Between yesterday and tomorrow

Romania has the largest proportion of Gypsy people in the world.

It’s estimated that two million people  or 5-10% of the population

are Roma.  Romania joined the EU in 2007 but many Gypsy

customs remain outside of EU regulations, working on hundreds

of years of traditions and rituals.

This project shows the Caldarari gypsies, a community who has

settled down on the brink of a former Saxon village in Transylvania.

They have built enormous houses to demonstrate their wealth

to the rest of the world, but also each other. Every Caldarari has the surname Caldararu, which means tin or coppersmith.  The Caldarari work in the same handcraft tradition passed down through many hundreds of years. They make their money from forging buckets, kettles, pots and boilers for distilling alcohol.

Like many Gypsy communites, the Caldarari live in a rigorous patriarchal society, property will always be inherited by sons and childhood engagements ensure that their children remain in the Caldarari community, therefore girls usually leave their families at a young age to get married to the son of an adequate family. School education does not mean a lot to them, as the most important value and tradition is to be good in their traditional hand trade,  skills they won’t learn in school, but from their families instead.