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Romani people

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The Roma people (singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom) are an ethnic group mostly living in Europe. They are believed to have originated from various nomadic peoples that travelled north of the deserts of northwestern India and the many mountainous valleys of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Today, Roma do not form a majority in any state.

Roma

Roma girls in Aetolia, Greece
Regions with significant populations
Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, FYROM, Greece, Moldova, Bosnia, Albania, Ukraine
Languages
Romany, languages of native country
Religion
Christianity, Islam
Related ethnic groups
Indo-Europeans, Indo-Iranians, Iranians, Indo-Aryans, Punjabis, Sindhi people, Rajputs

Many Roma speak some form of Romany, a language closely related to the Indo-European languages of the Iranian plateau and more specifically to Sanskrit and its descendent Indo-Aryan languages found in the Indian Subcontinent [1]. However, most Roma speak the dominant language of the region they live in.

Name

In the Romany language, Rom means a man or a a person. However, two other names are often used—English Gypsies and German Zigeuner and its many derivations (e.g. Norwegian Sigøyner or Russian Цыган)—but both are now considered offensive despite common use.

Rom is derived from Sanskrit dom which means a person. In some languages, like Syrian or Armenian, dom is still used.

Gypsies or Gipsies derives from the erroneous belief amongst outsiders that the Roma originated in Egypt. This ethnonym was never used by the Roma to describe themselves. The term Gypsy has long been associated with persecution, and has acquired pejorative connotations.

In Iran they are referred to as کولی (Kowli), in India as Lambani, Lambadi, or Rabari; in Arabic: Ghajar, or Nawar; in Hebrew: צוענים (Tso-a-nim) (pl.) or צועני (Tso-a-ni) (sing.); In Welsh they are known as "Sipsiwn" which is derived from the English "Gypsy".

In recent years, there has been a movement towards use of the "double-R" spellings of "Rroma" for the people and "Rromanes" for the language, as "r" and "rr" represent two different phonemes in Romany. Some Roma say that is a mistaken spelling, never adopted by Roma, and definitively rejected by the last Romany congress that defined the universal Romany alphabet for the Romany language. Other Roma embrace the spelling as politically correct (or at least neutral).

Most Roma refer to themselves by one generic name, Rom.

There is no connection between the names of the Roma or their language, and the city of Rome (Roma in Latin, Italian, and Romanian), the Roman Empire, Romania, the Romanian people or the Romanian language.

Language

Main article: [[:Romany language]]

Analysis of the Romany language has shown that it is related to languages spoken in northern Pakistan like Pothohari and northwest India like Punjabi. This is regarded as strong evidence for locating the geographical origin of the Roma, particularly in light of the fact that loanwords in Romany make it possible to plot a plausible route of westward migration.

Bolstering the linguistic evidence for an Indian sub-continental Romany origin is that ABO blood group distribution is also consistent with that found in northern Indian warrior classes. A study recently published in Nature magazine suggests Romany is related also to Sinhalese (see footnotes).

Some Roma have developed creole languages and/or mixed languages, including:

History

The Roma are believed to have left north India about AD 1000 and to have passed through what is now Afghanistan, Iran, Armenia, and Turkey. People recognized by other Roma as Roma still live as far east as Iran, including some who made the migration to Europe and returned. By the 14th century, the Roma had reached the Balkans, and by the 16th century, Scotland and Sweden. Some Roma migrated south through Syria to North Africa, reaching Europe through the Strait of Gibraltar in the 15th century. Both currents met in today's France.

The cause of the diaspora of the Roma is unknown. It has been proposed that the Roma were originally low-caste Hindus recruited into an army of mercenaries, whereupon they were granted warrior caste status, and sent westwards to resist Islamic military expansion. Another theory is that they were captives taken as slaves by Muslim conquerors of northern India, and that they became a distinct community in their lands of captivity. It is reported that Mahmud of Ghazni took half a million prisoners during a Turk-Persian invasion of Sindh and Punjab in India. Why the Roma did not return to India, choosing instead to travel ever-farther west into the lands of Europe, is an enigma, but may relate to military service under the Muslims.

 
Roma family in Izmir, Turkey.

Wherever they arrived in Europe, initial curiosity was followed with hostility and xenophobia which have persisted ever since. Roma were enslaved for five centuries in Romania until abolition in 1864. Elsewhere in Europe, they faced a variety of hostile treatment, from exclusion or expulsion from many lands to abduction of their children and forced labor.

Roma immigration to the United States began in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana. Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 1900s, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. The two groups do not often associate with each other. A large number also moved to Latin America.

