How did Szekelys preserve their conqueror ancestry

[Italicus]

Hello Magyars! As many of you know, the Szekelys preserved their Magyar ancestry the best, being around 4 to 5 percent East Eurasian (and Conquerors were more Caucasian than East Eurasian.) Why is this the case? Is it because they were spared Mongol and Turkish slaughter that the rest of the Hungarian population was subjected to? Or was it simple isolation? Or could it be something else?

[Blondie]

Because székelys are probably descadants of kabars, huns and such turkic tribes and they were not originaly magyars. Székelys are the only one hungarian ethnic group who use turkic half moon as their symbol, they have own flag, own hymn, own origin myth. Of course in the last 1000 or more years they integrated among hungarians very well so we cannot separate them from other hungarians. Also székelys consider themselves as purest hungarians and this is the most nationalist hungarian ethnic group. Another reason is they lived in the separated mountain areas so they not really mixed with others like other hungarians did.

[Dunai]

By remaining based af

[Ion Basescul]

They are fairly mixed with Romanians actually. All that I've seen had Romanian regions assigned to them, which were outside of Szekelyfold.

[Kökény]

By remaining based af

[Italicus]

They are fairly mixed with Romanians actually. All that I've seen had Romanian regions assigned to them, which were outside of Szekelyfold.

Yes, it is quite evident in their autosomal dna they are mixed with Vlachs, but all Hungarians are majority local in their DNA. It's just that Szekelys preserved their ancient Magyar ancestry the best, that's all.

[Smitty]

They are fairly mixed with Romanians actually. All that I've seen had Romanian regions assigned to them, which were outside of Szekelyfold.

That is what I would have guessed. Romanians typically get a sizable amount of East Eurasian components, so it might have come from them?

[Ion Basescul]

That is what I would have guessed. Romanians typically get a sizable amount of East Eurasian components, so it might have come from them?

For some maybe, for most probably not. For example I get a sizable amount, but was born very far from any Szeklers/Csangos.

[Dunai]

For some maybe, for most probably not. For example I get a sizable amount, but was born very far from any Szeklers/Csangos.

Moldova was part of Etelköz, so I wouldn't be very surprised Magyars also left their genetic print on modern Moldovans, even if in a minimum way. Plus there are tens of thousands of Roman Catholic Moldavians, who surely have some type of Csángó ancestry, who to this day identify with religion more than with ethnicity.

[Ion Basescul]

Moldova was part of Etelköz, so I wouldn't be very surprised Magyars also left their genetic print on modern Moldovans, even if in a minimum way. Plus there are tens of thousands of Roman Catholic Moldavians, who surely have some type of Csángó ancestry, who to this day identify with religion more than with ethnicity.

But there's quite the distance between where Csangos live and where my ancestry comes from. Not to mention that for 200 years in recent history, Russia separated with a hard border this Moldova from that in Romania. So at least for the past 200 years, geneflow was stopped from Romania to Republic of Moldova, apart from the brief period in the interwar period. Geneflow occurred heavily on the eve of Soviet annexation of the then Republic of Moldova, but in the direction of Republic of Moldova to Romania, when hundred of thousands of people of all ethnicities escaped to there. What is more likely is some kind of Tataro-Mongol remains.


In any case, here's what I am talking about.

MyHeritage results, ~78k SNPs (this one is fairly tame compared to the rest)

N_Atlantic	Baltic	West_Med	West_Asian	East_Med	Red_Sea	South_Asian	East_Asian	Siberian	Amerindian	Oceanian	NE_African	Sub-Saharan	Northern	Southern	Mongol	India	Africa
23.53	30.47	15.75	11.25	12.26	1.47	0.66	1.12	2.34	0.10	1.05	0	0	54.00	40.73	3.56	0.66	0

23andme v3, ~163k SNPs

N_Atlantic	Baltic	West_Med	West_Asian	East_Med	Red_Sea	South_Asian	East_Asian	Siberian	Amerindian	Oceanian	NE_African	Sub-Saharan	Northern	Southern	Mongol	India	Africa
25.50	29.18	15.13	9.99	12.92	1.55	0.65	2.06	2.66	0	0.34	0.02	0	54.68	39.61	4.72	0.65	0

LivingDNA v2, ~59k SNPs (Mongoloid distribution between East Asian and Siberian is identical to the merged kit)

N_Atlantic	Baltic	West_Med	West_Asian	East_Med	Red_Sea	South_Asian	East_Asian	Siberian	Amerindian	Oceanian	NE_African	Sub-Saharan	Northern	Southern	Mongol	India	Africa
25.27	29.82	15.21	10.28	12.81	1.20	0.46	1.82	2.86	0	0.27	0	0	55.09	39.50	4.68	0.46	0

Merged kits, ~171k SNPs; they combine MyHeritage, 23andme v3 and LivingDNA to achieve the most SNPs

N_Atlantic	Baltic	West_Med	West_Asian	East_Med	Red_Sea	South_Asian	East_Asian	Siberian	Amerindian	Oceanian	NE_African	Sub-Saharan	Northern	Southern	Mongol	India	Africa
25.47	29.48	15.06	9.86	12.89	1.53	0.63	1.83	2.85	0	0.40	0	0	54.95	39.34	4.68	0.63	0

I'm basically honorary Szekely, Csango and Transylvanian Hungarian. A double agent among Romanians