Mădăraş (hun. Csíkmadaras)

Leaving the pass of Rákos behind at the Bogát, the first settlement is Mădăraş. The locals relate the origin of its name to their past defined by the falconry. The settlement has a circular structure being a “yurt-settlement”, which goes back to an ancient past.

It is highly probable that in the past the locals’ main occupation was the pottery, since the people living in the region are still mentioning the old saying that „Ez a falu Madaras, hol a pap is fazekas” (This village is Madaras, where even the priest is a potter). The good quality clay that can be found in the territory of the village, served already as material for the craft of pottery in the early Middle Age. Here were made for centuries the pots of the black ceramics of which hundreds of thousands were taken everywhere not only by the potters of the village, but by the haulers from the neighbouring villages.

In the tax records of the year 1567 Mădăraş was recorded with only 30 gates, because the rest of the residents were all miners relieved of tax payment. “That Mădăras had its own right of autonomy we can conclude also from the fact that it sent delegates to the diet of 1585.” writes Orbán Balázs. The mines of Mădăraş were part of the royal property. Besides the iron hammer mills of the village, the historical data often mention mercury mines as well. From the chronicle of Borsos Tamás we learn that most of the mercury of Mădăraş was taken to Constantinople. The monarchs directly traded it, and the Ottoman Porte proved to be a good business partner. Nowadays, near the spring of the Nagy-Madaras stream the traces of the mercury mines are hardly visible. Even the latest researches have shown mercury occurrence only in small amounts.

The unexploited treasure of Mădăraş, the thermal water has come to the surface in many places in the village and the region. The valley of Nagy-Madaras is a place worthy to be painted, the paradise of hunters and fishermen.

On the crystal-clear brook with abundant and quick stream, 32 water-driven sawmills were working in the third decade of the 20^th century. This age meant the most flourishing period of the wood exploitation in Mădăraş.

Nowadays the settlement counts as a tourist place. The forestry road along the Mădăraş brook is also a tourist route marked with blue cross, which across Fertőnyereg leads us to Izvoare (Hun. Ivó) and Subcetate (Hun. Zetelaka). In the valley of Szökő brook bedecked with small waterfalls, following the markings with blue triangles, the tourists can reach the peak of the Harghita of Mădăraş or the cottage located on the other side.

Regarding the administrative division, the settlement is independent since April 2002, before that, it belonged to the commune of Dăneşti (Csíkdánfalva). In the beginning, its church did not have a priest; therefore it was part of the Nagyboldogasszony parish, from which it was separated in 1742 and ever since it functions as an autonomous parsonage. The most important cause for the separation was the fact that Mădăraş had already had a church in the 1500’s. The people of Mădăraş worked a lot to achieve today’s form of their church. They started the construction in 1796 and ended it in 1802, but we still don’t consider this year as the ending year of the constructions, since many difficulties and problems arose. These affected the community both materially and spiritually. The consecration took place on 28 January 1828. The community celebrates its Patronal Feast on 29 June, on the Feast Day of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Most of the people living in the region do not know that in the vicinity of the village, beside the road leading to the Harghita Mountain there is a chapel. The chapel has a very old history; however, its present outline is pretty young.