Pictures of Host Families

Szentgerice, 8:10p.m.

The traditional bonfire is tonight. I learned from Sandor that the "officials" had some questions about this. They were thinking they would send security people to make sure there was no trouble. Sandor was perplexed by this. He talked them down and then complied with their request to write a letter taking responsibility and assuring them that there would be no trouble. Emery said it seemed like Ceauşescu was still causing some trouble from his grave.

You may know that Ceauşescu held power in Romania from 1965 until 1989, becoming President of Romania (he had been President of the State Council since 1967) in 1974 by conferring that title on himself. His security force, the Securitate, enforced strict regulations inhibiting civil liberties. He was especially hard on the ethnic Hungarians who found themselves under Romanian rule. (Because of the provisions of the 1920 Trianon Treaty.)

There is a story here in the village, I've heard it twice now, in somewhat different forms, about threats they faced during Ceauşescu's rule. A monument to commemorate the return of Szentgerice to Hungary stands right at the center of the village. (This state of being a part of Hungary only lasted for four years.) I heard that officials asked a teacher the nature of the monument (its inscription is in Hungarian) and she answered that it was a monument to the communist party youth pioneers. The monument stands to this day.

One of Ceauşescu's tricks was to move Romanians into cities with largely Hungarian populations in order to diminish their power. In the cities we have visited we have seen Ceauşescu style apartments--hastily built, simple in style. There was also a case when he built a damn in order to flood and destroy a Hungarian village. His abuses were drawing wider and wider criticism within Romania and from around the world. The revolution in 1989 was the result of growing dissatisfaction with Ceauşescu. One of his deputies, Iliescu, took advantage of the moment and claimed power. (It might be described as a coup.) Things have changed slowly. It was interesting especially to hear the perspective of the doctor in the village about how her work has changed over this period. She said before 1989 she knew she would always receive a paycheck.

Now, of course, yet more changes are coming as a result of Romania's entry into the European Union. Our partnership with Szentgerice has spanned a very interesting period in history. I am sure the coming years will continue to reveal a fascinating story.

On a lighter note, this afternoon we gathered at one of the houses and learned to make kurtos kalacs, a wonderful coal cooked donut. The slightly sweet dough is mixed in a big bowl and then cut into a long strip. The strip is wrapped around what looks like a large rolling pin with a handle. It can then be rolled in sugar. Then the dough is spun over the hot coals while water and oil are brushed on periodically. At the end it can also be rolled in crushed nuts. The end result is what some of the youth were calling a smokestack. It tears off in scrumptous strips, hot, sweet dough, crisp on the outside and wonderfully soft on the inside. Everyone had a good time helping and eating. It took all of the late afternoon.

So, today, I started (as I am sure all of us did) with a large breakfast. We had a large hot lunch at 2:00. We had donuts at 4:30. I had cookies and juice at 6:00 when I visited a family. And I have just finished another full meal. If you were expecting us to arrive home diminished in any way, you will be surprised!

Now to the bonfire.

Szentgerice, 10:55



We took the back road back to Szentgerice. I haven't commented much about the bus trips. Some of the roads aren't bad--Sandor explained some improvements happened a few years ago just before an election. Despite some "exciting" moments, the trip was wonderful. Beautiful forests, foothills, valleys. Splashes of purple and yellow. And the view of villages from a distance is really something. (I think John has figured out how to help me get some pictures posted...we'll try tomorrow.) Many in our group enjoyed swimming in the salt lake. It was good weather for it--the warm water matching the not too hot temperature.

We are just over half way through our trip and everyone seems to be holding up fine. Tomorrow we have a free day here in the village. I think this is very good timing. I hope some will be catching up on their sleep. We said goodbye today to Bill B. We also learned from Luke the good news that his uncle seemed to weather surgery well.

But now I'd like to get back to some of the history of Szentgerice. If this kind of thing bores you (I don't know how it could...) you can skip this post... I am using a brochure about Szentgerice that Sandor put together. Credit goes to him. (We talked tonight about helping to get the entire brochure on the web.)

