Romani

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Romani language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Romani language

Romani / रोमानी
The speakers of Romani are widespread and stateless
Total speakers: 4.8 million
Language family: Indo-European/Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan

Official language of: Shuto Orizari (Republic of Macedonia), officially-recognised minority language of Sweden, officially-recognised minority language of Finland, co-official in 79 rural communes in Romania and one town (Budeşti)

rom — Romani (generic)
rmn — Balkan Romani
rml — Baltic Romani
rmc — Carpathian Romani
rmf — Kalo Finnish Romani
rmo — Sinte Romani
rmy — Vlax Romani
rmw — Welsh Romani


Romani (or Romany) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as "Gypsies". The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages.

Classification and status
Analysis of the Romani language has shown that it is closely related to those spoken in northern India, Punjabi in particular. This linguistic relationship is believed to indicate the Roma's and Sinti's geographical origin. Loanwords in Romani make it possible to trace the pattern of their migration west. They came originally from the Indian subcontinent or what is now northern India and parts of Pakistan. The Romani language is usually included in the Central Indo-Aryan languages (together with Western Hindi, Bhili, Gujarati, Khandeshi, Rajasthani etc.). Current conjecture is that the origin of the name Sinti is the same as that of the toponym for the Sindh region of southeastern Pakistan and far western India (Rajasthan and Gujarat), around the lower Indus River. It was primarily through comparative linguistic studies of the Romani language with various north Indian dialects and languages that the origins of the Roma people were traced back to India.

Romani, Punjabi, and Pothohari share some words and similar grammatical systems. A 2003 study published in Nature suggests Romani is also related to Sinhalese,[1] presently spoken in Sri Lanka.

The Romani language is considered alternatively a group of dialects or a collection of related languages that comprise all the members of a single genetic subgroup.

While the language is nowhere official, there are attempts currently aimed at the creation of a standard language out of all variants (such as those from Romania, the USA, Sweden). Also, different variants of the language are now in the process of being codified in those countries with high Roma populations (for example, Slovakia).

History
There are no sure historical documents about the early phases of the Romani language. It was cited in the epic Shah Name by the 11th century Persian poet Firdausi. He wrote about the 10,000 or 12,000 Desi musicians who were given in the 5th century AD by King Shankal of Kanauj (in Sindh) to Bahram Gur the King of Persia and it was pointed out that they should be the ancestors of the Roma.

However, new research (Masica, 1991:221) shows this to be unlikely. The Romani language proves to be a New Indo-Aryan language (NIA), not a Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA), as it would have to be to fit Firdausi's scheme. It has only two genders (masculine and feminine). Until around the year 1000, the Indo-Aryan languages (named MIA) had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). By the turn of the 2nd millennium they changed into the NIA phase, losing the neuter gender. Most of the neuter nouns became masculine while a few feminine, like the neuter अग्नि (agni) in the Prakrit became the feminine आग (āg) in Hindi and याग (yag) in Romani. The parallels in grammatical gender evolution between Romani and other NIA languages is proposed to prove that the change occurred in the Subcontinent. It is therefore believed that it was not possible that the Romas' ancestors left there prior to 1000.

It is known that the period of time around 1000 AD was one of great turmoil in the northern part of the Indian Subcontinent. The Muslim invasions wrought havoc and led to massive population movements. The scholar Ian Hancock and also W.R. Rishi wrote that the Roma ancestors left the Subcontinent as a result of these circumstances. Between the years 1001 and 1026, the Muslim Afghans and Turks known as Ghaznavids made seventeen invasions in the Punjab and Sindh areas, fighting against the local Hindus. The Rajputs played a major role in the resistance. They were a mixture of different jāti (castes) brought together by a common desire to repel the foreign invaders. There are accounts that many of them were captured and sent to Central Asia to be used as conscripts in further fighting, and that others left the war zone, heading west.

These movements of population involved many categories, because the Rajputs would go to war with their families and their associates frequently. The Romani language sustains the claimed Rajputic ancestry: most of the words related to war are of Indo-Aryan ancestry like bust (spear), patava (gaiters), xanrro (sword), tover (axe) [1]. The name for those who are not Roma, gaje derives from Prakritic gajja (civilian, domestic, non-military). Also there are cultural similarities between Roma and Rajputs and DNA research demonstrates genetic proximity.

The short-lived Ghaznavid Empire was polyglot, but Persian was official. This could explain the share of Persian loanwords in Romani, loans from no earlier than 10th century Persian. However, the greatest changes to the Romani language occurred much further West. The Seljuks (who defeated the Ghaznavids in 1038), also defeated the Byzantine Empire in 1071 and conquered eastern Anatolia.

Historical documents relate the subsequent movement of populations from Central Asia to eastern Anatolia. It seems that it was here that, according to Ian Hancock's thesis, the Romani language evolved as a koine from the many Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the ancestors of the Roma. The original status of Romani as a lingua franca is supported by the vocabulary of Indo-Aryan origin. It cannot be linked to a certain area, but it includes words from all across the northern Subcontinent. During its development, it underwent a certain degree of influence from the local Greek. This influence is secondary in weight after the Indo-Aryan ancestry of the language, both in vocabulary and in grammar (there are some suffixes of Greek origin). Other Anatolian languages contributed to the creation of Romani as well (most notably Armenian).

This is also when it seems that the Roma developed their identity as a distinct people, abandoning the jātī differences. Moreover, they had to adapt to the life of the foreign lands and find economic niches for survival. Analysis of Romani vocabulary indicates that the Romas' ancestors were not originally nomadic. Indo-Aryan words like kher (house), udar (door), gav (village), thagar (king), balo (pig), khaini (hen), giv (wheat) seem to indicate a settled society instead. Words related to nomadism come from Anatolia, where this lifestyle first became common for the Roma. For example, grast (horse) and char (grass) are from Armenian, vurdon (waggon, cart) is from Kurdish, drom (road) and petalo (horseshoe) are from Greek. Also the skills of metalworking were acquired here: the words for metals (except for those for gold, silver and iron, which are Indo-Aryan) are from Greek and Armenian, as well as for the tools used in this field.

The Mongol invasion of Europe beginning in the first half of the 13th Century triggered another westward migration. The Roma arrived in Europe and afterwards spread to the other continents. The great distances between the scattered Romani groups led to the development of local community distinctions. The differing local influences have greatly affected the modern language, splitting it into a number of different (originally exclusively regional) dialects.

Today Romani is spoken by small groups in 42 European countries [2]. A project at Manchester University in England is transcribing Romani dialects, many of which are on the brink of extinction, for the first time. [3]

Modern language
Today's dialects of Romani are differentiated by the vocabulary accumulated since their departure from Anatolia, as well as through divergent phonemic evolutions and grammatical features. Many Roma no longer speak the language or speak various new contact languages from the local language with the addition of Romani vocabulary.

A long-standing common categorisation was a division between the Vlax (from Vlach) from non-Vlax dialects. Vlax are those Roma who lived many centuries in the territory of Romania. The main distinction between the two groups is the degree to which their vocabulary is borrowed from Romanian. Vlax-speaking groups include the great number of speakers (between half and two-thirds of all Romani speakers). Bernard Gillad Smith first made this distinction, and coined the term Vlax in 1915 in the book The Report on the Gypsy tribes of North East Bulgaria. Subsequently, other groups of dialects were recognized, primarily based on geographical and vocabulary criteria, including:

Balkan Romani: in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine
Romani of Wales
Romani of Finland
Sinte: in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Switzerland
Carpathian Romani: in the Czech Republic, Poland (particularly in the south), Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine
Baltic Romani: in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (particularly in the north), Belarus, Ukraine and Russia
Turkish dialects:
Rumeli (Thrace) dialect (Thrace, Uskudar, a district on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus): most loanwords are from Greek
Anatolian dialect. Most loanwords are from Turkish, Kurdish and Persian
Posha dialect, Armenian Gypsies from eastern Anatolia mostly nomads although some have settled in the region of Van, Turkey. The Kurds call them Mytryp (settled ones).
In the past several decades, some scholars have worked out a categorisation of Romani dialects from a linguistic point of view on the basis of historical evolution and isoglosses. In a series of articles (beginning from 1982), Marcel Courthiade proposed a new classification. He concentrates on the dialectal diversity of Romani in three successive strata of expansion, using the criteria of phonological and grammatical changes. Finding the common linguistic features of the dialects, he presents the historical evolution from the first stratum (the dialects closest to the Anatolian Romani of the 13th century) to the second and third strata. He also names as "pogadialects" (after the Pogadi dialect from Great Britain) those which have only a Romani vocabulary grafted into a non-Romani language.

A table of some dialectal differences:

The first stratum includes the oldest dialects: Mechkari, Kabuji, Xanduri, Drindari, Erli, Arli, Bugurji, Mahajeri, Ursari (Rićhinari), Spoitori (Xoraxane), Karpatichi, Polska Roma, Kaale (from Finland), Sinto-manush, and the so-called Baltic dialects.

In the second there are Chergari, Gurbeti, Jambashi, Fichiri, Filipiji and a subgroup of the Vlax dialects of Romania and Bulgaria.

The third comprises the rest of the so-called Vlax dialects, including Kalderash, Lovari, Machva

Mixed languages
Some Roma have developed creole languages or mixed languages, including:

Caló or Iberian-Romani, which uses the Romani lexicon and Spanish grammar (the calé).
Romungro
Lomavren or Armenian-Romani
Angloromani or English-Romani
Scandoromani (Norwegian-Traveller Romani or Swedish-Traveller Romani)
Romano-Greek or Greek-Romani
Romano-Serbian or Serbian-Romani
Boyash, a dialect of Romanian with Hungarian and Romani loanwords
Sinti-Manouche-Sinti (Romani with German grammar

Standardization
Main article: Romani language standardization
There are independent groups currently working toward standardizing the language, including groups in Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, the USA, Sweden, etc. A standardized form of Romani is used in Serbia, and in Serbia's autonomous province of Vojvodina Romani is one of the officially recognized languages of minorities having its own radio stations and news broadcasts. In Romania, the country with the largest identifiable Roma population, there is a unified teaching system of the Romani language for all dialects spoken in the country. This is primarily a result of the work of Gheorghe Sarău, who made Romani textbooks for teaching Roma children in the Romani language. He teaches a purified, mildly prescriptive language, choosing the original Indo-Aryan words and grammatical elements from various dialects. The pronunciation is mostly like that of the dialects from the first stratum. When there are more variants in the dialects, the variant that most closely resembles the oldest forms is chosen, like byav instead of abyav, abyau, akana instead of akanak, shunav instead of ashunav or ashunau, etc.

An effort is also made to derive new words from the vocabulary already in use, i.e., xuryavno (airplane), vortorin (slide rule), palpaledikhipnasko (retrospectively), pashnavni (adjective). There is an ever-changing set of borrowings from Romanian as well, including such terms as vremea (weather, time), primariya (town hall), frishka (cream), sfïnto (saint, holy). Neologisms taken from Hindi include bijli (bulb, electricity), misal (example), chitro (drawing, design), lekhipen (writing) and from English (printisarel, prezidento).

Language standardization is presently also being employed in the revival of the Romani language among various groups (in Spain, Great Britain and elsewhere), which have ceased to speak the language. In these cases, a specific dialect is not revived, but rather a standardized form derived from many dialects is learned.

Romani loanwords in English
Romani has lent many words to English, including posh, pal, dukes (meaning fists, as in the expression "put up your dukes"), and lollipop. These mostly turn up in slang—such as gadgie (man), shiv or chiv (knife), cushty or cooshtie (good) — and in regional dialects, such as radge (adj bad or angry, noun a state of irritation) in northeast England and southeast Scotland and jougal (dog) in southeast Scotland and parni (water) and bewer (woman) in West Yorkshire in England, also seen as beor in Corkonian slang within Hiberno-English. Urban British slang shows an increasing level of Romani influence, with some words becoming accepted into the lexicon of standard English (for example, chav from an assumed Anglo-Romani word, possibly charvy meaning either "baby" or "mate" depending on context, chavi meaning male child or charver meaning prostitute).


http://www.rtfhs.org.uk/

http://www2.arnes.si/~eusmith/Romany/

http://www.thefellowship.info/Global%20Missions/UPG/Romany.icm

http://www.geocities.com/soho/3698/rom.htm

http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Projects/romani/

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20070305143010908

http://www2.arnes.si/~eusmith/Romany/glossary.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2005/08/17/romany_roots_voices2005_romany_language_feature.sh tml

http://www.geocities.com/gipsy2209/

http://www.answers.com/topic/romany

Punjab region - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Punjab, India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_%28Pakistan%29

Punjabi culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of the Punjab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[synergy777]

Roma people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roma people

The Roma (singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom) or Romanies are an ethnic group living in many communities all over the world. The Roma are among the best known ethnic groups that appear in literature and folklore, and are often referred to as gypsies or gipsies, a term that is based on a mistaken belief of an origin in Egypt. The Roma are still thought of as wandering nomads, but most Roma today live settled in permanent housing.[31] This widely dispersed ethnic group lives across the world not only near their historic roots in Southern and Eastern Europe, but also Western Asia, Latin America, the United States and the Middle East.

Origin and language
They are believed to have originated in the Punjab and Rajasthan regions of the Indian subcontinent. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau around 1050.[32]

Most Roma speak one of several dialects of Romani,[33] an Indo-Aryan language. They also will often speak the languages of the countries they live in, or incorporate into Romani loanwords from the language of country, especially words for terms which Romani does not have. Some groups, such as the Gitanos of Spain, have lost their knowledge of pure Romani, and speak a patois languages like Caló.[34

Population
Worldwide, there are an estimated 8 to 10 million Roma. The largest population of Roma is found on the Balkan peninsula; however, significant numbers also live in the Americas, the former Soviet Union, Western Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The Roma recognize divisions among themselves based in part on territorial, cultural and dialectal differences. Some authorities[citation needed] recognize five main groups:

Kalderash are the most numerous, traditionally coppersmiths, from the Balkans, many of whom migrated to central Europe and North America;
Gitanos (also called Calé) mostly in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and southern France; associated with entertainment;
Sinti mostly in Alsace and other regions of France and Germany; often travelling showmen and circus people (Other experts, and Sinti themselves, insist that Sinti are not a subgroup of Roma but rather a separate ethnic group which also had Indian origins and a history of nomadism);
Romnichal (Rom'nies) mainly in Britain and North America; and
Erlides (also known as Yerlii or Arli) settled in southeastern Europe and Turkey.
Some groups, like the Finnish Roma population (Kaale) and the Norwegian and Swedish Travellers, are hard to categorize. Each of these main divisions may be further divided into two or more subgroups distinguished by occupational specialization or territorial origin, or both. Some of these group names are: Machvaya (Machwaya), Lovari, Churari, Rudari, Boyash, Ludar, Luri, Xoraxai, Ungaritza, Bashaldé, Ursari and Romungro.

Linguistic and genetic evidence indicates the Roma originated from the Indian subcontinent. [10] The cause of the Roma diaspora is unknown. However, the most probable situation is that the Roma were part of the military in Northern India. When there were repeated raids by Mahmud of Ghazni and these soldiers were defeated, they moved west with their families into the Byzantine Empire. This occurred between 1000 and 1050 AD. This departure date is assumed because, linguistically speaking, the Hindi words that are used in the Romani language have a neutral case, whereas most neutral words were converted to masculine in Hindi after about 1050 AD. They then stayed in the Byzantine Empire for a couple hundred years. However, the Muslim expansion, mainly made by the Seljuk Turks, into the Byzantine Empire forced the continued move of the Romani people.[citation needed]

One theory suggests the Roma were originally low-caste Hindus recruited into an army of mercenaries, granted warrior caste status, and sent westward to resist Islamic military expansion. Or perhaps the Muslim conquerors of northern India took the Roma as slaves and brought them home, where they became a distinct community; Mahmud of Ghazni reportedly took 500,000 prisoners during a Turkish/Persian invasion of Sindh and Punjab. Why the Roma did not return to India, choosing instead to travel west into Europe, is an enigma, but may relate to military service under the Muslims.

Contemporary scholars have suggested that one of the first written references to the Roma, under the term "Atsinganoi", (Greek), dates from the Byzantine era during a time of famine in the 9th century. In 800 AD, Saint Athanasia gave food to "foreigners called the Atsinganoi" near Thrace. Later, in 803 AD, Theophanes the Confessor wrote that Emperor Nikephoros I had the help of the "Atsinganoi" to put down a riot with their "knowledge of magic".

"Atsingani" was used to refer to itinerant fortune tellers, ventriloquists and wizards who visited the Emperor Constantine IX in the year 1054.[35] The hagiographical text, The Life of St. George the Anchorite, mentions that the "Atsingani" were called on by Constantine to help rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his livestock. They are later described as sorcerers and evildoers and accused of trying to poison the Emperor's favorite hound.

In 1322 a Franciscan monk named Simon Simeonis described people resembling these "atsinganoi" living in Crete and in 1350 Ludolphus of Sudheim mentioned a similar people with a unique language whom he called Mandapolos, a word which some theorize was possibly derived from the Greek word mantes (meaning prophet or fortune teller).[36]

Around 1360, an independent Romani fiefdom (called the Feudum Acinganorum) was established in Corfu and became "a settled community and an important and established part of the economy."[37]

By the 14th century, the Roma had reached the Balkans; by 1424, Germany; and by the 16th century, Scotland and Sweden. Some Roma migrated from Persia through North Africa, reaching Europe via Spain in the 15th century. The two currents met in France. Roma began immigrating to the United States 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. Many Roma also settled in Latin America.

Wherever they arrived in Europe, curiosity was soon followed by hostility and xenophobia. Roma were enslaved for five centuries in Romania until abolition in 1864. Elsewhere in Europe, they were subject to ethnic cleansing, abduction of their children, and forced labor. During World War II, the Nazis murdered 200,000 to 800,000 Roma in an attempted genocide known as the Porajmos. Like the Jews, they were marked for extermination and sentenced to forced labour and imprisonment in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen (essentially mobile killing units) on the Eastern Front.

In Communist Eastern Europe, Roma experienced assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom. The Romani language and Roma music were banned from public performance in Bulgaria. In Czechoslovakia, they were labeled a "socially degraded stratum," and Roma women were sterilized as part of a state policy to reduce their population. While this practice has been outlawed, allegations of forced sterilization in the Slovak Republic have been made as recently as 2003.[38] This policy was implemented with large financial incentives, threats of denying future social welfare payments, misinformation, and involuntary sterilization (Silverman 1995; Helsinki Watch 1991). In the early 1990s, Germany deported tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to Eastern Europe. Sixty percent of some 100,000 Romanian nationals deported under a 1992 treaty were Roma. In Norway, Roma were forcibly sterilized by the state until 1977.[11]

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 the Roma practice of child marriage. Roma law establishes that the man’s family must pay a dower to the bride's parents.

