Előző fejezet Következő fejezet

Summary

 

It is a distinctive feature of Magyarcsanád that it is not an old settlement, and it has hosted three generations and four religions until today. The village was established by the Chamber on the basis of an order by Leopold I with the settlement of Serbian border guards. They set up a military post on the right side of river Maros, opposite the former ?scsanád to guard the border between the Turkish and the Habsburg empires. The Rumanians populated the border guarding settlement in the middle of the XVIII century, during their migration that led them to the Great Hungarian Plain. Some Hungarians also arrived in the village, who were settled by the Chamber as manorial employees. Thus, the village received a triple nationality facet, which changed only in its inner proportions throughout history. In 1751, during the development of the bourgeoisie mentality along the military frontiers of the Maros, a large group of the Serbs, who could not tolerate being dependent of the county, and living the lives of serfs, moved out of Csanád, and their place was taken by Rumanians. By the end of the XVIII century, a Rumanian majority was formed, which was kept until the XX century. After the Trianon Peace Treaty, the Hungarian population became prevailing in its numbers, which has been unchanged up till today.

The village received several names in the course of its history. After its establishment, it was officially called Újcsanád (Newcsanád), making a reference to the Pscsanád (Oldcsanád) origin of the settled Serbs. In the vernacular language, it was called Kiscsanád (Smallcsanád), to distinguish it from the historical settlement of Csanád. Its present name became permanent from the beginning of the XIX century. In Magyarcsanád (Hungarian Csanád) the adjective Magyar is not to refer to the dominating ethnic nature of the village, but the organisation of the settlement that became stable within Csanád county. For example, the lettering of its stamp considered to be historic, is the same as that of Csanád county.

Its history is abounding in unique features. As an area regained by invasion, it did not get under the authority of a private landowner, but was managed by the Chamber, which represented the sovereign. Its population consisted of serfs and cotters, who toiled and paid the novenary just like villages owned by private landowners. The Rumanians and Serbs, not having their own traditions, adjusted to the Hungarian practice of management. The year of 1848 found a village with a purely Hungarian administrative and social framework, which however was fiiled with national cultures and the spirit of the Orthodox church.

The autonomy of the church, and school education in the mother tongue were the most important guarantees of ethnic identity. From the population of almost 3000 in Magyarcsanád, at the turn of the century, about 2750 people followed the Greek Orthodox church, and the remaining couple of hundred people were divided between Protestant and Catholic. The orthodox followers, unified in their faith, but different in their origin used the only church and school together for a long time. They did it taking turns to demonstrate tolerance, but for an identical purpose. The disruption of the ethnic proportions, however was harmful to tolerance, and the Rumanians bought the originally Serbian church. The Serbs soon built another one for themselves. The two Greek orthodox groups created their own independent school organisations, as well, by the turn of the century. Vivid social and cultural life unfolded in the village with their help.

In Magyarcsanád, the spikes of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches also reach towards the sky. The time when they were built indicates that the strength of the Hungárián population in terms of numbers and wealth reached a level where it was necessary and possible to build a church of their own only right before the second World War. Three nations and four religions were living alongside each other in the same village, respecting each other's and preserving their own identities. After 1945, nationalisation deprived education of its religious background, and the cooperative movement wound up the foundation of national independence. People got integrated into the system of Socialist work, and the use of own language and habits was forced back behind the walls of their homes. Since then, the primary school undertook the task of renewing a beautiful old tradition: Hungarians and people with other nationalities may learn each other's language in the classes.

The civilian administration of the settlement also reflected its national characteristics. When principals were nominated from higher levels, the masters of the Hungarian county took care that the offices were distributed among the different nationalities. Due to this, a Rumanian judge, a Serbian bailiff, and a Hungarian notary worked in the village concurrently. The composition of the principals, and the members of the assembly of the village was also similar. In the system of councils, democratic selforganisation was unknown, or local administration with appropriate ethnic proportions. If there are still somé Serbian or Rumanian leaders in the village after 1950, then this is primarily due to political reliability.

The history of Magyarcsalád was deeply affected by the outcome of the first World War. The Trianon Peace Treaty cut the village off the Bánság, its enlivening economic medium. Before the first World War, a thousand links connected the people of Csanád to the parts of old Csanád. They went back to work there, or sell their crop, but many of them had their lands there. Geographical connection was given both by rail and road in the direction of Nagyszentmiklós. A new situation was created by a sudden conversion of the village to become a frontier village. Severed relation-ships, broken lives gave impetus to the large migration that started after the war, when Serbs and Rumanians left the village, and Hungarian refugees took their place. The Rumanian and Serbian population, which was disappointed in their new homes, was not allowed to settle back by the power structure of the day. Unfortunately, understanding based on the common fate, which at the time of the Millennium united all the inhabitants of Hungary as one community, bogged down in the ocean of high-level politics.

The distribution of land after the war meant hope and disappointment at the same time. Providing the have-nots with land seemed to be solved, but in reality the new haves in power distributed wealth among themselves. Mostly Hungarians acquired properties. This, however had no national political, but sociological reasons: the have-nots were Hungarians.

Later, the Serbian and Rumanian farmers did not want to undertake forced group work at the cooperatives. Many of them were put on the list of kulaks. Due to the humiliations, several members of the upgrowing generation took to the road, and moved to the more industrialised parts of the country. Those who stayed, foundjobs locally, or in the industrial plants of Makó and Nagylak.

The population of the village dwindles away, it could not recover from the earlier migrations from it. Few marriages will give birth to few children. Traditions and cultural life, however regained strength, farmers work on their own land again, which gives some hope that the three historical national communities of Magyarcsanád will continue to exist.

 

   
Előző fejezet Következő fejezet