The Eighth Tribe, 1975 (2. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1975-10-01 / 10. szám
Page 6 THE EIGHTH TRIBE October, 1975 one man among them, somewhere in the mountains, one man of the same bloodline, a simple, mountain man, who learned the secret from his father. Once each year, this man has disappeared for a few days into the silent mountains, to care for the Sword of God. When he grows old and weak, this man takes his eldest son to that hidden place, known by no other man, and kneeling down beside the Sword, the son has to repeat the same oath, word for word, just as that first Szekely swore to the last Táltos. Even today, there is someone in those mountains. No one knows who this man might be, who once each year disappears into the forest to fulfill the old promise. And they all know the last words of the Táltos, uttered so long ago, up in those mountains. “The Sword of God shall gleam again and lead to victory only when the time arrives in which all the Hungarians in the valleys and in the hills, on the plains and along the lakes and rivers unite again as they have done in the past, and become of one mind and one voice and one will, under Ur, our God!” Everyone knows, and everyone up in those mountains prays, day after day, year after year, century after century, for that day to come. Translated by Elizabeth M. Wass Reprinted from Selected Hungarian Legends by Albert Wass ☆ ☆ James Pevarnik, of Pevarnik Bros., Building Construction, builders of the new wing for the Betthlen Home at the dedication with Elias C. Chomos from the Bethlen Press. OUR HERITAGE IN AMERICA Column editor: Joseph Széplaki We will reprint here articles, essays and poems as they appeared in the early American press regarding our heritage in America. We also welcome articles reflecting the history and accomplishments of Hungarians on the American continent. HUNGARIANS IN MINNESOTA Hungarian immigration r Minnesota appears to be relatively insignificant compared with other ethnic groups. Individual Hungarians have been settling down mostly in the Twin City area. There are some records that a Swede named Lindgren organized a settlement in the mid 19th century with 20 Hungarian families somewhere 80 miles from St. Paul, but the place has not been located. There is also indications that a group of the Kossuth immigrants in the 1850’s had settled in Minnesota, but only sketchy record is available. In the Southwest part of the state a town called BALATON is named after a famous lake in Hungary. The town today is completely Americanized, yet it was probably a settlement started by Hungarians. There has been sparse individual immigration to Minnesota in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the proceeding years of the first World War. The exodus gained momentum in the twenties because of the Trianon treaty, where 2/3 of Hungarian territory was partitioned to Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. These territories had large Hungarian minorities who were oppressed and many decided to leave the country. According to immigration records, these people are not Hungarians, as they came from these past territories, but by their own declarations they are Hungarians. We have many Hungarians in the St. Paul area who have come from Transylvania in the 1920's. In most cases it would be the husband who would be arriving first to save enough money for the fare for the rest of the family. I would like to include a personal experience that happened a couple of years ago while I was collecting oral history from Hungarian old timers. The man I was interviewing was in his late sixties. He was relating the circumstances of how he came to St. Paul. His father preceeded the family around 1910.