Roma social behaviour is strictly regulated by purity laws ("marime" or "marhime"), still respected by most Roma and among Sinti groups by the older 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) as well as the rest of 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 after giving birth. Death is considered impure, and affects the whole family of the dead, who remain impure for a period of time. Many of these practices are also present in cultures such as the Balinese. However, in contrast to the practice of cremating the dead, Roma dead must be buried.[39] It is possible that this tradition was adapted from Abrahamic religions after the Roma left the Indian subcontinent.


Roma have usually adopted the dominant religion of the host country while often preserving aspects of their particular belief systems and indigenous religion and worship. Most Eastern European Roma are Catholic, Orthodox Christian or Muslim. Those in western Europe and the United States are mostly Catholic or Protestant. In Turkey, Egypt, and the southern Balkans, the Roma are split into Christian and Muslim populations.

Roma religion has a highly developed sense of morality, taboos, and the supernatural, though it is often denigrated by organized religions. It has been suggested that while still in India the Roma people belonged to the Hindu religion, this theory being supported by the Romani word for "cross", trushul, which is the word which describes Shiva's trident (Trishula).

Since the 1960s, a growing number of Roma have embraced Evangelical movements. Over the past half-century, Roma have become ministers and created their own churches and missionary organizations for the first time.[40] In some countries, the majority of Roma now belong to the Roma 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 Roma churches exist today in every country where Roma are settled. The movement is particularly strong in France and Spain; there are more than one thousand Roma churches (known as "Filadelfia") in Spain, with almost one hundred in Madrid alone. In Germany, the most numerous group is that of Polish Roma, having their main church in Mannheim. Other important and numerous Romani assemblies exist in Los Angeles, California, Houston, Texas, Buenos Aires and Mexico. Some groups in Romania and Chile have joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

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

Roma music plays an important role in Eastern European cultures such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, Russia, and Romania, and the style and performance practices of Roma musicians have influenced European classical composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. The lăutari who perform at traditional Romanian weddings are virtually all Roma. Probably the most internationally prominent contemporary performers in the lăutar tradition are Taraful Haiducilor. Bulgaria's popular "wedding music", too, is almost exclusively performed by Roma musicians such as Ivo Papasov, a virtuoso clarinetist closely associated with this genre. Many famous classical musicians, such as the Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra, are Roma, as are many prominent performers of manele. Zdob şi Zdub, one of the most prominent rock bands in Moldova, although not Roma themselves, draw heavily on Roma music, as do Spitalul de Urgenţă in Romania, Goran Bregović in Serbia, Darko Rundek in Croatia, and Beirut in the United States.

Another great tradition of Roma music is the genre of the gypsy brass band, with such notable practitioners as Boban Markovic of Serbia, and the brass lăutari groups Fanfare Ciocărlia and Fanfare din Cozmesti of Romania.

The distinctive sound of Roma music has also strongly influenced bolero, jazz, and flamenco (especially cante jondo) in Europe. European-style Gypsy jazz is still widely practised among the original creators (the Roma People); one who acknowledged this artistic debt was guitarist Django Reinhardt.

The Roma of Turkey have achieved musical acclaim from local audiences. They perform for special holidays. Their music is usually performed on instruments such as the darbuka and gırnata.

The Roma anthem is called Gelem, Gelem.

Language
Main article: Romani language
Most Roma speak both Romani, an Indo-Aryan language and the dominant language(s) of their region of residence. There are independent groups currently working toward standardizing the language, including groups in Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, the USA, and Sweden. Romani is not currently spoken in India.

more info at the link

[pollock]

Thanks for some interesting info.
My grandfather was Roma, I never met him but my mom says he was a healer and a clearvoiant, she and my grandmother travelled with him around Denmark, helping people and doing the odd job here and there for a couple of years when she was little, but she never met him later in her life, he just moved on I guess!
But I do wonder if thats where I got my restlessness.

-F

[synergy777]

http://www.indiastar.com/wallia2.htm

Bury Me Standing--
The Gypsies and Their Journey
by Isabel Fonseca
(New York: Vintage, 1996)
322 pages, $13

Reviewed by C. J. S. Wallia


Gypsies, the long-lost children of India, number about 12 million worldwide. In Europe, the 8 million Gypsies constitute its largest minority. Recent films like Tony Gatlif's Latcho Drom: A Musical History of the Gypsies from India to Spain (1994) and books like Isabel Fonseca's Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and their Journey (1996) will help ensure that the Gypsies do not again disappear -- outside the world's consciousness.

Bury Me Standing -- the title comes from the Gypsy saying, "Bury me standing, I've been on my knees all my life"-- is a compassionate book about a marginalized and much-maligned people. Nonetheless, over the past seven centuries, the Gypsies have made many contributions to European folk music, dance, and lore. An outstanding example of these contribitions --Flameno-- highlights the Cannes award-winning Latcho Drom .

When Isabel Fonseca, an American journalist and former assistant editor of the Times Literary Supplement, set out to write this book in 1991, she "had in mind that the Gypsies were 'the New Jews of Eastern Europe.'" After four years of field work that included living with Gypsy families in many European countries and researching library documents, she concluded that the Gypsies "alongside with the Jews are ancient scapegoats."

Traditionally, Gypsies never kept any written records nor sustained an oral history. The research on their origin began with a systematic philological analysis of their language, Romani, which has been firmly established as a Sanskritic language. Words like dand, (tooth), mun, (mouth), lon, (salt), akha (eyes), khel (play) are identical with those in Punjabi spoken in northwest India. Fonseca does not comment on the obvious resemblance with Punjabi, presumably because of her unfamiliarity with it or any other modern Indian language. She is also puzzled by the Gypsy habit of shaking head side-to-side to signify yes. This distinctive gesture alone suffices to pinpoint their India origin -- rendering all linguistic evidence redundant! If confirmation were needed, it would be readily provided by the Gypsy music's use of the Indian ragas such as Bairavi, Mulkausa, and Kalyani as well as the bol (the rhythmic syllables -- tak, dhin, dha -- imitating drum beats).

Fonseca seems to think that the current scholarly consensus is that the Gypsies are from the Dom group of tribes, still extant in India, making their living as wandering musicians, smiths, metalworkers, scavengers, and basketmakers. They migrated first from northwest India to Persia in 950 A.D. at the invitation of Shah Behram Gur. As recorded by the contemporary Persian historian Hamza, the Shah "out of solicitude for his subjects, imported 12,000 musicians for their listening pleasure."

Fonseca errs in stating that the Gypsy designation for themsleves as Roma is derived from Dom, one of the outcaste tirbes in India. Roma is a variation of "ramante," a Punjabi word meaning moving, wandering. This etymology is cogently discussed in W.R. Rishi's book "ROMA: The Panjabi Emigrants in Europe, second edition" published in 1996 by Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India. Rishi traces the origin of the Roma to the 500, 000 prisoners of war taken by Muhamad Ghaznvi in 1001 from the Punjab to Afghanistan and subjected to Islamic conversion by the sword. Many of them resisted by escaping westward to the Christian lands of Armenia and Greece. To this day, the Roma use the word Gajo, derived from Ghazi-- the Koranic title of infidel-killing Muslims-- as a disparaging term. The Roma are from the warrior castes of the Punjab.

The Roma appeared in Europe first in 1300 A.D., fleeing from forcible Islamic conversions by the Turks. In Europe, ironically, they were accused of being advance spies for the Turks, and persecuted again. They were also mistaken as Egyptians, whence the folklore origin of the term Gypsy. Fonseca apparently is unaware of yet another etymology: Punjab-say -- from Punjab, which was what the earliest immigrants to Persia replied when asked where they have come from. By the time, they reached Byzantium, the locals heard Punjab-say as Jabsay, Gypsy. The locals took Gypsy to mean from Egypt, a country they had heard of.

The history of the Roma in Europe, gleaned, for the most part, from court- and church-records and from rare academic publications, is a horror--Europe's heart of darkness. One of the examples Fonseca cites is the 1783 dissertation published by Heinrich Grellman of Gottingen University. In his book, Grellman describes an event of the previous year in Hont county, Hungary: "The case involved more than 150 Gypsies, forty-one of whom were tortured into confessions of cannibalism. Fifteen men were hanged, six broken on the wheel, two quartered, and eighteen women beheaded -- before an investigation ordered by the Hapsburg monarch Joseph II revealed that all of the supposed victims were still alive."

During World War II, the Nazis exterminated 1.5 million Gypsies. At the Nuremberg trials, the Nazis' lawyers argued that the killing of the Gypsies was justified since they had been punished as criminals, not as a race. There was no one to speak for the Gypsies, and the international tribunal accepted this as exonerating defense! Ah, humanity.

Although tyrants, bigots, and the misinformed have often stereotyped the Gypsies as congenital criminals, sociological studies show that the Gypsies commit crimes no more than others. A large-scale study cited by Fonseca: In Romania, which has the largest Gypsy population of any country, out of all criminal convictions that of the Gypsies total 11 percent. Their population in the country? Exactly 11 percent. (The Gypsies in Romania do not have equal access to the justice system. Their situation is worse than that of the Blacks and Hispanics in the U.S.A.)

In recent decades, a Gypsy intelligentsia has begun to emerge. Fonseca presents detailed profiles of several. Dr. Ian Hancock, an American Gypsy, and the author of The Pariah Syndrome, was instrumental in bringing about, in April 1994, the first-ever Congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., on the human-rights abuses of the Gypsies. After prolonged efforts, Hancock also succeeded in the Gypsy inclusion in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Gypsy inclusion had long been opposed by Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner! It was only after Wiesel's resignation, writes Fonseca, herself an American Jew, that one Gypsy was allowed onto the museum's 65-member council. (The council comprised more than thirty Jews as well as Poles, Ukranians, and Russians among others but not a single Gypsy.)

Saip Jusuf is the author of one of the first Romani grammars and a principal leader in Skopje, Macedonia, which has the largest Gypsy settlement anywhere. Jusuf helped organize the first world Romany Congress in 1971 in London. The conference was financed in part by the Government of India, and at its urging the U.N. agreed first to recognize the Rom as a distinct ethnic group and several years later accorded voting rights to the International Romani Union.

In an interview with the author, Jusuf, having converted from Islam to his ancestral Hinduism, joyously displayed his new icon collection of Ganesha, Parvati, and Durga . Ramche Mustupha, a poet, showed his passport. Under "citizenship" it recorded Yugoslav; under "nationality," Hindu. The lost children of India, having found their ancestral land, are very proud of its ancient civilization -- the oldest continuous civilization in the world -- "Amaro Baro Thanh" (Romani for "our big land"). Fonseca observes: "Many of the young women, fed up with the baggy-bottomed Turkish trousers they were supposed to wear, have begun to wear saris."

Unlike other beleaguered and marginalized minorities, the Rom are not seeking a homeland of their own, a Romanistan, in or outside India. The Rom are resisting, as they always have, to maintain the freedom for a life-style of their choosing. "To allow this to the Gypsies," Vaclav Havel, in Prague, said, "is the litmus test of a civil society." However, Havel's is a lonely voice. All over Central and East Europe "Death to the Gypsies" graffiti can be observed. Since the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslavakia, twenty-eight Gypsies have been murdered.

Fonseca cites several specific cases of terrorism against the Gypsies during the 90's. "In February 1995, in Oberwart, Austria, a town seventy-five miles south of Vienna, four Gypsy men were murdered. A pipe bomb had been concealed behind a sign that said, in Gothic tombstone lettering, 'Gypsies go back to India'; the bomb exploded in their faces when they tried to take it down. The first response of the Austrian police was to search the victims' own settlement for weapons; 'Gypsies killed by own bomb,' the papers reported." Oberwart, Austria, is in Burgenland, where the Gypsies have been settled for three centuries.

The resurging repression of the Gypsies is Europe's continuing crime against humanity. At the Nazi trials in Nuremberg, there was no one to speak on behalf of the Gypsies. Now, the Gypsies have at least this eloquent book exposing Europe's recrudescing genocidal threats to them.

[synergy777]

http://www.vurdon.it/english.htm

This site is dedicated to the Roma, the Gypsy people.

A note on terminology:

The English version of this site uses the term Roma instead of Gypsies, because it is what many of them call themselves. There are groups of Gypsies who do not call themselves Roma: the Sinti, the Cale, and the Romanichals, for example. However, to keep things simple, in this web page Roma means all Gypsies. The singular is Rom, the plural Roma or Rom. Romani is the language of the Roma. This site also uses Romani as an adjective meaning "of the Roma", as in the phrase "Romani society". Finally, this site sometimes refers to the Gypsies of Italy as "Rom and Sinti", since these are the two main groups living in Italy.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/2138/itinerariorf4.jpg

Introduction to Romani History and Culture

Part I: Historical Outline.

A legend of the Roma tells that once they had a king who ruled wisely in Sind, a wonderous land in India. The Roma were very happy there, until the arrival of Islamic armies, who hunted them and destroyed their country. After that, the Roma were forced to travel from one nation to another....
This is, as we have said, a legend.

The most certain information on the origens of the Roma has come from linguistic studies, which began in the last century.

Comparisons between the various dialects of Romani and Indian languages such as Sanskrit, Prakrit, Marathi and Punjabi, to cite a few, have firmly established the Indian origens of the Roma.
However, the reason they abandoned their native land of India is still a mystery.

It appears that originally they were sedentary, and then, because of the onset of adverse conditions, they had to live as nomads.

According to another legend, narrated by the Persian poet Firdausi in the Fifth century A.D., a Persian king had ten thousand of a people called Luri (a name later applied to Roma) brought from India to entertain his people with music.

It is probable that the Romani migration passed through Persia, but at a more recent date, somewhere around the Ninth or Tenth century. Various groups penetrated into the West, both by way of Egypt and by the pilgrim's route, that is to say, by way of Crete and the Peloponese.

The Italian name for Roma, Zingari or Zigani goes back to that period. The word Zingaro or Zigano probably comes from a Medieval Greek term Athinganoi, meaning "untouchable", that was originally given to a religious sect from Phrygia. The name was also applied to magicians, fortune-tellers, and snake charmers, that is, to a world near to that of the Roma.

A recently discovered document gives evidence that in 1378 a Bulgarian king gave over to a monastery several villages populated by Roma.
Roma arrived in Western Europe around 1417. A decade later, in 1427, some Roma appeared in Paris, guided by leaders who called themselves dukes or voivodes. In order to be well received, they told a story that they were pilgrims from Little Egypt (a region of the Peleponese). This story is the origen of the English word Gypsy and the Spanish word Gitano, both transformations of words for Egyptian.

According to this story, they had been persecuted by the Saracens and forced to reject the Christian faith. So that they might atone for their rejection of Christianity, a king in the story had required them to go to the Pope, who had imposed on them the pennance of traveling the world for seven years, and had provided them with documents so they would be well received wherever they went.
Apart from the things the Roma said in order to be better treated, it is known that at the beginning the reception was good because the mysterious nature of their origin made a profound impression on Medieval society.

In the space, though, of a few decades curiosity was transmuted into hostility as a result of their very different way of life from that of the sedentary population. The presence of bands of ex-soldiers and of beggars among the Roma contributed to the worsening of their image. The opportunities to settle were scarce because the only possibility for survival consisted in living on the margins of society.

The growing prejudice was reinforced by the belief, widespread in Europe, that dark skin was a sign of inferiority and wickedness.... The devil, in fact, was and is depicted as black.

The Roma were also easily identified with the Turks because they came into Europe partly by way of Islamic lands, and therefore they were considered enemies of the Church, which, besides, condemned practices linked to the supernatural, such as cartomancy and palm-reading, that the Roma were used to practicing.

Though they were often called Egyptians, the lack of a certain connection with a particular country of origen prevented them from being recognized as a well-defined ethnic group.

The opposition to the Roma took form also in the guilds that tended to exclude competitors in crafts, especially in the craft of metalwork.

The climate of suspician and prejudice shows itself in the growth of legends and proverbs tending to put the Roma in a bad light. Even the Bible was called upon in order to consider them descendents of Cain and therefore cursed (Genesis 9:25). The legend also spread that they made the nails that were used to crucify Christ (or, according to another version, that they stole the fourth nail, making the crucifixion of the Lord more painful).
The European prejudice against Roma gradually became more marked discrimination, and then persecution.

We know that in Serbia and Romania they were enslaved for a certain period. The Gypsy hunt began, along with refined cruelty and barbarous treatment. Deportation, torture, and killing were practiced in various countries, especially after the consolidation of the national states.

Under the Nazis, Roma were treated in a similar way to the Jews: many Roma were sent to the concentration camps, where they were used as human guinea pigs, subjected to sterilization experiements and every sort of unbelievable torture.

It is calculated that a half million Roma were killed during the Nazi regime.

Today Roma are present in every European country, in the regions of Asia crossed by them, and in the countries of the Near East and North Africa.

In India there are groups that preserve outward similarities to the Roma: we refer to the Lambadi or Banjara, seminomadic populations that "Gypsiologists" refer to as "Gypsies remaining in their home country".

In America and in Australia Roma arrived among the deported and the colonists; later they established migratory flows with these regions.
Recent estimates of the size of the Romani population suggest a figure of around 12 million individuals. Such figures are only loosely approximate, since in the absence of censuses, they are based on information sources that are not always certain and verifiable.

In Italy the Sinti group initially represented a decisive majority, especially in the North, but in the last thirty years it has been progressively joined, and at times supplanted, by Rom coming from the region of the ex-Yugoslavia, and, to a lesser extent, from other Eastern European counteries. In Southern Italy there is the conspicous group of the Abruzzesi Rom, who arrived perhaps by sea from the Balkans. Their long residence in that area shows a sedentariazation analogous to that of the Gitanos in the Iberian Peninsula.



more at the link

[synergy777]

http://www.romani.org/

Romani.org Home Page
Opre Roma!

Dedicated to the Roma for their recognition as a people and as a nation, and
To their struggle for freedom and against persecution and oppression worldwide.

"There are four hundred books on the gypsies", says a modern tsiganologue, "but in all not more than ten of which tell us anything new or true about them".(1)

Whether this quote (from 1886) was meant to be taken at face value or not, and despite the fact that there are currently thousands of books devoted to the Roma (2), it certainly remains accurate in its essence. Misinformation, misconception and erroneous stereotype about them and their nature is as rampant today as ever. And unfortunately prejudice, persecution, oppression, and ostracization is on the rise! The purpose of this suite of pages is to contribute to the increased awareness of the facts about this truly remarkable people.

Although the Romani people are often referred to as "Gypsies" (and prefer to be called by their more proper designation, Roma), not all "gypsies" or nomadic peoples are Roma. The Roma are descendants of the ancient warrior classes of Northern India, particularly the Punjab, and they are identifiable by their language, religion, and customs, which can be directly linked to those of the Punjabi in northern India.

Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi summarized the state of the Romani people very nicely in her opening speech at the International Romani Festival in Chandigarh, India on October 28, 1983. It is paraphrased below (by Milena Hubschmannova & Jaroslav Jurasek), and we have also made the full text of her address available.

