„The
Neaua is a modest little stream, but still in its branching
valley there are 7 villages hidden. Because it was my
principle not to leave one – as modest as it may
be – village unvisited, unexplored, I could not
by-pass this side-valley of the Târnava Mica either.
The first village of the valley is Vadas, nestled in
a small lateral valley, crossed by the Bükki stream.
Legend says that some time ago a lord had a game preserve
here, hence the village’s name (which in Hungarian
means game preserve) – possibly the Kereszturi
family or Szovérdi Gáspár János,
who owned great areas in the region, or even the lord
of the castle from Sângeorgiu de Padure. The village
is mentioned in the registers from 1567, under the name
of Wadast… It had an old church, which was reconstructed,
and an old bell, which, after breaking, was cast again
last year. The former inscription, which was saved,
said: „Maria Mater graciae Mater Misericordiae
1502” (as recorded in the protestant church’s
reports).
Facing Vadas, in the so-called valley of the Bózod
you can find numerous thick tiles, stone axes, manual
mills – word is that Avars lived here. In the
same place there is a nitrous spring, used for bathing.
Further upstream on the road towards Neaua, there is
the bridge of Teke – legend says there was the
village of Teke, long since disappeared.
In ancient records and also on the village’s stamp
Neaua is mentioned under the name of Hóvad; it
used to be a snowy wilderness, hence its name. In the
registers of 1567 it appears under the name of Hawad,
with 10 gates. ...
To the east of the village, on the steep and forested
Csere slope there are 5 stone caves (most of them collapsed
by now), which are called Tatar-cellars, because during
the Tatar invasions local inhabitants sought refuge
in them. Those who did not fit in the caves fled and
hid on the other side of the valley, in the place called
Daraberdo (Piece of Forest), which back then was covered
by a vast forest. Today the trees have been cut; they
left the forest only on the peak, as a reminder of the
ancestors’ hiding place. Nearby there is the Tatar
road, where the invaders have left the area. These legends,
traditions, names preserve the memories of the events
of past centuries. People, whose written history is
not related to toponyms like that, record this way past
history.
At Neaua, the valley divides in two: the Abod stream’s
valley runs to the East, in parallel with the valley
of the Târnava Mica – here lay the villages
of Ghinesti and Abud. The other, following the original
valley’s Northern direction, heads towards the
Niraj valley – here lays Sânsimion and Rigmani.
The above mentioned two valleys, together with the mountain
ranges surrounding them, form the link between the regions
of the Târnava Mica and the Niraj.
These hidden little valleys, although lying far from
major roads, can be intriguing for the investigating
passenger, who along interesting ancient monuments can
find there friendly, unspoiled, hospitable and kind
people. They diligently cultivate this bleak region’s
low grade soil and still preserve the traits of their
ancient origins.
To get acquainted with the region’s ancient monuments
and people, let’s take a look at its valleys,
one after the other. Starting with the valley that heads
to the east, in line with Szt. István, separated
only by the Borzond hill, we find Ghinesti (Ghinesti
is still the valley’s most considerable village;
that in former times it must’ve been even more
significant, we can see from the registers from the
year 1567, where it was enrolled under the same name,
with 25 gates, being the third largest settlement in
the historical Marosszék region, after Marosvásárhely
– Tg. Mures – and Nyárádszereda
– Miercurea Nirajului...). This handsome szekler
village compensates the barrenness of its land with
a large scale pomology, the area being the main grower
of the famous “Piros Párizs” apple,
which also appears in the coat of arms of the Marosszék
region. In recent times, a number of persons successfully
attempted growing mulberry and silkworm. One famous
inhabitant of Ghinesti was Galambfalvi Ferencz, who
served as a cavalry captain during the 7 year Prussian
war. One of his many famous cavalryman pranks –
many of those are still told amongst the villagers –
was when he and his squadron surprised king Fridrik’s
tent, when this was having dinner with general Schverin.
The high-ranking guests fled, but our captain wrapped
everything from the table in the table-cloth and brought
it back home. This is not a fairy-tail, but a fact,
proved by several pieces – that were in the possession
of his brother, Galambfalvi György, who died not
so long ago – like the table-cloth of Fridrik,
his table-ware, baring the Prussian royal signs, a snuff-box
with a pearl baring the name of Scverin. Part of these
ended up in the possession of count Lázár
Józs. from Fântânele, and a part
of them was divided amongst the fellow villagers. Today
at Ghinesti, in the protestant church’s chest,
you can only find Fridrik’s table-cloth (Benko
Károly mentions in its description of the Marosszék
region – page 145. – that he has seen himself
the above mentioned objects in the hands of Galambfalvi
György).
Ghinesti’s smallest bell is very old, as an expert
can immediately recognize this from its longish, thin
shape. For this reason, he surely won’t be fooled
by the inscription engraved by the village’s smith:
‘Ist. Dits Anno 1822 Geges birja’.
The bell ended up here more than 150 years ago, when,
during the kuruc war two cavalrymen from the village
brought it back to Ghinesti between their horses from
the territory currently known as the Czech Republic.
They have done this to prove that they did not forget
about their homeland. This is a szekler custom, found
in other places too: in Várfalva (Aranyosszék
region) there is an old bell, forged in Brünn that
was brought here by a local on a horse drawn carriage,
after the villager was recruited in Bethlen Gábor’s
army. Afterwards, the local church had an agreement
with the man’s family, according to which they
rang the bell for free whenever a death occurred in
this family. Another similar case was when in 1815 a
szekler brought back from Paris two cannonballs, later
used as weights on a clock. This was repeated in 1848
in the battle of Schwechat.