There are indications of the presence of ancient peoples on this land. The first written evidence of the village comes from papal tithes in 1332 as Sancta Gerecia and in 1334 as Sancta Gratia (Holy Grace). In that pre-Reformation time the village was primarily Catholic. By 1559, apparently, the church had turned protestant. (As evidenced by the visit of the scholar from Wittenburg.) The period during the 16th century when the congregation was Unitarian may have been short. After Sigismund (the Unitarian King of Transylvania) died, the Bathory family took the throne. They set in place restrictions on religious practice and many of the formerly Unitarian Churches were "re-Catholicized"--Sandor's word. Sandor thinks this is likely to have happened here because of Szentgerice's proximity to the largely Catholic areas of Transylvania. The Reform Congregation was established sometime in the 17th century.

Now the Unitarian Church stands at one end of the village and the Reform Church at the other. The majority in the village is Unitarian. The ethnic history of this region, not unrelated to the religious history, is also fascinating. But, I won't go into that now.

Thanks to Betsy for alerting us about the Washington Post article quoting Bill Welch. I was also happy to hear from my friend Lynn today about her piece that appears on the Post's website. I think she represents Unitarian Universalism so well. If you haven't seen them, you can find her reflections at: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/08/post-traumatic_unity.html

Goodnight

Corund, 2:35

We've just arrived here after visiting a salt mine in Prajad. What a fascinating place. It's like a huge underground playground. People had brought picnics and were playing pingpong, badmitton, swinging on the swingsets, playing cards. There were large inflated play areas for the smaller children. The old mine is supposed to have theraputic benefit. The cool and dry air did feel healing to me.

Now this stop is for a little shopping. (I'm not telling what you're getting from your teenager...) After a little shopping we will move on to Sovata for swimming in a salt lake. For this trip a number of the villagers, young and old, have come with us. (We rented a larger bus so this would be possible.)

I've got to find John--he's got the cash! I'll write more tonight if the power holds out.

Szentgerice, 10:05 p.m.



There is a lovely rain (you can tell I'm inside) falling now. We were without power for several hours. We learned quickly that in a village where water comes from electric pumps in the wells...well, you know. Dinner was by candlelight but power was restored before the full dark came.

It was a free day today. Rev. Sandor and his wife Sarika took us (John, Emery, and me) around the countryside with a bonus stop in Csicso, a village near Csikszereda where the new grandbaby, Soma, lives. The elder Balazs son, Sanyi and his wife Palma had a son in May. The baby was almost as cute as the grandparents. In Csikszereda we also visited a Catholic Church which is a place of pilgrimage for many Catholics in this region. The statue of Mary is said to have been seen with tears in her eyes. I followed a woman to see the statue who reverently took her handkerchief to the bottom of Mary's robe.

The best part of the trip for me was having this chance to hear Sandor speak of the history of Unitarianism in Szentgerice. The church was built long before the Reformation. However, there is a record of a visit from a Protestant scholar (assumed to be Protestant because he came from Wittenburg) in 1559. The Unitarians came later in the 16th century. (Sorry, I'll have to finish this later...the power went out last night, again, and I had to abort the post. Now I'm on an exursion with the group and typing without my notes in an internet cafe. I'll do more with the history later.)

Szentgerice, 9:06

I just walked the village, running various errands. Arriving at the home Natalie F. is staying in, we were greeted with rapid Hungarian and the insistance that we sit down at the table outside. Then within seconds there were two plates of goodies set out for us. We stayed and visited (Emery was there to help some) as we got the business done. So much graciousness and hospitality here!

The teens are down at the community gathering place (that sounds better than bar...) playing cards. There is also a group of adults there. Everyone is pretty tired from today's excursion. First we traveled to the nearest city, Marosvasarhely. It is a city of about 120,000 people. (There are about 800 in Szentgerice.) Many of the young people from Szentgerice go to High School there. We exchanged money and walked around. Saw a beautiful Orthodox Church in the city square (the Romanians are Eastern Orthodox). Then we found the Unitarian Church. We met the minister there, Nagy Laszlo. It is a large congregation, 1800 members. And in the last decade they split, so now there are two congregations.

