If ever there were a people born in flame, it is the Roma. Throughout time they have maintained a rich culture in the midst of adversity and distrust. As nomads they remain outsiders where ever they are, in the past they embraced and preserved much folklore and music from the places they passed through. As other cultures evolved, they remained the keepers of the past, so as an oral society, they retain something that most civilizations have forgotten.
Since 1982, I have been studying Rom history (pre 17 c.). They have a fascinating culture shrouded in misconsceptions and misdirection. With the advent of the internet, it is now possible to look across oceans and experience other cultures as never before. I would like to provide a forum for this. I will try to post my favorites list (eventually), excerpts from things I have read, pictures, and anything else that I've found thoughout my research. I welcome any documented submittals from others as well.
Anyone who reads this assortment of information should be warned that some of this material may not be considered politically correct by today's standards. Throughout the ages, the Roma have remained a culture apart from others. As such, they were/are persecuted all over the world. Just as history is written by the conqueror, so are many of the references that we piece together. Since they have always been a mostly oral culture, there are no written accounts by them--only about them-by people who did not understand them. After reading through only a few books, this becomes very apparent. They are often romantasized or demonized, and they cleverly used these notions for their own survival throughout the ages. So if you are new to this, you must take into account who wrote these things, and why, if you want to be fair.
The Rom Timeline at the end of this page is a project that won me an award for research- a Thistle- in the Society of Creatuve Anachronism, a long, long time ago. It's meant to be an ongoing project, but I've fallen behind lately. What I have though, is an ever-expanding list all the Gypsy sightings throughout history reported (whether disputed or not), along with the name of the book/article where I found it. So far, there are no websites listed because I did this project before I had a computer.
In the SCA, I have portrayed a Rom persona for over twenty years. I am known as Lady Kyleena of the Rom and I set up shop as a traveling merchant at events. It has been very interesting, for even in the portrayal of a persona in the midst of a chivalry oriented society, the stigma of oppression towards these people can still surface. Ignorance is not bliss, and history is repeating itself every day. I believe that in this ever-shrinking world, we should learn more about each other, and, though this isn't much, it's a start.
*1. Persona 101
*2. Sites & Favorites
3 Books Online
4. Gypsy Social Organization
5. Gipsy Pride
6. Costuming Through Artistic Rendering
7. The Ancient Method of Cooking
8. More Pictures
9. Kipling Poem Excerpt
10. More Pictures
11. Gipsy Stories and Fables
12. And yet more pix
13. Rom Timeline
14. Timeline Sources
* 15. The World's Oldest Dance:
The Origins of Oriental Dance
(Belly Dance--includes previous article 'Dances in Spain')
I try to enter new info in the first week of each month, so please come back often.
--Mary Andrews/ Kyleena
So, you’ve joined the Society for Creative Anachronisms and you’re trying to figure out why everybody
Gets all dressed up with nowhere to go. Well, you’re in the right place.
The following is a direct quote from the SCA website:
Atmosphere
Each member creates a “persona,” a personal character from a specific timeand place, which the member becomes for events. The goal is to create someone who “might have been” rather than to pretend to be an actual historical figure. The persona is a jumping-off point for research into that time
Our areas of interest are as varied as was medieval culture: heraldry, knighthood, manuscript illumination and calligraphy, archery, armor making, costuming, jewelry making, needlework and sewing, theater, poetry, dancing, singing, cooking, brewing, equestrian arts, and more…
The SCA also attempts to create an atmosphere embodying those lost ideals that are found in medieval romance: chivalry, honor, and courtesy. Our goal is to re-create the Middle Ages as they should have been, without the strife and pestilence, but with an attempt to preserve the ideals of beauty, grace, chivalry, and fellowship.
Activities
The events we put on are participatory, rather than shows put on for spectators. Instead of putting on a performance for the public, we strive to learn and live in what we call the “current” Middle Ages. --excerpt from SCA PDF DOCUMENT what is the SCA? http://www.sca.org/docs/for-siteowners.pdf
PERSONA BENEFITS: persona play creates atmosphere, brings history to life, draws attention to our organization, and allows everyone a chance to start unfettered by mundane limitations.
PERSONAL PITFALLS: if not done right, can encourage prejudice and restrict options. Therefore it is important to understand the purpose of persona play within the SCA.
To help generate your persona, I recommend the following:
Costumes many people choose persona by what they would be comfortable wearing, or look best in and then research backwards.
Timelines quickly helps to pin down the parameters of your world. It also provides additional names and events for additional research.
Period Maps to learn period names of the country you lived in, and what the geography was like…where cities were located….
Folk Tales tell you current morals, and illustrate aspects of normal life
Past times/Games tell you about what people did in their leisure hours and allows you an opportunity to meet others and small talk of the “good ‘ol days”
Names can be found everywhere during research
WHAT do you want to do?
