Gypsies are perhaps one of the most incomprehensible and mythologized peoples on our planet, and this has been the case for many centuries. There are rumors around the world that when gypsies come to a city, they seduce men and women and then steal everything in sight, including children. There are also many myths about cunning and mysterious gypsy fortune tellers and gypsy camps. In any case, even if we put all myths and misconceptions aside, the Roma remain one of the most interesting ethnic groups in history.
1. Where did they come from?
The origins of the Gypsies are shrouded in mystery. At times it seemed that they appeared on the planet in some mysterious way. This in itself may have created a sense of fear among Europeans and contributed to the atmosphere of mystery surrounding the Gypsies. Modern scholars suggest that the Gypsies originally migrated en masse from India in the fifth century.
This theory suggests that their flight was linked to the spread of Islam, which the Roma were desperate to avoid in order to protect their religious freedom. This theory states that the Gypsies migrated from India to Anatolia and further to Europe, where they split into three separate branches: the Domari, the Lomavren, and the Gypsies themselves. Another theory suggests that there were as many as three separate migrations over several centuries.
2. Nomadic lifestyle of gypsies
Many stereotypes have long been formed around the gypsies. Who doesn’t know the phrase “gypsy soul” (which is used in relation to freedom-loving people). According to these stereotypes, gypsies prefer to live outside the “mainstream” and eschew social norms in order to be able to lead a nomadic lifestyle full of fun and dancing. The truth is much darker.
For many centuries, Roma were often forcibly expelled from the countries in which they lived. Such forced evictions continue to this day. Many historians have suggested that the true reason for the nomadic lifestyle of the Gypsies is very simple: survival.
3. Gypsies have no homeland
Gypsies are people without a specific citizenship. Most countries refuse to grant them citizenship, even if they were born in that country. Centuries of persecution and their closed community have led to the fact that the Roma simply have no homeland. In 2000, the Roma were officially declared an extra-territorial nation. This lack of citizenship makes the Roma legally "invisible".
Although they are not subject to the laws of any country, they cannot access education, healthcare and other social services. Moreover, Roma cannot even obtain passports, making their travel very difficult or impossible.
4. Gypsy persecution.
It's worth starting with the fact that the Gypsies were actually enslaved people in Europe, especially in the 14th - 19th centuries. They were exchanged and sold as goods, and they were considered "subhumans." In the 1700s, Empress Maria Theresa of the Austro-Hungarian Empire passed a law that outlawed Gypsies. This was done to force the Roma to integrate into society.
Similar laws were passed in Spain, and many European countries banned Roma from entering their territory. The Nazi regime also persecuted and exterminated Roma by the tens of thousands. Even today the gypsies are persecuted.
5. Nobody knows how many gypsies there are in the world
Nobody knows how many gypsies live around the world today. Due to the discrimination that Roma often face, many of them do not publicly register or identify themselves as Roma. In addition, given their “legal invisibility”, the birth of children without documents and frequent moves, many Roma are listed as missing.
Also problematic is that Roma are not provided with social services, which would help paint a clearer picture of their numbers. However, The New York Times estimates the number of Roma people worldwide at 11 million, but this figure is often disputed.
6. Gypsies are an offensive word
For many people, the term "gypsy" means nomad and is not considered a racial slur. But for the “Roma” themselves (or “Romals” - the self-name of the Gypsies) this word has ominous overtones. For example, according to the Oxford Dictionary, the English word "gypped" (derived from "gypsie" - gypsy) means a criminal act.
Roma, often called gypsies, were considered losers and thieves, a word that was burned into their skin during the Nazi regime. Like many other racial slurs, the word "gypsy" has been used for centuries to oppress the Roma people.
7. Future, inexpensive...
There are many myths surrounding gypsies. One of these myths is that gypsies have their own magic, which has been passed down for centuries from generation to generation. The myth is associated with tarot cards, crystal balls and fortune tellers' tents, as well as other stereotypes. The literature is replete with references to the gypsy language and the magical arts of this people.
In addition, there are many films that show gypsy curses. Even in art, there are many paintings that describe Roma as mystical and magical people. However, many scientists believe that all this magic is fiction, resulting from the fact that people simply did not know anything at all about the gypsies.
8. Lack of formal religion
European folklore often claims that the Roma made a temple out of cream cheese. Presumably, they ate it during a period of severe famine, so they were left without an official religion. Generally, Gypsies join the church that is most widespread in the country in which they live. However, there are many traditional Romani beliefs. Some scholars believe that there are many connections between Roma beliefs and Hinduism.
9. Modesty
Although gypsy weddings are often accompanied by mass celebrations and luxurious attire, the everyday clothing of gypsies reflects one of their main life principles - modesty. Gypsy dancing is most often associated with female belly dancing. However, many Romani women have never performed what is considered today belly dancing.
Instead, they perform traditional dances that use only their bellies for movement, not their thighs, as moving the hips is considered immodest. Additionally, the long, flowing skirts typically worn by gypsies serve to cover their legs, as exposing their legs is also considered immodest.
10. The Gypsy contribution to world culture is enormous
From the very beginning of their existence, the Gypsies were closely associated with singing, dancing and acting. They carried this tradition throughout the centuries and significantly influenced world art. Many Gypsies have assimilated into different cultures, influencing them. Many singers, actors, artists, etc. had gypsy roots.
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The content of the article
GYPSIES, or Roma, are a nomadic people, or more precisely, ethnic groups with common roots and language, whose origins can be traced to northwestern India. Today they live in many countries of the world. Gypsies are usually black-haired and dark-skinned, which is especially typical for populations living in countries close to India, although lighter skin is not typical for Gypsies at all. Despite their spread throughout the world, the Gypsies remain everywhere a distinct people, more or less adhering to their own customs, language and maintaining a social distance from the non-Gypsy peoples around whom they live.
