SPICY CAT'S GALLERY
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Szaján Serbian Church
My father's side of the family can trace its roots back to Szájan, a speck on the map of present-day Serbia, and once a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Formally a thriving spot for tobacco farming, the village lost most of its inhabitants to emigration in the 1900s, my own family included.
In 2021 I drove from Budapest to Szaján, some 230 kilometers, to see for myself the ancestral homeland. After driving through miles and miles of uninterrupted grasslands, we spotted a church steeple rising above the monotony of the plains. The church was over 100 years old and, as my great-grandmother had been born here in 1900, would have been the same one she attended as a young child on Sundays.
We parked and walked up to the church, expecting only to spend some time communing with its exterior, when suddenly the side door opened and a priest walked out. He beckoned us to come inside, saying "Billy bácsi will help you!" Billy bácsi, or "Uncle Billy" in Hungarian, a term of endearment, was the local sexton, and he ushered us in. The sweltering summer heat dropped away as we entered this century-old church, filled with a solitude and solemnity that only the passage of many uninterrupted years can provide. The following are the photographs from that day.
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Szaján
Szaján is ethnically Hungarian, a common finding in the border towns around Hungary. Following the Treaty of Trianon, the borders of the Austro-Hungarian empire were dramatically reduced, and many ethnic Hungarians now found themselves living in a new country. The village of Szaján was first recorded in 1225, and as of 2011, Szaján had a population of just over 1,000 residents. When we visited, we were told that the church has no permanent priest, and the man we met at the door is a visiting priest who comes in to perform the necessary religious duties.
Billy bácsi
Billy bácsi was a local man, and very proud of his church. He pointed to me and asked my boyfriend, "Your wife?" No, but her great-grandmother came from here, he answered. Oh yes, said Billy bácsi, it was a common story. Szaján was once a popular spot for tobacco farming, but them many of the citizens left for Canada and the US. Now there is hardly anyone left.
