Mesterii Cazangii Din Munteni. The Metalworkers in Munteni

We are coppersmiths gypsies from father to son. We have this new name, now, so that we don’t feel embarrassed - Roma. But there are many kinds of Roma. There are the ones who work silver, who make knives, combs or wooden objects. And now we are all treated the same. But we are what we are, and we have been such from father to son from when I was not born – from when our grandfathers and our great grandfathers were travelling with their carts through communes and villages, throughout the entire country. And the police took them, and drove them away. They were staying two weeks in a commune, then they sent them to Vaslui, there they stayed for one more month, and from Vaslui they left for Iasi, and from Iasi they came back, and so on. And now we have gone through those times, the ones that our great grandparents have been through. They were driven away. But we are excellent metal workers, the best in Romania. Because our masters are not schooled. They never worked in a factory. Our masters work with their mind, with their hammer, and measuring. Whatever metal is worked, it can be measured by hand. This (cauldron), I have built it myself. Somebody ordered it to bring it out of the country, to brew spirits. It is used for filtering, in here you put some mint, anise, or any flower, and then you obtain a liquid that changes into perfume. So these small cauldrons are used for perfume. We can make other objects as well: we make drain pipes, we make coffee kettles, those that were on great demand in the past, as only the rich ones drank coffee, such as (the ruler) Cuza Voda, and the coffee was made on the sand. But now, since the Revolution, there is no more demand, other and other objects can be found now in shops. Now you have devices that you put in a bowl for warming your coffee, so there is no demand for metal kettles.