Persecution of Roma reached a peak in World War II, when the Nazis murdered large numbers of Roma. Like Jews, homosexuals, Communists and disabled people, Roma were to be exterminated, so they were sentenced to forced labour and imprisonment in a concentration camp or were killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen on the Eastern Front. It is believed that 200,000 to 800,000 Roma were killed during Porajmos.

People

File:Camaron1.jpg
A Roma person
File:Georges Cziffra.jpeg
A Roma person
File:Django&Grappelli.jpg
A Roma person (left)

Estimates suggest that there are approximately 8 to 10 million Roma worldwide [2], of whom between 7 and 10 million Roma live in Europe. The largest numbers of Roma are found in the Balkan peninsula of southeastern Europe, in central Europe, the United States, South America, Russia, and successor republics of the USSR. Smaller numbers are scattered throughout western Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Countries where Roma populations exceed half a million are Romania, Hungary, the countries of former Yugoslavia, Spain, the United States, Brazil and Argentina. Among other countries where Roma populations are large are Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Turkey and Slovakia.

The Roma recognize divisions among themselves with some sense of territoriality, emphasized by certain cultural and dialectal differences. Some authorities delineate four main confederations:

  1. the Kalderash (smiths who came from the Balkans and then went to central Europe and North America and are the most numerous),
  2. the Gitanos (also called Calé, mostly in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and southern France; associated with entertainment),
  3. the Manush (also known as Sinti, mostly in Alsace and other regions of France and Germany; often travelling showmen and circus people), and
  4. the Romnichal (Rom'nies) (mainly in Britain and North America).

Each of these main divisions was further divided into two or more subgroups distinguished by occupational specialization or territorial origin, or both. Some of these group names include Machvaya (Machwaya), Lovari, Churari, Sinti, Rudari, Boyash, Ludar, Luri, Xoraxai, Ungaritza, Bashaldé, Ursari and Romungro.

A stereotype that Roma people have psychic powers (e.g. fortune-teller) is still sometimes present, and some romantics attribute the invention of the Tarot cards to them. This may reflect the belief that the Roma, being of alleged Egyptian origin, had knowledge of lost arts and sciences of the ancient Egyptians.

Genetics

 
Gipsy Encampment - facsimile of a copper-plate by Callot.

Studies of Bulgarian, Baltic and Vlax Roma genetics suggest that about 50% of observed Y chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA belong to male haplogroup H and female haplogroup M, respectively. Both of these are widespread across South and Central Asia. In summary, males consist in the main of haplogroups H (50%), I (22%) and J2 (14%), Rlb (7%) approx; females H (35%), M (26%), U3 (10%), X (7%), other (20%). Whereas male haplogroup H and female M are rare in non-Roma European populations, the rest are found throughout Europe. However female haplogroups U2i and U7 are almost absent from female Roma, but are present in South Asia (11%-35% approx). Hence, it can be seen that about half of the gene pool of Roma is similar to surrounding European populations. But male Sinti Roma in Central Asia have H (20%), J2 (20%) and a high frequency of R2 (50%) which is found in India, with high frequencies in West Bengal and amongst the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. The M217 marker, which accounts for about 1.6% of male Roma, is also found in West Bengal (Kivisild (2003) et al). Haplogroups L which accounts for about 10% of Indians males is absent from Roma (Gresham et al however does not seem to test for haplogroup L), as it is also from West Bengal and Central Asian Sinti (Kivisild (2003) et al). A search on the Yhrd database however, shows that some Roma populations (in Europe) have considerable percentages of male haplogroup R1a1. Yhrd gives few matches with South Asian population, but a large number of matches on haplogroup H, with Asian Londoners, a sample that has a large number of Bengali and South Indian groups.

(Ref: Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies) David Gresham, Bharti Morar, Peter A. Underhill, et al, Am J Hum (2001); The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity, Wells et al.)

Luba Kalaydjieva's research has shown that the original group appeared in India some 32-40 generations ago and was small, likely under 1000 people.

Rejection

 
An 1852 Wallachian poster advertising an auction of Roma slaves.

Because of nomadic lifestyles and the difficulties with integration that nomadism can present, there has been a great deal of mutual distrust between the Roma and their more settled neighbours. They were, and frequently still are, popularly believed to be tramps, and thieves unfit for work, resulting in their 'persecution'. This belief is often cited as the etymological source of the term gyp, meaning to "cheat", as in "I got gypped by a con man." The German name Zigeuner is often thought through popular etymology to derive from Ziehende Gauner, which means 'travelling thieves'.

