) requested several times that their children could 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 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 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. 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 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
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
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
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
sent in a petition to the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
on the obstruction of the Hungarian language education and the alleged intimidation of Csango-Hungarian pupils in Valea Mare (Nagypatak). As a feedback on the petition of László Tőkés
László Tokés
László Tőkés is a Romanian politician of Hungarian ethnicity, currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament and Vice President of the European Parliament ....
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
, 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.
Romanian sources
The idea of turning Romanian communities from Moldavia into servants of Hungarians, Poles, Germans, Austrians, Italians has been pursued by convincing Romanians from Moldavia to become Catholics. The only ones who realized the danger were the local people who persistently resisted this switching their ethnic identity into Magyars. From 1225 to 1925 numerous missionaries from western countries have been sent here to preach Catholicism and in addition making the newly converted people embrace Magyar language and nation.The natives were forced to subject to the will of the missionaries in order to avoid conflicts with the authorities who had political understandings which were more important than the well- being of the Christians.
In these schools, teachers specially trained in Magyar language have been brought and they were paid according to the presence of their students in classes because they didn’t have anyone to teach. These teachers have been repeatedly banned from the communities they visited, the villagers manifesting a very hostile attitude towards the missionaries, telling them: "Go home, we are Romanians!"
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 from 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
Bacau
Bacău is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. It covers a land surface of 43 km², and, as of January 1, 2009, has an estimated population of 177,087. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Bistriţa River...
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 are 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 with us? Our children, and then of us nothing! They are killing our language, The treasure from our fathers! |
|
Egy pusztába telepedtél, Melyet országnak neveztél De se országod, se hazád, Csak az Úristen gondol rád. |
You settled down on the steppe, that you called homeland. But no country, no home, Today only God takes care of you! |
|
Halljuk, áll még Magyarország, Úristenünk, te is megáldd! Hogy rajtunk könyörüljenek, Elveszni ne engedjenek. |
We hear Hungary is still standing, Lord of us, 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! |
We are also Hungarians, Already split from Asia. Our God, help our destiny, Don’t let the Csángó Hungarian be lost. |
|
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 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).
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, "Although not everybody agrees on this number" (it may be higher or lower).
External links
- Homepage of the Hungarian Csángós
- "Dumitru Mărtinaş" Roman-Catholic Association
- Association of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldova
- Ceangaii, the Roman Catholic from Moldova
- Council of Europe Recommendation 1521 (2001) on the Csango minority culture in Romania
- Song of the Csangos — National Geographic Magazine Fundaţia culturală Siret Comunitatile catolice din Moldova
- Romanians Roman-Catholics Museum (csángó museum)
- Association Friends of Csangos