"There are some 15 million Roms dispersed across the world. Their history is one of suffering and misery, but it is also one of the victories of human spirit over the blows of fate. Today the Roms revive their culture and are looking for their identity. On the other hand, they integrate into the societies in which they live. If they are understood by their fellow citizens in their new homelands, their culture will enrich the society's atmosphere with the color and charm of spontaneity."

http://www.romani.org/rtchalai.html

Preface to TZIGANE TAROT
(Tarot of the Roms)
by Tchalai
My Brothers
They had eyes dark as night, my brothers,
As if cut in black diamond

They had moon-woven hair, my brothers,
Glistening blue in endless mist

And teeth like wolves' teeth, my brothers,
Joyous teeth clenched tight on their hungers

The voice they had, borne it was from the stars,
Fascinating and misunderstood

the hands they had, fearsome hands, my brothers,
And the world was drunk at their fingertips

Gone are they on all the paths, my brothers,
They were warm like fire, and fresh like the wind

Let me touch your hair your brow your lips,
Scrutinize the palms of your hands

I'm only searching for my brothers everywhere around,
To live is to know how to love

Gone they are on all the paths, my brothers,
But in every mirror, I find them again!

Tchalai


In the Beginning...

In the beginning was one word,
And this word was ROM
and this word was in the Rom
All that came
came from this word
came from this Rom

... ...

That which people know is this:
That we are the Rom
That we roam along the roads
accomplishing our Tzigane things
and sleeping out of doors at night

... ...

That which people do not know...
Land of the culture of old!
India! Where is thy sun?
Covered with the smoke of centuries
We have lost thee left thee behind!
Countries and sovereigns were changing all around...
Roads wagons and horses go by
Through meadows sands and woodland...
O history! Like in the cauldron
Where peoples are cooked
You have thrown the Tzigane family!
You have burnt their heart in the fore...

Leska Manush
Department of Linguistics
Institute of Social Sciences
USSR Academy of Sciences



That these explanatory notes should begin with a poem originating from the USSR Academy of Sciences is absolutely intentional, for there is nothing esoteric about It. The nostalgia it conveys Is familiar to you. It evokes history more than anything. It carries enough meaning for you to be able to sense the powerfully magnetic and strong yarn of a world and a way of life, piercing through this nostalgia: Tightly Interwoven events, customs, images, mental structures totally unknown to those who are not Rom. Unknown, but not unknowable. Safeguarded, but not inaccessible. Sheltered by a screen of false truths. Concealed behind a huge misunderstanding.

Fifteen times or so in the course of many years, I refused to write the "definitive book" on the Tsiganes. And even a great number of articles, in spite of the intense and candid desire that I had to correct the astounding errors of everyone around, to wipe out the irreparable stigmas of racism, indeed to redress the misjudgments of History! I knew that everything would be restricted and distorted by the very formulation it would receive, shrunk to the level of the picturesque - much to the advantage of the violin/wandering people/kidnapper image, and what not.

And how difficult to make encounters between Tziganes of different background fruitful! Working once for France Culture (French Broadcasting Corporation), I remember having recorded a discussion between "the Indian", famous guitarist Manitas de Plata's "alter ego", and Sita Reinhart Campane, grandniece of Django, on the subject of wedding customs. A treasure of ethnology that was, and at the same time an exceptional testimony on the vitality of our traditions. Well, this was of no interest whatsoever to non-Tziganes. All this passage was scratched and did not go on the air. The misunderstanding goes far. Some years ago, on a Sunday afternoon, a group of us had congregated at the home of Stevo Demeter, one of our Sages. A "Gypsyologist" came with his notebook in order to ask us questions. He spoke softly, articulated his phrases distinctly, using simple words, with a patient and direct look in his eyes. Poor man. Among us were a renowned lawyer, a physician, a company manager, the Director of an Insurance Firm, and even a general (In civilian clothes). Plus myself, who at the time often wrote the front page of France-Soir, due to a certain way of tackling important news-in-brief. He took us en bloc for illiterate people. Good savages whose aggressivity had to be tamed, and fantasies handled tactfully. And when we try to show who we are, we cease to be credible, because the idea Is deeply rooted that we are a roving race, untamable, outside the norms, and ILLITERATE.

Another aspect of the misunderstanding: These authors - non-Tziganes, of course - who will write four or five books in a row without scruples where they deal with our mores and customs, or what they think our mores and customs are - in good faith, we hope. They are regarded as "initiates" except among us, where they are lampooned in racy improvisations. But our action goes no further. We do not ask denial, nor claim a right to answer.

And all these marvelously dedicated people who want to help us, to teach us how to wash, or to pray, to make us "settle down", to channel our charisma, to group us into orchestras or communities. The misunderstanding Is total. If the name "Tzigane" is still surrounded with a halo of mystery and romanticism, it comes from the fact that even today it is hard to penetrate Tzigane families and observe how they live, or better still, to have Tziganes speak about themselves. We are an old people. An ancient people. A people who has no need to prove anything, no aspiration to conquest, no vocation for tragedy. A people who flows blissfully into the mold of new forms from time to time, as long as there is enjoyment in doing so. And then who will flow out of that mold with cohesion, and no one will understand how and why.

Multidisciplinary works dating back to thirty years, like the studies by Vania de Gila for the UNESCO or by Grattan Puxon in England and Yugoslavia, or by the Komiati Lumeaki Romale (I had the honor of belonging to Its Management Committee) have all amply exposed the origin of our people to the non-Tzigane world, with sufficient authority and an expertise that meets the requirements of historical methodology. Yet some cranky individuals are still to be found, who will have us descend from the blacksmith who prepared the nails for the martyrdom of Christ, or from Egyptian embalmers, and other things. Witness the fine squabble I had with my dear friend kabbalist A.D. Grad who wanted to prove to me that we were the thirteenth tribe of Israel.

The more I realized the extent of the misunderstanding, the more I hesitated to launch into this famous"definitive book". It should comprise as many volumes as the history of the world. It should call up millions of testimonies, resort to depth-psychology as well as geopolitics, anthropology, Sheldrake morphic resonance theory as well as researches on the Vedas, and hundred others.

At the same time, I could see supple unification formulas develop within the Rom people. Eight million fervid individualists, obstinate ritualists, were learning to form associations of non-Tzigan type -of "Gadjo" type, as we say - in order to survive after two million of ours had disappeared in the vivisection houses and ovens of that mad man. And also in order to save our ancestral heritage, what some other people call "culture". Yet, something in us opposes a "cultural survival", which would have something artificial to it. Out of Intelligence of things, we are fatalists, having been bound for centuries to time which flows and imposes its modeling force upon life.

We do not desire to be dinosaurs, survivors, escapees from history. We have brought our essence everywhere. We have married it to the places and customs of others, but we have never compromised it, because we un-marry it as soon as the slightest threat of sinking appears, leaving dazzling fossils behind us, like Tzigane music in Hungary, for example.

We have learnt a great deal, in a painful act of balance between maintaining and blending in. Between self respect and survival. Add to this that there remains in our chromosomes the old conviction that, having descended from the stars, we shall go back to the stars.

No one will ever be able to translate the profound melody of blood and memory. It has to be shared. It cannot be MADE to share. I have never written the book, I shall never write it. WE are the book, all of us together. And after all, who are WE ? One should rather think - the Rom peoples the same way people say "the Indian nations", and not "the Indians". Besides, we have invented no alphabet, no religion (we acknowledge the one God in all the images of God. Christ moves us but Krishna enchants us). We have borne no great heroic poet, no great lawgiver, no sovereign peacemaker, no war leader -at least since we have left India. No universal myth (but we are the myth), no exemplary social structure which would be strictly ours. Nothing ! No tangible trace.

We pass like the wind on the lake of the world without leaving a mark. And yet, without us nothing would be the same. Always thrown out, always hunted. Despised and envied. And always unknown...

The Information we receive from our elders is carefully, meticulously un-formal. They nourish us with formulas that give us structure but without providing explanations. "Make the spoonful in proportion to the size of your mouth....", " all you can see you possess .... ". Who knows that we even have a birth-control method, of the most ancient tradition ? Something superb, and so simple to make love without taking one's eyes off each other, and in full light, my Grandfather said to me. And It works !Some images dwell In us and shape us. They direct our ways of being and seeing from far behind us and from deep down. Besides, some historical facts, more or less well known from some of us, have force of myth for us all. As far as the rest is concerned, a tale which enchants families in Central Europe conveys nothing to a Tzigane in New Zealand, and the problems of the wandering Irish which rock political life inside Eire are of no import to a Texan Kalderash. Freedom of spirit and movement is so strong among Tziganes that thoughts and beliefs may appear extremely varied, depending on families and individuals, but the underlying tradition endures.

These essential Images are what, ultimately, I have tried to make accessible through the cards of this Tarot. They are symbolic images: being more an evocation than a description, they will carry the message better, I hope, and leave a stronger imprint than a book would do, as a book would not fail to be controversial and boring.

We Roms possess Tarots which have come to us from the "Chaturangas" that our ancestors the Rajput Princes had painted on round pieces of mother-of-pearl or leather. We draw them for one another following our elaborate and familiar laws which make life so livable. The present one was made for a brother, or a non-Tzigane cousin, who humbly wishes to forsake his prejudices and ready-made ideas (for which he naturally bears no responsibility), and open his mind to our true story, our true inner landscape, to our people as a whole. For this reason, the Tzigane Tarot is termed "ethnological game".

But these images, coming as they do from another world and another thought-system, carry an extremely strong archetypal charge. Interpretation of the draws is very simple. This Tarot is not polluted by centuries of erroneous interpretations like most others. This is why it has great precision at divinatory level. Originating in the age old wisdom of the Roms, its indications are vigorous, simple, easy to apply.

Four methods for drawing the cards are exposed, at the end of this booklet (however, do read the explanations concerning the cards before). For this reason, the Tzigane Tarot Is also called a "divinatory game".

Tchalai


...from the preface to Instructions for TZIGANE TAROT by Tchalai
completed July 22, 1984 at the Old Rectory, Ath Chill Mahntain, Eire
Translation by Josee Noel

... reproduced with the gracious permission of the author.
Copyright 1984 Tchalai... all rights reserved

[synergy777]

bump

[lydia78]

[QUOTE=synergy777;18304]Romani language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Romani loanwords in English
Romani has lent many words to English, including posh, pal, dukes (meaning fists, as in the expression "put up your dukes"), and lollipop. These mostly turn up in slang—such as gadgie (man), shiv or chiv (knife), cushty or cooshtie (good) — and in regional dialects, such as radge (adj bad or angry, noun a state of irritation) in northeast England and southeast Scotland and jougal (dog) in southeast Scotland and parni (water) and bewer (woman) in West Yorkshire in England, also seen as beor in Corkonian slang within Hiberno-English. Urban British slang shows an increasing level of Romani influence, with some words becoming accepted into the lexicon of standard English (for example, chav from an assumed Anglo-Romani word, possibly charvy meaning either "baby" or "mate" depending on context, chavi meaning male child or charver meaning prostitute). QUOTE]



Why is it that these words have become english slang?

Who knew that chav and cushty had such an interesting history!!

Still reading.....

[lydia78]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_people

"Atsingani" was used to refer to itinerant fortune tellers, ventriloquists and wizards who visited the Emperor Constantine IX in the year 1054.[35] The hagiographical text, The Life of St. George the Anchorite, mentions that the "Atsingani" were called on by Constantine to help rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his livestock. They are later described as sorcerers and evildoers and accused of trying to poison the Emperor's favorite hound.

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 the Roma practice of child marriage. Roma law establishes that the man’s family must pay a dower to the bride's parents.

Roma social behaviour is strictly regulated by purity laws ("marime" or "marhime"), still respected by most Roma and among Sinti groups by the older 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) as well as the rest of 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 after giving birth. Death is considered impure, and affects the whole family of the dead, who remain impure for a period of time. Many of these practices are also present in cultures such as the Balinese. However, in contrast to the practice of cremating the dead, Roma dead must be buried.[39] It is possible that this tradition was adapted from Abrahamic religions after the Roma left the Indian subcontinent.

Roma religion has a highly developed sense of morality, taboos, and the supernatural, though it is often denigrated by organized religions. It has been suggested that while still in India the Roma people belonged to the Hindu religion, this theory being supported by the Romani word for "cross", trushul, which is the word which describes Shiva's trident (Trishula).

Since the 1960s, a growing number of Roma have embraced Evangelical movements. Over the past half-century, Roma have become ministers and created their own churches and missionary organizations for the first time.[40] In some countries, the majority of Roma now belong to the Roma 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.



Did these guys suffer with OCD?

Birth/death = impure, the mother is considered unclean after giving birth for 40 days and has to give birth outside of the home, clothes to be washed separately during menstration....I mean c'mon, talk about giving a girl a complex.

Yet they knew they're stuff with regards to psychic awareness, there's a paradox going on around here I tell you!!


Roma (Gypsy) mythology is the myth, folklore, religion, traditions, and legends of the Roma people. The Gypsies, who call themselves Rom or Romany, are a nomadic culture which originated in India during the Middle Ages. They migrated widely, particularly to Europe. Some legends (particularly from non-Roma peoples) say that certain gypsies are said to have passive psychic powers such as, empathy, precognition, retrocognition, or psychometry. Other legends include the ability to levitate, travel through astral projection by way of meditation, invoke curses or blessings, conjure/channel spirits, and skill with illusion-casting.

Burial: Roma (Gypsies) pushed steel or iron needles into the body's heart and put pieces of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears, and between the fingers. Hawthorn was placed on the legs, or driven through the legs. They would also drive stakes, pour boiling water on the grave, and behead or burn the body. All this preparation was to ward off vampires.

Afterlife: The Roma (Gypsy) had a concept of Good and Evil forces. Dead relatives were looked after loyally. The soul enters a world like the world of the living, except that death does not exist. The soul lingers near the body and sometimes wants live again.

[edit] Origins
The Romani originated in India. According to mythology, the country was going through a social restructuring and adopting the strict social hierarchy system of castes. Various groups were not included in these newly formed castes for political and religious reasons, and left at the bottom of the caste system. Three groups made up the majority of the casteless: Thieves, musicians/actors (RL fact time, historically performing arts have had a negative social conotation... take a look at eastern theatre's history, for example...), and magicians whose magic was deemed 'heretical' by the local religion. With life in their once native land now unbearable, these casteless people grouped together forming bands which migrated originally to the west. Over many many years, their language and culture developed into something entirely foreign from their roots, and they were truly gypsies, or the Romani as they call themselves

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_(Gypsy)_mythology


Child marriage laws are still ongoing too;

They are also one of the most marginalized European minorities. The more threatened they have felt, the more strongly they have held to their traditions -- among them child marriage.

Negotiations start when children are 4 or 5, and weddings take place when the girl reaches puberty. But now that practice is facing a challenge. In May, eight Eastern European countries joined the European Union in passing laws against child marriages.

Some Roma see this as a death sentence for their culture. But not Gyula and Marika Vámosi. As Frank Browning reports, their marriage began as a love story, but turned into a campaign to change the world.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3876837

[december]

Here's what mod soglad says:

....there must be a strain in your arm from all the copying and pasting, no?

Any words of your own? :confused:

http://davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4738&page=3

[synergy777]

BBC unveils hi-tech Jesus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1243339.stm

Looking for the historical Jesus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/t...dio/1243954.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1243954.stm)

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/7889/1243954jesus300iw1.jpg

[lydia78]

BBC unveils hi-tech Jesus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1243339.stm

Looking for the historical Jesus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/t...dio/1243954.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1243954.stm)

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/7889/1243954jesus300iw1.jpg






Bowen admitted to BBC News Online he brought a certain amount of scepticism to the programme.

I thought you couldn't corroborate anything that was in the Gospels, frankly

Jeremy Bowen

"To start with I didn't know there was a historical character called Jesus - I thought that you had to believe in Jesus the same way as you have to believe in God.

"I discovered that in fact there is a lot of historical corroboration for the existence of this man - for example there's a Romanised Jewish historian who writes about a man called Jesus, a Jew who attained a following of people in his area, who was known as a worker of deeds and who was put to death by the authorities.

Jeremy Bowen has concentrated on the 'history' of Jesus' life

"It's a different question whether or not you believe Jesus was the Son of God and our Saviour - that's a religious question."

The series has used the latest scientific and historical research to reconstruct the main events of Jesus' life.


mmmm.....looks interesting but also hi-tech jc looks disturbed..lol, what you reckon he's romani?

[lydia78]

http://www.romani.org/

Preface to TZIGANE TAROT
(Tarot of the Roms)
by Tchalai
My Brothers
They had eyes dark as night, my brothers,
As if cut in black diamond

They had moon-woven hair, my brothers,
Glistening blue in endless mist

And teeth like wolves' teeth, my brothers,
Joyous teeth clenched tight on their hungers

The voice they had, borne it was from the stars,
Fascinating and misunderstood

the hands they had, fearsome hands, my brothers,
And the world was drunk at their fingertips

Gone are they on all the paths, my brothers,
They were warm like fire, and fresh like the wind

Let me touch your hair your brow your lips,
Scrutinize the palms of your hands

I'm only searching for my brothers everywhere around,
To live is to know how to love

Gone they are on all the paths, my brothers,
But in every mirror, I find them again!

Tchalai


In the Beginning...

In the beginning was one word,
And this word was ROM
and this word was in the Rom
All that came
came from this word
came from this Rom

... ...

That which people know is this:
That we are the Rom
That we roam along the roads
accomplishing our Tzigane things
and sleeping out of doors at night

... ...

That which people do not know...
Land of the culture of old!
India! Where is thy sun?
Covered with the smoke of centuries
We have lost thee left thee behind!
Countries and sovereigns were changing all around...
Roads wagons and horses go by
Through meadows sands and woodland...
O history! Like in the cauldron
Where peoples are cooked
You have thrown the Tzigane family!
You have burnt their heart in the fore...

Leska Manush
Department of Linguistics
Institute of Social Sciences
USSR Academy of Sciences

These essential Images are what, ultimately, I have tried to make accessible through the cards of this Tarot. They are symbolic images: being more an evocation than a description, they will carry the message better, I hope, and leave a stronger imprint than a book would do, as a book would not fail to be controversial and boring.

We Roms possess Tarots which have come to us from the "Chaturangas" that our ancestors the Rajput Princes had painted on round pieces of mother-of-pearl or leather. We draw them for one another following our elaborate and familiar laws which make life so livable. The present one was made for a brother, or a non-Tzigane cousin, who humbly wishes to forsake his prejudices and ready-made ideas (for which he naturally bears no responsibility), and open his mind to our true story, our true inner landscape, to our people as a whole. For this reason, the Tzigane Tarot is termed "ethnological game".

But these images, coming as they do from another world and another thought-system, carry an extremely strong archetypal charge. Interpretation of the draws is very simple. This Tarot is not polluted by centuries of erroneous interpretations like most others. This is why it has great precision at divinatory level. Originating in the age old wisdom of the Roms, its indications are vigorous, simple, easy to apply.

Four methods for drawing the cards are exposed, at the end of this booklet (however, do read the explanations concerning the cards before). For this reason, the Tzigane Tarot Is also called a "divinatory game".

