There is trouble in Căpeni!

Many people use it, but few know the origin of the phrase “There is trouble in Căpeni” (Hungarian saying – the transl.). The village in the Baraolt Basin, located 38 kilometres from Sfântu Gheorghe, was in many ways the dominant settlement in the area, being the centre of the mining district until 1967, after the start of the mining industry in 1839 and, even after the transfer to Baraolt, Căpeni remained in the name of the company. There was already trouble in these almost 130 years, as the mining industry is a dangerous business, and the village was forced to weep for its men, who were imprisoned by the mine forever.

But the trouble referred to in the saying is closely linked to the Revolution of 1848. On 9 December, the Szeklers lost a battle near the bridge of Căpeni, after which the imperial army, with the help of the inhabitants of the neighbouring commune of Augustin set fire to the village and tortured and massacred some of the locals. The murders left 106 children orphaned. According to some sources, it was the distant smoke and news that reached the area that led people to believe that there was trouble in Căpeni, while others say that a courier on horseback brought the news of the disaster to Baraolt. “There is trouble in Căpeni,” said he and collapsed.

The obelisk commemorating the destruction of the village in 1848, the work of the late Baraolt stone sculptor and poet István Prázsmári, dating from 1901, stands in front of the former village hall, now the Culture Centre.

Samu Csinta