Oltenia is the historical area of the country, which can boast of one of the most significant evolutions of popular culture, the socio-economic and religious realities of this space influencing the creation of an ethnographic homogeneity, with specific traditions, crafts and superstitions.
The town of Bechet, located in the south-east of Dolj county, near the Danube, experienced an early economic development, due to the important salt veins nearby. This mineral was in demand not only for the numerous fisheries on the Danube line, but also outside the country, Bechet being the crossing point to the Balkans. The Zaval forest, as well as other forest mosaics formed along the rivers that run through the south of Dolj county, which include generous areas covered with poplars, were also an attraction for the rudari with shacks built on the banks of the Jietului. At least that's what we understand from the stories of Stângaciu Florea, 83 years old, a rudar settled in the town of Bechet, whom we find in the yard of his household chopping wood.

Stângaciu Florea, 83 years old, farmer from Bechet
Until the age of three, he lived with his parents in a bordei (a single-cell dwelling, built on the surface of the ground, with a modest interior that included only a bed made of boards, covered with straw or a mat, and a stove for heating and cooking), for to then move to the heart of the village, where his parents bought land and built their house. "My father bought four hectares of land and was the first here to settle among the Romanians. Later, everything I agonized over from carving wood, but also from work (I worked as a forest guard) was invested in the land, today I end up owning 13 ha of land, which I leased."

The tools used to shape wood
He learned the trade from his father, at the age of 13 he could already shape a spoon or a chair by himself. Later, when he gained dexterity, but also more strength, he began to work on larger objects, such as whites, posts or trocars for feeding animals. He works in poplar, willow, and yew and linden wood, especially for carving spoons. Wood works better when it is green. If the wood prepared for finishing the spoon is dry, it is boiled first and only then chiseled. He confesses that now he only works with spoons and chairs, the material for modeling the beds being hard to find and the product rarely sought after. Although today it is no longer possible to make a living from this job, he still works with spoons, and his wife uses the lathe, which they sell in the vicinity of their home. For a long time, he went with the manufactured products, which were transported by ox cart, to the fairs in Alexandria, Roșiorii de Vede or Craiova. Tools such as the tesla, the drill, the barda, used for shaping wood, were made by the village blacksmith, Cutitaru Gheorghe, with whom, by the way, we also spoke. The lathe for the spindles was made by the man, he also carved the rough shape of the spindle, and the woman stretched them, i.e. finished them, after which she "beautified" them with circular lines, the colors used (blue and red) being obtained from ground hormuz and mixed with the water.
Left-handed Florea has no school. He tells, smiling, how he hid in the attic of the house when the teacher came to his house. However, he is convinced that even those without a book, if they work, can do good things in life. It is the spirit in which he also raised his four boys, even if none of them followed the old kinsman's trade.
Even in the town of Ostroveni, things do not know a better perspective when we talk about the crafts of the ethnic Roma. Moreover, the poor professional qualification compared to the needs of the current economy, restricts the access of the Roma to the labor market, determining the accentuation of prejudices regarding their social maladjustment. But if we talk about the past, Roma craftsmen represented an important link in the production sphere of the rural world, blacksmithing and boilermaking, for example, having a decisive contribution to the proper functioning of some vital sectors, such as agriculture, transport and farming. Among the artisans of these crafts are Mihai Stănescu and Mihai Nelu, Roma boilermakers from Ostroveni, who still shape metal, the rural environment still favoring them to carry out such an activity, even if only occasionally. The persistence of the Caldara Roma in preserving this traditional craft can be attributed to the conservatism of this Roma nation.

Mihai Stănescu and Mihai Nelu, Caldara Roma from Ostroveni
The two citizens of Roma ethnicity, with whom I spoke, remember the large amount of work in this field, many years ago, when they worked day and night, the products being sold on the street, the cart and the tent representing the absolutely necessary means in the life of the boilermaker .
"We started working around the age of 14, at first making tin cans for school". Mihai Nelu attended school for six years, and Mihai Stănescu only four years. The nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life, then the need to contribute through work to ensure the material existence of the family, are the causes that determined the early abandonment of school and the orientation towards learning the trade of their parents, parents who, as we learn from the interlocutors, they settled in Dăbuleni coming from Bug.
They also got married at a young age, Mihai Nelu, for example, was 14 years old, and his wife was 12 years old. Of course, he was not exempt from the ancestral obligation to pay for the bride, the joy of the marriage costing him 120 million lei. The girl received a tent, a cart and a mule from her parents. From this moment he had to shape vessels alone, for the support of the family, his apprenticeship at his parents' house ending.

The Nelu family, Ostroveni commune
They made their goatskins and fashioned large tin or copper vessels for food, homemade soap or distilling brandy. Many things have changed nowadays. The children attend school up to the level of pre-university education, there are also cases where university courses are also followed, so they no longer had the call to learn traditional crafts. However, not all customary barriers were definitively removed, the Caldara Roma being part of a nation still anchored in tradition. Girls continue to marry at a young age, carrying silver coins with Charles I in their tails, the specific outfits of the Caldara Roma still stand out, and the concept of the family with many children has not been definitively removed.