Gypsies are known by a number of names. In the Middle Ages, when the Gypsies first appeared in Europe, they were mistakenly called Egyptians, because they were identified as Mohammedans - immigrants from Egypt. Gradually this word (Egyptians, Gyptians) was shortened, becoming "gypsy" ("gipsy" in English), "gitano" in Spanish and "giphtos" in Greek. Gypsies are also called "zigeuner" in German, "Gypsies" in Russian, "zingari" in Italian, which are variations of the Greek word athinganoi meaning "don't touch" - an offensive name for a religious group that formerly inhabited Asia Minor and shunned, like the Gypsies , contacts with strangers. But the Gypsies do not like these names, preferring the self-designation “Roma” (plural, Roma or Roma) from “Romani (person).”
Origin.
In the middle of the 18th century. European scientists managed to find evidence that the Gypsy language comes directly from the classical Indian language Sanskrit, which indicates the Indian origin of its speakers. Gray-anthropological data, in particular information on blood groups, also indicate an origin in India.
Much, however, remains unclear regarding the early history of the Roma. Although they speak one of the languages of the Indian group, it is quite possible that they are actually descended from the Dravidian aborigines of this subcontinent, who eventually began to speak the language of the Aryan invaders who occupied their territory. In recent years, scholars in India itself have begun to academically study the Roma, and there is also a renewed interest in the subject in Western academic circles. The myths and misinformation surrounding the history and origins of this people are gradually dissipating. It became obvious, for example, that the Gypsies were nomads not because they possessed any nomadic instinct, but because widespread discriminatory legislation left them no choice but to continue their constant movement.
Migration and settlement.
New historical and linguistic evidence indicates that the migration of Gypsies from northwestern India occurred in the first quarter of the 11th century. as a result of a series of Islamic invasions led by Mohammed Ghaznavid. According to one hypothesis, the ancestors of the Gypsies (sometimes called "Dhomba" in the literature) organized themselves into military units called Rajputs to fight these invasions. Over the next two centuries, the Gypsies moved further and further west, stopping in Persia, Armenia and the territory of the Byzantine Empire (the modern language of the Gypsies contains many Persian and Armenian words and, especially, many words from Byzantine Greek), and reached southeastern Europe in the mid-13th century.
The movement to the Balkans was also caused by the spread of Islam, which was the cause of the migration of gypsies from India two centuries earlier.
Not the entire mass of Gypsies crossed the Bosphorus and entered Europe; one of its branches migrated eastward to the areas of today's Eastern Turkey and Armenia and became a separate and quite distinct sub-ethnic group known as “Lom”.
Another population widespread throughout the Middle East is the Dom, which was long thought to be part of the original Roma migration (from India, but later split off from the main population somewhere in Syria). While the "house" itself and their language are clearly of Indian origin, their ancestors apparently represented a separate and much earlier wave (possibly 5th century) of migration from India.
In the Byzantine Empire, the Gypsies acquired a deep knowledge of metalworking, as indicated by the metallurgical vocabulary in the language of the Gypsies of Greek and Armenian (non-Indian) origin. When the gypsies came to the Balkans and, in particular, to the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, this knowledge and skills ensured a steady demand for their services. This new artisan population of Gypsies proved so valuable in fact that in the early 1300s laws were passed making them the property of their employers, i.e. slaves. By 1500, approximately half of the Roma had managed to leave the Balkans for northern and western Europe. The resulting division between those who remained enslaved in Wallachia and Moldavia (today's Romania) for five and a half centuries and those who left is of fundamental importance in the history of the Gypsies and is referred to in literature as the First European Gypsy Diaspora.
It did not take long for the Balkan population to realize that the Gypsies were completely different from the Muslims they so feared. But the population in countries more distant from the Balkans, i.e. in France, Holland and Germany, for example, there was no previous opportunity to meet Muslims directly. When the gypsies arrived there with their exotic speech, appearance and clothing, they were associated with Muslims and were called “pagans”, “Turks”, “Tatars” and “Saracens”. The Gypsies were easy targets because they had no country to return to and no military, political or economic power to defend themselves. Over time, one country after another began to introduce repressive measures against them. In Western Europe, punishments for being a Gypsy included lashing, mutilation, deportation, galley slavery, and even, in some places, execution; in eastern Europe, gypsies remained slaves.
Political changes in 19th-century Europe, including the abolition of slavery for Gypsies, led to a sharp increase in their migration, marking the period of the Second European Gypsy Diaspora. A third diaspora emerged in the 1990s with the fall of communist regimes throughout eastern Europe.
Gypsies who were enslaved were either house slaves or slaves in the fields. These broad categories include many smaller occupational groups. Brought to work in the houses of landowners, the gypsies eventually lost their language of Indian origin and acquired Romanian, based on Latin. Now Romanian-speaking gypsies such as "boyash", "rudari" ("miners") and "ursari" ("bear guides") are found not only in Hungary and the Balkans, but also in Western Europe and in other regions of the Western Hemisphere.
Much more of the ancient traditions were preserved by groups of gypsies descended from field slaves. Kalderasha ("copper workers"), Lovara ("horse traders"), Churara ("sieve makers") and Močvaja (from the Serbian town of Močva) all speak closely related dialects of the Romani language. These languages form a dialect group called Vlax or Vlach, characterized by a large influence of Romanian. By the end of the 19th century. Vlax-speaking gypsies undertook long journeys in search of places where they could settle. Countries in Western Europe were inhospitable due to centuries of anti-Gypsy legislation, so the main flow of migration was directed east to Russia, Ukraine and even China, or, through Greece and Turkey by sea to North and South America, South Africa and Australia. After World War I, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in central Europe caused a mass exodus of Roma from these lands to western Europe and North America.
During World War II, the Nazis targeted the Gypsies for genocide, and the Gypsies were targeted for extermination along with the Jews by Reinhard Heydrich's notorious decree of July 31, 1941, to implement the "Final Solution." By 1945, almost 80% of all Gypsies in Europe had died.
Modern settlement.