During the Enlightenment, Spain briefly sought to eliminate the Roma's outsider status, by attempting to forbid the use of the word gitano, and to assimilate the Roma into the mainstream population, by forcing them to abandon their language and way of life. That effort proved unsuccessful.

Persecution of Roma reached a peak in World War II, when the Nazis murdered large numbers of Roma, as mentioned above. See Porajmos

Today in Eastern Europe, they often choose to live in depressed squatter communities with very high unemployment, while only some are fully integrated in the society. However, in some cases—notably the Kalderash clan in Romania, who work as traditional coppersmiths—they have prospered. Although some Roma still embrace a nomadic lifestyle, most migration is actually forced, as most communities are not accepting Romani settlements in their neighbourhoods.

To this day, there are still tensions between the Roma and the majority population around them. Common complaints are that Roma steal and live off social welfare, and residents often reject Roma encampments. In the UK, travellers (referring to both Irish Travellers and Roma) became a 2005 general election issue, with the leader of the Conservative Party promising to review the Human Rights Act 1998. This law, which absorbs the European Convention on Human Rights into UK primary legislation, is seen by some to permit the granting of retrospective planning permission. Severe population pressures and the paucity of greenfield sites have led to travellers purchasing land, and setting up residential settlements almost overnight, thus subverting the planning restrictions imposed on other members of the community.

Eastern Europe

 
A Roma family travelling (1837 print)

Many countries that were formerly part of the Eastern bloc and former Yugoslavia, have substantial populations of Roma. The level of integration of Roma into society remains limited. In these countries, they usually remain on the margins of society, living in isolated ghetto-like settlements (see Chánov). Only a small fraction of Roma children graduate from secondary schools, although during the Communist regime, at least some of these countries forced all children to attend school, and provided them, like other citizens, with all required basics such as textbooks and the compulsory uniform. Usually they feel rejected by the state and the main population, which creates another obstacle to their integration.

According to The Guardian (January 8, 2003):

"In the Czech Republic, 75% of Roma children are educated in schools for people with learning difficulties, and 70% are unemployed (compared with a national rate of 9%). In Hungary, 44% of Roma children are in special schools, while 74% of men and 83% of women are unemployed. In Slovakia, Roma children are 28 times as likely to be sent to a special school than non-Roma; Roma unemployment stands at 80%." [3]

In some countries, dependence on social security systems is part of the problem. For some Roma families, it may be preferable to live on social security, compared to low-paid jobs. That creates many new problems: anger against Roma, conditions that produce crime, and extreme sensitivity to changes in social security. A good example of the latter is Slovakia, where reduction of social security (a family is paid allowance only for the first three children) led to civil disorder in several Roma villages.

In most countries within or applying to join the European Union, Roma people can lead normal lives and may integrate into the larger society. Nevertheless, the Roma most visible to the settled community are those that for various reasons, including traditional avoidance of "pollution" by close contact with non-Roma (cultural standards of cleanliness among the Roma state that non-Roma are 'mahrime', or spiritually unclean, and are therefore avoided as well as out of fear of 'persecution'), still live in shacks (usually built ad hoc, near railways) and beg on the streets, perpetuating the bad image of Roma overall. The local authorities may try to help such people by improving infrastructure in their settlements and subsidizing families further, but such aid is mostly viewed by the Roma as 'superficial' and 'insufficient'. Begging with pre-school children is sometimes practiced by the Roma, despite its illegality in many countries.

In June 2004, Lívia Járóka became the second, and only current, Roma Member of the European Parliament when she was elected as part of the list of the right-wing Fidesz Party in Hungary, following that country's accession to the European Union. The first Roma MEP was Juan de Dios Ramirez-Heredia of Spain.

Seven former Communist Central European and Southeastern European states launched the Decade of Roma Inclusion initiative in 2005 to improve the socio-economic conditions and status of the Roma minority.

Roma society

 
A Gipsy Family - Facsimile of a woodcut in the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster: in folio, Basle, 1552.

The traditional Roma place a high value on the extended family. Virginity is essential in unmarried women. Both men and women often marry young; there has been controversy in several countries over Roma practice of child marriage. In 2003, one of the many self-styled Roma tribal "kings", Ilie Tortică, banned his subjects from entering their children into marriage until they have come of age. This ban is seen by some as being in direct conflict with traditional Roma family practices. A rival Roma patriarch, Florin Cioabă, ran afoul of Romanian authorities in late 2003, when he married off his youngest daughter, Ana-Maria, 12 [4], well below the legally marriageable age in Europe.

