National and historical symbols of Hungary

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Zalaháshágy

(County Zala)

The coat-of-arms is a shield party per cross, pierced flanche-wise, the base curved to a point. In the first field azure a linden tree or. In the second field gules a lion rampant or, queue fourché, holding in the dexter paw a scimitar. In the third field gules, issuing from a three-pointed coronet verdured or a dexter arm couped or holding a scimitar. In the fourth field azure three ears of wheat or.

The golden linden tree in the first field of the quartered shield refers to the village's name, whereas the second field's scimitar-holding lion was taken over from the coat-of-arms of the Sibrik family, thus commemorating the last of the noble families that once lived in the village. In the third field the couped golden right arm issuing from the three-pointed leaved coronet is a reminder of the Turkish occupation, when the villagers were protected from the enemy by the nearby swamps, which served as their fortress. The fourth field's three ears of wheat symbolise the village's agricultural past and present.

The village is situated twenty-five kilometres northwest of Zalaegerszeg, in an area between the rivers Zala and Rába, at the border of the counties Vas and Zala. Its inner area was built on the southwestern slopes of Kemeneshát, near the valley of a brook feeding a fish pond. In 1328 the village was mentioned as Hassagh, in 1898 as Zalaháshágy. At the time when the settlement was given a name, Háságy or Hárshágy denoted 'a place abundant in linden trees' (hárs is the Hungarian word for linden). To the noun hárs the suffix -gy was added, whereas the anterior constituent Zala obviously refers to the county.

The extensive fields of the village were owned by the Háshágyi, then by the Nádasdy and the Bessenyei families. After the liberation of serfs, the Sibrik manor remained the only major estate. It was parcelled out in 1945. Today on the site of the one-time domain one can only find the Sibrik Chapel, which used to serve as a burial place.

For centuries, Zalaháshágy has been considered as the religious centre of the area. It is a village inhabited by Catholics. Its famous Romanesque-style church was built in the 12th century, but the relief adorning it dates back to an earlier period of the Árpád age. Although in 1535-6 the reformer Mátyás Dévai Bíró was converting the area to Calvinism, when the Nádasdys had catholicized, the villagers followed their landlord and reconverted to the Roman Catholic faith. The traditions of folk culture, with the exception of log-pulling at carnival time, have by now lost their glamour and force to activate people.

The number of inhabitants was the highest around 1960, when 800 people lived at Zalaháshágy. Today there are 483 villagers, the majority of whom are living out of agriculture, as they have done for many centuries.

For a long time, the settlement had administratively been independent, then in 1969 a joint council with Vaspör was organised. Today Zalaháshágy is independent again, with a mayor's office of its own. In 1992 it even got separated from the notarial district of Vaspör-Ozmánbük-Zalaháshágy.

During the excavation carried out in 1975 on the site of the Roman Catholic church, a listed monument built at the beginning of the 13th century taken by the Calvinists during the Reformation and taken back by the Catholics later, the walled-up Romanesque windows came to light. East of the church, in the yards of the houses one can still trace the moats of the castle of Háshágy.