Gypsies are dispersed throughout Europe and western Asia and are found in parts of Africa, North and South America and Australia. The exact number of Roma in each country, however, cannot be determined because censuses and immigration statistics rarely single them out, and centuries of persecution have taught Roma to be wary of identifying their ethnicity on census forms. There are between 9 and 12 million Roma in the world. This estimate is given by the International Union of Roma: about one million in North America, about the same in South America, and between 6 and 8 million in Europe, where Roma are concentrated mainly in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and elsewhere in the Balkans.
In the thousand years or so since the exodus of the Gypsies from India, their way of life has become remarkably varied, although each group has retained to a greater or lesser extent elements of the basic culture of the Gypsies. Those that have settled in one place for a long time tend to acquire the national characteristics of the people who adopted them. In both Americas, a significant number of gypsies appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, although the gypsies have a legend that on Columbus's third voyage in 1498, there were gypsy sailors among the crew, and the first representatives of this people appeared there in pre-colonial times. It is documented that the first gypsies appeared in Latin America (on the Caribbean islands) in 1539, when persecution against this people began in Western Europe. They were gypsies from Spain and Portugal.
New waves of immigrants began arriving in the Americas after 1990.
Life of gypsies.
Despite their common linguistic, cultural and genetic heritage, Roma groups have become so diverse as a result of time and space that it would be inappropriate to attempt to paint a generalized portrait of them. The rest of the article focuses on the Vlax-speaking Gypsies, who are the largest and most geographically widespread population.
Social organization.
Taken as a whole, the life of the Gypsies is called “romanipen” or “romania” and is built on the basis of a complex system of family relationships. A group of related families forms a clan ("vista" clan), headed by a leader called a "baro" (he is not a king; the so-called kings and queens of the Gypsies are an invention of journalists). He is the recognized leader of his group and can control its movements and represent it in contacts with outsiders. On important matters he can consult with the elders of whist. Violations of the rules of morality and conduct may be dealt with by a special assembly of men called the kris. This court has jurisdiction over a wide range of violations, including material and matrimonial matters. Punishments may include fines or exclusion from the community, with the culprit being called merimeh or ritually unclean. Since contact with non-Gypsies is avoided as a matter of course, and since the Gypsy community itself must exclude anyone who is a Merime, the individual in this situation ends up in conditions of complete isolation. This idea of ritual pollution, inherited from India and extended to the individual in his relationship to food, animals and other human beings, was the most general factor that contributed to the fact that the Gypsy populations remained separate from others and internally united.
Marriages with gojes (non-gypsies) are frowned upon; even the choice of marriage with other gypsies is limited. In the case of mixed marriages, children will be considered Gypsies only if their father is one. The family plays an active role in the formalities of marriage, which to the uninitiated may seem lengthy and complex. Firstly, there are long negotiations between parents, especially about the amount of the “darro” (dowry). This is the amount to be compensated for the earning potential of a "bori" or daughter-in-law who is transferred from her family and is included in the family of her new relatives by marriage. The wedding itself (“abiav”) is held in a hall rented for the occasion with the presence of many friends and relatives. The celebrations accompanying the wedding usually last three days. Once created, the marital union usually remains permanent, but if divorce is necessary, the consent of the “kris” may be required. As a rule, civil and ecclesiastical marriages are becoming increasingly common, even if they represent only the final phase of a traditional ritual.
The official religion did not have much influence on the way of life of the gypsies, although they were unable to escape the attempts of missionaries to convert them to their faith. They accepted, in most cases superficially, such religions as Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism of the countries in which they lived for some time. The exception is the surprising and very rapid adoption by some groups of the charismatic “new” Christianity of recent years.
The most famous religious holidays of Romani Catholics are the annual pilgrimages to Quebec to the Basilica of St. Anne (Sainte Anne de Beaupre) and to the town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the Mediterranean coast of France, where gypsies gather every time from everywhere 24 –May 25, to honor their patron saint Sarah (according to legend, an Egyptian).
Livelihood and recreation.
Gypsies prefer activities that provide them with minimal contact with the “gadje” and independence. Services catering to occasional needs and an ever-changing clientele fit well with the Gypsy lifestyle, which may require an individual to travel urgently to attend a wedding or funeral, or attend a 'kris' in another part of the country. The Gypsies are versatile, and the means by which they earn their living are numerous. But there are some main professions of gypsies - such as horse trading, metal working, fortune telling and, in some countries, picking vegetables or fruits. For joint economic ventures, Roma may also form a purely functional association “kumpania”, whose members do not necessarily belong to the same clan or even to the same dialect group. In self-employment, many Roma work as peddlers, especially in Europe. Some resell goods purchased at a lower price, others sell on the streets, noisily offering goods they themselves produced, although in the 20th century. a number of Roma crafts suffered from competition with mass-produced products. Women play their full role in earning their livelihood. They are the ones who carry baskets with produced goods from door to door and do fortune telling.
Although many of the names of the various groups of Gypsies are based on the occupations in which they were engaged during the period of slavery, they can no longer serve as a reliable guide to the activities of specific families. In Mexico, for example, coppersmiths are now much more likely to be operators of mobile film installations than metal workers. For many coppersmiths in the United States, the main source of income is the fortune telling salon ("office"), which may be located in the front of the fortune teller's house or in the front of the store.
Gypsies are also known to be great entertainers, especially as musicians and dancers (several famous actors, including Charles Chaplin, talk about their ancestors being Gypsies). In Hungary and Romania in particular, gypsy orchestras with their virtuoso violinists and dulcimer players have created their own style, although much of what audiences hear is, in fact, European music with a gypsy interpretation. There is another, very special type of music - the original music of the Gypsies, which is a highly rhythmic sequence of tones in which few or no instruments are used and the dominant sound is often the sound of clapping hands. Research has shown that much of the Central European classical musical tradition and the works of composers such as Liszt, Bartok, Dvorak, Verdi and Brahms are marked by significant Romani influence. The same has been demonstrated by research regarding the Jewish music klezmer, which is characterized by unusual scales and lively rhythms.
