Madéfalva

Siculicidium

MADÉFALVA (Siculeni, Rumania today) is a sad scene of the Székley history. According to an order by Habsburg queen Maria Theresa (1740-1780), the male Székely population was subject to recruitment to serve as border patrols, under the command of the Habsburg military authorities. The Székely people resisted to join the forced military draft and they organized a revolt against it. As a retortion, Habsburg officers Bukow and Siskovich made a blood bath near the village called Madéfalva (Siculeni, Rumania today), in 1764. The terror-attack came under the darkness of the night, when the Habsburg mercenaries sneaked in the village and massacred 200 unsuspecting Székelys. They were buried in a mass grave, called Vészhalom (Engl. Hill of death), and as a result, thousands of terrified Székelys fled across the Carpathian Mountains, over to Moldova, which was in Rumanian territory. These people later became known as the Csángó székelyek (Engl. Székelys who wandered away), and they still exist in Moldova today. History recorded the bloody event as the Massacre at Madéfalva (Lat. Siculicidium).