Who are the SZÉKELY and CSÁNGÓ Magyars?
(Based on “Kiszely István: A magyar nép őstörténete”
Read the original in Hungarian at http://istvandr.kiszely.hu/ostortenet/index.html)
The majority of the Székelys - some 2.5-2.7 million (by official census only 1.7 million) - are found in the Eastern and southeastern portion of the Carpathian basin, known as Transylvania, separated from the bulk of the Magyars, in the midst of strangers, living their unique, isolated way of life, never having denied their Magyar identity.
Their name, in the Latinized “sicul” form, first appeared at the end of the 11th century, and in its Magyar form (székely, zekel) has been known since 1334.
According to Hungarian chronicles and the Székely folk tradition, the Székelys are descendants of those of Attila’s Hun people who had returned into the Carpathian Basin -- to Csigle-meadows of the Meadows District, under the leadership of prince Csaba. The chronicler Anonymus talked about "A székelyek, akik előbb Attila népe volt" (“The Szekelys who were formerly the people of Attila”); and another historian Simon Kézai wrote: "3000 hun visszatért Pannóniába… és Árpád idejéig a Csiglamezőn (Mezőségben) maradtak és ott magukat nem hunoknak, hanem székelyeknek nevezték" (“3000 Huns returned to Pannonia…and until the time of Arpad they stayed on the Csiglamezo (Meadows District), calling themselves not Huns but Székelys). The Székelys offered their services to the settling Magyars, thus they are not a conquered but an allied people who joined themselves to the Magyars under treaty.
The Székelys have always recognized themselves as Magyars, their language having preserved some of the oldest characteristics of the Magyar language; and the ancient Magyar alphabet was kept alive the longest in the “Székely rovásírás” (Székely runic script).
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