In Andalusia, in southern Spain, according to one study conducted by the University of Wisconsin, gypsies, along with Moroccans, created the tradition of flamenco as a covert way of expressing anger towards the repressive Spanish regime. From Andalusia, the style spread through the Iberian Peninsula and then into Spanish-speaking America until flamenco-style song, dance, and guitar playing became an accepted form of popular entertainment. Since the late 1970s, the music of the six-guitar Gipsy Kings has propelled modern flamenco-based music into the pop charts, while the jazz guitar technique of the late Django Reinhardt ) (he was a gypsy) experienced a revival thanks to his great-nephew Bireli Lagrene.
Like all peoples with a developed oral tradition, gypsy storytelling reaches the level of art. Over the course of many generations, they expanded their folklore, selecting and adding to it folk tales from the countries in which they settled. In exchange, they enriched the folklore of these nations with oral histories acquired during past migrations.
Due to strict restrictions on communication with outsiders, the gypsies spent a lot of their free time in each other's company. Many of them believe that the negative consequences of being among the Gadje can only be compensated by the time they spend among their own at community ritual events, such as christenings, weddings, etc.
Food, clothing and shelter.
The eating habits of Western European gypsy groups reflect the influence of their nomadic lifestyle. Soups and stews, which can be cooked in one pot or cauldron, as well as fish and game meat occupy a significant place in their cuisine. The diet of sedentary Eastern European gypsies is characterized by the use of a large amount of spices, especially hot peppers. Among all groups of gypsies, food preparation is strictly determined by the observance of various taboos of relative cleanliness. The same cultural considerations govern issues of clothing. In Gypsy culture, the lower part of the body is considered unclean and shameful, and women's legs, for example, are covered with long skirts. Similarly, a married woman should tie a scarf around her head. Traditionally, acquired valuables are turned into jewelry or gold coins, and the latter are sometimes worn on clothing as buttons. Since the head is considered the most important part of the body, many men draw attention to it by wearing wide hats and large mustaches, while women love large earrings.
Mobile homes are of great importance for those families whose livelihoods require them to be constantly on the move. There are still large numbers of Gypsy families, especially in the Balkans, who travel in light open carts drawn by horses or donkeys and sleep in traditionally constructed tents made of canvas or woolen blankets. The relatively recent appearance of the gypsy cart, decorated with intricate carvings, complements rather than replaces the tent. Together with the less picturesque horse-drawn carriage, this residential carriage is quickly falling into disuse in favor of the motorized trailer. Some of the gypsies with trucks or cars with trailers adhere closely to the old habits of the cart people, while others have fully embraced such modern conveniences as bottled cooking gas and electricity.
Modern gypsy population.
Various groups of Roma in Europe were almost completely destroyed by the fires of the Holocaust, and it was not until more than four decades later that their national movement began to gain strength. For the Roma, the concept of “nationalism” does not mean the creation of a real nation-state, but it implies the acquisition of recognition by humanity of the fact that the Roma are a separate, non-territorial nation of people with their own history, language and culture.
The fact that Roma live throughout Europe but do not have a country of their own has led to enormous problems following the fall of Eastern European communist regimes and the resurgence of ethnic nationalism there. Like those gypsies who first came to Europe seven and a half centuries ago, European gypsies of the 20th century. are increasingly perceived as very different from traditional European peoples and a nuisance. To combat these prejudices, the Roma organized themselves into several political, social and cultural groups with the goal of developing ideals of self-determination. The International Roma Union has been a permanent member of the UN Council for Economic and Social Development since 1979; By the end of the 1980s, it had gained representation in the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNESCO, and in 1990 the formation of the European Roma Parliament began. By the beginning of the 1990s, a large number of Roma professionals had already appeared, such as journalists and political activists, educators, and politicians. Ties were forged with the ancestral homeland of India - since the mid-1970s, the Indian Institute of Romani Studies has existed in Chandigarh. Roma organizations focused their work on combating racism and stereotyping in the media, and seeking reparations for the war crimes that led to the deaths of Roma in the Holocaust. In addition, the issues of standardizing the Roma language for international use and compiling a twenty-volume encyclopedia in this language were resolved. Gradually, the literary image of “nomadic gypsies” is replaced by the image of a people ready and able to take their place in today’s heterogeneous society.
The main source of information on all aspects of Gypsy history, language and lifestyle is the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, published from 1888 to the present.
Gypsies are an entire ethnic group that has a common origin and language. Today, Roma live all over the planet, except Antarctica. No one knows the true number of Roma in the world, because they do not participate in the population census, and they also do not keep independent records. And some countries do not know whether there are Roma on their territory at all, because many of them still lead a nomadic lifestyle.
Where are they from?
A very interesting question is where the gypsies came from. More than one study has been conducted on this topic, and today a single point of view has been formed - Roma people come from India.
In fact, this group of peoples formed at the end of the 1st millennium AD. At that time, the dominance of Muslim culture began in India. Then the gypsies found their way to Western Asia and stayed there while Byzantium reigned.
Spread around the world
Where did the gypsies come from? Even if they are the ancestors of the Hindus, how did they spread throughout the world? It is believed that in the period from the 13th to the 15th centuries, Roma actively settled throughout Europe. Until the 15th century they were perceived quite kindly. But then they began to perceive them as vagrants and were evicted outside the states, that is, the people were outside the law. By the 18th century, some countries had become more tolerant of Roma. And from that time on, a division into settled and nomadic gypsies appeared.
How did the Roma get to Russia?
It is believed that the Gypsies entered Russian territory in two ways:
- through the Balkans, and this was around the 15th-16th centuries;
- through Germany and Poland in the 16th-17th centuries.
Until the October Revolution, the Roma were engaged in theft and exchange of horses, and women told fortunes. The nomads also told fortunes and begged, but some were engaged in blacksmithing.
The same gypsies who settled in Moscow and St. Petersburg were members of choral ensembles.
After the revolution, they tried to teach the gypsies to settle down and work. And in 1931, the Romani gypsy theater “Romen” was even opened in the capital. During World War II, many settled Roma went to war.
In 1956, there was a second attempt to make the entire Gypsy people settled; they were given the right to work and education. But not many wanted to live like everyone else, not even all families took the opportunity to educate their children for free.
