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The pilgrimage is a more than 500-year-old tradition shared by Szeklers, Transylvanians and Hungarians.
Romania?s National Intangible Heritage Committee, which is overseen by the Minister of Culture and Heritage Protection, voted to nominate the pilgrimage last September. The basis for the proposal was documentation by the ethnographer Vilmos Tánczos prepared with support from the leadership of the DAHR.
In a short documentary film included in the nomination dossier, Bishop György Jakubinyi calls Csíksomlyó ?the national shrine to the Virgin Mother for Hungarians?.
Tánczos ascribed the importance of the pilgrimage to Hungarians? identification as the people of Mary.
?Mary protects her people, and whoever offends Hungarians offends Mary,? he added.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
