SUUS Books and Pilgrims at Szekelykeresztur

Eager Students at Unitarian High School Greet Twelve Travelers

Spring comes to Transylvania

In front of Unitarian High Schol. Emese Nagy (center with black jacket)

Sierra-Marie with Emese, the English teacher

The English language lab- new home of books and bookshelves, below.

Setting up book shelves- our books doubled their collection.

Coffee hours- a little hospitality for us visitors.

Agnes, the daughter of the Minister in our village stay who is a boarding student.

Mary Strieff sharing her experience with an acting student.

Mission accomplished- Pilgrims and completed shelves.

5th grade class- we brought tem new English books- they loved them- full

of colored pictures and lively activities!

Children sang for us and we sang for them.

Outside elementary school.

Plaque outside school recognizing American from Providence, Rhode Island, James Fretwell, who was an

important supporter in the 1870's

Sylvia Carpenter on the play yard, from New London, who celebrated her 80th birthday on the trip.

Unitarian Village Life

Homorod Christmas Village (none of us can pronounce the real name but it translates to this)

Our three days in a Unitarian village were in the Homorod Valley, an area with 17? predominantly Unitarian villages.

Aniko, the Minister's wife (r) and church tour guide. Note uncovered

frescoes on back wall- church voted to not uncover these! 

Church ceiling

Our guide, Csilla, the daughter of a Unitarian minister who works for the UU Partner Church Council with her husband, John Dale.

Frescos recently uncovered in this church built in 

the 14th century. All but 5 in village converted to Unitarianism

in 16th century. At some point the Unitarians painted over the frescos,

and recently voted with great controversy to uncover them.

Not restored Hungarian style decoration from 19th century



 Date of church building 1396

Church yatd from minister's house- note beehives, Minister is beekeeper, farmer as well

The home of Aniko and Miha, the ministry team, above.  They have chickens, sheep, large garden and bees. She cooked dinner for us for 3 nights.

Miha, the Minister showing 90 year old member newly hatched chicks.

 Stork nest nearby- good luck!

Meeting Boglarka in her Hometown

Hospitality, A Welcoming Congregation

Going to church, Not Understanding 90% of the Service, Still Feeling the Love

 The Unitarian Church in St. George graciously welcomed us with a special dinner just for us and Boglarka and her family.  Above, our driver Otilla, Istavan- the Minister, Erol and Margaret Fikrig, Mary Jo Ross and Mary Strieff's arm!

 Rev. Claudia and Boglarka meeting after corresponding for two years. She will graduate from high school in one more year and hopes to become a lawyer.

 Csilla, our fearless leader, Istavan and Otilla, above.
Mary Jo looking at carved wood exhibit.

 Sylvia, our intrepid Pilgrim from New London as we celebrate her 80th birthday!  Pat Abraham, also from New London, left and Elizabeth Sanrtoro to the right. Left, Boblarka's arm.

                        Sierra-Maria explaining something!

Rev. Claudia, Boglarka and her parents Zoltan and Melinda.

For 20 years Melinda has been working with

a school for Gypsy children

and has learned to speak Roma. The cross in the background was

part of an exhibit of carved wood.  You rarely see a cross in the Unitarian Church here. In fact, if you look at steeples, Unitarians have

stars or crescents on the spire while Reformed or Catholic have crosses. Orthodox have double crosses.

Rev. Ishtavan in his lively presentation style! Left, Paul Carmichael, Jan van Heurck, Margaret Fikrig and Mary Jo Ross' back.

This is their new sanctuary build about ten years ago. 

Rev. Istavan's English is excellent and we had a very candid exchange about Unitarianism both in Transylvania and Amercia.  Ask one of us to tell you about it!

Best kept secret in Translyvania?

After watching a video of Transylvanian ministers who have spent a year at Star King seminary in Berkeley, and talking about what they see as challenges and benefits of their faith and the American UU faith, it appears Unitarian may be the best kept secret in Romania as well as on the Shoreline. Americans have " come-in ers" and Transylvanians are mostly born Unitarians. Their challenges come from border disputes/ shifts as well as the years of Communism over the past century.

The beauty of the church here in Saint George (Sepsiszentgyorgy) is the lightness of the wood, the lightness due to the windows and white walls - a sharp contrast to the dark and gloomy cathedrals of the Middle Ages.

Mary


The photo below is of the newly built (rebuilt) sanctuary in the Sepsiszentgyorgy Unitarian church, with its minister, Istvan, up front leading us in a tour.

First things first: the food!

I am in charge of editing all of Erol's posts. What he means by "where are all the UU's " is that there are only Unitarians here, not Unitarian Universalists. We had a delicious dinner in the Unitarian church fellowship hall last night. Good to find out that Unitarians are as good cooks as UU's.

Margaret Fikrig


The photo below is of our Transylvanian high school student, Boglarka, with the Rev. Claudia on the left and Boglarka's parents on the right. They joined us at their church for dinner last night.

There is also a photo of the carpet below our table in the fellowship hall. It has chalices on it! It had been a gift to the Budapest church by their partner congregation in the U.S., but they were given two and only needed one, so they've given the second one to the church here in Sepsiszentgyorgy.

