Calvin Synod Herald, 1988 (88. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1988 / 2-5. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD-4-REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA MEMORY OF A CHRISTMAS IN TRANSYLVANIA There are certain things which we do not want to learn because they tend to annihilate us somehow. This was my feeling toward the Romanian language, when I was forced to learn it begining in 1921, in my hometown of Székelyudvarhely, where even the birds spoke only Hungarian. But the presure of life at that time dictated that 1 must know the language of our oppressors. In 1926, under the pressure of circumstances, we gave lodging in our home to one of the Romanian students in the state high school, in order that 1 could have someone to speak with in Romanian. The young man came from Muntenia to our town in Transylvania, to study there. His square-chinned Tartar face undeniably betrayed that he was not of Latin descent. Yet he was full of the fire of primitive Romanian nationalism, and he constantly spoke about "Romanian glory.” On Christmas day, the two of us walked up to the highest point of Papkert (the Garden of Priests), from one side of which one could look toward the Hargita Mountains, in the direction of the villages of Oroszhegy, Bethlenfalva, Kadicsfalva, and Zetelaka; and from the other side, down the valley of the Nagyküköllo river, in the direction of Boldogfalva and Bögöz. My Romanian friend asked for the name of each village, and after each name also the nationality of the people who lived there. "Hungarians,” 1 answered after each name. “And there, beyond the hills and mountains?”, he asked. "That way, to the east, in Gyergyó, Csik, Háromszék, Hungarians live there. In the other direction in Marostorda, in Kisküköllo, and in the valley of the Nyikó Rover, everywhere Hungarians,” 1 answered. "Well, that is horrible," the consternation slipped out of my friend's mouth, "that here, in the middle of Romania Mare (Great Romania) there are that many strangers!”, and bitterness set on his Tartar face because the world was not completly "red-yellow-blue" Romanian, as he was! My answer was a Christmas answer: "You see, what a great differece there is between the human and the divine way of thinking. Man would force everyone to speak his language. On the other hand, at Christmas, God assumed a human form, and spoke in the language of man, in order to express his fervent love for man. People who receive God’s love into their hearts have and practice the same Christmas spirit toward their fellow men. And, don’t forget - or if you don't know it, hear it now - THIS is what Believing Transylvanian Hungarians have done; It was they who published the first Romanian-language books; almost three hundred years ago, before schools were even planned in your native village of Muntenia, we established a Romanian-language school in Fogaras. Today it is Christmas day, the celebration of divine giving, the holiday of the bowing down of the strong to the feeble, of the victor to the defeated, of the lucky to the unlucky, the holiday which obligates every person and every nation!” Lively green fir trees, "Christmas Trees”, blanketed with snow, were swaying as the wind from the Hargita Mountains reached them; and it was as if a multitude of violins, violas, cellos and contrabasses had sounded the music of the Transylvanian Christmas. Yes, of the Transylvanian Christmas, the sacred spirit of divine reconciliation, love, patience and mercy, which, pursuant to Transylvania’s legislation, had already proclaimed freedom of religion in the 1560’s. At that time people in other European countries, differing in their religions, though speaking the same language, were still massacring each other. Transylvanian Christmas. But we can say it this way: Hungarian Christmas. It points out that God lets everyone exist in his own form, in his own language, and He approaches everyone in his own form and language, because He wants to meet everyone in his own everyday condition. God does not want to take away anything, but to fill what we have with wonderful divine contents. Indeed, God desires that every nation - without hindering others - should speak its own language and live in its own way, the divine contents of giving, of love, of mercy, and of peace. Both the pine forests of Transylvania and the American evergreen trees proclaim and recommend to us the upholding of divine love, so that we would render our hearts as a cradle of this love - and that we would be people of good will toward one-another. (Béla Szigethy)
