Csángó

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Csángók
Total population

60,000 - 70,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Romania only
Languages
Hungarian (dialect), Romanian
Religions
Roman catholics (almost exclusively), Orthodox Christian
Related ethnic groups
Hungarians, Szeklers

The Csángó (Romanian: Ceangău, plural Ceangăi) are an ethnic group of Roman Catholic faith, some speaking a Hungarian dialect and some Romanian. They live mostly in the Bacău County in Romania, with many across the national frontier in Moldova. The Hungarian speaking Csángó settled there between the 13th and 15th centuries.

Contents

[edit] History

Origin of the Moldavian Csángós
Origin of the Moldavian Csángós

The Csángó are in fact one of the oldest groups of Hungarian settlers in the whole of Romania. The ethnic background of Csángó/Ceangăi is nevertheless disputed, since, due to its active connections to the neighboring Polish kingdom and to the Papal States, Roman Catholic faith persisted in Moldavia throughout medieval times, long after Vlachs living in other Romanian provinces, closer to the Bulgarian Empire, had been completely converted to Orthodox Christianity. Along with marked cultural and ethnolinguistic differences between Hungarian-speaking and Romanian-speaking Csángó/Ceangăi, this historical background explains why some Csángó/Ceangăi claim having Hungarian while others Romanian ancestry. The Csángó can be distinguished from other Hungarian ethnic groups by their linguistic peculiarities, traditions and folklore. Their identity as a people was based on their language and religion, different to the Moldavian-Romanians nearby. Since the Middle Ages, Hungarian-speaking Csángó have lived isolated from the larger body of Hungarian speakers, which also meant that they were largely untouched by the nationalist movements that swept 19th century Europe and led to the formation of modern nations. As a consequence, the primary identity of the Csángó was not national (Hungarian as opposed to Romanian) but rather confessional (Roman Catholic as opposed to Eastern Orthodox). This made them an easy target of assimilation: today only around 25% of Roman Catholics speak Hungarian in Moldavia.

[edit] Language

Resulting from the isolation from Transylvania and the former Kingdom of Hungary, the Hungarian Csángó dialect still spoken in some villages in Bacău county has not been affected by the language reforms and the Hungarian education system of the 19th century. As a consequence, the dialect is a treasury of medieval Hungarian culture. In fact, the terms csáng meaning "to wander" and csángó meaning "wanderer" in Hungarian describe the Csángó migration from the Hungarian population in Transylvania.

[edit] Assimilation

The issue of assimilation is a topic of heated debate between and inside the Csángó, Hungarian and Romanian communities. Some people agree that the process of assimilation was, to some degree, natural: the Csángó identity has been a small isolated rural community with very little opportunity to participate in a Hungarian language education system of their own and, consequently, were unable to form their own intelligentsia from early on. [1]

The Csángó have since struggled to maintain their identity especially in the first part of the 20th century. The question of assimilation mainly concerns ethnopolitical pressures from surrounding populations to integrate the Csángó both in terms of language and religion. In fact, the Csángó have been able to retain their strong sense of Roman Catholicism despite their Orthodox Christian surroundings.

In an effort to preserve their language, which is a Medieval dialect of the Hungarian language, Csángó communities have tried to enforce stricter policies internally over the use of language. For example, the Roman Catholic diocese of Iaşi has also adopted this stance and has refused to use Hungarian or Romanian in liturgy although many Csángó still speak Hungarian and Romanian, quite understandably, would like to be able to hear mass or confess in their mother tongue.

Since the end of the 19th century, the Csángó issue has been an object of considerable interest in Hungary as many Hungarians felt it is their duty to help their ethnic brethren preserve their identity.

In recent years, a small but vocal Csángó revival movement has evolved, with the aim of fighting linguistic assimilation and preserving Csángó culture. This movement was strongly suppressed in the years of the Ceauşescu era, but now they receive some support from Hungary and from politicians of the European Union, as well as, many Hungarians organizations in Romania.

[edit] 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.

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 still 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).[2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Council of Europe Recommendation 1521 (2001) on the Csango minority culture in Romania
  2. ^ Council of Europe Recommendation 1521 (2001) on the Csango minority culture in Romania

[edit] External links

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