Though it is always fun to develop an elaborate back story, the best way to deliver it is in small portions. Just like in writing, the rule is ‘show, don’t tell.’ Work in bits and pieces; axioms, remembrances, references. Bring it to life as if it were real. OR simply exude the character and attitude of the people/nation/profession that you have chosen.
In the end, life is the adventure you make it.
INTERNET MEDIEVAL SOURCE BOOK: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbookmap.html
NAMES: http://www.s-gabriel.org/
SHORT LIST OF COMPLEAT ANACHRONIST ISSUES REPRINTED ONLINE: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ca.index.html
THE COSTUMER’S MANIFESTO: http://www.costumes.org/ethnic/1PAGES/ETHNOLNK.HTM
MONUMENTAL BRASS SOCIETY, PICTURE LIBRARY:
http://www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/pic_lib/picture_library.htm
HISTORY OF GAMES TIMELINE: http://www.celticgames.com/gamestimeline.html
ANCIENT ATLAS-MAPS AND GEOGRAPHY: http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/maps/ss/mapsindex.htm
HYPERHISTORY ONLINE: http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html
MYTHOLOGY: http://www.greatdreams.com/myth.htm
ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/arts_and_sciences.html
STEFAN'S FLORILEGIUM ARCHIVES:
Patrin:Roman culture & history http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/
Patrin Timeline http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/timeline.htm
Romani (Gypsy) Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/romany/
Early 14c Byzantine names of
SCA Gypsy research site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCA_Gypsy/
Rani Lily Douglas of the
Latcho drom http://www.latchodrom.org/paintings.htm
Originally when I joined this Egroup, I started a quest through the archives to list informational entries. I barely scratch the surface here, but I compiled this list of subjects that might be informational.
(go to site, click on ‘messages’ and enter into message nbr box. Seems that ‘home,‘messages, and links’ are available without joining the egroup. I’m not sure, but I recommend it. It is a general mail-list for use of all Gypsy clans throughout the SCA and is geared for studies pre1700’s.)
Learn Romani lessons 3199-3202 (see also: 3220, 3275, 4236, 4379, 7214-7221), 80 language English rom 3139 definition: Rom
Persona: 3571 persona 3567 persona play 3178 persona 106 persona 3174 native american
Garb: 122 garb 107 movie persona garb 3323 costume 3326 pants 3382 Russian costume site
3291 diklo 100 henna mehndi 102 henna mehndi 109 movie and mehndi 43 garb 46 garb 64 garb 83 garb sites
Bender tent: 3180 bender tent 42 bender tents
Wagons: 3229 wagon-movie 3230 wagon 3234 wagon-book-site 3242 wagon 3258 book-wagon 3246 wagons 3273 vardo 449 vardo pix 3247 colors
BOOKS: 194 tinkers book 195 tinkers book 3243 book list 3267 book 73 book 60 book religion
77 books and wagons 3152 The Gypsy Cookbook
SITES: 3824-shop site 3592 site-paint wheel 108 site links 168 dance sites 171 A&S search site 204 gypsy sites 241 gypsy dancer site 3141 site-links 3143 site-sewing 3150 UK site 3176 central am. Site 3235 amazon-uk site 3240 sites 3363 gypsy website 3315 music & history sites 3424 history site 3592 site-painted wheel tribe 3824-shop site 458 name site 453 renfaire rom web site 478 url patrin site
VIDEO: 3461 video 3487 video-curse of gypsy 110 movie
PREJUDICE: 3411 ‘Nail throwing” devils advocate 3415 prejudice 3426 prejudice 3212 prejudice
NAMES: 460 names 464 names
CULTURE: 4201 death customs 4210 occupations 3471 music
The Jew The Gypsy and El Islam
By the late Captain SIR RICHARD F. BURTON
Edited with a Preface and Brief Notes by W. H. WILKINS
Notes on this Edition
This book is an exact transcription of the collection “The Jew, the
Gypsy and El Islam” (
1898). This volume was also published by Scribner’s in 1898.
The Stone edition collates the same as the first English edition
(London: Hutchinson & Co., 1898). — Scanner / Editor “JR”
June 12, 2000
PREFACE
The Gypsy has a far less eventful history (than the segment about The Jew), though the materials for its making were collected during a period of over thirty years, and were gathered for the most part by personal research, in Asia mainly, and also in Africa, South America, and Europe.
[p. xii]
long-contemplated work on the Gypsies. Unfortunately other interests intervened, and the work was never completed. It was one of the many unfinished things
“Whether there may not be also a tinge of Arab, or perhaps of Gypsy blood in
1 January, 1891.
[p. xiii]
often remarked—the peculiarity of his eyes. ‘When it (the eye) looks at you,’ said one who knows him well, ‘it looks through you, and then, glazing over, seems to see something behind you. Richard Burton is the only man (not a Gypsy) with that peculiarity, and he shares with them the same horror of a corpse, death-bed scenes, and graveyards, though caring little for his own
life.’ When to this remarkable fact be added the scarcely less interesting detail that ‘Burton’ is one of the half-dozen distinctively Romany names, it is evident that the suspicion of Sir Richard Burton having a drop of Gypsy blood in his descent—crossed and commingled though it be with an English, Scottish, French, and Irish strain is not altogether unreasonable.”
