Cergău (; ) is a commune located in

Alba County Alba County () is a county (județ) of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536. Name "Alba", meaning "white" in Latin and Romanian, is derived from the name of the ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It has a population of 1,509 as of 2021 and is composed of three villages: Cergău Mare (the commune centre; ''Magyarcserged''), Cergău Mic (''Bolgárcserged''), and Lupu (''Farkastelke''). Alba Iulia National Museum of the Union 2011 - Rider from Lupu Dacian Silver Hoard

Alba Iulia National Museum of the Union 2011 - Rider from Lupu Dacian Silver Hoard

Cergău Mic

The village of Cergău Mic was first mentioned in 1303 as ''Bolgarchergewd'' and in 1306 as ''Chergeod Bulgaricum''. The first reference is the earliest evidence to the presence of the village's Bulgarian population. The prevalent theory is that Bulgarians arrived as refugees from the

Vidin Vidin (, ) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since ...

region (in modern northwest Bulgaria) and possibly from the

Svishtov Svishtov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous S ...

region (north central Bulgaria). These groups were originally of the

Bogomil Bogomilism (; ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic, dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Peter I in the 10th century. I ...

and

Paulician Paulicianism (Classical Armenian: Պաւղիկեաններ, ; , "The followers of Paul"; Arab sources: ''Baylakānī'', ''al Bayāliqa'' )Nersessian, Vrej (1998). The Tondrakian Movement: Religious Movements in the Armenian Church from the 4th ...

sects respectively and were subject to religious persecution by the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

authorities of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1422. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

. With their settlement in

, the Bulgarians of Cergău Mic adopted

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and subsequently

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

(

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

) because they regarded these confessions as closest to their original beliefs among the denominations tolerated in Transylvania. As late as 1995, researcher Todor Balkanski reports that many of the locals were eager to identify as Bulgarians, even though they had undergone a complete

language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer, language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceived ...

from Bulgarian to Romanian. The name "

Șchei ''Șchei'' (, ''shkei'') was an old Romanian exonym referring to the Bulgarians, especially in Transylvania and northern Wallachia. As a name, it has been preserved in the names of towns colonized in the 14th century by Bulgarians, in toponyms ...

", an old Romanian ethnonym for Bulgarian people, was also in widespread use as a self-identifier, its meaning equated to "Bulgarian" by the locals. In 1995, a 75-year-old local, Linca Secel, was able to recite two prayers in a

Bulgarian dialect Bulgarian dialects are the nonstandard dialect, regional varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, ''Bolgarska gramatik ...

by heart, with no understanding of the meaning. With some differences, one of the prayers was also recorded by

Lyubomir Miletich Lyubomir Miletich (; 14 January 1863 – 1 June 1937) was a Bulgarian linguist, ethnographer, dialectologist and historian, as well as the chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences from 1926 to his death. Biography Lyubomir Miletich ...

in 1896 and by

Ion Mușlea An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

in 1927. The gradual linguistic

Romanianization Romanianization is the series of policies aimed toward ethnic assimilation implemented by the Romanian authorities during the 20th and 21st century. The most noteworthy policies were those aimed at the Hungarian minority in Romania, Jews and as ...

of the Bulgarians in Cergău Mic is attested in 1808 with the first reference to the modern Romanian name of the village, ''Cergău Mic''. In the 1930 census, the village had a population of 830, of whom 762 identified as

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

, 58 as

Gypsies {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , ...

, 8 as

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, 2 as

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, and none as Bulgarians. Confessionally, 443 people were Lutheran, 351

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

, 25

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

, 10 Orthodox, and 1

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

. The historically Bulgarian population of Cergău Mic may be related to that of other historically Bulgarian villages in Transylvania proper, such as the commune centre Cergău Mare, Rusciori and Bungard in

Sibiu County Sibiu County () is a county () of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Its county seat () is the namesake town of Sibiu (). Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Szeben megye'', and in German as ''Kreis Hermannstadt''. Under the ...

, and the

neighbourhood of

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

Toponymy

* historical

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

name: ''Cergău Șcheiesc'', "Cergău of the Șchei ulgarians; * , "Bulgarian Cserged", from 1625 to 1911 ''Kis Cserged'' or ''Kiscserged'', "Little Cserged"; *

Transylvanian Saxon dialect Transylvanian Saxon is the native German dialects, German dialect of the Transylvanian Saxons, an ethnic Germans of Romania, German minority group from Transylvania in central Romania, and is also one of the three oldest ethnic German and Geog ...

: ''Schergit''; , "Little Schergied"; * conjectured historical Bulgarian name: Чергов, ''Chergov''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cergau Communes in Alba County Localities in Transylvania Bulgarian communities in Romania Bogomilism