The Tsangos of Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

priests to Moldavia.Meanwhile, in 1791, Austria took over the control ofMoldavia which fact gave the Csángós a great hope, for theythought the Austrians would surely help them. But this was notthe case. Austria sent priests who were loyal to Austria. TheMoldavian Hungarians wrote to the Emperor of Austria for helpand in return, they were sent Dénes, a priest from Pécs(Hungary).The 19th century brought great changes. Laws werepassed stating that masses had to be held in Rumanian. But nolaws could stop Hungarian being spoken and the number ofHungarians grew in Moldavia.In 1817, famine ravaged in Transylvania and manypeople escaped to Moldavia once again.From 1822, we have data about 4oo,ooo Hungarians,while documents from 1841, mention only 8 priests workingamong them. In 1902, Gustav Weigand, from the university inLeipzig, publishes the following data: he mentions 58,000Csángós and Székelys and 2100 older Hungarians. Accordingto him, in Tatros 4,000 in the county of Román 22,000 and inthe county of Bakó 24,000 Hungarians live (according to PálPeter Domokos some villages were left out and instead of the50,000 Hungarians 60,000 live in Moldavia). Weigand believedthat there were two kinds of Hungarians in Moldavia, theSzekelys on one hand, who lived in the valley of Tatros, andthe Csángós who could be found in the area of Bakó andRomán. There are many differences between these two, forexample: the Csángós pronounce "s" instead of "sh" and "s"instead of "ch", they have borrowed words from Rumanian andwhile a Csángó can understand a Székely, a Székely can noteasily understand a Csángó, also the Csángós are taller, haveredish blond curly hair, and blue or darkbrown eyes. There are afew towns where they have kept their language. Most of thewomen there only know Hungarian, since they do not travelmuch, and are not in contact with Rumanians. Also there aretowns where they remember that their ancestors spokeHungarian but they themselves no longer speak it. Then thereare those villages where they are orthodox but from theirpronounciation and appearance we can tell that they are ofCsángó origins. Even though, these people who no longerremember their past and who their ancestors were, are stillregarded as Hungarians by the Rumanians.