Modern settlement
In the last century, numerous attempts were made in many countries to improve the legal status of Roma, committees and institutions were created. Festivals were held, even in the country where the gypsies originated. For example, “International Gypsy Festival” in Chandigahra, 1976.
However, these activities began to be carried out only after the Second World War. During the military conflict, many Roma groups throughout Europe were almost completely destroyed by the fires of the Holocaust. And only in the 70s of the last century did the Roma national movement begin. And it doesn’t matter that the people do not have their own state, the Roma are supporters of the fact that they are an extra-territorial nation, but with a rich culture and traditions.
Since the 90s, quite professional representatives of this ethnic group have appeared: journalists, politicians, educators. Language standardization rules are being formed that make it possible to communicate with them even at the international level.
Gypsy language
According to the generally accepted international classification, Gypsies are speakers of one of the variants of the medieval Indo-Aryan dialect - Shaurasena Apabkhransha.
In different countries, Roma formed their language in close contact with the language of the country where they lived. Therefore, different groups' speech may differ radically from the language used on another continent. And some gypsies have completely lost their language and completely switched to the one they use in the country where they live. That is, regardless of where the Gypsies came from, namely from India, each ethnic group demonstrates a different degree of preservation of their native language. Today the simplest classification is represented by four groups:
- Balkan group. This is the dialect used by gypsies living in Europe, in particular, in the historical part of the settlement: Kosovo, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and a number of other countries.
- Central group. The language used in Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Moravia and the Carpathians.
- Vlash group. This dialect is the most widespread and studied, since there are the most speakers of this particular gypsy language in the world. The language was originally formed in Romania.
- Northern group. Conventionally, the group is still divided into two subgroups. The first is the dialect of the gypsies of Finland and some Western European countries. The second is the language used by Roma in the northern part of Russia, the Baltic states and Poland.
Borrowing words
An interesting fact is that not only Roma people borrowed words from other languages. In the modern Russian language there are many examples where gypsy words have become firmly established in our speech. For example, the word “lave” in the gypsy language means money, and “haval” means to eat, “steal” - to steal. The word “dude” means “your guy,” and “labat” translates as playing a musical instrument.
Social organization
Where did the gypsies come from? From the Hindus, but their genetic and cultural heritage was so influenced by the culture of the countries where they settled that it is quite difficult to draw a generalized portrait. Although some characteristic differences of this large ethnic group can still be identified.
A group of family ties forms a clan, which is headed by a single leader - a “baro”, that is, a king, as interpreted by modern media. This person can represent his family even at the international level, and can consult with elders.
The family plays a dominant role in all relationships. There is a disapproving attitude towards marriages with non-Gypsies. Even if the young people are from different families, such marriages are also not treated very well. Usually the couple is united for life, but in extreme cases divorce is allowed.
If we analyze the history of the Roma people, they always had a kind of internal court “kris”, consisting of a male assembly. This court exists to this day. The competence of the assembly includes resolving matrimonial matters, material and moral. The court has the right to impose a fine and even expel from the community.
To this day, Gypsies are very kind to their own children. If an heir - a son - is not born in the family, then the family decides to adopt a boy. It doesn’t matter whether he has blond hair or freckles. It is believed that it was against the backdrop of this tradition that the legend that gypsies steal children was born.
Religion
Over the course of many centuries, there were many attempts to introduce their own religion to the gypsies in the places where they lived. But in fact, most of the gypsies became adherents of Christianity or Islam; their own, almost pagan religion did not have much influence on the way of life of these people, as did others religious cults.
Surprisingly, many Gypsies quickly adopted Christianity; many Roma living in Europe adhere to Catholicism and celebrate all holidays.
Livelihood, life
As in the old days, Roma prefer freedom and even if they agree to work, it is only with a minimum contract period. In some countries they are hired for seasonal work collecting vegetables and fruits, in other places they trade, still tell fortunes and steal. Some Roma are engaged in entertaining the public; one of the most striking examples is Charlie Chaplin. In Romania and Hungary there are gypsy choirs to this day.
Traditionally, the Roma have maintained a love for stews and soups. That is, the kitchen consists of dishes that can be made in a cauldron or in a pot over a fire. In Europe, Roma, even settled ones, prefer very spicy and hot dishes.
Children are rarely sent to school, and even if they are sent, then at most they finish 3rd grade, that is, if they know how to write and read, then there is no need for more, it is better to help their parents.
And still, as it was before, where the gypsies are home, women wear two skirts and an apron. After all, the lower part of a gypsy woman is “unclean”.
Finally
Despite the biased attitude towards the Gypsies, many representatives of this ethnic group have fully adapted to the modern world, lead a traditional way of life for European and other countries, study at institutes, master professions and live in ordinary houses, women do not wear two skirts and resolve disagreements in an ordinary way court
1. "Gypsies" is a collective term, the same as "Slavs", "Caucasians", "Scandinavians" or "Latin Americans". Several dozen nationalities belong to the gypsies.
2. The Roma have a national anthem, a flag and an artistic culture, including literature.
3. Gypsies are conventionally divided into Eastern and Western.
4. The Gypsies as a nation were formed in Persia (eastern branch) and the Roman Empire (aka Romea, aka Byzantium; western branch). In general, when talking about gypsies, they usually mean Western gypsies (Roma and Kale groups).
5. Since the Roma gypsies are Caucasians and arose as a nation in a European country, they are Europeans, and not a “mysterious eastern people,” as journalists like to write. Of course, like the Russians and Spaniards, they still have some heritage of Eastern mentality.
6. “Eastern” gypsies began to be called gypsies only in the 19th and 20th centuries, when Europeans visiting Asia drew attention to their external resemblance to gypsies, as well as some common crafts and traditions. “Eastern” Gypsies have a culture that is sharply different from the “common Gypsies” (that is, the culture of the noticeably more numerous and culturally developed “Western” Gypsies), although both have a common cultural heritage of Indian ancestors. “Eastern” and “Western” gypsies practically do not communicate.