Tchalai


...from the preface to Instructions for TZIGANE TAROT by Tchalai
completed July 22, 1984 at the Old Rectory, Ath Chill Mahntain, Eire
Translation by Josee Noel

... reproduced with the gracious permission of the author.
Copyright 1984 Tchalai... all rights reserved


Yeah. i had a look at the site, i dig that - also an extra look at the tarot and the dom connection;


A HISTORY OF THE TAROT: Mysterious and elusive. These are just two words used to describe the divination tool we call the Tarot. Indeed, they are just that -mysterious and elusive. Nobody really knows when the Tarot was invented or who invented them (although, there have been many theories advanced over the centuries). The Tarot appears to have made its first appearance in Europe in the early 1300 C.E. No one is entirely sure how the Tarot came to be there. Theories advanced have attributed its appearance in Europe as being brought there from Egypt from the Knights Templar. Some hold that the cards were invented in the aristocratic courts of Italy (as a game for the very wealthy). Still others hold that the cards were carried to Europe by the wandering Romany tribe. The later makes a lot of sense when you consider that the Tarot has long been associated with the Gypsy. The earliest mention of the Tarot comes from an edict of the city of Bern (issued in 1367 C.E.). This edict bans the use of the cards, but it's directed against gambling -NOT divination. The same holds true for an edict baning the Tarot which was issued in Florence in 1376 C.E.

At this time the cards were called Nahipi (or Naippe, or Naibbe), and they may have consisted only of the playing cards we know today as the Minor Arcana. The earliest description of a Tarot deck, written by Frater Johannes von Rheinfelden in 1377 C.E., descrives only the four suits of the Minor Arcana. The oldest surviving card deck, the so-called "Hunting Deck" (because it is illustrated with a hunting theme) of Stuttgard, dating from around 1420 C.E., consists only of Minor Arcana cards.

The Major Arcana cards made their first verifiable appearance in the early 1400's C.E., with the Visconti-Sforza cards providing the oldest surviving samples (circa 1420 C.E.).

There is a school of thought which espouses the belief that the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana originally were two seperate decks. Anyone might own the Minor Arcana, which were sold as playing cards and used for gaming and gambling (the origins of the modern playing cards of today). Only diviners owned the Major Arcana, which they kept as a distinct deck and added to their clients existing Minor Arcana deck when they did a reading. In this way the most an ordinary person who owned the Minor Arcana deck could be accused of was gambling, while the diviner risked the accusation of Witchcraft should their Major Arcana set be found. When it became safer to own Tarot cards, full decks comprising both sets of the Arcana were produced.

The early Major Arcana (which were called Trionfi or Triumphs -hence, Trumps) were very different from our modern ones. There does not appear to have been an agreed upon system of the Major Arcana cards at first. Instead, symbols were drawn from many sources. Early decks include such images as the Planets, Zodiac, Seven Virtues, the Muses, figures from Pagan mythology, etc.. Some of the modern Major Arcana cards apeared from the beginning (i.e., the Fool), while others didn't make their appearance until much later. In particular, the Devil card and the Tower, were added to the Major Arcana during the era of the Reformation and Burning Times.

The early Major Arcana also did not follow a set number of cards. Unlike the Minor Arcana, which has held steady since the beginning at 52 to 56 cards, the Major Arcana varied considerably in number when it first appeared. Some Renaissance Tarots may have had as many as 100 cards! Only over time did the Major Arcana become the 22 card form that we see today.

As I've already stated, there are many theories regarding the origin of Tarot cards and how they came to Europe. Each theory has both pros and cons associated with it and there is no conclusive evidence for any of them. I tend to lean towards the theory first espoused to me from the writings of Donald Lewis High-Correll (the High Priest of the Correllian Nativist Tradition of Wicca, of which I am a member). He was taught that the cards were brought to Europe by the Romany. Since one often equates the Tarot with visions of the gypsy woman in the back of her wagon with a crystal ball, this view makes as much sense as any of the others that I've heard.

Playing cards, on the other hand, seem to have first been used in China. These first cards were often made from wood or ivory. It was only later that cards were made from heavy paper. From China the idea of cards spread to India, where they were a popular pastime. It was in India that the Romany would likely have acquired the cards.

Like the Tarot, the origins of the Romany people have inspired many theories and legends over the centuries. The Romany themselves often had no clue of their true origins. They did not identify themselves with any particular nation or region, but traveled from place to place. Today, through anthropology and linguistics, we know that the Romany originally came from India, where their close cousins still live today. They appear to be closely related to a number of Indian groups, including Dom, and the Luri.

According to the Shah Nameh, the Persian Shah Behram Gour imported a large number of Luri from the Hindu ruler Shankar, intending to use them as entertainers. Displeased with the Luri's nomadic lifestyle and inability to adapt to settled havitation, Behram Gour expelled them from Persia (modern day Iran).

They are also recorded as having been present in the Byzantine empire as early as 355 C.E.. From there they seem to have moved into and through the Muslim world (perhaps as a consequence of the long, slow Muslim conquest of Byzantium). At length they traveled up through Egypt then crossed the Mediterranean to enter Europe in the 1300's C.E..

Because they came up through Egypt, Europeans thought the Romany originated there and called them "Gypcians", which was later shortened to "Gypsies." The supposed Egyptian origin of the Romany is the real reason for the long standing belief that the Tarot came from Egypt. Indeed, we may owe something to Egypt for the Tarot's form because of the Romany's travels there.

Influences: The wisdom of the Tarot was believed to reside in the Major Arcana. As previously stated, the Trionfi (Major Arcana) did not conform to the modern order when they first appeared, but developed over time. One of the primciple influences on the development of the Major Arcana was Hermeticism. Based on the writings attributed to Hermes Trismagistus, Hermeticism was based on ancient Egyptian teachings as filtered through Hellenistic thought. Hermeticism put a strong emphasis on the relationship between Deity, the soul, and the consciousness, fovusing strongly on the idea of oneness with Deity as the cure for all difficulties.

Another major influence on the cards was Alchemy. Alchemy also developed out of late classical thought, coming from very ancient antecedents. Most people very much misunderstand the nature of Alchemy, being familiar only with the overly-literal interpretation of it created in large part by its opponents. Though some Alchemists did shade into an earlyform of chemistry, at its best Alchemy was first and foremost a subtle and highly developed philosophical system closely related to Modern Wicca.

Alchemy focused strongly upon the idea of the relation between, and resolution of, the Cosmic Polarities, which they personified as King and Queen. The death and resurrection of the King was a major theme of Alchemy -being a metaphor for the development of the soul. Alchemy was very concerned with the development and evolution of the soul -described in extremely allegorical terms. The famous image of the Alchemist laboring to turn lead into gold (misinformation that I envisioned when I first started my Wiccan studies) is, in reality, a reference to the idea of developing from physical consciousness (lead) to Divine consciousness (gold).

Both Hermeticism and Alchemy were extremely popular in the renaissance when the Major Arcana was taking shape, and contributed greatly to the cards. Indeed, the principle message of the Major Arcana is one that any Hermeticist or Alchemist would recognize as easily as any Wiccan; spiritual development brings one closer to Deity, being closer to Deity puts us in control in our lives, and leads us ultimately to conscious union with Deity and the full access of Divine power from within ourselves.

http://www.somethingwiccathiswaycomes.us/tarot.html


you checked out the romani timeline there syn?

http://www.geocities.com/~patrin/timeline.htm

Before AD 400. Some Indians become nomadic craftsmen and entertainers.
430-443. The Persian poet Firdawsi reports in the Shah-Nameh (Book of Kings), written c.1000, how the Persian Shah Bahram Gur persuades the Indian King Shangul to send him 10,000 Luri musicians to be distributed to the various parts of the Persian kingdom.

820-834. Zott state established on the banks of the River Tigris

855. The Persian chronicler Tabari relates how large numbers of Zott are taken prisoner when the Byzantines attack Syria.

1001-1026. Sindh and the Panjab in India are invaded some seventeen times by a mixed army of Turko-Persian Ghaznivid troops led by King Mahmud from Ghazni (present-day eastern Iran). Indian resistance, in the form of the Rajput warriors, is fierce, but King Mahmud is victorious and takes half a million slaves.

c.1000. Roma reach the Byzantine Empire (modern Greece and Turkey).

c.1200. The canonist Theodore Balsamon describes the canon LXI of the Council in Trulho (692) which threatens a six-year excommunication for any member of the Church (including Athinganoi) from displaying bears or other animals for amusement or by telling fortunes.

1290. Romani shoemakers are recorded in Greece residing on Mount Athos.

c.1300. The Romani Aresajipe; the arrival of Roma in Europe.

Romani groups begin to be enslaved in southeast Europe.

1322. Roma are recorded on the island of Crete.

1348. Roma are recorded in Prizren, Serbia.

1362. Roma are recorded in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

1373. Roma are recorded on the island of Corfu.

1378. Roma are recorded living in villages near Rila Monastery, Bulgaria.

1384. Romani shoemakers are recorded in Modon, Greece.

1385. The first recorded transaction of Roma slaves in Romania.

1387. Mircea the Great of Wallachia indicates that Roma have been in that country for over one hundred years.

1383. Roma are recorded in Hungary.

and so on....

[lydia78]

Continuing from above...



Timeline of Romani History

The history of the Roma is one of continuous struggle and persecution. Since their entry into Europe, the Roma have been outlawed, enslaved, hunted, tortured, and murdered. From the time of the Slobuzenja (Abolition of Romani Slavery) in 1856, to the present day, the Roma have fought for their just social and human rights, largely to the deaf ears of world governments and an indifferent public.
The use of the names Rom, Roma, Romani, or the double 'r' spelling, are used when possible, instead of the names 'Gypsy' and 'Gypsies'. However, it may be necessary to use Gypsy and Gypsies within a cultural or historical context. Romanichal, Gitanos, Kalé, Sinti, Manush, and others do not use Roma when referring to themselves, but to others. For the purpose of this timeline, Roma is used when possible. Rom, Roma, and Romani should not connected or confused with the country of Romania, or Rome the city. These names have separate, distinct etymological origins and are not related.



Before AD 400. Some Indians become nomadic craftsmen and entertainers.
430-443. The Persian poet Firdawsi reports in the Shah-Nameh (Book of Kings), written c.1000, how the Persian Shah Bahram Gur persuades the Indian King Shangul to send him 10,000 Luri musicians to be distributed to the various parts of the Persian kingdom. 820-834. Zott state established on the banks of the River Tigris

855. The Persian chronicler Tabari relates how large numbers of Zott are taken prisoner when the Byzantines attack Syria.

1001-1026. Sindh and the Panjab in India are invaded some seventeen times by a mixed army of Turko-Persian Ghaznivid troops led by King Mahmud from Ghazni (present-day eastern Iran). Indian resistance, in the form of the Rajput warriors, is fierce, but King Mahmud is victorious and takes half a million slaves.

c.1000. Roma reach the Byzantine Empire (modern Greece and Turkey).

c.1200. The canonist Theodore Balsamon describes the canon LXI of the Council in Trulho (692) which threatens a six-year excommunication for any member of the Church (including Athinganoi) from displaying bears or other animals for amusement or by telling fortunes.


c.1400. In Bulgaria, Roma are reported "living in large numbers" along the Albanian coast.
1407. Roma are recorded at Hildesheim, Germany.

1416. Roma are expelled from the Meissen region of Germany.

1417-1423. King Sigismund of Hungary issues safe-conduct orders at Spis Castle for travelling Roma.

1418. Roma are recorded in Colmar, France.

1419. Roma are recorded in Antwerp, Belgium.

1420. Roma are recorded in Deventer, Holland.

1422. Roma are recorded in Rome and Bologna

1423. Roma are recorded in Spissky, Slovakia.

1425. Roma are recorded in Zaragoza, Spain.

1427. Hundreds of Roma arrive at the gates of Paris. The city sends them on to the town of Pontoise in less than a month.

1445. Prince Vlad Dracul of Wallachia transports some 12,000 persons "who looked like Egyptians" from Bulgaria for slave labour.

1447. First record of Roma in Catalonia.

1449. Roma are driven out of the city of Frankfurt-am-Main.

1468. Roma are recorded in Cyprus.

1471. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Lucerne, Switzerland.

17,000 Roma are transported into Moldavia by Stephan the Great for slave labour.

1472. Duke Friedrich of the Rhine Palatinate asks his people to help Roma pilgrims.

1476 and 1487. King Matthias of Slovakia issues safe-conduct orders for travelling Roma.

1482. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in state of Brandenburg.

1485. Roma are recorded in Sicily.

1489. Roma musicians are reported on Czepel Island, Hungary.

1492 and 1496. King Vladislav of Slovakia issues safe-conduct orders for travelling Roma.

1492. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Spain.

1493. Roma are expelled from Milan.

1496-1498. The Reichstag (parliament) in Landau and Freiburg declares Roma traitors to the Christian countries, spies in the pay of the Turks, and carriers of the plague.

1498. Four Gypsies accompany Christopher Columbus on his third voyage to the New World.

1499. Medina del Campo in Spain orders Gitanos to find a trade and master, cease travelling with other Gitanos, all within sixty days. Punishment for failure to obey is 100 lashes and banishment. Repeat offences are punished by amputation of ears, sixty days in chains, and banishment. Third-time offenders become the slaves of those who capture them.


1500. At the request of Maximilian I, the Augsburg Reichstag declares Roma traitors to the Christian countries, and accuses them of witchcraft, kidnapping of children, and banditry.
c. 1500. Gitano influence on Andalusian flamenco song and dance begins. Although flamenco is not a Gitano invention, the art of flamenco later becomes forever associated with the Gitanos from the 19th century onwards.

1501. Roma are recorded in Russia.

1504. Roma are prohibited by Louis XII from living in France. The punishment is banishment.

1505. Roma are recorded in Scotland, probably from Spain.

1510. Roma are prohibited by the Grand Council of France from residence. The punishment is banishment. A second offence results in hanging.

1512. Roma are first recorded in Sweden on 29 September. A company of about 30 families, lead by a "Count Anthonius" arrives in Stockholm, claiming that they came from "Little Egypt". They are welcomed by the city and given lodging and money for their stay. A few years later, King Gustav Vasa (1521-1560), suspects that the Roma are spies and orders that they be driven out from the country.

Roma are expelled from Catalonia.

1523. Prague officially allows nomads to remain. The welcome does not last long.

1525. Charles V issues an edict in Holland ordering all those that call themselves Egyptians to leave the country within two days.

1526. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Holland and Portugal.

1530. The first law expelling Gypsies from England is introduced. Henry VIII forbids the transportation of Gypsies into England. The fine is forty pounds for ship's owner or captain. The Gypsy passengers are punished by hanging.

1531. The Augsburg Reichstag forbids the issuing of passports to Roma.

1536. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Denmark.

1538. Deportation of Roma in Portugal to colonies begins.

1539. Roma are prohibited by Frances I from residence in France. The punishment is banishment. A second offence results in corporal punishment.

1540. Gypsies are allowed to live under their own laws in Scotland.

1541. Roma are blamed for outbreak of fires in Prague. This sets the stage for future anti-Gypsy legislation.

The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Scotland.

1547. Edward VI of England institutes law requiring that Gypsies be seized and "branded with a 'V' on their breast, and then enslaved for two years." If escapees are caught they will be branded with an "S" and made slaves for life.

Andrew Boorde authors an encyclopedia in England entitled The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge. It has a chapter on Romani, which includes some of the earliest specimens of the language.

1549. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Bohemia.


1554. In the reign of Philip and Mary, an Act is passed which decrees that that the death penalty shall be imposed for being a Gypsy, or anyone who "shall become of the fellowship or company of Egyptians."
1557. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Lithuania.

In the reign of Sigismund Augustus, the first law ordering Roma to be expelled is passed by the Warsaw Seym (parliament).

1559. Roma are recorded on the Finnish island of Åland.

1560. The Archbishop of the Swedish Lutheran Church forbids priests to have any dealings with Roma. Their children are not to be christened and their dead not to be buried.

1560 and others. Spanish legislation forbids Gitanos of travelling in groups of more than two. Gitano "dress and clothing" is banned. Punishment for wearing Gitano clothing and travelling in groups of more than two is up to eighteen years in the galleys for those over fourteen years of age. This legislation is later altered to change the punishment to death for all nomads, and the galleys reserved for settled Gitanos.

1561. Roma are prohibited by Charles IX of France from residence. The punishment is banishment. A second offence results in the galleys and corporal punishment. Men, women and children have their heads shaved.

1562. An Act is passed in England "for further punishment of Vagabonds, calling themselves Egyptians." Any Gypsy born in England and Wales is not compelled to leave the country if they quit their idle and ungodly life and company. All others should suffer death and loss of lands and goods.

1563. The Council of Trent in Rome affirms that Roma cannot be priests.

1568. Pope Pius V orders the expulsion of all Roma from the domain of the Roman Catholic Church.

1573. Gypsies in Scotland are ordered to leave the country or settle down.

1578. At the General Warsaw Seym, King Stephen Báthory pronounces an edict threatening sanctions against anyone who harbours Roma on their lands. They are punished as accomplices of outlaws.

1579. Augustus, elector of Saxony, orders the confiscation of Romani passports and banishes them from Saxony.

Gypsies are recorded in Wales.

Wearing of Romani dress is banned in Portugal.

1580. Roma are recorded on the Finnish mainland.

1586. Nomadic Roma are ordered expelled from Belarus.

1589. In Denmark, the death penalty is ordered for any Roma not leaving the country.

1595. Stefan Razvan, the son of a Roma slave and free woman, becomes ruler of Moldavia in April. He is deposed four months later and murdered in December of the same year.

1596. 106 men and women are condemned to death at York just for being Gypsies, but only nine are executed. The others prove they were born in England.


Early 17th century. Spanish legislation becomes harsher, forbidding Gitanos from dealing in horses. The local populace is given permission to form armed groups to pursue Gitanos.
1606. Roma are prohibited by Henry IV of France from any gathering of more than three or four. Roma are punished as "vagabonds and evil-doers."

1611. Spanish legislation orders that all Gitano occupations must be connected to the land.

1619. Philip III declares all Gitanos are to be banished from the kingdom of Spain within six months, or to settle in a locality with over 1,000 inhabitants. The dress, name and language of the Gitanos is banned. The punishment is death.

1637. The first anti-Gypsy law in Sweden is enacted. All Roma should be expelled from the country within one year. If any Roma are found in Sweden after that date the men will be hanged and the women and children will be driven out from the country.

1646. An ordinance passed in Berne gives anyone the right "personally to kill or liquidate by bastinado or firearms" Roma or Heiden (heathen) malefactors.

1647. Roma are punished by the Louis XIV regency of France for being "Bohemians." Punishment is the galleys.

1652. Matiasz Korolewicz is conferred the title "King of the Gypsies" by the Polish Royal Chancery.

1650s. Last known execution for being Gypsies, in Suffolk, England. Others are banished to America.

1660. Roma are prohibited from residence in France by Louis XIV. Punishment is banishment. A second offense results in the galleys or corporal punishment.