Where are the UUs?

Having a great time in Transylvania. Hotels are wonderful and the minister, Istvan, in Sepsiszentgyorgy, is charming. Looking forward to the Unitarian service this morning. There are no UUs here at all.

Erol Fikrig

Where do I belong anyway?

As we were traveling along, Csilla narrated some of the history of Hungarians, Romanians, Romany and Jews in Transylvania. Here, although Transylvania is historically Hungarian, the ethnic Transylvanian Hungarians are now the minority, and the Unitarians a double minority. But what sticks in my mind most strongly is the depth of emotion when Csilla spoke of her grandparents being Hungarian and Romanian and Hungarian and Romanian again, all without ever moving, of losing homeland and ethnic identity--and this time for good and all, now and forever second-class and somehow, through no fault of their own, second-rate.

Jere

This photo is of the building next to the Unitarian church in Brasov. We drove past before I could get my camera ready, though the church is a very similar building.

Hi Honey, We're Home!

All twelve of our travelers have now arrived in Transylvania!

Our first destination was a hotel on the side of a snow capped mountain, the second highest mountain in Romania. We were greeted by a green-grassy spring when we got off our plane, but by the time we made it up the mountain we had rolled back the calendar to winter.

We ate a traditional Romanian meal for dinner, involving pork, sausage (grilled veggies for the vegetarian), and salty polenta with a soft-cooked egg on top.  After six plus hours in airports, ten plus hours in planes, and two plus hours on the road, everyone was exhausted but glad to have finally arrived.

This morning, Saturday morning, we are well-slept and well-fed and ready for a wonderful day. We're heading off for a visit at the Romanian royal family's summer residence, Peles Castle, as well as a stop at what is called here "The famous black church" before we go meet up with the Unitarian high school student we sponsor and her family.

Last night the Rev. Claudia reminded us we are visiting the homeland of our religious ancestors. We're invited to think about what it means to call this place our home, while also honoring that we are guests as well. We'll post more soon!

Winding Up in Kolozsvar

Just Four Days Remaining in the Archives

I can't believe how quickly my time volunteering in the Archives has gone.  With a big Easter break and some days in Budapest, I want to finish as much cataloguing as I can of the English and American correspondence with the Hungarian Unitarian Bishop from 1823-1921.  I'll be lucky if I get it half done!
Today I was reading American letters from first American Unitarian President Samuel Eliot and organizers of international conferences. As WWI loomed, the conferences stopped and Hungary suffered under battle with America's homeland untouched. In a letter soon after the war ended, Samuel Eliot told the Bishop of the American Unitarian's plan to match American congregations with Transylvanian churches decimated by war (now in Romania, not Hungary).  This became the Partner Church program, then called sister churches.

In the earliest days, around 1870's, wealthy American Unitarians were sending money to the Unitarian Seminary via Bishop Ferencz Joseph in Kolozsvar to help support professors. They were well intended and often the money came erratically with the vagaries of international money exchange and political realities.

A Few Pictures....

Torda Gorge a treasured natural area.

Freedom Bridge in Budapest above.

Transylvanian valley below- haven't seen the sun in 10 days, light rain.

It reminds me of Ohio gray days in college.

Inside passenger car, above.

Train coming in to Kolozsvar Station, below.





Views from the Kolozsvar-Budapest train

Gypsy "houses" above.

Grazing sheep below- many lambs this time of year.



Trial run with Scott and Sierra-Marie for Skyping next Sunday with Boglarka went well.

It was fun to see Scott and Sierra-Marie in my office setting it up on my computer.

Hope to see you next Sunday! A nine of you I will see on Friday in Sinaia.

Welcome to Transylvania!

Easter, Easter, Easter

Eggs, Eggs Eggs

Traditional dyeing method taught by religon teacher/Minister along with

a time around a table with candles talking about the last supper.

Transylvanian Unitarians believe that Jesus died in the crucifixion-

no resurrection, no coming to life, no miracles

Easter is a celebration of Jesus' life and teachings.

The Bible is interpreted using reason, science, historical criticism.

Bibi, the English teacher, applying fine wax lines on egg with stylus- very labor intensive.

Finished products, dyed red with wax rubbed off and bacon fat applied for shine.

A sneak peek from Bibi's class, just before Easter break.

 

 

 

 

Off to Torocko for Easter

 The bell tower of the Unitarian Church in Torocko from our guest house. And the amazing rock mountain.

This is old iron mining country.

 Left, Levi, our host, Lehel who drove us up and my daughter Martha who joined me for a week.

                                        
                                                      The new healthy method....
                                         Wrapping eggs with herb spring and old nylons.

                                                    Dyeing in onion skins and beets.

                                                                       Unwrapping

                                                                 Finished!

                                          Little boys with egg stash, spray bottles in pockets,
                                               ready to say sweet flower poems.

                                            Unitarian Easter Bells. with day light savings-
                             folks ignored time and came to church when bell rang an hour late!

                                The shy little sprayer, Mom helping him remember his poem!