Romanian commemorations in borderland cities

Abstract

The Hungarian community of Romania became part of Greater Romania directly after the First World War, a century ago. Since then the historic Szeklerland has formed a Hungarian island in the geographical centre of Romania with ethnic Hungarians as a vast majority of the population. The study examines the Hungarian media representation of the two most well-known Romanian national holidays, January 24 and December 1, in the two biggest cities of County Covasna where the majority of inhabitants are ethnic Hungarians. The main research objective is to present, analyse, and interpret the attitude of the local majority towards official Romanian national celebrations. Furthermore, with the means of content analysis and structured interviews, the study systematically analyses comprehensive changes that occurred in the significance, meaning, and structure of these fests between 1919 and 2015. As a result of this research, one can conclude that official Romanian commemorative events in Szeklerland not only provide a good frame for a symbolic re-occupation of space (i.e. they not only serve the remembrance and identity building of the local Romanian community), but they build, form, and reformulate collective memory in the present.