But the archeologist can find in Ghinesti other interesting
things, aside from the bell: above the village, on the
left side of the valley there are some magnificent fortifications
– I have seen something similar only in Rigmani.
People call these Turkish and Avar trenches. They are
huge dams, 4-5 m wide and of at least the same height,
stretching almost 500 meters in a straight line at the
bottom of the hill. The trenches from which the construction
material was provided lie behind the dams. At the two
ends there are two higher sections – supposedly,
originally there were towers here. And at one time there
was fighting going on around these fortifications –
proved by numerous pieces and remains from arrows and
other weaponry, that surface here from time to time.
I have never seen fortifications like that, so I am
willing to believe that this is a valuable remain of
the Avar fortifications – and we will soon find
another, even greater example in Rigmani.
Higher above, where the Szénafu stream joins
the Abod stream, there is a treeless, high hill, called
the Chapel’s mountain. According to the legends,
a Turkish fortification lied here – later a chapel
was built from its ruins. If there were ever a fortress
and a chapel here, they disappeared by now and only
the thick pieces of tile testify the fact that indeed
at one time there was human activity going on here.
...
From Abud, following a trail in the woods, you can get
to Rigmani, lying at the top of the other valley. The
village is subservient to Sânsimion (church administration).
Its inhabitants decided – by their own will –
to never drink brandy. The one who will break the pledge
will pay a 5 forint (Hungarian money) fine. At once,
the wealthiest family in the village was the Gyulai
family – people still show around the place where
their manor stood. More, the location is still called
the ‘Gyulai’ yard. (…in the registers
from 1567 the village is mentioned under the name Rygmany
and with 8 gates ….)
On the hill called Tekenos, outside Rigmani, you can
find a dam similar to the one in Ghinesti, but even
more imposing. This one surrounds the whole end of the
valley in a semi-circle, more than 1000 m long. In certain
places (where it’s more or less intact) even today
it’s 4-5 m high, and inside the trench there is
a flattened area, probably the location of former buildings
– the home of the defenders. In some places there
are gapes in the dam, most probably left there intentionally
to allow the defenders to exit the fortification for
counter-attacks. Another possibility is that the gapes
were created by floodwater (running down on the hill’s
slope) that broke through the dam.
These floodwaters wash out numerous pieces of arrows.
Not so long ago a golden buckle emerged from there –
too bad, this also ended up in Jewish hands. It was
(as they told me) ? shaped; together with this, there
was also a boot-shaped piece of ore.
As I was examining this fortifications, whose construction
implied efforts of gargantuan proportions, as I was
considering that local people call them Turkish trenches,
as I know that Avars are often mentioned even by historians
as Turks, as I know from historical records that the
Avars raised fortifications like these (so-called Hrings
or Rhings) and finally as even the village’s name
(Rigmani) is similar to these words: I begin to wonder
if these peculiar fortifications aren’t the work
of the Avars? What if this isolated valley, where we
can find the Avar name in three places, where we can
find these unique fortifications, what if these remains,
the village’s name keep the memory of the Avars,
who played such an important role in our history, but
disappeared afterwards almost without any trace?
It remains a question whether the larger part of the
Marosszék region (because the higher regions,
as I demonstrated earlier, were already occupied by
the szekler people) was inhabited by those Avar troops,
who were – after 8 years of heroic resistance
– defeated and scattered by Great Carl, and who,
getting separated from the rest of the Avars (who were
forced back in Asia) marched into Transylvania, where
the forces of Great Carl were unable to follow them?
(as Husti presents this and other things about the Avars
on page VII.R.104. of his work, “Ó és
uj Dácia”) Here the Avars, uniting with
the szeklers (who fell astern from the Huns) resisted
until the arrival of the Hungarians? (Husti also states
that the Avars here stopped their pillaging campaigns,
many of them even adopted christianity). I ask this,
leaving the decision to the experts.
Behind the above mentioned Turkish trenches, there is
a high peak called Várhegy (Fortress Mountain)
– people believe that there was another fortification
here – however, today there are no proofs for
that. Probably it was only a watchtower of the above
mentioned fortification, situated on a good lookout
point. The place itself is very suited for that, since
you can see from there the whole Neaua valley on one
side, and on the other side the whole Niraj valley,
from Valea until Galesti. Behind it, above the smaller
mountains of the Niraj and Mures region, you can see
the silhouettes of the Western and Northern Carpathians,
which, under the bright sunshine, were easy to recognize
peak by peak.
From Rigmani, at a distance that can be covered in only
ten minutes lies Sânsimion (in the same valley).
In the past, this was the region’s central parish.
Ghinesti, Neaua, Adrianu Mic and Adrianu Mare (from
the Niraj valley) and Rigmani all belonged to Sânsimion,
which is mentioned as early as at the beginning of the
XIV century as an independent parish. (in the registers
of the Pope’s tithing, in 1332., on page 618 is
stated: „Petrus Sac. de S. Symone solv. 4 ban.
ant. et 4 denarios” – and later on twice
again under the same name, on pages 739 and 764. Since
no other village from the region is mentioned, we can
conclude that they all belonged to Sânsimion…).
Its old and now rebuilt church was interesting, but
more interesting is its old bell, which was re-founded
in 1836. According to the local pastor Nemes Elek, the
bell was 778 years old, too bad, they didn’t at
least keep its circumscription.
I dare to affirm, that our detour in this side-valley
was fairly rewarding and we can now return to the Târnava
Mica, richer with experiences and interesting discoveries…
|
