Why are a million Hungarians in Romania? Szekely

“You cannot have a country that looks like a donut”… South Africa would like to have a word. In all seriousness, I’m Hungarian and have a lot of friends from Transylvania. Most of the problems nowadays are purely political and people have come to terms with each other. Things get boisterous when sports is involved but in general people live in harmony. Romanians are nice people in a quite frankly stunning country! I can’t wait to explore it myself!

Locals know that authentic Romanian doughnuts don't have holes in the middle

Nice video! I am a half Hungarian from Transylvania and I love the history, culture and diversity of our country Romania!

Being a székely myself, the word probably comes from the word "székelj" or "szék" meaning "to throne" or simply "throne/chair". But that's just a speculation among here. Also there is a saying here in Székelyföld that goes: "Minden székely magyar, de nem minden magyar székely" meaning "All székely are hungarian, but not all hungarian are székely". The tension between the romanians and the székelys really did fire up during the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaucescu where, as you state, the romanisation began. The ripples of this are still in notion this day, as many people from both sides like to cause conflict and uproar about pointless things and reject the reality we live in today. But thankfully that's not the majority. We share many customs and traditions and our history is entwined, now more so than ever perhaps. And most importantly; we share the same homeland and I am sure that people prefer peace and compromises in their homes more than bitterness and conflict.

Tatăl meu e oltean iar mama e unguroaică,eu sunt născut și crescut în oltenia dar locuiesc la București. Oamenii ăștia ar trebui să iasă mai des din casă,fiindcă lumea e mai vastă decât cred!

i am half romanian and half hungarian(mother side is hungarian)and was born in Hungary. I knew about the Avar theory but as far as the word "Szekely",in hungarian comes from the word "Szek" which means "Chair". During the Interwar period in Romania we had a county named "3 Scaune" which means "3 Chairs". As far I heard from others,"the "Szekely" got their name after the Avar turks who were in the Panonian Plain swore allegiance to the Hungarian Crown and were put as border guards-basically "enthroned/"enchaired" along the border. And with time they were gradually magyarised. But hey,I can be wrong,since the history of the Hungarians has a pretty obscure beginning.

First comment. One in favour of peace and understanding. Not all Hungarians want to unite with Hungary and I hope in the future to find solutions to feel both at home in Romania 🇷🇴🤝🇭🇺❤️

We will never become “the donut” on the world map!! The “fish” shape is good enough 😅

Moldova gave the autonomy to the gagauz and now the heads of this region make a lot of trouble to entire country.

Faceți vă rog, un material și cu românii din Ungaria! Oare acela este cumva pământ românesc? Oare de ce după o oră și jumatate de călătorit prin Bulgaria, la Silistra de exemplu, bulgarii născuți până în 1944, au buletine romanești? Voivodina în Serbia, 273 de sate unde se vorbește românește! De ce? În orașul meu comunitatea maghiară numără mai puțin de 1000 de persoane, însă apare ca fiind de 5000, oamenii traiesc în bună vecinatate, frumos, armonios, nimeni nu își dorește altceva, cunosc bine comunitatea maghiarilor fiind apropiat lor, nimeni ju își dorește regionalizare, autonomie, etc..., doar politicul dorește aceasta! Politicul dezbină, oamenii sunt uniți orice nationalitate ar avea, orice religie ar împărtăși! Unde își vâră politicul coada, oamenii se despart și se omoară pentru o palmă de pământ, pentru un dumnezeu, nimanui fiindu-i de folos!

This issue hits me personally as a Romanian from Transylvania with Magyar-Romanian family members and friends. I just want to note that the issue is a Romanian one, and has little to do with Hungary. The Szekely and Transylvanian Saxons are part of our family, and I believe that we Romanians have demonstrated our tolerance towards our minorities, as we even elected a Transylvanian Saxon as our president. The thing with 'federalization' of the country for the sake of preserving Szekely rights, well, I simply don't see why that would be necessary. Szekely rights, culture and language are already protected and preserved under current minority laws. Moreover, Romania and Hungary are part of the EU, and the border between them will disappear as soon as Romania joins Schengen. Therefore, there is no solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I don't see how federalizing Romania practically changes anything for the Szekely. If Romania federalizes it should be for its own reasons, not to give Orban's Hungary a symbolic victory.

Battle of Giurgiu and no mention of Michael the Brave but instead Bathory? 😂

Hi Ben, I admire your desire to grow your audience interested in the Romanian language and/or history. I would be, however, a bit more cautious when launching opinions or recommendations, such as the federalisation, you may find then lots of unhappy audiences, especially in the current geopolitical climate. The rights of minorities are formally addressed in the country as in all EU MS.

My teacher told me that Székely comes from the Hungarian word szék meaning chair or seat. In this case this would be metaphoric representing a seat of government. In other words, the Székelys were organised into a state or province. This would not be the only instance of a province actually calling itself province (the French Provence comes to mind). The German word for Transylvania is Siebenbürgen (seven castles), and the historic Transylvanian shield also has seven castles.

Hi ben, you are a little like the mr benn cartoon I used to watch as a child, you like to take us on a journey into a different dimension that we’ve not ever experienced “thank you “ 😊

In Romania, Szeklers and Hungarians are half/half. There are 500,000 Szeklers and 500,000 Hungarians. The Szeklers are compact (2 and a half counties) and the Hungarians are spread throughout Transylvania. The Szeklers are a Turanian population Hungarianized in the Middle Ages and the Hungarians are Finno-Ugric (at least in terms of language).

"There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in the possession of the rightfull owner, or that has not been taken away, from owner after owner, cycle after cycle, by FORCE and bloodshed" Mark Twain

"Székelylike" population can be found in Hungary, next to the border of Hungary with Austria in the "Őrség" region too... So the "frontier troops" version seems to me the most likely one....

Interesting discussion.

Romania is a national state in name only, it is federal actually. It has 41 county's with large nuggets and local autonomy and we'll paid politicians. What we actually need is less fragmented local institution and less politicians and a more unified vision of development. Certainly we do not need ethnic autonomy and administrative jobs for people based on their ethnicity. This is why in Romania we had Jewish prime ministers, Hungarian prime ministers, German president, etc. Not so much diversity in country's around us.