7. The Romani languages are overwhelmingly descendants of Sanskrit. Ethnically, the Gypsies are descendants of the Aryans, with a Dravidian admixture (the Dravidians are the indigenous population of India, conquered by the Aryans, one of the oldest literate cultures, at the time of the conquest they were more developed than the culture of the nomadic Aryans).
8. Contrary to the statements of some people who are far from ethnography and history, there was never any “expulsion of the Gypsies” from India and the Roman Empire.
In India there were no gypsies at all, there were Hindus. According to recent genetic and linguistic studies, the ancestors of the Gypsies, a group of Hindus of the "house" caste of approximately 1,000 people, left India sometime in the 6th century. It is assumed that this group of musicians and jewelers was presented by the Indian ruler to the Persian, as was the custom of that time. Already in Persia, the size of the group grew greatly, and a social division appeared within it (mainly by profession); In the 9th–10th centuries, part of the Roma began to gradually move westward and finally reached Byzantium and Palestine (two different branches). Some remained in Persia and from there spread to the east. Some of these gypsies eventually reached the homeland of their distant ancestors - India.
9. The gypsies left Byzantium during the period of its conquest by Muslims, in the hope of receiving help from fellow Christians (the people and times were naive). The exodus from the Roman Empire lasted for decades. Some of the gypsies, however, remained in their homeland for various reasons. Their descendants eventually converted to Islam.
10. There is a hypothesis that the gypsies received the nickname “Egyptians” back in Byzantium, for their dark complexion and for the fact that the most noticeable part of the gypsies, like the visiting Egyptians, were engaged in circus art. Another nickname was associated with circus art and fortune telling, from which the word “gypsies” came: “atsingane”. Initially, this was the name given to certain sectarians seeking secret knowledge. But over time, apparently, the word has become a household word, ironic for anyone involved in esotericism, magic tricks, fortune telling and divination. The gypsies even then called themselves “Roma” and gave themselves the nickname “kale”, that is, dark-skinned, dark-skinned
11. It is believed that it was the gypsies who widely spread belly dancing in Muslim countries. However, there is no evidence or refutation of this.
12. Traditional areas of activity for Gypsies include the arts, trade, horse breeding and crafts (from the prosaic of brick making and basket weaving to the romantic art of jewelry and embroidery).
13. Soon after coming to Europe, the Gypsies became one of the victims of great socio-economic crises and were subjected to severe persecution. This has led to severe marginalization and criminalization of Roma. What saved the Gypsies from complete extermination was the generally neutral or friendly attitude of the majority of the common people, who did not want to implement bloody laws against the Gypsies.
14. They say that the famous Papus learned fortune telling from the gypsies.
15. The Inquisition was never interested in the gypsies.
16. Medicine knows no cases of leprosy among the Roma. The most common blood types among Roma are III and I. The percentage of III and IV blood is very high compared to other European peoples.
17. In the Middle Ages, Gypsies, like Jews, were accused of cannibalism.
18. In the 18th and 19th centuries, with increasing tolerance towards them in European society, the crime rate of the Roma decreased sharply and greatly. In the 19th century, a very rapid process of integration of Roma into society began in Europe.
19. Gypsies came to Russia more than 300 years ago. Like other now established peoples (for example, Kalmyks), they received imperial permission to live in Russia and engage in traditional crafts (trade, horse breeding, fortune telling, singing and dancing). After some time, these gypsies began to call themselves Russian Roma, which is still the largest gypsy nationality in Russia. By 1917, the Russian Roma were the most integrated and educated Gypsies in Russia.
20. At different times, Kalderars (Kotlyars), Lovaris, Servas, Ursaris, Vlachs and other gypsies also immigrated to Russia.
21. Almost all names of Roma nationalities are either the names of key professions or reflect the name of the country they consider their homeland. This says a lot about Roma priorities.
22. The famous gypsy national costume was invented in the 19th century. The Kalderars were the first to wear it. The Russian Roma national costume was invented by artists to create a more exotic stage image. Historically, Gypsies have always tended to wear clothing typical of their country of residence.
23. Gypsies are famous pacifists. However, at various times they served with the armies and in the armies of Germany, Prussia, Sweden and Russia.
In 1812, Russian Roma voluntarily donated large sums of money for the maintenance of the Russian army. Young Roma boys fought as part of the Russian troops.
At the same time, what’s funny is that quite a few French gypsies fought in Napoleon’s army. There is even a description of a meeting between two gypsies from different sides during the battle between the Spaniards and the French.
During the Second World War, Gypsies participated in hostilities as part of both regular armies (USSR, France; privates, tank crews, military engineers, pilots, orderlies, artillerymen, etc.) and partisan groups, mixed and purely Gypsy (USSR , France, Eastern Europe). The guerrilla actions of the Roma against the Nazis are sometimes called “Aryans against Aryans.”
24. As a result of the systematic targeted extermination of the Gypsies by the Nazis, about 150,000 Gypsies (for comparison, in the USSR lived from 60,000, according to the census, to 120,000, according to assumptions) died in Europe. "Gypsy Holocaust" is called Kali Thrash (there are also variants Samudaripen and Paraimos).
25. Among the outstanding Roma there are scientists, writers, poets, composers, musicians, singers, dancers, actors, directors, boxers (including champions), football players, historians, politicians, priests, missionaries, artists and sculptors.
Some are better known, for example, Marishka Veres, Ion Voicu, Janos Bihari, Cem Mace, Mateo Maximov, Yul Brynner, Tony Gatlif, Bob Hoskins, Nikolay Slichenko, Django Reinhardt, Bireli Lagren, others less, but can also boast of significant contributions to gypsy culture.
26. If you see the phrase “nomadic people” without quotation marks in an article about Russian gypsies, you don’t have to read it. The author will not write anything truly reliable if he does not even know the fact that only 1% of Russian Gypsies are nomadic.
27. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, despite the fact that in the media Roma frauds are in first place when mentioned in criminal articles, in statistics they are in last place. Ethnographers believe that the situation with gypsy fraud and drug trafficking is similar in Russia.
