CSANGO LAND

The word Csángó in the Szekler dialect originally means a wanderer. In terms of their identity, the Csángós are primarily the „easternmost” Hungarians, speaking a specific dialect of the Hungarian language, and are Roman Catholics, by faith. The Csángó ethnic group lives in the territory of present-day Romania, east of the Székely Hungarians and Transylvania, mostly in the counties of Bako and Nemc, but the diaspora is also scattered in Moldova and Ukraine. According to the official Romanian census data of 2002, only 5,000 people claimed to be Hungarian Csángó, but some national ethnologists believe that their actual number may exceed 10,000.

The homogeneous Csángó identity with the Székely has been less consistent since the regime change and, given the dispersion and the number of the ethnic group, is essentially disappearing. More recently, the political revisionism of the Romanian goverment, including linguistic and administrative measures imposed on the Csángós, has set the stage for the complete assimilation of the Hungarian Csángó minority in the region. The historical roots of their cultural traditions, religious customs, language and traditions are under threat.

In the course of my photographic project I documented the communities of the still Hungarian-speaking Csángó in Moldavia and Gyimes.

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