Sándor Biró from Csíkrákos builds the ovens using gypsy bricks, i.e. four-function oven complexes, based on his own ideas, but using traditional methods.
Not everyone is given the opportunity to easily and quickly renew the heritage of their ancestors: even if they are obsessed with preserving traditions and roots, sometimes they have to make a detour to the west in order to return with money in their pockets and recreate and then continue the heritage.
Sándor Biró from Csíkrákos, a master builder and furnace installer, has experienced what it's like to work abroad, he struggled abroad for years in pursuit of his dreams. It is now in use:
one of the youngest craftsmen in Székelyföld, who builds the ovens, i.e. four-functional oven complexes, based on ancient knowledge, using gypsy bricks, following his own ideas, but using traditional methods.
When he's not a master furnace fitter, he's a carpenter, builder, baker, caterer, waiter or farmer. In every single person, because "there is no profession that you are not good at", his wife characterizes when she brings it up, it would be worthwhile to have a conversation with her versatile husband. And we talk to him.
During the day he makes hay, bales, and with his wife's encouragement, he is a caterer, they do this task together, so he transports guests in the evenings with his cart; but since they have a baby, she also bakes bread, accompanies those who are interested in the mountains, organizes potlucks and big mind-muscles in her yard, in her own "oven complex.
He also keeps a horse, a calf, cattle and sheep, just enough of everything to survive on his own. But he doesn't complain, life has brought him up to work, there isn't even a way around the yard where he doesn't carry something in his hand both going and coming, because Sanyi Biró doesn't stop there"
- begins the craftsman with whom we are talking on the phone in a lively, tasteful way of speaking.
Photo: Sándor Biró's family archive
We smile on the other side of the line, because the Székely slyness can be felt in his speech, as if he pulls his mouth into a half-smile, proudly and jokingly details the events of his life. Sometimes he gets serious, but this person does not get sad, nor does he accept failure easily. Obsessed with his homeland, with everything ancient and popular, his life turned out to be such that he had to spend 14 years abroad. Because he had a dream that wouldn't let him rest, but the material things weren't given to him, so he worked hard for everything.
Today, he has five hangar buildings, each larger than 100 square meters, and he built them all himself, he even poured the tiles for the roof himself, 5,000 pieces - he tells us, and then immediately adds, so we don't get it wrong, he's not bragging, but his wife has a lot of school, on the other hand, he is a simple person, he only has professions, he does not have many degrees.
Photo: Sándor Biró's family archive
The 38-year-old craftsman who bakes, grills, smokes and heats at the same time with his single oven
He enlightens, is a connoisseur of traditional professions and, as such, a great admirer of everything folk. He is only 38 years old, but his knowledge belongs to the old, since after graduating from the masonry school he worked in Sibiu, Bucharest and Brasov, initially under extremely difficult conditions:
it happened that he slept in basements, on a small sponge, so that he could continue his work the next day. In wet, cold, water.
This justified the fact that in 2009 he went abroad to "try his luck", where he also made a great sacrifice: he faced homesickness every day.
The entire article can be read on the Maszol.ro portal!
Featured image: Sándor Biró's family archive
