Located in the south-eastern part of Tara Barsei (Country of the Barsa river), the ethnographical area of Sacele includes the villages Baciu, Turches, Cernatu and Satulung (belonging to the present municipality of Sacele), Tarlungeni, Zizin and Purcareni. Stretching from the northern side of the Ciucas mountains to the Barsa plain, the territory of Sacele has various natural resources: 56% woods, 24% pastures and hayfields, 11% tillable ground. The inhabitants of the seven villages, Romanians and Csangos (population of a Hungarian origin), having lived together for centuries, became conscious of their belonging to the same community of Sacele. Nevertheless, there are differences between them, each population building in time separate identity symbols, reflected mainly in their costumes. As regards their occupations, the Romanians were great sheep breeders, being known as shepherds, because they grazed their sheep by moving the flocks to and from alpine pastures, according to the season of the year, processed the milk and turned the wool to good account, while the Csangos were mainly farmers, but also handicraftsmen. The neighborhood of the town Brasov brought the development of the carting, practiced both by Romanian shepherds and Csangos, who carried wares with their shepherd's carts not only all over Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia, but also westwards, as far as Budapest and Vienna.

 

 

Group of men and women dressed in the traditional Romanian costume of Sacele.

 

Group of girls dressed in the Csango's traditional costume. 1925.

Romanians and Csango's from Sacele.