We also visited Segesvar. There are claims made about this being a place where Vlad Dracula originated. (You can find the history and the source of the adaptation with a web search...) We climbed and climbed to see an old castle tower and a beautiful Lutheran Church at the very top of the hill. An odd sight was a group of four dressed in Renaissance garb walking through the streets offering greetings to the city in whatever language they thought appropriate. With us they began with German, then tried Hungarian, and then we told them American, so they did it again in English. Caleb RM was with a group of youth wandering around who stopped for pizza. Caleb told me he was suspicious about the real purpose of the "pizza" place. Hmmm.

We have two who are/were feeling under the weather. One of our young adults and Morgan W. (how unfair is that?? Oh, I think I failed to report she got her luggage before we left Budapest.) She was much better by afternoon. She and Andy W. went off with the minister of another village to visit River Road's sister congregation. Their grandparents are part of RR's partner church program.

What a fascinating reality to be like an outsider in your own home. These Hungarians must learn Romanian, the state language. Only recently it was illegal to sing the Hungarian National Anthem. There is much more freedom now--but still, there is a sense in which they are outsiders in their own home.

Another fascinating thing to observe is the "progress." Those on the trip who have visited before tell the stories about how much has changed. There is a regular commuter bus to Marosvasharhely. The road has been repaired, so now the commute is only thirty minutes. As a consequence, (among other consequences) all kinds of foods are available now that these adults wouldn't have dreamed of having. Sandor (the minister here) tells the story of feeling it was unfortunate that there was starting to be trash in the village. (Before there was no pre-packaged food.) He encouraged (as only a minister can...) the young people to go out and clean up the trash. Now there are trash cans on light poles along the streets. This is progress...there is a need for trash cans. The ironies are fascinating.

I'm sorry I'm not able to get pictures posted. We may yet figure it out...

Our thoughts and prayers travel home for Luke W's uncle who is having surgery tomorrow. Sorry Luke can't be with you, Uncle Ralph. Please know you are in our prayers.

Szentgerice, 8:50

We just made the rounds of the village to meet each host family. It was a three and a half hour experience as many of the families insisted on serving us some treats as we passed through. We got pictures at each house, so I hope soon to post some pictures for you to see.

Back to yesterday: We left Budapest around 9:00 a.m. There were some interesting detours, including a trip down a narrow one way street that turned out to be a dead end! That was before we left Budapest. There was sleeping, singing, card playing, and story telling on the bus. Our experience at the border was pretty easy, according to those who have made the trip in earlier times. We drove straight through the Hungarian side without stopping. The Romanian border control gathered up our passports and stamped them with both the exit and the entrance stamps. It took a half an hour or so.

We stopped for dinner on the top of a mountain shortly after entering Romania. There was very little Hungarian spoken there--and much less English. Not even much German. We all managed to order and watch as a light rain cooled things down. It was three or four more hours from there. We arrived after dark and gathered around Sandor as he called out names and made the assignments.

Today it has been fun comparing notes. Lisa and Annalisa have "only one computer in the house." Others are without indoor plumbing. I've heard that some have fed horses and chickens. Some climbed the hill behind the church. And now all of us have seen the village during this late afternoon tour. We are all well-fed. Our experience here in the parish house is not unusual. We enjoyed a great soup for lunch and then much to my surprise the main dish came out. Though we are walking a lot, I think none of us will come home any slimmer.

The church is beautiful. The men and the women still sit on opposite sides of the sanctuary. The bells started ringing well before the time for the service. Some from the village came to visit the cemetary before the service. My sermon didn't take too too long...maybe thirty minutes with translation and all. It was really an honor to stand in that historic pulpit and give a sermon. I told about Albert Schweitzer and his idea of reverence for life. I thought this would be a good topic because this is the underlying purpose of our partnership--that through these relationships we learn yet more to love each other.

Our group sang two songs. (We did well!) Before my sermon we sang "Gathered Here." In a round even. It sounded pretty cool with the women starting from one side and the men responding from the other. Andy W. presented the beautiful mosaic chalice that Bonnie F. made for us to bring. Then Sandor presented a hand-made stole with a chalice and said he hoped my wearing it would remind our congregation of our partnership and their affection for us.

Tomorrow we take a trip to a nearby city. I'll report more then.