Watch fires demanding the autonomy of Szeklerland in Romania

Watch fires were lit on Sunday, Szekler Autonomy Day.

In Szeklerland, watch fires were lit in over 100 settlements to signal the region’s demand for territorial autonomy, Zoltán Gazda, who heads the Sepsi District chapter of the Szekler National Council said. Here is a map showing the settlements where the watch fires were lit today. The inscription says: “Territorial autonomy for Szeklerland!”

A manifesto signed by the president of the Szekler National Council, Balázs Izsák, was read aloud as the fires were lit after dark. In a statement issued earlier on Sunday by the state secretariat for policy concerning Hungarian communities abroad, Katalin Szili, an advisor to the prime minister, said Hungary supported the demand for self-administration of Hungarian communities beyond the country’s borders.

Read also:

• Government supporting Szekler autonomy in Romania – Read more HERE

Transylvania church rebuilt with support from Hungary

A Reformed church in Cecalaca (Csekelaka), Romania, rebuilt with support from the state of Hungary was inaugurated on Sunday. State secretary János Nagy said maintaining Hungarian identity meant holding on to one’s roots and Christian identity, not only in Transylvania but in Hungary, too.

Pastor András Ambrus said the tower of the congregation’s original church, consecrated in 1821, had started to sink, threatening the nave. The congregation got support from the Hungarian government to renovate the church on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, but a decision was taken to use the funding to build a new church instead, he added.

The more than 100 million forints (EUR 260,000) in support from the Hungarian government covered the largest part of the cost of the new church. Funding from the Romanian government paid for the church’s windows and doors.