Joseni (, Hungarian pronunciation: , meaning "Lower Village in Gyergyó") is a commune in

Harghita County Harghita County (, and , ) is a county () in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea Ciuc. Demographics 2002 census In 2002, Harghita County had a population of 326,222 and a population density of ...

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 lies in the

Székely Land The Székely Land or Szeklerland (, , Old Hungarian script, Székely runes: 𐲥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗𐳌𐳞𐳖𐳇; and sometimes ; ; ) is a historic and ethnographic area in present-day Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hung ...

, an ethno-cultural region in eastern

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 ...

, and is composed of three villages: *Borzont / Borzont *Bucin / Bucsin *Joseni / Gyergyóalfalu

History

The first written mention of the commune is from 1567 as ''Alffalw''. In 1614, it was recorded that ''Alfalu'' had 104 families. In 1724, it was already mentioned as ''Gyergyó Alfalu''. Its Romanian name was ''Alfalău'' until 1919 Transylvanian Toponym Book
and was derived from the Hungarian form. In 1567, it was the local priest Stephen who mobilized the Székelys against king John Sigismund who attempted to force Roman Catholic Székelys to convert to Protestantism. In memory of the role that the village played in the Székely resistance, pilgrims from the village lead the procession on occasion of the yearly Csíksomlyó pilgrimages. The villages belonged first to the Székely seat of Gyergyószék, which was subsequently absorbed into

Csíkszék Csíkszék () was one of the Székely seats in the historical Székely Land. It administered two sub-seats ( Hungarian: ''fiúszék'', Latin: ''sedes filialis''), namely Gyergyószék and Kászonszék. It was divided on the natural borders of ...

district, until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when they fell within

Csík County Csík (Hungarian, in Romanian: ''Ciuc'') was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in central Romania (eastern Transylvania). The capital of the county was Csíkszere ...

in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. After the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

of 1920, they became part of

and fell within Ciuc County during the interwar period. In 1940, the second Vienna Award granted the Northern Transylvania to Hungary and the villages were held by Hungary until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and the commune became officially part of Romania in 1947. Between 1952 and 1960, the commune fell within the Hungarian Autonomous Province, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureș-Hungarian Autonomous Province. In 1968, the province was abolished, and since then, the commune has been part of Harghita County

Demographics

The commune has an absolute Székely ( Hungarian) majority. According to the 2011 census it has a population of 5,475; of which 98.17% or 5,375 are ethnic Hungarians.

Landmarks

The Roman Catholic Church was built in the honour of Saint Simon the Zealot, Saint Judas Thaddaeus and

Margaret the Virgin Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr () in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in Western Christianity, on 30th of July (Julian calendar) by the Eastern Orthodox Church, and on Epip ...

. It probably dates to the 13th century as its stone gate bears the number 1213. At the right hand-side from its entrance, a flagpole base can be seen which was raised in 1942 by villagers living in Budapest. Its inscriptions reads: ''Man, think in thy heart that this land has always been and always will be Székely Land.'' In the church garden, the monument for World War I and World War II heroes and the statue of priest Stephen can be found.

Twinnings

The commune is twinned with:Subpage on twinnings on the website of the commune
*

Balatonszárszó Balatonszárszó is a village along the southern shore of Lake Balaton in Somogy county, Hungary. The settlement is part of the Balatonboglár wine region, and belongs to the region of Southern Transdanubia. The village is famous for being the ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

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Fadd FAS-associated death domain protein, also called MORT1, is encoded by the ''FADD'' gene on the 11q13.3 region of chromosome 11 in humans. FADD is an Signal transducing adaptor protein, adaptor protein that bridges members of the Tumor necrosi ...

Ada Ada may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'', a novel by Vladimir Nabokov Film and television * Ada, a character in 1991 movie '' Armour of God II: Operation Condor'' * '' Ada... A Way of Life'', a 2008 Bollywo ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Communes in Harghita County Localities in Transylvania Székely communities