Diószegi László:
"The Past and Present of the Csángós of Moldavia"

According to the 1992 census the village of Magyarfalu (Arini), which lies to the southeast of Bákó (Bacau), has a population of 1,337, of whom 1,325 are Catholic and 1,300 speak Hungarian.

In all probability Magyarfalu was settled at the end of the eighteenth century, when waves of mass migration from Transylvania reached a peak with the eastward movement of large, coherent groups of people - groups that remained united even once they reached Moldavia. This period also presumably saw the largest, ethnically - religiously homogenous Székely communities arise in unpopulated or sparsely populated regions of Moldavia—villages such as Pusztina (Pustiana), Frumósza (Frumoasa), Lészped (Lespezi), Szõlõhegy (Pîrgaresti) and the surrounding area, Magyarfalu, Lábnik (Vladnic) and Kalugarén (Calugareni). Since the best areas of arable land were already occupied, in effect, the new arrivals had to make do with relatively narrow valleys featuring streams and small rivers. Consequently even these relatively large Székely villages of Moldavia have a certain mountainous character.

But why did these people take to the road across the Carpathians with their families, their children, at the end of the eighteenth century?

Although the exact reasons certainly varied from person to person and family to family, it is worth looking at the single most significant historical event, the one that spurred the movement of the largest masses of people.

Maria Theresa, the queen of Hungary and Bohemia and the archduchess of Austria, organized the Székely border regiment in 1762. The stated aims: to defend the eastern borders from violations, to quell smuggling, and to keep the plague at bay. The unstated aim: to draw the Székely army into the empire's wars. As it was, however, Székely resistance impeded the organizing of the border regiment.

The Székelys took exception to foreign service, to being led by Germans, and to the fact that in exchange for military service they could not regain their onetime freedom.

Generals Buccow and Siskovics, who were commissioned to organize the border guard, used force to persuade the Székelys, village by village, to comply. However, their efforts fell short in the Udvarhelyszék region, to the east of Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc), and the majority of Székelys in the Csík region to the east likewise defied despotic rule. During Christmas 1763 the men of Madéfalva (Siculeni) left their village for the nearby forests around Szépvíz (Frumoasa), to protest the authorities' utter disregard for the Székelys' freedom rights. On January 5, 1764, representatives from the Háromszék region to the south arrived in order to hold talks and to protest. In the wee hours of the morning of January 7, Madéfalva was encircled by 1,350 Austrian soldiers, who opened fire on the sleeping village with two cannons, then attacked the defenseless population and carried out a bloodbath. The killing lasted until 9 a.m. The action was commanded by General Siskovics, the head of Maria Theresa's mercenary force, and carried out by Lieutenant Colonel Carato. Official reports put the fatalities at 200, whereas Michael Conrad von Heidendorf, chairman of the examining committee dispatched after the suppression of the "revolt" with the aim of doling out punishment, estimated the number at 400.

One of the leading figures in the resistance, Péter Zöld, parish priest of Csíkszentlélek (Leliceni), had to flee after the massacre. József Zöld, of Madéfalva, guided him as far as Kománfalva (Comanesti), in Moldavia. A stone statue was erected in Péter Zöld's memory in the yard of the church in Csíkrákos (Racu).

Thousands fled to Moldavia after the disaster - according to some records, five Székely villages. Refugees from Madéfalva augmented the ranks of Csángós already living in the Gyimesi (Ghimes) region just to the northeast and even further east, across the mountains, in Moldavia. And they later established the five Székley villages in Bukovina: Hadikfalva (Dornesti), Andrásfalva (Maneuti), Istensegíts (Tibeni), Fogadjisten (Iacobesti), and Józseffalva (Vornicenii Mari). Those Székelys who settled among the Csángós of Moldavia were to stay there permanently, meanwhile, on the other side of the Carpathians.

In all probability this is when Magyarfalu, too, came to be.