Stories
Csíksomlyó
Csíksomlyó Pilgrimage
Year after year, tens of thousands of pilgrims make the journey, spending days on end, to visit the Virgin Mary of Csíksomlyó, the Woman clothed in the Sun.
The main event in the celebration of the Pilgrimage to Csíksomlyó is the Saturday mass before Pentecost, which is held on the hill between Kissomlyó and Nagysomlyó. Attendance has grown by leaps and bounds since the 1990s, swelling to hundreds of thousands in recent years, with millions of people tuning in through the media. The celebrations interweave folkloric religiosity with the expression of national identity and religious traditions. You could say that it is a multi-day, multi-actor ritual drama in which pilgrims flood the roads carrying crosses, resulting in less space for vehicles, but the events are still joyful and without clashes.
The groups add their own traditions to the celebrations, including the time and place of departure and the place where they sleep. As an example, the cross-bearers of Odorheiu Secuiesc traditionally sleep in barns. The Csángós also have a custom: the Pentecostal dawn watch. The Csángós climb up the mountain to wait for the sunrise, so that they can look into it and experience the moment of meeting the Saint. The Csángós are a Hungarian ethnographic group of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in the Romanian region of Moldavia, in Bacău County.
The Statue of the Virgin Mary
One of the most important objects in the church is the statue of the Virgin Mary clothed in the Sun. Dating from the early 16th century, the statue is 227 cm high, painted and is the centre of devotion to Mary in the area. The cult statue, which stands above the altar, is considered miraculous and helpful, and the devotees try to touch it, often touching an object (such as glasses, a scarf, a hat, a prayer book).
Labarum
The statue is not moved, unlike the object called the labarum, which is carried around in the ceremonial procession. This is a shroud-shaped flag, like a beehive, fixed to a pole and iron frame. Carrying the labarum is a badge of honour, an honour bestowed on outstanding students at the local high school.
The origin of the pilgrimage is not clear. Some, more cautious, estimates put the origin of the procession at least three hundred and fifty years ago, and more daring ones as far back as six hundred. We can assume that the procession was held before the 1690s, but very few records from that period have survived.
According to one theory, the pilgrimage dates back to 1444, when Pope John IV encouraged the faithful to help the Franciscan Order build a church and authorised a pilgrimage.
According to another version, in 1567 János Zsigmond, Prince of Transylvania, tried to force the Szeklers of the Ciuc (Csík) Basin to adopt the Unitarian religion by using the army. However, the Catholic Szeklers resisted, organised themselves and marched against the prince. In the meantime, women, old men and children prayed at the church, and those who returned were greeted with branches of victory. They gave thanks in front of the statue of Mary, and this is commemorated every year on the Saturday of Pentecost.
However, we find records of this battle only in connection with the celebration of the Pilgrimage to Csíksomlyó, and is not mentioned outside of it, and several facts in the story are criticizable.
On the one hand, Unitarianism only really started to spread after 1568, after the Torda Freedom of Religion Act, and only became an established religion in 1571.
On the other hand, János Zsigmond was not an advocate of armed propaganda, but of freedom of conscience, furthermore, no data or records have survived, either of the event or of its consequences.
As far as the sources are concerned, this myth of origin first appears at the end of the 18th century, so the best we can conclude is that we are witnessing a conscious myth-making process led by Catholic ecclesiastical intellectuals.
Salvator Chapel
The Salvator Chapel is located on top of Kissomlyó Hill, above the altar. Built in the second half of the 15th century and enlarged in 1678, it is the oldest of the chapels on Kissomlyó Hill. On the south side of the chapel is the following inscription:
IN THIS PLACE A LADDER WAS SEEN TO BE SENT DOWN FROM HEAVEN, AND HERE WONDERFUL PROCESSIONS AND SINGING WERE HEARD AT NIGHT, AND THEREFORE THIS PLACE WAS CALLED THE PLACE OF THE SALVATOR. 1734 DI 30 AUG. MA.
Bibliography: Mohay Tamás: A csíksomlyói pünkösdi búcsú - Történet, eredet, hagyomány; L'Harmattan, Budapest, 2009