1660-1800. The identity of the English Gypsy Romanichal group has been formed. They survive by working for local people who know them.

1661. Johann Georg II, elector of Saxony, imposes the death penalty to any Roma caught in his territory.

1666. Punished by Louis XIV of France for being "Bohemians." Men are sent to the galleys. Women and girls are flogged, branded and banished.

1682. Louis XIV reiterates his previous policy: punishment for being "Bohemian." Men are sentenced to the galleys for life on the first offence. Women's heads are shaved and children are sent to the poor house. For a second offence, women are branded and banished.

1685. Portugal deports Roma to Brasil, and makes it a crime to speak Romani.

1686. Frederick William, elector of Brandenburg, decrees that Roma are not to be allowed trade or shelter.

There is a sudden and radical change in the attitude of the Swedish Lutheran Church. Roma are now accepted and their children may be christened.


1700-16 and 1720-22. In Lorraine, Roma are punished for begging and vagabondage in general. Punishment is banishment. A second offence results in iron collars, branding and banishment.
1710. In Prague, Joseph I issues an edict that all adult Roma men will be hanged without trial and that boys and women be mutilated. In Bohemia, the left ear is to be cut off. In Moravia the right ear is to be cut off. Lodging or otherwise aiding Roma is punishable by up to six months forced labour.

Prince Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz issues orders that all Roma can be flogged, branded, expelled, or executed if they return. Children under ten are to be removed and raised by Christian families.

1711. Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony authorizes shooting of Roma if they resist arrest.

1711-1772. Cinka Panna is one of the most popular musicians in Slovakia and eastern Europe. A maestro violinist, she tours with her own Romani musical ensemble.

1714. British merchants and planters apply to the Privy Council to ship Gypsies to the Caribbean, avowedly to be used as slaves.

In Mainz, all Roma are to be executed without trial on the grounds that their way of life is outlawed.

Romani music bands are recorded to travel in the Austro-Hungarian court of Esterháza. They accompany the dancing of soldiers playing verbunkos, in recruiting efforts for Nicolas the Magnificent's military operations.

1715. Ten Gypsies in Scotland are recorded deported to Virginia in the Americas.

1717. Forty-one localities are set out in Spain as places of residence for Gitanos.

1719 and other years. In France, sentencing for being Roma is altered from the galleys to deportation to French colonies.

1721. Emperor Karl VI of the Austro-Hungarian empire orders the extermination of Roma throughout his domain.

1723. Roma are prohibited from residence in the Lorraine, gathering in the woods or main roads. Punishment is banishment. Communities are encouraged "to gather, march in formation and open fire on them."

1724. All vagabonds and vagrants are prohibited by Louis XV of France from residence and nomadism and gathering of more than four adults in a house. Adult men are sentenced to the galleys for five years. All others are flogged and sent to the poor house.

1725. Frederick William I condemns any Roma over eighteen caught in his territory, man or woman, to be hanged without trial.

1726. Gitanos in Spain are forbidden to appeal against the sentences of the courts.

Charles VI passes a law that any Rom found in the country are to be killed instantly. Romani women and children are to have their ears cut off and whipped all the way to the border.

1727. Berne decree no.13 reiterates that Roma are forbidden to stay. "Gypsy men and women of more than fifteen years of age shall have one ear cut off the first time they are caught ... but if they are caught a second time they shall be sentenced to death."

1728. The town council of Aachen passes an ordinance condemning Roma to death. "Captured Gypsies, whether they resist or not, shall be put to death immediately. However, those seized who do not resort to counter-attack shall be granted no more than a half an hour to kneel, if they so wish, beg God almighty to forgive them their sins and to prepare themselves for death."

1733. Empress Anna Ioannovna of Russia decrees Roma are forbidden to travel and must settle down as serfs of the land.

1734. Frederick William I decrees that any Roma caught in his territory, man or woman, will be hanged without trial. A reward is offered.

1740. The Guild of Locksmiths at Miskolc in Hungary canvas successfully for an order to stop Roma from doing any metalwork outside their tents.

Charles VI issues an edict that anyone caught aiding Roma will be punished.

1745. Gitanos in Spain must settle in assigned places within two weeks. The punishment for failure is execution. "It is legal to fire upon them to take their life." The Churches no longer provide asylum. Armed troops are ordered to comb the countryside.

1748. All Swedish laws concerning Gypsies are integrated into one law, intending to prevent further immigration and to force Roma to settle.

1749. The year of the "Great Gypsy Round-up" in Spain. Gitanos are separated from "the bad and the good" through inquiries and witnesses reports. For the "bad," punishment is forced public works. Escapees are hanged. Motherless girls are sent to poor houses or into service for "honest" people. Older girls and wives of sentenced men with children under seven are "educated in Christian doctrine and the holy fear of God" and sent to factories.


1753-54. Stephan Valyi, a Hungarian student at the University of Leyden discovers the Panjabi root of the Romani language from comparing 1,000 words spoken by three university students from Malabar to the Roma of Raab near his hometown.
1759. Roma are banned from Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1761. Maria Theresa, Empress of Hungary, passes first laws in Europe trying to settle and reform, or assimilate, Roma, calling them the "New Hungarians."

1763. In the Austro-Hungarian empire, Székely Von Doba first brings Pastor Stephan Valyi's findings about the Indian origins of the Roma to academic attention in the November 6 edition of The Vienna Gazette.

1764. All vagabonds and vagrants are denied residence in France with renewed legislation. Adult men are sentenced to the galleys for three years. All others are confined to the poor house for three years, and are then given a choice of domicile and a trade. Repeated offences by men result in the galleys for nine years, and in several repeat offences, in perpetuity.

1764-1827. János Bihari, Rom composer and bandleader, popularises "Hungarian dance" music.

1773. In December, Maria Theresa, Empress of Hungary, orders all Romani children over five in the Palatinate of Pressburg and at Fahlendorf to be taken from their parents. They are transported to distant villages and assigned to peasants to bring them up for a stipend of 12-18 florins a year. Most of the children run away to rejoin their families, who take refuge in the mountains or disappear in the plains.

1776. Constantin, Prince of Moldavia, prohibits marriages to Roma.

1780. English anti-Gypsy laws are gradually repealed, though not totally, from this date on.

1782. Joseph II of Hungary, son of Empress Maria Theresa, issues a 59-point edict reiterating his policy: schooling for children and compulsory attendance at religious services; Romani language, clothing and music are forbidden.

In Hungary, two hundred Roma are accused and charged with cannibalism.

1783. Spanish legislation reiterates previous orders. Gitano dress, way of life, language is forbidden, and settlement is compulsory within ninety days. The name Gitano is forbidden and is to be removed from all official documents. Restrictions on trade and place of residence of Gitanos is lifted. Punishment for failure to observe restrictions is branding. Repeat offenders are sentenced to "death, with no appeal."

Heinrich Grellman of Göttingen University writes Die Zigeuner. Drawing on the works of previous writers, he links India as the original homeland of the Gypsies through their language.

Late 18th century. Count Orlov of Russia organises the first Romani chorus, headed by Ivan Sokolov. The chorus members are selected from his Romani serfs.


Early 1800s. "Gypsy hunts" (Heidenjachten) are a common and popular sport in Germany.
1802. The prefect of the department of Basses Pyrenees in France issues an order "to purge the country of Gypsies."

1803. Napolean Bonaparte prohibits residence of Roma in France. Children, women and the aged are sentenced to the poor house. Young men are given their choice of joining the navy or army. Adult men are sent to forced labour.

1807. Count Orlov of Russia frees the artists of his Romani chorus and they become the first professional chorus in Russia. The group includes the famous Stepanida Soldatova.

1811. Trinity Cooper, a Gypsy girl aged thirteen, demands to be let into a charity school for "ragged children" in Clapham, near London, with her two brothers. They are finally admitted.

1816. John Hoyland, a Quaker, writes the first serious book calling for better treatment for Gypsies in England. Several charitable projects follow; but many Gypsies are transported as criminals to Australia.

1822. In the United Kingdom, the Turnpike Act is introduced. Gypsies found camping on the roadside are fined.

1830s. First wooden horse-drawn covered waggons for Gypsies are developed in England.

1830. Authorities in Nordhausen, Germany remove Roma children from their families for fostering with non-Roma.

1834. The governour of Wallachia, Alexander Ghica, frees all state slaves.

1837. George Borrow translates Saint Luke's Gospel into Romani.

1842. The hospodar of Moldavia, Mihail Sturdza, emancipates all state slaves; however, in Wallachia and Moldavia private ownership of Romani slaves is still legally permitted.

1844. The Moldavian Church liberates its Romani slaves.

1847. The Wallachian Church liberates its Romani slaves.

1848. Emancipation of serfs (including Roma) in Transylvania.


1855. Gobineau publishes his book Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines, which argues that human beings fall into higher and lower races, with the white "Aryan" race, and particularly the Nordic people, ranking at the top. This had particular impact upon German philosophical and political thinking.
A decree issued in the Duchy of Baden warns the citizens that "in recent times, Gypsies, especially from Alsace, have frequently been re-entering and travelling about with their families, purportedly to engage in trade but mostly for the purposes of begging or other illegal activities."

1856. The Slobuzenja. Abolition of slavery in Romania; large-scale emigrations of Roma to western Europe and America begin.

1864. Complete legal freedom for Roma in the united Balkan states is granted by Prince Ioan Alexandru Couza.

1868. In Holland, Richard Liebich's work on Roma introduces the phrase "lives unworthy of life" with specific reference to them, and later used as a racial category against Roma in Nazi Germany.

1870. Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck circulates a letter dated November 18th demanding the "complete prohibition of foreign Gypsies crossing the German border," and that "they will be transported by the closest route to their country of origin." He also states that Roma in Germany be asked to show documentary proof of citizenship, and that if this is not forthcoming, they be denied travelling passes.

1874. Muslim Roma are given equal rights with other Muslims in the Ottoman Empire.


1876. Cesare Lombroso publishes his influential work L'uomo deliquente, which contains a lengthy chapter on the genetically criminal character of the Roma. This is translated into many languages, including German and English, and has a profound effect upon western legal attitudes.
A decree is issued in Bavaria which calls for the strictest examination of documentation held by Roma, both at the borders and inland, and the confiscation of their work permits wherever the slightest reason warrants. Their horses are also to be examined and confiscated if deemed unhealthy. The movements of those Gypsies who are allowed to remain are still to be carefully monitored.

1879. A national conference of Roma is convened in Kisfalu, Hungary.

Nomadism is banned in Serbia.

1880s. Agricultural depression in England brings poverty to many Gypsies, who move to squatter areas near towns.

Argentina forbids Roma entry into country.

1884. Dr. Sonya Kavalevsky, a Romni, is appointed professor of mathematics at Stockholm University becoming the first female professor in Scandinavia.

1885-95. Unsuccessful attempts in England to introduce the Moveable Dwellings Bills in Parliament to regulate Gypsy life.

1885. Roma are excluded by United States immigration policy; many are returned to Europe.

1886. Chancellor von Bismarck issues a directive to the governments of all regions of Germany alerting them to "complaints about the mischief caused by bands of Gypsies travelling in the Reich, and their increasing molestation of the population," and states that foreign Roma are to be dealt with in particular. This leads to the creation of many regional policies designed to deport non-German-born Roma.

Nomadism is banned in Bulgaria.

1889. The Showmen's Guild formed to oppose the Moveable Dwellings Bills. Showmen begin to become a distinct group from other Travellers or Gypsies.

1890. The Swabian parliament organizes a conference on the "Gypsy Scum" (Das Zigeunergeschmeiß), and suggests means by which the presence of Roma could be signalled from village to village by ringing church bells. The military is empowered to apprehend and move Roma on.

1899. An Information Agency, the Central Office for Fighting the Gypsy Nuisance (Nachrichtendienst in Bezug auf die Zigeuner), is established in Munich under the direction of Alfred Dillmann to collate reports on Roma movement throughout German lands, and a register of all Gypsies over the age of six is begun. This includes obtaining photographs, fingerprints and other genealogical data, and particularly information relating to "criminality." This leads to two initiatives: Dillmann's Zigeuner-Buch (1905), and the December 1911 conference. This agency does not officially close down until 1970.


1904. The Prussian Landtag unanimously adopts a proposition to regulate Gypsy movement and means of livelihood.
1905. Alfred Dillmann's Zigeuner-Buch appears in Germany. This consists of three parts; an introduction which presents the arguments for controlling Roma, a register, 310 pages long, of over 5,000 Roma, including name, date and place of birth, genealogy and kinship, criminal record and so on, and lastly a collection of photographs of Roma and Sinti from various police files. The introduction maintains that the German people are "suffering" from a "plague" of Roma, that they are "a pest against which society must unflaggingly defend itself," and that they "must be controlled by the police most severely," being "ruthlessly punished" when necessary. The notion of the particular dangers of mixed Romani and white individuals, whom Dillmann considers to constitute almost the entire Roma population, resurfaces in the Nuremburg Laws in 1935. These racially-motivated statements also support the Zigeuner-Buch's emphasis on the Romani genetic tendency toward criminal behavior.

Voting rights are demanded for Roma at conference in Sofia, Bulgaria.

1906. On February 17th, the Prussian Minister of the Interior issues a directive entitled Die Bekämpfung des Zigeunerunwesens ("Combatting the Gypsy nuisance") which lists bilateral agreements guaranteeing the expulsion of Roma from those countries, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland. Police are authorized to prosecute Roma for breaking the law, which offenses include "lighting fires in the woods, illegal fishing, illegal camping" and so on. Temporary school attendance is forbidden for children whose families are travelling through an area

Prussia introduces "Gypsy licenses," required by all those wanting to stay there. These are given out only if the applicant has a fixed domicile, no serious criminal convictions, educational provision for their children, and proper tax accounts. Those qualifying are nevertheless not allowed to settle locally.

1907. Many Roma in Germany leave for other countries in Western Europe.

Django Reinhardt, famous jazz/blues guitarist, is born in Ouchie, Belgium.

1908. The Children's Act in England makes education compulsory for travelling Gypsy children, but only for half the year. This is continued in the the 1944 Education Act, but many Gypsy children still have no schooling.

1909. Switzerland asks Germany, Italy, France and Austria to exchange information on the movements of Roma across their shared borders, and while this is unsuccessful, the Swiss Department of Justice begins a national register of Roma, based upon the Munich model.

Recommendations coming from a "Gypsy policy conference" in Hungary include the confiscation of their animals and carts, and permanent branding for purposes of identification.

1912. The French government introduces the carnet anthropométrique, a document containing personal data, including photograph and fingerprints which all Roma are required to carry. This remains in effect until 1970.

1914. A new law prohibits all further immigration of Roma into Sweden. The law is very efficient and Roma in Sweden are isolated from their relatives in other European countries. The law remains in effect until 1954. Norway and Denmark have similar laws during the same period.

Norway gives some thirty Roma Norwegian nationality.

1918. In Holland, the Caravan and House Boat Law introduces controls over the movements of nomads.

1919. Article 108 of the National Constitution of the Weimar Republic guarantees Roma and Sinti full and equal citizenship rights, but these are not heeded.

In Bulgaria, the Romani organisation Istiqbal (Future) is founded.

1920. On July 27th, the Minister of Public Welfare in Düsseldorf forbids Roma and Sinti from entering any public washing or recreational facilities (swimming pools, public baths, spas, parks).

In Germany, psychiatrist Karl Binding and magistrate Alfred Hoche argue for the killing of those who are "Ballastexistenzen," i.e. whose lives are seen merely as ballast, or dead weight, within humanity; this includes Roma. The concept of Lebensunwertesleben, or "lives unworthy (or undeserving) of life," becomes central to Nazi race policy in 1933, when a law incorporating this same phrase is issued by Hitler on July 14th that year.


1921. The new Czechoslovak Republic recognises Roma as a separate "nationality." This legislation is later repealed.
1922. In Baden, requirements are introduced that all Roma and Sinti be photographed and fingerprinted, and have documents completed on them.

1923. In Bulgaria, the Romani journal Istiqbal (Future) commences publication.

1924. In Slovakia, a group of Roma are tried for cannibalism. They are found innocent.

1925. The Soviet Romani Writers' Association in the Soviet Union is founded, then suppressed.

A conference is held on the Gypsy question, at which Bavaria proposes a law to compulsorily settle Roma and Sinti, and to incarcerate those not regularly employed (referred to as arbeitscheu or "work shy") to work camps for up to two years, for reasons of "public security." This applies equally to settled and non-settled Roma.

1926. The Swiss Pro Juventute Foundation begins, "in keeping with the theories of eugenics and progress," to take children away from Roma without their consent, to change their names, and to put them into foster homes. This program continues until 1973, and is not brought to light until the 1980s. Switzerland has apologized to the Roma, but adamantly refuses to allow them access to the records which will help them locate the children taken from them.

On July 16th, The Bavarian "Law for Combatting Gypsies, Vagabonds and Idlers" proposed at the 1925 conference is passed. It is justified in the legislative assembly thus: "[Gypsies] are by nature opposed to all work, and find it especially difficult to tolerate any restriction of their nomadic life; nothing, therefore, hits them harder than loss of liberty, coupled with forced labor." The law requires the registration of all Roma and Sinti, settled or not, with the police, registry office and unemployment agency in each district. Bavarian State Counselor Hermann Reich praises "the enactment of the Gypsy law. . . This law gives the police the legal hold it needs for thorough-going action against this constant danger to the security of the nation."

[lydia78]

1927. Steve Kaslov founds the Roma Red Dress Association in the United States; Kaslov meets with President Franklin Roosevelt for support of Romani rights.

In Czechoslovakia, law no.117 prohibits Romani nomadism and bars nomads from "leading the life of Gypsies." Roma identity cards are introduced for. Children under fourteen may be taken from their families and placed in children's homes or with respectable families.

R. L. Turner proves that the phonetics of the Romani language had earlier been linked with the central group of Hindi languages in India.

On November 3rd, a Prussian ministerial decree is issued requiring all Roma to be registered through documentation "in the same manner as individuals being sought by means of wanted posters, witnesses, photographs and fingerprints." Infants are to be fingerprinted, and those over the age of six to carry identity cards bearing their photograph as well. Between November 23rd and 26th, armed raids are carried out by the police on Roma communities throughout Prussia to enforce the decree of November 3rd. Eight thousand are processed as a result.

Bavaria institutes a law forbidding Roma and Sinti to travel in family groups, or to own firearms. Those over sixteen are liable for inprisonment in work camps, while those without proof of Bavarian birth are expelled from Bavaria.

The journal Romani Zorya (Romani Dawn) is founded in Russia and starts publication in 1929.

1928. In Bavaria, an ordinance is approved placing Sinti and Roma under permanent police surveillance. In May, the same law is reissued and reaffirmed. The act is in direct violation of the provisions of the Weimar Constitution.

Professor Hans F. Günther writes that "it was the Gypsies who introduced foreign blood into Europe."