Romany law establishes that the man’s family must pay the dowry to the bride's parents. Romany social behaviour is strictly regulated by purity laws (“marime”), still respected by most Roma (except Muslims) and among Sinti groups by the elder generations. This regulation affects many aspects of life, and is applied to actions, people and things: parts of the human body are considered impure: the genital organs, because they produce impure emissions, and the lower body. Fingernails and toenails must be filed with an emery board, as cutting them with a clipper is taboo. Clothes for the lower body, as well as the clothes of menstruating women are washed separately. Items used for eating are also washed in a different place. Childbirth is considered impure, and must occur outside the dwelling place; the mother is considered impure for forty days. Death is seen as impure, and affects the whole family of the dead, who remain impure for a period of time. This is also present in Bengali Hindu culture (West Bengal, India). The dead must be buried, not burned, and subsequently enter Heaven.

Religion

It has been suggested that while still in India the Roma people belonged to the Hindu religion, this theory being supported by the Romany word for "cross", trushul, which is the word which describes Shiva's trident (Trishul).

Roma have usually adopted the dominant religion of the host country while often preserving their particular belief systems and indigenous religion and worship. Most Eastern European Roma are Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim. Those in Western Europe and the United States are mostly either Catholic or Protestant. Most in Latin America kept their European religion, most of them being Orthodox. In Turkey, Egypt, and the southern Balkans, they are overwhelmingly Muslim. Roma religion has a highly developed sense of morality, taboos, and the supernatural, though it is often denigrated by organized religions.

After the Second World War, a consistent and constantly-growing number of Roma have embraced Evangelical movements, and for the first time in history, Roma have engaged themselves as religious leaders and ministers, creating their own, autonomous churches and missionary organizations. In some countries, the majority of Roma now belong to the Romany churches. This unexpected change has greatly contributed to a better image of Roma in society. The work they perform is seen as more legitimate, and they have begun to obtain legal permits for commercial activities.

Evangelical Romany churches exist today in every country where Roma are settled. Particularly strong is the movement in France and Spain (in this latter State, there are more than one thousand Romany churches, known as "Filadelfia", of which almost one hundred are in Madrid alone). In Germany, the most numerous group is that of Polish Roma, having their main church in Mannheim. Other important and numerous Romany assemblies exist in Los Angeles, Houston, Buenos Aires and Mexico. Some groups in Romania and Chile have joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In the Balkans, the Roma of Macedonia and Kosovo have been particularly active in Islamic mystical brotherhoods (Sufism). Muslim Roma immigrants to Western Europe and America have brought these traditions with them.

Music

In addition to their own Roma music, which is very relevant within the Eastern European folk such as the Zards from Hungary, Russia and Romania, the style and performance practices of Roma musicians have influenced European classical music works such as the Hungarian Rhapsodies and other works of Franz Liszt and the Hungarian dances of Johannes Brahms.

One can hear the Roma inspiration in quick-tempo or tragic weeping Gypsy violins, small mandolins, drums, wooden spoons used as castanets and harmonious cymbaloms are born Eastern European Zards as the basic root of its ancestors in bolero, tango, classic jazz and American cowboy country music that originated in the Southwest. All these rhythms are also brothers of guitar inspired flamenco and Cante Jondo from southern Spain.

The Roma people who came to the Americas had an influence on many structural rhythms like the singing feel, drumming structure to picaresque trumpeting found in salsa, rumba, mambo and guajira from Cuba and Puerto Rico.

They influenced coastal music from Peru played on Creole guitar in dances such as the passionate northern tondero, limeñan zamacueca and marinera. Mexico is famous for its Charro music like mariachi. There is also "llanero" from the borders of Venezuela and Colombia, "morochuco" (morochucan) in Andean Peru and "Piajeno" on the northern coast of Peru and in Chile, "huaso".

Groups that represent the Roma people's passage in the Americas as outsiders, famed for its rebellious nomadic spirit and bohemian musical talents include the cowboys and hippies from central southern U.S.

European-style Gypsy jazz is still widely practised among the original creators (the Roma People); one who acknowledged this artistic debt was Django Reinhardt.

Fictional representations of Roma

Notable representations of Roma in fiction include The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, La Gitanilla by Miguel de Cervantes, Carmen by Georges Bizet or Montoyas y Tarantos by Saura. The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies features major characters who maintain Gypsy traditions, including the care and repair of musical instruments, in modern Canada. Fires in the Dark by Louise Doughty is a fictionalised account of Roma experience in Central Europe during the Second World War. Canadian contemporary fantasy author Charles de Lint's novel Mulengro presents a portrayal of the Rom and their cultural myths. One of the members of this group, by the name of Borrible Jones, appears in his novel, Spirits in the Wires. Stephen (Barbara) Kyle's novel The Experiment is about an American Roma who is the daughter of a victim of Nazi experimentation. Marvel Comics' Doctor Doom is a Gypsy, and DC Comics' Nightwing (the first Robin) is also Gypsy (Kalderash) on his father's side. Bosnian director Emir Kusturica often used Roma community as basis of his films. Gypsies also cursed the vampire Angel with a soul in TV series Angel. Jenny Calendar, the technopagan computer-science teacher, in the TV series Buffy, the Vampire Slayer was a Roma. She was a member of the tribe that initally cursed Angel.

Groups with similar lifestyles

In Europe, where the settled lifestyle has long been the norm, other non-Indo-Iranian nomadic peoples (not originating in India), have also been labelled Gypsies for convenience or by accident. In Germany, Switzerland, France and Austria there also exist so-called white gypsies who are known under the names of Jenische (German spelling), Yéniche (French spelling), and Yenish or Yeniche (English spellings). Their language seems to be grammatically identical with other (Swiss) German dialects; the origin of the lexicon however, incorporates German, Romany, Yiddish and other words. See: Jenische (in German)

In Norway (and to a lesser degree, in Sweden and Denmark) there is a group of people who call themselves Tatere. Confusingly, the term some of their more vocal representatives use to describe themselves today is "rom" or "romani". The links between the Tater people and what is known elsewhere as "rom", is uncertain. The Tater people occasionally worked on roads and railways in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, but were mostly itinerant and provided services that were needed by rural populations, but not needed enough to warrant resident practitioners. Typical examples would be tin-smithing, selling knick-knacks and the neutering of horses. The origin of the "Taters" is unknown. Their name might derive from a belief that they were of the nomadic Tartar people. Distinguished Norwegian rocker Åge Aleksandersen is a Tater, as was evangelist Ludvig Karlsen. On the southern and western coast of Norway, and to some extent on the western coast of Sweden, the tater would live in boats rather than in horse-drawn wagons.

There is also a group of people in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States called Irish Gypsies or Irish Travellers. In Scotland, they are traditionally known as "tinkers", from the Irish "tinceard", meaning "tinsmith"; as this term became a pejorative amongst the settled community, the term Irish Travellers emerged as a more sensitive name. They are not Roma, but their nomadic culture has been influenced by them. Their language, Shelta, is mainly based on an Irish Gaelic lexicon and an English-based grammar, with influence from Romany.

The quinqui or mercheros of Spain are a minority group, formerly nomadic, that share a lot of the way of life of Spanish Roma. Their origin is unclear, maybe peasants who lost their land in the 16th century. In spite of sharing persecution and mores with the Roma, the quinqui have often set themselves apart from them.

References

  • Gray, RD; Atkinson, QD (2003). "Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin." Nature. 426, 435-439. [5]
  • Auzias, Claire. Les funambules de l'histoire. Baye: Éditions la Digitale, 2002.
  • Genner, Michael. Spartakus, 2 vols. Munich: Trikont, 1979-80.
  • Gresham, D; et al. (2001). "Origins and divergence of the Roma (Gypsies)." American Journal of Human Genetics. 69(6), 1314-1331. [6]
  • Lemon, Alaina (2000). Between Two Fires: Gypsy Performance and Romani Memory from Pushkin to Post-Socialism. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-2456-3
  • Luba Kalaydjieva; et al. (2001). "Patterns of inter- and intra-group genetic diversity in the Vlax Roma as revealed by Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA lineages." European Journal of Human Genetics. 9, 97-104. [7]
  • Achim, Viorel (2004). "The Roma in Romanian History." Budapest: Central European University Press. ISBN 9639241849.
  • McDowell, Bart (1970). "Gypsies, Wanderers of the World". National Geographic Society. ISBN 0870440888.
  • "Gypsies, The World's Outsiders." National Geographic, April 2001, 72-101.
  • Ringold, Dena. Roma & the Transition in Central & Eastern Europe : Trends & Challenges. Washington, DC, USA: World Bank, 2000. pg. 3,5, & 7.
  • Roberts, Samuel. The Gypsies: Their Origin, Continuance, and Destination. London: Longman, 4th edition, 1842.
  • De Soto, Hermine. Roma and Egyptians in Albania : From Social Exclusion to Social Inclusion. Washington, DC, USA: World Bank Publications, 2005.

See also

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roma people.

Museums

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