Siculeni

Siculeni Madéfalva
—  Commune  —
Memorial of the Siculicidium
Location of Siculeni
Siculeni Madéfalva Location of Siculeni
Coordinates: 46°25′0″N 25°45′0″E / 46.416667°N 25.75°E / 46.416667; 25.75Coordinates: 46°25′0″N 25°45′0″E / 46.416667°N 25.75°E / 46.416667; 25.75
Country	Romania
County	Harghita County
Status	Commune
Government
– Mayor	József Tamás (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania)
Area
– Total	39.39 km2 (15.2 sq mi)
Population (2002)
– Total	6,906
– Density	70.17/km2 (181.7/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	537295
Area code(s)	+40 266
Website	www.madefalva.ro

Siculeni (Hungarian: Madéfalva, Hungarian pronunciation: [’mɒdeːfɒlvɒ]) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. It is composed of a single village, Siculeni. The Siculicidium took place here.

Demographics

The commune has an absolute Székely (Hungarian) majority. According to the 2002 census it has a population of 6,906 of which 96.79% or 6,684 are Hungarian. In 2004, four villages broke off to form Ciceu and Racu Communes, and the remaining village has a population of 2,764.

History

The mystical addition

The village was part of the Székely Land region of the historical Transylvania province.

Its Hungarian name was first recorded in 1567 in the form of Amadeffalwa (Amadé's village, but in 1602 the village is already mentioned by a shortened forms as Madéfalva which became the names of the village. The Romanian form of its name was Madefalău, the authorities re-named it for the current official name after 1919.^[1]

The Siculicidium, or the Massacre at Madéfalva of January 7 1764 took place here. 200 Székely were killed by Maria Theresa's Habsburg army as the local Székely Hungarians refused to join as recruits the newly organized borderguard regiments. Following the massacre, a great number of Székely people began to flee the region crossing the Carpathian Mountains into Bukovina and Moldova. The massacre's Latin name is Siculicidium traditionally written as SICVLICIDIVM which interestingly enough spells out the year 1764 in Roman Numerals if one removes the S at the beginning. A monument in memory of the massacre was erected on October 8, 1905.

The village administratively belonged to Csíkszék district until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when it fell within the Csík County in the Kingdom of Hungary. After the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, the village became part of Romania and fell within Ciuc County during the interwar period. In 1940, the second Vienna Award granted the Northern Transylvania to Hungary and the villages were held by Hungary until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and the village became officially part of Romania in 1947. Between 1952 and 1960, the commune fell within the Magyar Autonomous Region, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureş-Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, the province was abolished, and since then, the commune has been part of Harghita County.

The commune used to comprise several villages, but as from 2004 the village of Ciceu (Csicsó) forms an independent commune with the village of Ciaracio (Csaracsó). The village of Racu (Csíkrákos) along with the village of Satu Nou (Göröcsfalva) also forms an independent commune.

Gallery

• 

  Monument of the Siculicidium

• 

  Székely gate

• 

  Church interior

• 

  The village on 18th century map

See also

• Siculicidium

References

1. ^ János András Vistai. "Tekintő – Erdélyi Helynévkönyv". p. 637. Transylvanian Toponym Book