1929. On April 3rd, resulting from the law of 1926, the jurisdiction of the Munich office is extended to include the whole of Germany; the German Criminal Police Commission renames it The Central Office for the Fight Against the Gypsies in Germany. On April 16th and 17th, police departments everywhere are told to send fingerprints and other data on Roma both to this office and to the International Criminology Bureau (Interpol) headquarters in Vienna. Working closely together, they enforce restrictions on travel for Roma without documents, and impose up to two years' detention in "rehabilitation camps" on Roma sixteen years and older.

In the USSR, Nikolai Pankov's book Buti I Dzinaiben (Work and Knowledge) is published.


1930. Michael Kwiek II succeeds his father Gregory as "King of the Gypsies" in Poland and is recognized as such by the Polish government.
In the USSR, the first issue of Nevo Drom (New Way) is published.

The Norwegian journalist Scharfenberg recommends that all Roma be sterilized.

1931. The Moscow Gypsy Theatre (Theatre Romen) is started as a Soviet experiment; it still exists today.

1933. The Uniunea Generala a Romilor din Romania (General Assembly of Roma in Romania) led by Gheorghe Nicolescu holds conference in Bucharest seeking to establish a library, hospital and university for Roma. Also proposed is the creation of a national holiday marking the end of Romani slavery.

Ten days before Hitler is elected Chancellor of The Third Reich on January 30th, officials in Burgenland call for the withdrawal of all civil rights for Roma, and the introduction of clubbing as a punishment.

On May 26th, The Law to Legalize Eugenic Sterilization is introduced by the National Socialists (Nazi Party) in Germany.

On July 14th, Hitler's cabinet passes the law against "lives not deserving of life" (Lebensunwertesleben), called The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring. It orders sterilization for certain categories of people, "specifically Gypsies and most of the Germans of black color" (called the "Rhineland Bastards," i.e. those resulting from unions between German women and the Senegalese and other African troops brought in from the French colonies to patrol the Ruhr Valley during the First World War, as well as residents in Europe from Germany's ex-colonies in Africa). It also affectes Jews, the disabled, and others seen as "asocial" (social misfits).

The Law for the Revocation of German Citizenship is implemented against Roma without proof of German birth, as well as "Eastern Jews" (nearly 20 percent of all Jews in Germany in 1933).

The Sinto boxer, Johann Trollman, is stripped of his title as light-heavyweight champion of Germany for "racial reasons."

In Romania, the journals Neamul Tiganesc (Gypsy Nation) and Timpul (The Time) are founded.

In Bulgaria, the Romani journal Terbie (Education) starts publication.

The Oberwarth District Prefect in Germany submits a petition demanding that the League of Nations investigate the possibility of establishing a colony for the resettlement of European Gypsies in the Polynesian Islands.

In the week of September 18th - 25th, the Reichsminister for the Interior and Propaganda of Germany calls for the apprehension and arrest of Roma and Sinti, according to the "Law Against Habitual Criminals." Many Roma are sent to concentration camps as a result, and made to do penal labor.

In Latvia, Saint John's Gospel is translated into Romani.

1934. Django Reinhardt forms "The Quintet Hot Club de France" and introduces French "swing jazz" to the world, influencing American jazz entertainers.

Sweden passes a law on sterilization, which becomes harsher in 194l. Anyone, including Roma, seen as leading "a socially undesirable life" are to be sterilised. Allthough the law does not explicitly say so, it suggests that Gypsies and "Tattare" (Norwegian "Wanderer") are not socially desirable and thus must be sterilised to keep the Swedish race clean.

From January onwards, Roma in Germany are selected for transfer to camps for processing, which includes sterilization by injection or castration. Over the next three years, these camps will be established at Dachau, Dieselstrasse, Sachsenhausen, Marzahn and Vennhausen.

On March 23rd, The Law for the Revocation of German Citizenship is reinstituted, and again directed at Roma, Eastern Jews, stateless persons and other "undesirable foreigners."

In July, two laws issued in Nuremburg forbid Germans from marrying "Jews, Negroes and Gypsies."

On September 8th, the Düsseldorf District Administrative Court in Germany prohibits Roma from obtaining licenses allowing them to engage in itinerant trade.

On December 3rd in Berlin and Düsseldorf police ordinances are issued forbidding fortune-telling.


1935. In Yugoslavia, the journal Romano Lil is published.
In May, some five hundred Roma and Sinti are arrested because they are Gypsies, and incarcerated in a camp on Venloerstrasse in Cologne, Germany. This detention center is surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by armed police.

On September 15th, Roma and Sinti become subject to the restrictions of the National Citizenship Law (the Reichsbürgergesetz) and the Nuremberg Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbids intermarriage or sexual relationships between Aryan and non-Aryan peoples. It states: "A marriage cannot be concluded when the expected result will put the purity of German blood of future generations in danger." A policy statement issued by the Nazi Party reads "In Europe generally, only Jews and Gypsies come under consideration as members of an alien people." Gypsies, Jews and Blacks are considered "racially distinctive" minorities with "alien blood." On September 17th, the National Citizenship Law relegates Jews and Roma to the status of second class citizens, and deprives them of their civil rights.

On November 26th, the Central Reich Bureau and the Prussian Ministry of the Interior circulate an order to local vital statistics registration offices throughout Germany, prohibiting mixed marriages, specifically between "Gypsies, Black people, and their bastard offspring."

In December all Roma in the town of Gelsenkirchen, Germany are incarcerated in camps on Crangerstraße and Reginenstraße, which are patrolled by the police, armed soldiers and dogs.

1936. On March 4th, a memorandum to the State Secretary of the Interior, Hans Pfundtner, addresses the creation of a national Gypsy law (Reichzigeunergesetz), the purpose of which is to deal with the complete registration of the Romani population, their sterilization, the restriction on their movement and means of livelihood, and the expulsion of all foreign-born and stateless Roma.

On March 7th, Gypsies and Jews both have their voting rights taken from them.

On March 20th, "action against the Gypsies" is instituted in Frankfurt am Main, when the City Council votes to put all Roma into an internment camp. The camp, on Dieselstrasse, is selected on September 22nd this year, and arrests and internment begin a year later.

In June, the main Nazi institution to deal with Roma, the Racial Hygiene and Criminal Biology and Research Unit (which is Department 13 of the National Ministry of Health) is established under the directorship of Dr. Robert Ritter at Berlin-Dahlem. The National Interior Ministry supervises this entire project, partially funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemainschaft (the German Research Foundation). Its expressed purpose is to determine whether the Romani people and the Afro-Europeans are Aryans or sub-humans (Untermenschen). By early 1942, Ritter has documented the genealogy of almost the entire German Roma and Sinti population.

On June 5th, a circular issued by the National and the Prussian Ministries of the Interior instructs police to renew their efforts to "fight against the Gypsy plague." Information about Roma should no longer be sent to Vienna, but to the Munich Centre for the Fight Against the Gypsy Nuisance.

On June 6th, the same ministries release a second circular, signed by Himmler which states that "Gypsies live by theft, lying and begging, and are a plague ... It will be difficult for Gypsies to get used to an orderly, civilized way of life." Also on this day, a decree issued by the National and Prussian Ministry of the Interior brings into existence the Central Office to Combat the Gypsy Menace. This office in Munich becomes the headquarters of a national data bank on Gypsies, and represents all German police agencies together with the Interpol International Center in Vienna. Interpol is located in the police headquarters on Roßauerlände in Vienna.

In June and July, several hundred Roma and Sinti are transported to Dachau by order of the Minister of the Interior as "dependents of the Munich Centre for the Fight Against the Gypsy Nuisance." Attempts to escape are punishable by death.

In Bavaria, a deportation decree sends 400 Roma and Sinti to Dachau for forced labor.

In this year, Dr. Hans Globke, Head of Service for the Ministry of the Interior for the Third Reich, who serves on the panel on racial legislation, declares that "in Europe, only Jews and Gypsies are of foreign blood," while race hygienist Dr. Robert Körber writes in Volk und Staat that "The Jews and the Gypsies are today remote from us because of their Asiatic ancestry, just as ours is Nordic." This sentiment is reiterated by Dr. E. Brandis, who writes that "only the Gypsies are to be considered as an alien people in Europe (beside the Jews)."

Dr. Claus Eichen publishes his book Raßenwahn: Briefe über die Raßenfrage (Delusions of race: Notes on the race question) in which he justifies sterilization of "asocial" and "criminal" elements in German society.

Interpol in Vienna establishes the Centre for Combatting the Gypsy Menace, which has grown out of the earlier Bureau of Gypsy Affairs.

In Leipzig, Martin Block publishes his general study of Gypsies, and justifies Nazi racist attitudes by speaking of the "nauseating Gypsy smell," and the "involuntary feeling of mistrust or repulsion one feels in their presence."

In Berlin, Roma and Sinti are cleared off the streets away from public view because of the upcoming Olympic games. Fifty years later, the police in Spain do the same thing in preparation for the Olympic Games in Madrid.

1937. An editorial in the Hamburger Tagblatt in August by Georg Nawrocki, takes the Weimar Republic to task for its lenient attitude towards Roma and Sinti: "It was in keeping with the inner weakness and mendacity of the Weimar Republic that it showed no instinct for tackling the Gypsy question. For it, the Sinti were a criminal concern at best -- we, on the other hand, see the Gypsy question above all as a racial problem, which must be solved, and which is being solved." .

On August 18th, Roma and Sinti in Frankfurt are arrested and incarcerated in the Dieselstrasse camp.

1938. On June 12-18, Zigeuneraufrämungswoche, "Gypsy Clean-up Week," is in effect, and hundreds of Roma and Sinti throughout Germany and Austria are rounded up, beaten and imprisoned. This is the third such public action by the German state. Like Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night," or the "Night of Broken Glass" on November 9th this same year) for the Jews, it is a public sanctioning and approval of the official attitude towards members of an "inferior race."

On March 16th, Roma and Sinti are no longer allowed to vote in Germany. After March 23rd, Jews are also no longer allowed to vote.

Heinrich Himmler issues a decree entitled Bekämpfung der Zigeunerplage stating that Gypsies of mixed blood are the most predisposed to criminality, and that police departments should systematically send data on Roma and Sinti in their areas to the Reich Central Office.

In the USSR, Joseph Stalin bans the Romani language and culture.

1939. In Greece, the Panhellenic Cultural Association of Greek Gypsies is formed.

1939-45. Second World War. Nazis draw up lists of English Gypsies for internment. British government creates caravan sites for families of Gypsies in the army or doing farm labour. These sites are closed after the war.


1940. Robert Ritter publishes a report in which he states that "we have been able to establish that more than 90% of the so-called 'native' [i.e. German-born] Gypsies are of mixed blood ... Furthermore, the results of our investigations have allowed us to characterize the Gypsies as being a people of entirely primitive ethnological origins, whose mental backwardness makes them incapable of real social adaptation ... The Gypsy question can only be solved when the main body of asocial and worthless Gypsy individuals of mixed blood is collected together in large labor camps and kept working there, and when the further breeding of this population of mixed blood is permanently stopped."
The French government opens internment camps for nomads.

In Austria, internment camps are built at Maxglan, Slazburg, and Lackenbach.

At Buchenwald, 250 Romani children are used as guinea-pigs to test the Zyklon-B gas crystals.

1941. In August, Heinrich Himmler issues a decree in Germany stating the criteria for racial and biological evaluation. An individual's Gypsy genealogy is to be investigated over three generations (compared to two generations for one's Jewish genealogy). He implements a system of classification based on degree of Romani genetic descent: <Z> means "pure Gypsy," <ZM+> means more than half Gypsy, <ZM> means half Gypsy, <ZM-> means less than half Gypsy and <NZ> means non-Gypsy. Having two great-grandparents who were even only part-Gypsy (i.e. if one were of 25 percent or less Roma ancestry) counts as <ZM->.

In Germany, Romani children are excluded from schools.

In Poland, a Gypsy camp is set up in the Jewish ghetto of Lodz for 5.000 inmates.

In Croatia, the Jasenovac concentration camp is opened.

In Serbia, the German Military Command orders that all Gypsies will be treated as Jews. In November, it further orders the immediate arrest of all Gypsies and Jews, who are to be held as hostages.

All Sinti Gypsy families living in the Volga Republic are deported to Kazakhstan.

In September, an SS Task Force carries out mass executions of Roma and Jews in the Baby Yar valley of the Ukraine.

In Yugoslavia in October, the German army executes 2.100 Jewish and Gypsy hostages as reprisal for soldiers killed by partisans.

1942. Heinrich Himmler issues the order to deport the Gypsies in Greater Germany to the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In Poland, all Gypsies from the Lodz ghtetto are transported and gassed at Chelmo.

1943. In March, Robert Ritter announces the completion of his work on classifying Gypsies to the German Association for Research, saying "The registration of Gypsies and part-Gypsies has been completed, roughly as planned, in the Old Reich [pre-war Germany] and in the Ostmark [Austria], despite all of the difficulties engendered by the War. Our studies are still in progress in the annexed territories ... The number of cases clarified from the racial and biological perspective is 21,498 at the present time." Ten months later their figures increase to 23,822.

Nazi leader Himmler orders all Gypsy camps closed, resulting in the liquidation of the Romani prisoners.

1944. Zigeunernacht, literally, Gypsy Night. On August 2, four thousand Roma are gassed and cremated in a single action at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In Slovakia, Roma join the fight of partisans in the Slovak National Uprising.

1933-45. O Porraimos, the Great Devouring. Up to 1,500,000 Sinti and Roma are killed in Europe by the Nazi regime and its puppet states. Determining the percentage or number of Roma who died in the Holocaust is not easy. Much of the Nazi documentation still remains to be analyzed, and many murders were not recorded, since they took place in the fields and forests where Roma were apprehended.

1945. In Bulgaria, the Romani Organisation for the Fight against Fascism and Racism is established.


1945-60. Gypsies begin to use motor-drawn trailers, and buy land for their own stopping-places in England.
1946. In France, Mateo Maximoff's novel The Ursitory is published.

In Poland, the Roma Ensemble is founded.

1947. Teatr Roma (Theater Roma) is established in Sofia, Bulgaria. It closes four years later.

1950. The first published poems of Bronislawa Wajs, a Romni poetess and singer from Poland, known as "Papusza," appear in Problemy magazine.

1950s. In Germany, the Verband Deutscher Sinti (Association of German Sinti) and the Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma (Central Council of German Sinti and Roma) are founded to further reparation claims from World War II, and later to pursue equal civil and social rights.

1950-1967. In the Cologne region of Germany, identity papers given to survivors of the Nazi concentration camps are withdrawn from Sinti and Roma on the grounds that they could provide no written proof of their German nationality.

1952. The Romani Evangelical Church movement is started in Britanny, France under the leadership of Clément Le Cossec.

1953. In Denmark, Roma are readmitted to the country.

1954. Police authorities in Bavaria set up a special office, in conjunction with Interpol, for registering Sinti and Roma.

1955. Matéo Maximoff, a Kalderash Rom, writes the novel Le Prix de la Liberté (The Price of Freedom), dealing with the dying days of Romani slavery; Maximoff's own grandfather was born into slavery in Romania.

1958. In Czechoslovakia, law no.74 bans nomadism. To enforce this policy, police kill all caravan horses and remove the wheels from their waggons. To remain a nomad is punishable by prison terms of six months to three years.

Bulgaria attempts an assimilation campaign by issuing a decree that prohibits Roma from travelling. Local councils are enjoined to channel them into factories and cooperative farms. This campaign will last for thirty years.

1959. Zohri Muller founds the organisation Pro Tzigania Svizzera in Switzerland.

The World Gypsy Community (CMG) is founded in Paris by Ionel Rotaru. The CMG includes Rom, Manush, and Kalé from France, with contacts in Poland, Canada, Turkey, and other countries.

1960. The Caravan Sites (Control of Development) Act in England stops new private sites being built until 1972. Eviction and harassment of Gypsies starts to reach a crisis.

1962. The National Association of Gypsies in France is founded.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, courts rule that Roma were persecuted for racial reasons.

1963. In Italy, the Opera Nomadi education scheme is set up.

1964. Poland approves settlement laws aimed at forcing Roma to become sedentary. Those who fail to observe these laws are expelled from the country and stripped of their citizenship.

1965. The French government issues a decree dissolving the World Gypsy Community (CMG). A group of the CMG leadership splinters off and forms the International Gypsy Committee, headed by Vanko Rouda.

In Slovakia, Roma are to be cleared and dispersed to Czech areas with fewer Roma. Roma deported under this plan either return to where they came from or are followed by their extended families, creating new concentrations of Roma, creating new government problems.

Pope Paul VI addresses some 2,000 Roma at Pomezia, Italy.

1966. Growing eviction and harassment leads to the formation of the British Gypsy Council to fight for sites.

1967. The Association of Gypsies of Finland is founded.

First Gypsy Council summer school, in Essex, England.

1968. The Caravan Sites Act insists that from 1970, local authorities should provide caravan sites for Gypsies in England. This Act is never fully enforced, and is later abolished.

Czechoslovakia abandons plans after years of failure to disperse Roma throughout Czech lands.

Rudolf Karway, President of the Zigeunermission, a civil rights movement based in Hamburg, leads a delegation to the Council of Europe's Human Rights Commission in Strasbourg, France.

1969. Miroslav Holomek becomes the head of the Union of Roma in Czechoslovakia. The Union of Roma is later banned by the Czechoslovak government in 1973. Miroslav's brother Tomas Holomek, a former parliament member, is the first Roma lawyer in Czechoslovakia.

In Bulgaria, segregated schools are set up for Roma.

Abdi Faik of Macedonia is elected to the Yugoslavian parliament.


1970. The National Gypsy Education Council is formed in England.
1971. The First World Romani Congress is held in London with delegates from fourteen countries. An international Romani flag, anthem and motto are formally approved. The term Rom is adopted as a self-appellation. Five commissions are set up dealing with social affairs, education, war crimes, language and culture.

The International Gypsy Committee is renamed the Komiteto Lumniako Romano (International Rom Committee) at the First World Romani Congress in London. Vanko Rouda is confirmed as president.

1972. The International Romani Union becomes a member of The Council of Europe.

In Sweden, the Finska Zigenarförening (Association of Finnish Gypsies) is established in Stockholm.

In France, the National Committee of Travellers is founded.

The British government begins to exempt some councils from building sites for caravans. The Gypsy Council begins to split. The government starts to give grants only to Gypsy organisations who cooperate with it.

In Czechoslovakia, a sterilisation programme for Roma begins.

1973. The Nordic Rom Council is formed representing the interests of Roma in the Scandinavian countries.

The Communist government bans Romani associations in Czechoslovakia on the grounds that Roma are not a recognised national minority and that they "failed to fulfill their integrative function."

Radio broadcasts in Romani start from Tetovo, Macedonia in Yugoslavia.

1974. The Association of Travellers in Switzerland is established.

1975. A law is passed in Belgium making it possible for Roma born in Belgium to acquire citizenship.

In Hungary, the first issues of the magazine Rom Som (I am Roma) appear.

1976. The first Roma Festival is held at Chandigarh, India. Mrs. Indira Gandhi pledges support for the demand that Roma be recognised as a national minority of Indian origin.