28. During Stalin's time, the Roma were subjected to targeted repression.
29. The term “gypsy baron” has been used by gypsies only for the last couple of decades, and not by everyone. This is borrowed from the media and romantic literature. The term is used specifically to communicate with non-gypsies.
30. There are several notable gypsy theaters in the world: in Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany, as well as smaller theaters and studios in these and other countries.
31. One of the most interesting gypsy concepts is the concept of “filth”. It is associated with the lower part of the body of a married or just an adult woman. All she has to do is walk over something and the place becomes “desecrated.” Clothing worn by a woman below the waist and shoes are automatically considered “defiled.” Therefore, the women's national costume of many gypsies around the world includes a large apron. And for the same reason, in order not to be desecrated, gypsies prefer to live in small, one-story houses.
32. Short hair among gypsies is a symbol of dishonor. The hair of the exiled and isolated was cut. Until now, gypsies avoid very short haircuts.
33. Gypsies understand many simple phrases spoken in Hindi. That's why gypsies love some Indian films so much.
34. Roma have “undesirable” professions, which are usually hidden so as not to “fall out” of Roma society. These are, for example, factory work, street cleaning and journalism.
35. Like every nation, gypsies have their own national dishes. Since ancient times, gypsies lived in or near the forest, so they ate animals caught in hunts - hares, wild boars and others. A special national dish of the gypsies is hedgehog, fried or stewed.
36. Carriers of gypsy genes are called Romano rats. Romanians are recognized as having the right, if they wish, to become gypsies. Romano Rath is the guitarist of the Rolling Stones group Ronnie Wood, Sergei Kuryokhin, Yuri Lyubimov, Charlie Chaplin and Anna Netrebko.
37. The word “lave” in Russian slang is borrowed from the Gypsy language, where it has the form “lowe” (Gypsies do not “akayut”) and the meaning “money”.
38. An earring in one ear of a gypsy means that he is the only son in the family.
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For centuries, the origins of the Gypsies have been shrouded in mystery. Appearing here and there, camps of these dark-skinned nomads with unusual morals aroused the burning curiosity of the settled population. Trying to unravel this phenomenon and penetrate the mystery of the origin of the gypsies, many authors built the most incredible hypotheses.
Europeans first heard about gypsies more than five hundred years ago. The mysterious tribe, as if in search of the promised land, wandered from country to country, crossed seas and oceans, penetrating both Australia and America.
And everywhere the gypsies cast spells, sang, told fortunes and danced until they dropped, cast spells on snakes, led trained bears on chains, treated and trained horses, worked as blacksmiths and tinkers. Alienated by settled life and traditional crafts, indifferent to peasant labor, but not striving to become one of the city dwellers, they were strange and suspicious. Aliens - that’s what they would be called today, but in past centuries they were considered almost aliens. If, moreover, we recognize that the gypsies were definitely never angels in the flesh, and need often forced them to resort to dishonest means of extraction (and when they decided to steal, they did it with the recklessness inherent in everything), then it is easy to understand , why the gypsies were feared, disliked, sometimes it reached the point of hatred. In Europe, gypsies first appeared in the 14th century (according to some other sources, in the 15th century), and already from the 16th century, repressive measures were used against them.
The key to the mystery of the origin of the Gypsies was found at the end of the 18th century by German linguists E. Grüdiger and G. Grellman. They noticed that the most important root words of the Romani language belong to the northwestern Sanskrit dialects. Scholars have also tried to find the reason for the exodus of the Gypsies from India in Persian texts. Hamza from Isfahan, writing in the mid-10th century, talks about the arrival of twelve thousand musicians - zotts (one of the names of gypsies) - in Persia. Half a century later, the great poet and chronicler Ferdowsi, the author of “Shah-name,” mentions the same fact: in 420, the Indian king presented the Persian Shah with ten thousand “luris” - musicians. G. Grelman believed that the gypsies come from the Suder caste, which at the beginning of the 14th century was inhumanly persecuted by the Brahmins. In the ancient history of Kashmir, references were found to camps of “domis” - musicians, blacksmiths, thieves, dancers. They belonged to one of the lower castes, whose name translates as “dog eaters.”
This is what G. Grelman said about the semi-legendary origin of the gypsies and the reasons for their appearance in Europe:
“When the strong and powerful Timurleng, or Tamerlane, under the pretext of exterminating idols, conquered the north-western part of India in 1399 and glorified his victories with extreme cruelty, a wild tribe of robbers, called gypsies and living in Guzurat and especially near Thatta, escaped. This tribe, which consisted of half a million people and owned countless treasures, was called in its Guzu-rat language - Rum (people), and because of its black skin color - Kola (black), and because of its residence on the banks of Sind - Sints" (Sind is now a river Ind).
In Persia, the Gypsy language was enriched with a number of words that were subsequently discovered in all European dialects. Then, according to the English linguist John Simpson, the gypsies split into two branches. Some of them continued their journey to the west and southeast, others moved in a northwestern direction. This group of gypsies visited Armenia (where they borrowed a number of words conveyed by their descendants right up to Wells, but completely unknown to representatives of the first branch), then penetrated further into the Caucasus, enriching themselves there with words from the Ossetian vocabulary.
Ultimately, the gypsies end up in Europe and the “Byzantine” world. Since that time, references to them in written sources are found more and more often, especially in the notes of Western travelers who made pilgrimages to holy places in Palestine.
In 1322, two Franciscan monks, Simon Simeonis and Hugo the Enlightened, noticed people in Crete who looked like the descendants of Ham; They adhered to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church, but lived, like the Arabs, under low black tents or in caves. In Greece they were called "atsiganos" or "atkinganos", after the name of a sect of musicians and fortune tellers.
But most often, Western travelers encountered gypsies in Modon, a fortified and largest port city on the western coast of the Seas, the main transit point on the way from Venice to Jaffa. They were mainly engaged in blacksmithing and, as a rule, lived in huts. This place was called Little Egypt, perhaps because here, among the parched lands, there was a fertile region like the Nile Valley. This is apparently the basis for the idea, which at one time was very widespread, that the Gypsies are immigrants from Egypt. And their leaders often styled themselves dukes or counts of Little Egypt.