On this subject Lady Burton also wrote:
“In the January number of the Gypsy Lore Journal a passage is quoted from ‘a short sketch of the career’ of my husband (a little black pamphlet) which half suspects a remote drop of Gypsy blood in him. There is no proof that this was ever the case; but there is no question that he showed many of their peculiarities in appearance, disposition, and speech—speaking Romany
like themselves. Nor did we ever enter a Gypsy camp without their claiming him ‘What are you doing with a black coat on?’
[p. xiv]
they would say ‘why don’t you join us and be our King?’”1
Whether the affinity was one of blood or of nature does not greatly matter; in either case it lends a special interest to
-- W. H. WILKINS
To download this book in PDF (3MB) or to read online, go to:
http://www.jrbooksonline.com/jgei.htm
PROJECT GUTENBERG
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If you don't live in the
I entered ‘Gypsy’ into their search box. This is what I got there are probably more:
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452 |
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Birrell, Augustine, 1850-1933 [Commentator] |
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English |
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20198 |
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Lavengro
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English | |
2733 |
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Borrow, George Henry, 1803-1881 |
Romano Lavo-Lil: word book of the Romany; or, English Gypsy language |
English |
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18582 |
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English | ||
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18646 |
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565
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Borrow, George Henry, 1803-1881 |
The Zincali: an account of the gypsies of Spain
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English |
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The Pariah Syndrome:
An account of Gypsy slavery and persecution
by Ian Hancock
Available to read online or to down load in ASCII format @
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/pariah-contents.htm
…and while you’re there, definitely check out:
Patrin Web Journal: Romani Culture and History.
Patrin is a learning resource and information centre about Romani culture, social issues, and current events.
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/patrin.htm
The Rom are unique among nomadic groups still adhering strictly to archaic tribal allegiances, in that their nomadism is on a worldwide scale...The true Gypsy is a member of a distinct ethnic group, sharing a basically common language and particular ways of behavior...The tribes are divided into witzas, or groups descended from a common ancestor, after whom the subtribe is named. For practical purposes, the Gypsies band together in Kumpanias, which form and disband according to changing patterns of interest or circumstances. These temporary relationships are ruled by contractual laws. The kumpania is led by a Rom Baro, or Capo, usually a man in his prime. He is chosen for his knowledge of the ways of life and the language of the countries through which the Rom travel, or intend to travel, as well as for his resourcefulness in dealing with emergencies and for his willingness to lead. His functions give him no special prerogatives, and his only remuneration is the honor he derives from his position. There also exists a more visible form of “authority,”the so-called kings, or vaivodes, who are essentially figureheads and serve as liaison with the Gaje.
Above and beyond the kumpania there is the traditional authority of the kris, or intertribal court of justice. The kris convenes at irregular intervals and as need requires. Because of the inevitable circumstances of nomadic life, the selection of the krisatora, or judges, may depend on what ever qualified men are available at a given time. Most of the sentences imposed by the kris are fines to be paid in food and drink to all those tribesmen attending the kris. The kris can also impose temporary banishment on any member found to suffer an infectious disease; his household may also be banished. Proof of medical cure ends the banishment.
The effectiveness of the pronouncements of the kris depends essentially on the acceptance of its decisions by the majority of the
--Encyclopaedia
What were their forefathers a few generations ago? the Highlanders a nest of marauding thieves, and the Borders little better. Or society at the present day - what is it but a compound of deceit and hypocrisy? People say that the Gipsies steal. True; some o f them steal chickens, vegetables, and such things; but what is that compared to the robbery of widows and orphans, the lying and cheating of traders, the swindling, the robberies the murders, the ignorance, the squalor, and the debaucheries of so many of the white race: What are all these compared to the simple vice of the Gipsies: What is the ancestry they boast of , compared, in point of antiquity, to ours: People may despise the Gipsies, but they certainly despise all others not of their own race: the veriest beggar Gipsy, without shoes to his feet, considers himself better than the queen that sits upon the throne. People say that Gipsies are blackguards. Well, if some of them are blackguards, they are at least illustrious blackguards descent, and so if fact; for thy never rob each other, and far less do they rob or ruin those of their own family.”
—Walter Simson p.11
THE HISTORY OF THE GYPSIES
DX 115 S5 1878
Costuming ThroughArtistic Renderings
Throughout history many artist have become enamoured with the Gypsies. One such person that she mentioned was Jacques Callot who as a boy of fourteen or fifteen ran away from home (his father was a french nobleman) with the Gypsies. And, what do you know....I had some of his pictures in my files already.... L. Kyleena
