Benţid

  • Introduction of the village

Geographic characteristics: On the 41 village road 1,3 kilometers to turning left on the gate of the Szalon stream from Szekelyszentmihaly lies Alsobenced and 1 kilometer from it lies Felsobenced. The territory of Alsobenced at Benced has melted into the village of Szekelyszentmihaly , while Felsobenced has only 15 houses. The inner territory of the village is only 18 hectares. Benced lies at a height of 528-535 meters, Felsobenced lies at a height of 537-585 meters. The latter is the elder village, and its upper part has the name Kutifalu.

The name Benced appeared first in the documents around the year 1480, and the register from 1576 has it as a village with 8 houses. North-west to the village lies the hill Varhegy. According to the living there was a monument on it. The oral tradition says that this is the place where lived the last owner of the Firtos castle and the monks bought the castle from him with some trick. The castle has disappeared since then.

  • Demographical dates

The village has 153 inhabitants all of the Hungarians. If we look at them from the point of view of religion we can count 131 Unitarians, 15 Roman -Catholics, 3 Reformed, 2 persons have other kind of religion and 2 have no religion.

  • Touristic sights

The Unitarian church of the village was built in the years 1857-1860. This church was seen by the bishop Kriza Janos. The choir/gallery was built in the year 1879. The benches are painted blue. The roof of the bell-tower is covered with shingle. In the Middle Ages it belonged to Szekelyszentmihaly because it had no church.

The monument of those who fell in the war from 1914-1918, 24 in number, lies on the hill nearby the church.

  • Culture in the village


The church school was founded in 1878. The teachers of all times took care of the cultural activity of the village. They organized all kinds of cultural groups and had several performances every year on various occasions like New Year’s Eve, the Carnival, and on the 1st of May ( on this occasion the performances were held in the Szekkert ).

At the moment the village has only an elementary school. Beginning with the fifth grade the children go to school to Kobatfalva, a village nearby.

  • Famous people born in the village
  • Benczédi Székely István ( lived in the first half of the sixteenth century) Franciscan monk, writer
  • Benczédi Gergely (1839-19o6) teacher in an Unitarian grammar school
  • Benczédi Pál (1883-1966) historicist, literary translator, wrote bibliographies
  • Ízsák Domokos peasant writer, poet
  • Gyallay Pap Domokos narrator, editor
  • Vasas Samu (1927-) teacher, editor
  • Fellowship connections

The village has fellowship connections beginning with 1989 with a Belgian village called Yttre.

Since 1995 the village is in extraordinary good relationship with the Unitarian community from Hanska, minister of which is Dr. Sarah Oelberg. She has visited the community from the village several times together with her husband. 

  • Photogallery

Old:

New: