Romani Cosmos

Gypsies have a wide variety of beliefs that definitely distinguished them among other groups. They are notorious for having some crazy superstitions that are unique to their culture. I'm going to provide a list below, you be the judge.

• Do not cry, thy tears will sear the heart of the dead (after the death of a loved one) 
• Let the dead rest in peace, do not use their names or eat their favorite food. 
• Tended to pitch their tent near a holly tree because they believed it would give them divine protection (holy tree) 
• To see a mule shaking itself, is a sign of good luck 
• A moth hovering around a candle flame, means a letter in the morning 
• To see a white horse in the morning, means good luck all day 
• If a coal or wood fire makes any kind of noise, it means a quarrel in the offing 
• To spit on ones hand after seeing a wagtail, means that money is on its way 
• If the right hand itches...money will be paid out 
• If the left hand itches....money will be received 
• A tickling nose is a sign of getting drunk 
• An itching of the right eye means sadness 
• An itching of the left eye is a sign of happiness to come 
• At the new moon, spit on a little stone, then throw it in the air, if it comes down wet...there will be much sickness...if dry, good luck to come 
• Frogs spawn thrown over the left shoulder for good luck 
• If one of the bearers at a funeral stumbles there will be another death 
• A baby keeps its luck in the grimy lines of its hands 
• A baby born at full moon will be lucky 
• A baby born at midnight before the sabbath, it will be under a curse 
• To see a shooting star is a sign of death

Read more about Gypsy beliefs at:  

http://tribes.tribe.net/b9b544af-89e5-4aa7-8dec-c917f83c3bd7/thread/135ae14f-1f26-4dfa-a897-e4c3e9a3bc4a 

It doesn't end there though. Gypsies are notably spiritual, and have a lot of ideals that they abide by. Per example, they believe marrying young is good because it gives families a long time to expand. They believe a lot of things are "impurities," which in turn makes them stay away from such things. One example is cats, they are impure because they lick themselves and gypsies see this as some sort of weird, sexual thing. They believe in eating with their hands because evidentially food tastes better from the hands rather than silverware. They cook using cauldrons and use traditional styles because tradition is of high importance to them. If they see certain things in their dreams, they are destined to have bad luck. It's just so much different from standard value and belief systems that it's a little uncanny. They have "bride prices," which means that essentially the boy's parents make an offer to the girl's parents to buy their daughter into the family (conjoin families). They believe music enriches the soul, so all gypsies are raised to sing, dance, and perform. They are ascribed to a simple way of life, not much in terms of money but lots in terms of culture. In respect to the world, they understand that the world will not understand, and accept it. They refuse to abandon to ancient traditions, and are very accepting of others that they come in contact with. Some say gypsies can't be trusted, but they not a volatile group which is shocking due to all the violence faced upon them (the Holocaust). They view the world with their superstitions and just enjoy their culture whether anyone else does or not.

World Of The Romani

A very important element in understanding how gypsies made their living is how they conducted their overall lives. Gypsies are very nomadic people, and though a majority of them live in central and eastern Europe they are constantly traveling because it is a customary tradition in the gypsy culture. Romani people typically have very large families being that in their culture it is considered a "high status" to have more children. They would travel with their families in caravans, and settle at their destination in tents. As time went on, they modernized a little bit, per instance using cars rather than carts of wagons. The main thing keep in mind though is that Romani people are not a favored group of people in most countries (as mentioned before). Anti-gypsy laws are still in effect today.

So gypsies aren't often involved with very high-paying, prestigious careers. In fact, given their lifestyle, they pretty much do whatever they can get their hands on given the area they are in. Common jobs for gypsy males are horse dealers, carpentry, repairmen, and carved and sold objects made from wood. Many gypsies have a knack for singing, playing instruments, and dancing. Sometimes you can find them performing for money, and there are also famous Romani musicians such as Geni or Vadim Kolpakov.

Women tended to be fortune tellers, but their primary responsibility was taking care of the family and the animals that they took with them. Gypsies tended to have a rep for being crooks and swindlers. This could possibly be attributed to their low-brow lifestyle, but would make sense in light of needing to provide for a very large family with hardly any money to do so.

Sources:
http://www.english-online.at/people/romani/romani-roma-gypsies.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people

Homeland of the Romani People: Physical Landscape

I wish this particular topic was more black and white, because like stated in the previous post (History), the Romani are a wide-spread group and don't just inhabit one area like most of these groups talked about in class. Being a gypsy is more of a lifestyle than anything, and being they are such a scarce breed of people it's hard to really pinpoint the exact location of them. A lot of the gypsies are poor, so you can find a lot of them begging for change on low-income street corners, as well as vendors in malls and in marketplaces. According to my research though, as far as population is concerned roughly 1,000,000 gypsies reside in the United States. As for percentage of the population with the most gypsies, Bulgaria has the most with 4.67% of its people being gypsies. The second most populated was Romania with 3.3%. I'm not going to take the time to explain the United State's physical landscape, however I will describe Bulgaria's since it's got the most percentage of gypsies in their country.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a small, mountainous region located in Europe. It borders Serbia, Romania, The Black Sea, Greece, Turkey, and the Republic of Macedonia. Its size is relatively proportional to Iceland, or Tennessee. The geographic center is located in Buzana. It's a very hilly area, with 41% of the territory consisting of hills. Roughly 31% is low-land, and the rest is a range from low to high mountains. Its climate is unusual and complex. Due to Bulgaria's location (which happens to be between two extremely differing climatic zones; continental and Mediterranean) the forthcoming weather is pleasant, but often unpredictable. Rainfall varies year to year, but temperatures are usually pretty close to that of the US. However, when the two zones conflict, the highs and lows are astounding. Bulgaria in July once had a temperature of 113 degrees Fahrenheit, and in the winter-36.9 degrees Fahrenheit. Bulgaria is home to enough gypsies to consider them their 2nd largest ethnic minority, and their 3rd largest population in Bulgaria. 

Gypsies in Bulgaria

History of the Romani (Gypsies)

Contrary to popular belief, Romani people don't actually originate from Romania. They are of Indian descent; first recordings of their existence was in India. They first migrated over to Mid-West Asia, then shortly after Europe then ways down the road to America. There are Romani people that inhabit Romania, but that's just because of the wide-spread migration that the Romanis did. They migrated so dispersed due to Muslim Raids upon their people back at India. Following their migration, various anti-Romani laws were passed in the nations in which they inhabited. Romani gave itself a bad name, people thought of gypsies as low-lives, thieves, violent, and slum-dwellers. They are one of the most hated groups of people today in Europe. I beg the question why, because they have such a seemingly pleasant culture in terms of tradition... why do people hate these people? I would have to say misconception, and lack of resources to fight back. Romani people have always been the victims-many people know of the Holocaust of the jews. What people don't usually know that around the same time there was a holocaust of Romani people, Nazis exterminated somewhere between 500,000 to 1.5 million gypsies. Places like Denmark and Spain made laws enforcing Romanis being killed if caught in their country's borders. Really just brutal stuff. Today, it's estimated that only 2 million to possibly as much as 12 million gypsies live today, the most currently in the United States. In an online article I read though it says that people are warned over in Europe about gypsies, and how people should stay clear of them. It's absurd, gypsies have never been an epicurean group, so they've never had the luxuries that a lot of people today face. They are not well-off, a HUGE majority of them are homeless, and a lot of them are hardly making ends meet. My sociology teacher would argue that because they don't come off as the most inviting people in terms of class, that they are discriminated because of it. People tend to see the handsome, pretty people as the more intelligent or pleasant people. The gypsies are apparently to SOL because they aren't as fortunate as most of the world, it's sad.

The kicker is how rich in culture the Romani people are. Sure, maybe they don't have money, but they have customs and traditions that are respectable and tasteful. For example, they are well known for their contributions to the contemporary art movement. They also had significant influence in jazz music in Europe, as well revolutionized wedding music by having popular Romani musicians perform at various ceremonies. They try to be as spiritually cleansed as possible, which means avoiding any and all impurities that the world provides. For example, a cat is considered impure because it licks itself, and the Romani find that to be a sexual thing. They have a concept called a "bride price," where basically the bride was to be bought by the husband's parents. Marriages amongst the Romanis was typically in the teens, and I know not all this is necessarily good stuff but I mean c'mon, it's interesting and I don't see anywhere in that information reasons to exterminate them. They just get a bad rep because they don't have money, but the Romani people have a rich history that shouldn't go by unknown.

Sources:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people#Contemporary_art_and_culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Romani_history
http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/a/Gypsies-Timeline.htm
http://www.oocities.org/~patrin/timeline.htm