Danger Hill - Bekecs Peak

The inhabitants of Șilea Nirajului suffered very much due to the Tartars’ destruction on the Danger Field, under the Bekecs peak, but they received as much as they gave to the dog-heads at the Tartar Pass – so do people say, and a part of the place names preserve its memory today. The local people were hiding from the Tartar invasion in the glades at the bottom of Bekecs Hill. But once, a traitor led the enemy to the hiding people, and, while most of the men went out for food and firewood, they attacked the defenseless women and children. Those who were not abducted were cruelly slaughtered in the forest – hence the place was named the Field of Danger or Danger Field. On hearing the news, the monks living in the monastery of the Palace hill near Bekecs were also fleeing. Like the valiant soldier Csombod of Sóvárad, they hid their treasures in the bell, so that the Tartars could not find it. Although the treasure was not found, the monastery was destroyed. However, the Szeklers from Niraj, heated by vengeance, kept their end up and went after the departing Tartars. Only few people of the hostile troops were able to flee, leaving behind the stolen treasures, the captive children and women, who finally escaped.

The legend of several centuries came alive again at the beginning of the twentieth century, during the First World War: in 1916 bloody battles took place on the Bekecs Hill and its surroundings. By getting to the peak, hikers can see today several world war memorials. After we pay tribute to the memory of warriors of the past, we should spend a few minutes to admire the unparalleled sight in front of our eyes: the hill is bordered from the northwest by the valley of the Niraj, from the southeast by the valley of the Little Târnava, and in good weather you can see even to the Făgăraș and Harghita Mountains. To the east, we can see the peak of Siklódkő and Firtos Mountain. Șilea Nirajului is the highest settlement in the region of Nirajul Mic. In 1719 some of the population was destroyed by a plague epidemic. The region of the small village in its picturesque environment is not suitable for grain cultivation, its inhabitants mainly live from growing animals and fruit.

If we climb up the Bekecs through the Danger Field, we can expect our paths to be flanked by a lot of flowers: spring saffron, dog’s-tooth-violet, starry flowers, but in early spring there are even snowdrops in the higher parts. It's as if they kept every year the memory of the people lost here.