Siculicidium

Maria Theresa appointed a new general, Joseph von Siskovics, who commanded his soldiers to attack Csík-Madéfalva[2] (present-day Siculeni), where the Székely leaders were supposed to meet in a council.

It was under the darkness of the snowy night of January 7, 1764 that the Habsburg soldiers entered the village and massacred about 400 unsuspecting people, including women and children.

In 1774, the Habsburg soldiers took control of an area of Moldavia that would eventually be named Bukovina and – after the intervention of Count András Hadik – they pardoned the Székelys there and settled them down.

The events remained vivid in the Székely collective memory: in 1905, an obelisk was erected at Madéfalva,[3] on its top carrying a Turul-bird with the wings spread.

At the bottom of the stone-pyramid there is a plate with the word SICVLICIDIVM on it (oddly enough, adding up the values of the letters as Roman numerals, the result is exactly the year of the massacre).