Greece diversified the vocabulary of the gypsies, and it also gave them the opportunity to get acquainted with the way of life of other peoples, since here, at the crossroads of civilization, they encountered pilgrims from all over the world. Pilgrims enjoyed many privileges compared to other travelers, and when the gypsies set off again, they were already posing as pilgrims.
After a long stay in Greece and life in neighboring Romania and Serbia, some of the Roma moved further to the west. Their political position in territories that had repeatedly passed from the Byzantines to the Turks, and vice versa, was difficult. And so the gypsies created a myth that, having left Egypt, they were at first pagans, but then they were converted to Christianity, then they returned to idolatry again, but under the pressure of the Christian rulers-monarchs they accepted Christianity for the second time and are now making a pilgrimage to to the whole world in atonement for numerous sins. These emerging legends about the origin of the gypsies, about the reasons for their wandering lot, include both political savvy and a spell against dangerous people, lordly anger, unexpected misfortunes, etc.
Thus, dear reader, the magic of the road is born, first of all, as a means to protect yourself and your loved ones from numerous imaginary and real troubles that are possible along the way.
And the paths of the Gypsy people diverge more and more, breaking up into separate paths. But each group of gypsies that has begun an independent journey through Europe tries to justify their intentions and give their nomadism a meaningful character. Great myth-makers and romantics, the gypsies skillfully combined practicality and the beauty of fiction in their “legends.”
The earliest Russian official document mentioning gypsies dates back to 1733 - Anna Ioannovna’s decree on new taxes for the maintenance of the army:
In addition, for the maintenance of these regiments, determine taxes from the gypsies, both in Little Russia and in the Sloboda regiments and in the Great Russian cities and districts assigned to the Sloboda regiments, and for this collection, identify a special person, since the gypsies are not included in the census . On this occasion, the report of Lieutenant General Prince Shakhovsky explained, among other things, that it was impossible to include gypsies in the census because they do not live in courtyards.
The next mention in the documents occurs a few months later and shows that the Roma came to Russia relatively shortly before the adoption of the decree on taxes and secured their right to live in Ingermanland. Before this, apparently, their status in Russia was not defined, but now they were allowed:
live and trade horses; and since they showed themselves to be natives of the area, it was ordered that they be included in the capitation census wherever they wished to live, and placed in the regiment of the Horse Guards
From the phrase “they showed themselves to be natives here,” one can understand that there was at least a second generation of gypsies living in this area.
Even earlier, about a century, gypsies (serva groups) appeared on the territory of modern Ukraine. As we can see, by the time the document was written they were already paying taxes, that is, they were living legally.
In Russia, new ethnic groups of Roma appeared as the territory expanded. Thus, when parts of Poland were annexed to the Russian Empire, Polish Roma appeared in Russia; Bessarabia - various Moldovan gypsies; Crimea - Crimean gypsies.
The decree of Catherine II of December 21, 1783 classified the Gypsies as a peasant class and ordered that taxes and taxes be collected from them in accordance with the class. However, Gypsies were also allowed, if they wished, to attribute themselves to other classes (except, of course, the noble, and with the appropriate lifestyle), and by the end of the 19th century there were already quite a few Russian Gypsies of the bourgeois and merchant classes (for the first time, Gypsies were mentioned as representatives of these classes, however , back in 1800). During the 19th century, there was a steady process of integration and settlement of Russian Gypsies, usually associated with an increase in the financial well-being of families. A layer of professional artists has emerged.
At the end of the 19th century, not only settled gypsies sent their children to schools, but also nomadic ones (staying in the village in winter). In addition to the groups mentioned above, the population of the Russian Empire included Asian Lyuli, Caucasian Karachi and Bosha, and at the beginning of the 20th century also Hungarian gypsies: Lovari, Ungari (Romungr), as well as Hungarian and Romanian Kelderars.
The revolution of 1917 hit the most educated part of the Gypsy population (since it was also the wealthiest) - representatives of the merchant class, as well as Gypsy artists, whose main source of income was performances in front of nobles and merchants. Many wealthy gypsy families abandoned their property and went into nomadism, since nomadic gypsies during the Civil War were automatically classified as poor. The Red Army did not touch the poor, and almost no one touched the nomadic gypsies. Some Roma families emigrated to European countries, China and the USA. Young gypsy boys could be found both in the Red Army and in the White Army, since the social stratification of Russian gypsies and serfs was already significant by the beginning of the 20th century.
After the Civil War, gypsies from among the former merchants who became nomads tried to limit their children’s contact with non-gypsies and did not allow them to go to school, in fear that the children would accidentally reveal their families’ non-poor origins. As a result, illiteracy became almost universal among the nomadic gypsies. In addition, the number of settled gypsies, whose core was merchants and artists before the revolution, has sharply decreased. By the end of the 20s, the problems of illiteracy and a large number of nomadic gypsies in the gypsy population were noticed by the Soviet Government. The government, together with activists from among the Roma artists remaining in the cities, tried to take a number of measures to solve these problems.
Thus, in 1927, the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine adopted a resolution on assistance to nomadic gypsies in the transition to a “working sedentary lifestyle.”
At the end of the 20s, Roma pedagogical technical schools were opened, literature and press were published in the Roma language, and Roma boarding schools operated.
During World War II, according to recent research, about 150,000-200,000 Roma in Central and Eastern Europe were exterminated by the Nazis and their allies (see Roma Genocide). Of these, 30,000 were citizens of the USSR.
On the Soviet side, during the Great Patriotic War, their co-religionists, the Crimean Gypsies (Kyrymitika Roma), were deported from Crimea, along with the Crimean Tatars.
The Roma were not only passive victims. Gypsies of the USSR participated in hostilities as infantrymen, tank crews, drivers, pilots, artillerymen, medical workers and partisans; Gypsies from France, Belgium, Slovakia, the Balkan countries were in the Resistance, as well as Gypsies from Romania and Hungary who were there during the war.