The Czechoslovakian newspaper Vychodoslovenske Noviny publishes the official text of government plans for compulsory sterilisation of Roma as an act of "socialistic humanity."

Sweden passes a parlimentary decision giving the State Immigration Authority responsibility for programs aimed at rehabilitating Roma socially and medically, and for providing housing for Roma in Sweden who had earlier been living under harsh conditions.

1978. In Italy, the Komiteto Romano ande Italia (National Roma Committee) is formed.

The Second World Romani Congress in Geneva renames the International Rom Committee to the Romano Internacionalno Jekhetani Union. The Congress is attended by some 120 delegates and observers from 26 countries. India is strongly represented.

1979. The International Romani Union is given consultative status at the United Nations Social and Economic Commission (UNESCO).

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is founded by President Carter. There is no Romani representation on the 65-member Holocaust Memorial Council.

In Hungary, the first exhibition of self-taught Roma artists is held.

In Norway, an ABC Romani primer is published for mother tongue teaching.

In Romania, Saint John's Gospel appears in Romani from an underground publisher.

1980. The Nasa Kniga publishing house of Skopje, Yugoslavia prints the first book of Romani grammar written entirely in the Romani script and orthography. The original printing of 3,000 copies sells out quickly.

The Union of Gypsies and Travellers in France is established.

1981. The Third World Romani Congress held in Göttingen, Germany. It is attended by some 600 delegates and observers from twenty-eight countries. It supports the demand that Roma be recognised as a national minority of Indian origin. The fate of the Roma under the Nazis dominates the discussions.

Chancellor Schmidt of West Germany meets with Roma and Sinti representatives led by Romani Rose. The Bonn government officially recognises that Roma and Sinti had been targets of racial persecution by the Nazis.

In Yugoslavia, Roma are granted national status on an equal footing with other minorities.

1982. The organisation Comili International Rom holds a ceremony commemorating the 125th anniversary of the abolition of Romani slavery in Europe.

In France, the newly elected Mitterand government promises to help nomads.

1983. The Second International Roma Festival is held at Chandigarh, India.

The first national Gypsy Pentecostal Convention is held in England.

1985. The post of Special Advisor on Holocaust-related Gypsy Matters to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council is created; however the post is considered largely an "honourary" position.

Phralipé (Brotherhood) is founded in Romania. It is the first Roma organisation in nearly fifty years established with official government approval.

In France, the First International Exhibition (Mondiale) of Gypsy Art is held in Paris.

1986. The International Romani Union becomes a member of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The United States Romani Council is formed.

The International Romani Symposium is held at Sarajevo. It supports the demand that Roma be recognised as a national minority of Indian origin.

The musical drama Amaro Drom (Our Road) by Rom playwright Emile Scuka becomes only the second play in the Romani language ever to be staged in Czechoslovakia.

1987. The United States Holocaust Memorial Council appoints its first Rom member, William Duna, seven years after its creation.

1989. The European Union starts a five-year programme for the education of Romani children.

In Poland, the first Romane Divesa festival of dance and music is held.

The collapse of Communism in Europe marks the beginning of the Third European Diaspora of the Roma, according to some scholars. Racially-motivated violence against Roma increases.

In Germany, Roma protestors demonstrate in the former concentration camp at Neuengamme against the deportation of asylum seekers.


1990. The Fourth World Romani Congress held in Serock, Poland. In attendance are some 250 delegates. Among the programmes discussed are reparations from World War II, education, culture, public relations, language, and a Romani encyclopedia, written in Romanes, not about Roma, but for Roma.
The International Romani Union is awarded membership in the European Conference on Security and Cooperation.

In Poland, the journal Rrom p-o Drom (Roma on the Road) is founded.

1991. The National Gypsy Education Council in England is renamed the Gypsy Council for Education, Culture, Welfare and Civil Rights (GCECWCR).

Romani teaching starts at Prague University, Czech Republic.

In Macedonia, Roma are accorded equal rights in the new republic.

1992. The Theatre Romathan (Romano Teatro) opens in Kosice, Slovakia.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights passes a resolution on the protection of Roma.

1993. In Macedonia, the use of the Romani language in schools is officially introduced.

In Austria, indigenous Roma are recognised as an ethnic group.

In Scotland, the Scottish Gypsy Traveller Association is established.

The International Romani Union petitions for and receives promotion to Category II, Special Consultative Status at the United Nations.

1994. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act abolishes the Caravan Sites Act leaving about 5,000 families with no legal home. British Gypsies look to Europe for protection.

In Hungary, the Budapest OSCE establishes the Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues, to be based initially in Warsaw.

In France, at a meeting in Strasbourg, the Standing Conference of Romani Associations is formed.

A proposal to teach Israeli high school students about the murder of Roma by the Nazis draws loud protests, especially from Yad Vashem, Israel's national Holocaust memorial. Critics say the curriculum, titled "Sensitivity to Suffering in the World," would blur the uniqueness of the Holocaust.

1995. The writer, Philomina Franz, a World War II concentration camp survivor, is awarded the German Federal Cross for Merits, the highest civil award which Germany confers. She is the first Sinti awarded the prize for her "activities endeavouring after understanding and conciliation."

In the United States, the first national conference on the Porrajmos (Romani Holocaust) is held at Drew University.

The Union of Romani Political Parties is formed in Slovakia.

In France, the Second International Exhibition (Mondiale) of Gypsy Art is held in Paris.

1996. The European Roma Rights Centre is set up in Budapest, Hungary.

Five thousand Roma are evicted from the Selamsiz quarter of Istanbul, Turkey.

In Spain, the Romani Union's second "Sarajevo" Peace Conference is held in Vittoria.

1997. On May 4th, Pope John Paul II beatifies Ceferino Jimenez Malla, also known as El Pele. The Blessed Ceferino Jimenez Malla was martyred for his faith in August 1936 at the age of 75 when he was shot by a Spanish Republican firing squad. El Pele becomes the first Gypsy elevated to beatification in the history of the Catholic Church. Beatification is the first step required for sainthood.

In Germany, President Herzog visits the Romani Holocaust Exhibition in Heidelberg.

In Romania, a conference is held in Bucharest on the Prevention of Violence and Discrimination against Roma in Europe.

In Spain, the first European Congress of Romani Youth is held in Barcelona.

Ian Hancock receives the Thorolf Rafto Prize for Human Rights on behalf of the Romani people. Later that year, he is appointed by U.S. President Clinton as the only Romani representative on the 65-member U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. He becomes only the second Romani representative on the Council in the USHMC's 17-year history.

In England, Romani refugees from the Slovak Republic arrive in Dover seeking asylum and receive mainly negative reactions and scepticism from local residents and the national news media.

1998. In the United States, New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman signs into law Assembly Bill 2654, repealing that state's anti-Roma law adopted in 1917. Governor Whitman's signature effectively rescinds the last anti-Roma law on the books of any American state.


they were a busy crew by the looks of things lol.:)

[synergy777]

DeDanaan
http://dedanaan.com/untilled-fields-of-irish-history/a-celtic-chronology/
A Celtic Chronology
Filed by Aine MacDermot
A Celtic Chronology : From Russia’s Steppes to America’s Door; From Kurgans to Americans

Compiled by Gerard Patrick Moran, 1998
Additional notes, minor corrections, and notations by Aine MacDermot.

Most all the early information in this chronology is based on an oral tradition that was written many hundreds of years later, so that fact and legend often became confused. Much of it , distilled of elaboration, has been supported by archaeological studies.

3000BC A nomadic people of the Russian Steppe (from the lower Volga River past the Caspian Sea and Lake Aral to the lower Yenesei River in Siberia), the Kurgan, tame the horse. These people buried their dead in mounds. The name, ‘kurgan’, is Russian for mound. Some historians call these peoples the Ur people.

2400 The mounted Kurgan move to the north Black Sea area invading and mixing with a culture known as the North Pontic, who lived on the Dnieper River on the north bank of the Black Sea. Their name came from the old name for the Black Sea which was Pontus Euxeinos. From there the North Pontic-Kurgan peoples invaded southeast into the area inhabited by a culture known as Trans-Caucasian. These people lived on both sides of the Caucasus Mountains. From the merging of these people a new people known as the Indo-Europeans developed. The Indo-European language presaged the following languages:

http://dedanaan.com/vedic-origins-children-of-danu/
Vedic Origins : Children of Danu
Filed by Aine MacDermot
Vedic Origins of the Europeans: The Danavas, Children of Danu

From: The Rig Veda and the History of India (Rig Veda Bharata Itihasa)
By David Frawley
(Aditya Prakashan, August 2001)
©2001 American Institute of Vedic Studies

Permission was granted by the author, in writing, to DeDanaan.com, 05 Mar 2003, to repost the article in its entirety.

Note: This article shows how the Proto-European Aryans, like the Celts, were originally a Vedic people called the Danavas or Sudanavas (good Danavas) connected to Vedic kings, sages and yogis.

Many ancient European peoples, particularly the Celts and Germans, regarded themselves as children of Danu, with Danu meaning the Mother Goddess, who was also, like Sarasvati in the Rig Veda, a river Goddess. The Celts called themselves “Tuatha De Danaan”, while the Germans had a similar name. Ancient European river names like the Danube and various rivers called Don in Russia, Scotland, England and France reflect this, as do place names like Den-mark (Danava-Marga), to mention but a few. The Danube which flows to the Black Sea is their most important river and could reflect their eastern origins.

In fact, the term Danu or Danava (the plural of Danu) appears to form the substratum of Indo-European identity at the base of the Hellenic, Illyro-Venetic, Italo-Celtic, Germanic and Balto-Slavic elements. The northern Greeks were also called Danuni. Therefore, the European Aryans could probably all be called Danavas.

http://dedanaan.com/vedic-origins-children-of-danu/our-druid-cousins/
Our Druid Cousins
Filed by Aine MacDermot
Our Druid Cousins
By Peter Berresford Ellis
Hinduism Today 2/2000

Meet the brahmins of ancient Europe, the high caste of Celtic society.

The Celtic people spread from their homeland in what is now Germany across Europe in the first millennium bce. Iron tools and weapons rendered them superior to their neighbors. They were also skilled farmers, road builders, traders and inventors of a fast two-wheeled chariot. They declined in the face of Roman, Germanic and Slavic ascendency by the second centuries bce. Here Peter Berresford Ellis, one of Europe’s foremost experts of the Celts, explains how modern research has revealed the amazing similarities between ancient Celt and Vedic culture. The Celt’s priestly caste, the Druids, has become a part of modern folklore. Their identity is claimed by New Age enthusiasts likely to appear at annual solstice gatherings around the ancient megaliths of northwest Europe. While sincerely motivated by a desire to resurrect Europe’s ancient spiritual ways, Ellis says these modern Druids draw more upon fanciful reconstructions of the 18th century than actual scholarship.

The Druids of the ancient Celtic world have a startling kinship with the brahmins of the Hindu religion and were, indeed, a parallel development from their common Indo-European cultural root which began to branch out probably five thousand years ago. It has been only in recent decades that Celtic scholars have begun to reveal the full extent of the parallels and cognates between ancient Celtic society and Vedic culture.

[synergy777]

http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/connections/index.php

http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/connections/

Connections: Ancient Vedic World

In India I found a race of mortals living upon the Earth,
but not adhering to it. Inhabiting cities, but not being fixed to them,
Possessing everything but possessed by nothing.

-Apollonius Tyanaeus, Greek thinker and traveller, 1st century AD

search for the truth within and out.

[hagbard_celine]

The Romanies are very mystical people. As one of Europe's tiny few nomadic people, they've been to a lot of placea and seen a lot of things without yusing the poser's cliche of having "bought the T-shirt".

I met a Romany lady last month and she had had a lot of esoteric experiences: seeing ghosts, being abducted etc.

[synergy777]

the very fact that in 1976, in chandigarh-panjab/india they held a convention recognising them as indian, should give some credibility. i met a romany, she gave some hassle/banter. it was all good natured, then i got cheeky and told about romany origins, me being panjabi, and she was awesome after, she even spoke some panjabi, i was floored and happy. we are one people, its just the elite control data and use divide and rule tactics.

[synergy777]

bump

[synergy777]

bump

[synergy777]

bump as its roma day/8th april

roma day thread.

http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60883

[synergy777]

http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.2499923.0.0.php

The Roma Empire

Sunday Briefing

AS A writer with a Romani background growing up in Scotland I was fed a diet of history, heritage and tradition. I belonged, in part, to a community that as a child I never fully understood but was always intrigued by.

My father's people were shrouded in secrecy.

They lived in trailers, and often spoke in a language that was strange to the ear.

This was cant', a Roma dialect, and the older family members were loathe to divulge any of its meaning to strangers.

My dad and his people, like generations before and after, were deeply distrustful of what they called the gorger' - you: the non-Romani.

Here, as the world prepares to celebrate the International Day of the Roma on Wednesday, the Sunday Herald takes a tour of my wonderful but little understood culture.


THE HISTORY

The Roma are an ethnic group believed to have originated in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, beginning their migration to Europe and north Africa through the Iranian plateau around 1000 years ago.

The reason for their dispersal remains a puzzle to some. But contrary to popular belief, they did not exhibit typical nomad behaviour. What moved them and continues to do so according to historians was banishment, flight and fear.

Their mass exodus from India is likely to have taken place due to the raids by Mahmud of Ghazni, between 1000 and 1026. Otherwise known as the plunderer of India, due to the acquisition of jewels, gold and silver - which was estimated to be in excess of three billion dinars - Ghazni was responsible for the slavery of thousands.

The Roma migration from India went through Mesopotamia to Turkey, where most settled from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, acclimatising them with a new culture and paving the way for their transition into Europe.

They then made their way through Asia Minor and the Balkans, settling for some time in Greece, before advancing up the Danube valley to central Europe. They continued to travel to the Caucasus, Russia and onto Scandinavia.

By the fifteenth century the Romani people had began to scatter throughout Europe. But hostility and xenophobia soon replaced curiosity and they were enslaved for up to five centuries in places like Wallachia and Moldavia, until the abolition of the Roma slave trade, known as the Slobuzenja, in western Europe in 1856.

Elsewhere in Europe, they were subject to ethnic cleansing, forced labour and had their children abducted - an ironic and cruel twist given the myths perpetuated that Roma people steal children.

Free once more, the Roma were on the move again with massive emigrations to western Europe and America.

They continued to be discriminated against with books being published in Germany in the early 20th century describing the Roma as a "plague" and a "menace" which the German population had to defend itself against using "ruthless punishments." It warned of the dangers of mixing Romani and German gene pools.


THE CULTURE

Romani ancestors belonged to the Dom' caste of Indian society. They used a language which came from Sanskrit and was related to modern Hindustani. Today their language consists of many Sanskrit words adapted into English.

Referring to Romanies as gypsy' is seen as derogatory in their culture.

Historians and linguists say it is the wrong term to use as it is a shortened form of Egyptian which the Romanies are not.

Their culture is rich and varied because of their travelling history.

Yet in spite of the diversity of their culture, they share similar value systems wherever they are in the world.

Virginity is essential in unmarried women and couples often marry young.

There has been controversy in several countries over the Romani practice of child marriages.

Childbirth is considered "impure" in Romani culture and must occur outside the home; the mother is considered "impure" for 40 days. The first born son is named after the father.

There is a taboo about cutting fingernails and toenails. Instead, they must be filed down with an emery board.

Death is also seen as impure in Roma culture. The whole family remains impure for a certain period after a bereavement.

They bury the dead person's private belongings with them as they are also considered impure.

The Romani do not cremate their dead. The bodies must be buried.

They believe the soul of the dead person does not enter Heaven until after the burial.

In Roma tradition the worst punishment is to be cast out from the community. Expulsion from Romani society is feared, and is accompanied and associated with contamination.

It's thought that while still in India, the Romani people belonged to the Hindu religion.

But they usually adopt the dominant religion of their host country, so most Eastern European Romanies are Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim while those in Western Europe are mostly Catholic or Protestant.

Features of Roma music are vocals that are soulful and melodramatic and the music often incorporates prominent glissandi or slides between notes.

Their music strongly influenced bolero, jazz, flamenco. European-style Gypsy jazz is still widely practised among the Romani people.

Dance for the Roma represents freedom of personal and spiritual expression and incorporates the flamenco, belly dancing and various folk dances resembling those of the Punjab and Rajasthan.


ROMANI IN THE UK

The number of Scottish and Irish Travellers living in the UK is uncertain and estimates have veered between 15,000 and 300,000.

Travellers, popularly known as gypsies, are often treated to racial slurs such as: gyppos, tinkers, tramps and thieves. They form part of a number of diverse and unrelated communities and speak a variety of different languages.

They hold firm to their customs, histories and traditions.

Gypsy communities in Scotland are the Scottish Highland Travellers; Funfair Travellers, or Showmen; Irish Travellers; Scottish Lowland Travellers; Romanichal Travellers, and New Age Travellers .

A national census in 2006 reported that there were 22,400 Travellers living in Ireland - just over 0.5% of the Irish population. But it's thought the figure does represent the true size of the Traveller population in Ireland.


GENOCIDE

Most people associate the genocide of the 1940s with the persecution and systematic murder of around six million Jews in the Second World War. Many are unaware of the holocaust of the Roma community during the same period.

The Porajmos, which means devouring', is a term introduced by Professor Ian Hancock, the world's premier Romani scholar.

This great crime has been neglected and largely overshadowed by the Nazi campaign to exterminate the Jews. But the Roma suffered the same indignities.

Romani prisoners in German concentration camps such as Auschwitz were made to wear an inverted brown triangle on their prison uniforms to distinguish them from other inmates.

The sterilization of Romanies was started as early as 1933 while camps were being established by the Nazis to contain them at Dachau, Dieselstrasse, Mahrzan and Vennhausen.

Former German president Roman Herzog, said: "The genocide of the Roma was carried out from the same motive of racial mania, with the same premeditation, with the same wish for the systematic and total extermination as the genocide of the Jews."

Because the Romani communities of Eastern Europe were less organized than the Jewish communities, it is more difficult to assess the actual number of victims.

Activists and historians believe that 70 per cent of the Romani population of Nazi-occupied Europe were murdered during the holocaust.

Jana Horvathova, deputy director of the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno said: "As far as the total number of Roma victims during WWII is concerned, it is still being discussed because there is little documentation.

"The numbers vary between 350,000 and two million. I personally think that there were about half a million victims."

To date, there has been no Romani speaker at the annual Holocaust Remembrance organized and hosted by the UN Headquarters in New York.

In response to written Romani protests, the organizing committee for the UN's annual observance said: "There are many issues to be addressed in Holocaust remembrance and we are doing our best to present as many as we can."


