Gornji Breg (Senta)

Gornji Breg (Serbian Cyrillic: Горњи Брег, Hungarian: Felsőhegy) is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Senta municipality, in the North Banat District, Vojvodina province, 5 km west of the Tisza river. The village has a Hungarian ethnic majority and its population numbering 1,889 people (2002 census). Number of inhabitants is constantly decreasing.

History

The first reliable data about the village dates from 1738. The church was built in 1890. During the 1960s and 1970s the village was urbanized and a nursery school was built.

It is one of the newer settlements in the region, since the space where this village was located was abandoned for a long time after the Ottoman administration had ended. The population that settled here came from Dorozsma, and Felsőmegye, now in the Republic of Hungary. The first settlers have planted the height with grapes and fruit trees, so the first Hungarian name of the settlement was Felsőszőlőhegy. After the desolation of grapes, the name of the settlement became shorter – now Felsőhegy.

Geography

It is located on the right bank of the River Tisa in Northern Bačka. It lays 4 kilometres west from the town of Senta and about 7 kilometres from the river on the Senta – Subotica railway.

Demographics

According to the last census it has 1889 inhabitants. 97,14% of the population is of Hungarian nationality, 1,27% have Serbian nationality and 1,59% of the population claim they have other nationalities. It is mostly an ethnic Hungarian village and all of the population speaks Hungarian language fluently.^{[citation needed]} Gornji Breg has 1497 adult citizens. The average age of the inhabitants is approximately 40 years. The village has 739 households with an average of 2,56 members per house.

Economy

The main occupation of the resident population is agriculture. The majority deals with vegetables and market gardening as well as glasshouse culture.

Culture and events

There is a beautiful church named after Saint Josef and there is a high mass, organized in May every year to celebrate the Saint of the church. Beside the church’s high day, there is a huge fair that spreads all along the village. It is a celebration day for all residents and their relatives and friends from Gornji Breg and the surrounding towns and villages. The fair itself is mainly interesting to children. They can buy sweets, toys, clothes and many other things. There is a primary school “Csokonai Vitéz Mihály” across the church. Near school, there is a community centre, where different programmes and ceremonies are held every year.

Every year, the village organizes a great Harvesting Festival. This festival gathers a lot of people, some of them even from abroad. There are many different sport events during the day and when the evening comes, there is a Harvester’s Ball. The other illustrious festival is the Shearer Festival. This event gathers a lot of people too and there is a great cooking contest where you can taste the delicious lamb stew.

Other village characteristics

There’s a park behind the school where you can find a playground which was built several years ago. Beside these, there is a sanitary office, three shops, two bakeries a nice mill and two agricultural co-operations. There is not much to see in the village, since there are no official sights.

See also

• List of places in Serbia
• List of cities, towns and villages in Vojvodina
• Official website of Senta

Coordinates: 45°55′N 20°01′E / 45.917°N 20.017°E / 45.917; 20.017