THE ROMANI CONGRESS

The World Romani Congress of the International Romani Union wants to see the standardisation of the Romani language, improvements in civil rights and education, the preservation of the Roma culture and reparations for the genocide inflicted on the Roma during the Second World War. The congress also wants international recognition of the Roma as a national minority of Indian origin and an end to prejudice, discrimination and racism. The Council of Europe supports the motives of the congress. In a statement, the CoE said: "We have a duty to protect the Roma community from systematic, regular and repetitive racism. Its members continue to be victims across Europe on an almost daily basis. Sometimes this persecution takes the form of violent acts committed by deranged individuals or groups, which is terrible. Very often it takes the form of official acts, which is even worse."


ROMANIS TODAY

The Roma community continues to suffer discrimination in Europe and the UK. The number of poverty-stricken Romanies in socially-deprived ghettoes is rising in the Czech Republic and recent reports say they suffer from far-right neo-Nazi extremism. In Europe, rapes, murders and assaults on Romanies by skinheads and neo-Nazi street gangs have increased over the past decade. When eight other eastern-European nations joined the EU in 2004 there was an influx of migrant workers in the UK as citizens were given free access to the labour market. Romanies came to seek employment and escape discrimination but found they were living in expensive, overcrowded and poor-quality accommodation; they suffered cuts in wages and were exploited by middlemen. Another strand of the UK's homeless, their community is one of the most vulnerable in society. Many came to Scotland and thousands settled in Glasgow. Roma now form a large part of the community in Govanhill.

[synergy777]

http://www.juedische.at/TCgi/_v2/TCgi.cgi?target=home&Param_Kat=3&Param_RB=27&Param_Red=11458

Hindus seek UN intervention as European Roma face apartheid like conditions

As European Union (EU) and countries of Europe reportedly seemed to lack strong political will to improve the plight of Roma people who were living in apartheid like conditions, United Nations (UN) should immediately intervene, acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, stated in Nevada (USA) today.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that Roma had reportedly suffered maltreatment from centuries in Europe and still continued to face social exclusion and it was apparent in the recently issued Human Rights Report by United States Department of State.

According to this Report, "In a number of countries, including Italy and Hungary, members of the Roma community were targets of societal violence, which in some cases was more frequent and lethal than in previous years".

This Report says that Albania "did not fund its National Roma Strategy"; in Austria "Roma faced discrimination in employment and housing"; in Belarus "Roma were often denied access to higher education"; in Bosnia and Herzegovina "mainstream society often excluded many Roma from public life"; in Bulgaria "police harassed, arbitrarily arrested, and used violence against Roma"; in Croatia "societal violence, harassment, and discrimination against Roma continued to be a problem"; in Czech Republic "restaurants, bars, and other public places at times refused to serve Roma"; in Estonia "Roma faced discrimination in employment and other areas".

It further says that in Finland, "discrimination against the approximately 10,000 Roma extended to all areas of life, resulting in their de facto exclusion from society"; in France "Roma faced discrimination in education, housing, and access to government services"; in Greece "Roma continued to face widespread governmental and societal discrimination, including systematic police abuse"; in Hungary "Roma continued to experience widespread discrimination in employment, education, housing, penal institutions, and access to public places"; in Ireland "Travellers faced societal discrimination and were regularly denied access to premises, goods, facilities, and services"; in Italy "Roma live in camps characterized by poor housing, unhygienic sanitary conditions, limited employment prospects, inadequate educational facilities, and inconsistent police presence".

In Kosovo "official and societal discrimination persisted against ...Roma"; in Latvia "government acknowledged that the Romani community faced high levels of unemployment and illiteracy, as well as widespread societal discrimination"; in Lithuania "societal hostility toward Roma continued"; in Moldova "Roma suffered violence, harassment, and discrimination"; in Montenegro, "Prejudice against Roma…was widespread, and local authorities often ignored or tacitly condoned their intimidation or mistreatment"; in Poland, there was "widespread discrimination in employment, housing, banking, the justice system, the media, and education"; in Romania "Romani groups complained that police brutality, including beatings and harassment, was routine"; in Russia "authorities in Chudovo, Novgorod Oblast, demolished the homes of several members of the local Romani community"; in Serbia "Roma were targets of verbal and physical harassment from ordinary citizens, police violence, and societal discrimination"; in Slovak Republic "Roma were particularly singled out for violence"; in Slovenia "Roma continue to suffer prejudice and discrimination, in particular with access to health services, education, and employment"; in Spain "Roma...still faced particular difficulties and discrimination in their access to employment, housing and social services and, reportedly, in the treatment they received within the criminal justice system"; in Turkey "law states that ‘nomadic Gypsies’ are among the four categories of persons not admissible as immigrants"; in Ukraine "representatives of Romani and other minority groups claimed that police officials routinely ignored, and sometimes abetted, violence against them".

Rajan Zed asked how Europe, which prided itself for its human rights record, was tolerating such widespread prejudice against a segment of its own society.

Maltreatment of Roma was simply immoral and a dark stain on the face of Europe. EU should offer "formal apology" for centuries and generations of maltreatment of the Roma, Zed added.

Zed called on all world religions, denominations and religious leaders to show strong will, courage, and commitment in support of Roma cause as they should not stay apathetic to societal truths by remaining silent spectators to the plight of Roma people of Europe. He stressed that it was not moral to remain unconcerned when fellow human beings were facing blatant injustice and discrimination right under our nose in Europe.

Rajan Zed further said that references to Roma people in Europe, who numbered around ten million, reportedly went as far back as ninth century AD. How many more centuries Roma had to reside in Europe to prove that they were "real and equal" Europeans like any other, Zed asked.

"die jüdische" 27.03.2009 06:45

[synergy777]

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/romani-pop.htm


Romani Populations in Central and Eastern Europe

The following figures for the Romani population in Central and Eastern Europe are estimates (1997). For more information on the problem of estimating the Romani population, see Present but Unaccounted for.

Country Population (est.)

Albania 10,000-120,000

Belarus 10,000-15,000

Bosnia-Herzegovina 35,000-80,000

Bulgaria 500,000-800,000

Croatia 18,000-300,000

Czech Republic 150,000-300,000

Estonia 1,000-1,500

Hungary 550,000-800,000

Latvia 2,000-3,500

Lithuania 3,000-4,000

Macedonia 110,000-260,000

Maldovia 20,000-25,000

Poland 15,000-50,000

Romania 1,410,000-2,500,000

Slovakia 458,000-520,000

Slovenia 7,000-10,000

Ukraine 50,000-60,000

Yugoslavia 400,000-600,000

[supertzar]

Somewhere I have a very, very interesting self-published book by a Romani woman who was ritually abused in Canada. I got the impression that they are often targeted for abuse and programming.

[synergy777]

download the full text in various formats

http://www.archive.org/details/journalofgypsylo01gypsuoft

http://www.archive.org/stream/journalofgypsylo01gypsuoft/journalofgypsylo01gypsuoft_djvu.txt

JOUENAL OP THE

GYPSY LORE

SOCIETY.

VOL. I. JULY 1888. No. 1.

PREFACE.

" GOOD wine needs 110 bush," and our Journal, we trust,
will thrive without self-commendation. Still, a word may
well be said as to its aims. These are to gather new
materials, to rearrange the old, and to formulate results, so
as little by little to approach the goal the final solution of
the Gypsy problem. It has already been solved, but in so
many and such diverse ways, that the true answer still
remains a matter of doubt, if indeed the true answer has
ever yet been given. There is Grellmann's old theory, by
which the Gypsies first reached Europe in 1417, Pariahs
expelled from India by Tamerlane less than ten years before.
There is the Behram Gur theory, by which, about 430 A.D.,
the Jat ancestors of our Gypsies were summoned from
India to Persia, and from Persia gradually wandered west-
ward. And there is the Prehistoric theory, by which there
have been Gypsies in Europe for more than two thousand
years, by which Europe, or a great portion of Europe, owes
to the Gypsies its knowledge of metallurgy.

These are but three out of many theories, besides which
there are a number of minor questions, as, When did the
Gypsies first set foot in England, or in North and South

VOL. i. NO. i. A



PREFACE.



America ? Then there are the language, the manners, the
folk-lore of the Gypsies. Much as has been written on these
subjects, as much remains to be written, if we are ever to
decide whether Romany is an early or a late descendant of
Sanskrit ; whether the Gypsies derived their metallurgical
terms from Greek, or the Greeks theirs from Romany ;
whether the Gypsies have always been dwellers in tents ;
and whether they got their arts, music, and folk-tales from
the Gaujios, or whether the Gaujios have borrowed from
the " Egyptians."

Already we have promise of contributions dealing with
the Romany dialects of Syria and Brazil, with the Gypsies
of Persia and Central Africa, with Gypsy bibliography, and
with eight hitherto unpublished folk-tales, which were col-
lected from London Gypsies by the late Mr. Campbell of
Islay. Indeed, our sole difficulty seems likely to be want of
space. But if from a hundred we can increase our member-
ship to twice or three times that number, the Journal will
be proportionally enlarged, and Gypsy camp-meetings, at
different centres, might hereafter be duly organised. Any-
how, we trust to preserve much information that might
otherwise perish. It is now seven years since the death of
Dr. Kounavine, a Russian physician who had abandoned his
profession, to wander for thirty-five years among the
Gypsies of Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. What was
the value of his vast collections we can only conjecture ; for
from that day to this no trace of them has come to light.
They perished with him somewhere in Siberia. Not every
one may be a Dr. Kounavine, but there lives not the
Romany Rye that has not something new to impart to his
fellow-students.

----------------------------

as i am of indian heritage, a punjabi jat, its good to see that the gypsies/romany are our brothers and sisters.

[oioioi]

How they've survived for centuries without a 'nation state' must be a mystery to some.

[haukipesukone]

There are gypsies in Finland too. They're not very liked, and they seem to like it that way.

[griffinman]

The Romanies are very mystical people. ,

I think you're right, obviously today they encounter many types of prejudi...

what the?

who left that here?:mad: c'mon own up... I was just in the middle of a post..

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/ny/MattressPile.jpg

[synergy777]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/France-s-crackdown-on-Romas-continue--hundreds-deported/Article1-592474.aspx

France's crackdown on Romas continue, hundreds deported

France today deported hundreds more Roma in defiance of growing domestic and international criticism of its crackdown on travelling minorities. Two specially chartered planes carrying Roma men, women and children left Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport and Lyon in east-central France and touched down
in Bucharest mid-afternoon. "The police told us we could choose between leaving now, on our own accord, or be expelled by force later," said one young Roma man, who declined to be identified. "So we agreed to leave."

"For three months I could find no job, so I decided to come back to Romania," another man arriving in Bucharest, Ion Stancu, 52, told AFP. "But, my God, what will I do for a living now, with eight grandsons to feed?" he added, tears in his eyes. Amid a country-wide crackdown that began this month after Gypsies attacked a police station, police in the northern French city of Lille also moved in at dawn to dismantle a Roma tent camp set up under an overhead railway line.

The French government said 283 Roma were being sent back on Friday, bringing the total number of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma deported so far this year to 8,313, against 7,875 expelled throughout last year.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, citing concerns about crime, began the crackdown this month on Roma and other itinerant groups known as Gypsies and travellers which has seen police rounding up foreign Roma and tearing down illegal camps. Forty-eight per cent of French people support the government's campaign, an opinion poll showed on Friday. But critics accuse the right-wing president, whose popularity is at its lowest since he came to power in 2007, of trying to regain the political initiative with a populist and racially tinged law and order message. The crackdown has sparked fierce criticism at home and abroad, with French former prime minister Dominique de Villepin saying Sarkozy's policies had left a "stain of shame" on the French flag and were a "national indignity."

A United Nations panel this month warned of mounting racism and xenophobia in France, citing the Roma evictions, and the European Union is reviewing whether the crackdown is legal. The Vatican has also criticised it. Human rights body Amnesty International joined the international condemnation on Friday, saying Sarkozy risked fuelling stigmatisation of the minority group

[decim]

The gypsies, the travellers and the thieves
The good, the bad, the average and unique
The grebos the crusties and you and I
Hello, good evening, welcome
and goodbye

Carter USM - The Only Living Boy In New Cross - YouTube

[twisted britain]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/France-s-crackdown-on-Romas-continue--hundreds-deported/Article1-592474.aspx



A United Nations panel this month warned of mounting racism and xenophobia in France, citing the Roma evictions, and the European Union is reviewing whether the crackdown is legal.

LOL..... Meanwhile White South Africans are being wiped out yet the " United Nations" hasnt mentioned this.

http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/a_genocide_in_south_africa/

Over 4000 White south African farmers have been killed in recent years and that's just the farmers..

[lyrag]

I have Romani in my blood. These people,from stories in my family have/had VAST psychic powers, more than you hear of psychics being psychic nowadays. I so want to know/learn more but it seems their is no/little infomation on the internet to do with this and obviously, for a reason.

[picha]

Part I: Historical Outline.

A legend of the Roma tells that once they had a king who ruled wisely in Sind, a wonderous land in India. The Roma were very happy there, until the arrival of Islamic armies, who hunted them and destroyed their country. After that, the Roma were forced to travel from one nation to another....
This is, as we have said, a legend.



Well surprise surprise, I never would have thought Islam would ever have done something link that.

[bazil brazeel]

----------------------------

as i am of indian heritage, a punjabi jat, its good to see that the gypsies/romany are our brothers and sisters.[/QUOTE]

sasrikal and salam syn, so you do realise that jogi's are the direct relatives of the original romanys.

:cool::cool:

[mikey mikey]

Here a few people you might not know are/were romani

http://img.listal.com/image/458759/600full-adam-ant.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Yul_Brynner_in_The_Ten_Commandments_film_trailer.j pg/175px-Yul_Brynner_in_The_Ten_Commandments_film_trailer.j pg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ypb_ITnqx6Y/TDvZ7zDKU-I/AAAAAAAAAbI/T86eq6HP8iE/s320/Charlie_Chaplin_Photograph.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Bob_hoskins_filming_ruby_blue_cropped.jpg/200px-Bob_hoskins_filming_ruby_blue_cropped.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/MichaelCaine2.jpg/220px-MichaelCaine2.jpg

http://www.topnews.in/files/Tracey-Ullman.jpg

and a bunch that you had probably guessed were

http://api.ning.com/files/JbpUBA5VaukehGlARmtYEoRrg2wVWc6hgSMbegUm2mD7ePjoux 0Fj-vXAT8BxBXeHtiKyLjMoYzlrr12oBZ5d-A8AuMWk0tf/gipsyking.jpg

[bazil brazeel]

don't forget david essex mikey.

[mikey mikey]

don't forget david essex mikey.

*hangs his head in shame*

[synergy777]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE68D25320100914

EU threatens action against France over Roma

By Justyna Pawlak

BRUSSELS | Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:10pm BST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union threatened France with legal action over its handling of the expulsion of Roma migrants on Tuesday, with the EU's justice commissioner calling France's behaviour unacceptable and a disgrace.

In unusually strong criticism of an EU government, Viviane Reding said Paris had broken EU law on the free movement of people in deporting around 8,000 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria this year, part of a French government crackdown on crime.

Reding said French officials had also been duplicitous in their dealings with EU authorities, saying one thing in Brussels while the government did another at home, and said she believed proceedings should be brought against Paris within weeks.

"My patience is wearing thin. Enough is enough," Reding told reporters at a briefing in Brussels, raising her voice and thumping the podium in frustration as she spoke.

"No member state can expect special treatment when fundamental values and European laws are at stake," she said, adding the Commission, the EU's executive, would discuss how to proceed against France as soon as possible.

Referring to Nazi Germany's persecution of gypsies during World War Two, Reding said she was afraid about ethnic targeting and the darkness of Europe's past returning.

"This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War," she said.

France stepped up the expulsion of Roma migrants during the summer, rounding up families in illegal camps and offering them a financial incentive to leave the country as part of an initiative by President Nicolas Sarkozy to tighten security.

Human rights groups, the Catholic Church and some ministers in Sarkozy's government widely condemned the removals, saying they were part of efforts by Sarkozy to boost his flagging popularity at a time of unpopular budget cuts.

FRANCE DEFENDS ACTIONS

The European Commission was at first reluctant to get involved in the issue, seeing it as a member state's responsibility. But after pressure from the European Parliament and other groups, it appears to have been spurred into action.

The French government defended its actions on Tuesday, saying they were legitimate and necessary in the face of rising crime. Sarkozy's conservative UMP party remained defiant.

"The reality is French authorities have acted responsibly and with full respect of the law," Jean-Francois Cope, a senior UMP politician, told reporters in Paris.

Reding said she intended to move as quickly as possible to bring legal proceedings against France, saying steps could be taken within weeks if the Commission was agreed.

If France is found to have broken the law it could face fines and would also sustain "a serious loss of prestige," Commission officials said.

France's removals, watched closely by states such as Italy, Germany and Spain that also have large Roma minorities, have prompted the Commission to examine its overall policy on the Roma, Europe's largest ethnic minority.

It has said it will examine how around 170 million euros of EU money has been spent to combat prejudice against the Roma, who number around 10 million and are spread among a dozen countries in central and east Europe.

Under EU law, Roma are free to move anywhere in the union and stay for up to three months. After that, they must have found work or be paying into a social security system. Many do not and are frequently marginalised in their host EU countries.

Westward migration of Roma from eastern Europe has increased in recent years, since the EU expanded its borders in 2004 and 2007 to include states from the former Soviet bloc. Their biggest community is still in Romania.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Julien Toyer in Brussels; Editing by Luke Baker and Janet Lawrence)

[bazil brazeel]

Well surprise surprise, I never would have thought Islam would ever have done something link that.

and who is persecuting the romas now,didn't know you had a soft spot for romas pickachoo.:)

[synergy777]

the french are always causing trouble, eg dumping immigrants on us the english, having strikes at ports, etc, always causing trouble, lol

[bazil brazeel]

don't forget the french pastime of burning live british sheep.
refusing to join usa in illeagal war in iraq.
oh and electing sarkozy.

[synergy777]

don't forget the french pastime of burning live british sheep.
refusing to join usa in illeagal war in iraq.
oh and electing sarkozy.

lol very true.

although having said that, they do also have a lot of good things.

i like their cafe culture, there sense of style, albert camus, michel platini, eric cantona, zidane etc.

[bazil brazeel]

ok jean michel jarre,?????...and and...........

[markregevisscum]

"ok jean michel jarre,?????...and and"........... Jean Reno, Cool Cinema,Auguste Escoffier,Jean Belmondo, MC Solar, Les Negress Verdes, Mano Negra, Jules Vernes for starters.

[bazil brazeel]

got a couple i missed there marky,luc besson,marie curei,cheese,run backwards very fast at the site of nazi/gypsy.

[bazil brazeel]

the magic roundabout,tintin or was he a belgum.

[rastamasta]

ok jean michel jarre,?????...and and...........

Eva Green

http://lh6.ggpht.com/elaing.zhang/R4rGCdgGLmI/AAAAAAAAKLY/_nIsRnnqF5I/s800/el080111322.jpg

[rastamasta]

run backwards very fast at the site of nazi

yeah that's the only problem with the Frogs, the battle they won was the first crusade!

[bazil brazeel]

1066 before the crusades.and you can't count napoleon he wasn't french.mind you they have got the foreign legion,oh they had the wiermach as enlisted men.