Gypsy people or nationality. Who are the gypsies? The origin of the “mysterious Egyptians”

According to linguistic and genetic studies, the ancestors of the Roma left India in a group of about 1,000 people. The time of migration of the ancestors of the Roma from India is not precisely established, as is the number of migration waves. But it is known that the padishah from India gave 1000 people as a token of gratitude to the Shah of Persia. Various researchers approximately determine the outcome of the so-called “proto-Gypsy” groups in the 6th-10th centuries AD. e. According to the most popular version, based on an analysis of loanwords in the languages ​​of the Roma, the ancestors of modern Roma spent about 400 years in Persia before the Roma branch moved west into the territory of Byzantium. They were the ancestors of European gypsies: Roma, Kale, Sinti, Manush. Some migrants remained in the Middle East. There is an opinion that another branch passed to Palestine and through it to Egypt.

As for the so-called Central Asian gypsies, or Lyuli, then they, as is sometimes figuratively said, are cousins ​​or even second cousins ​​of the European gypsies. Thus, the Central Asian gypsy population, having absorbed various streams of migrants from Punjab (including Baloch groups) over the centuries, has historically been heterogeneous.

The Gypsies of Europe are descendants of the Gypsies who lived in Byzantium. Documents indicate that the gypsies lived both in the center of the empire and on its outskirts, and there most of these gypsies converted to Christianity. In Byzantium, the gypsies quickly integrated into society. In a number of places, their leaders were given certain privileges. Written references to the Gypsies from this period are sparse, but they do not seem to suggest that the Gypsies attracted any special interest or were perceived as a marginal or criminal group. Gypsies are mentioned as metalworkers, horse harness makers, saddlers, fortune tellers (in Byzantium this was a common profession), trainers (in the earliest sources - snake charmers, and only in later sources - bear trainers). At the same time, the most common crafts, apparently, were still artistic and blacksmithing; entire villages of gypsy blacksmiths are mentioned.

With the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, the gypsies began to migrate to Europe. The first to arrive in Europe, judging by written European sources, were marginal, adventurously minded representatives of the people who were engaged in begging, fortune telling and petty theft, which marked the beginning of a negative perception of the Gypsies as a people among Europeans. And only after some time, artists, trainers, artisans, and horse dealers began to arrive.

The earliest Russian official document mentioning gypsies dates back to 1733 - Anna Ioannovna’s decree on new taxes for the maintenance of the army:
In addition, for the maintenance of these regiments, determine taxes from the gypsies, both in Little Russia and in the Sloboda regiments and in the Great Russian cities and districts assigned to the Sloboda regiments, and for this collection, identify a special person, since the gypsies are not included in the census . On this occasion, the report of Lieutenant General Prince Shakhovsky explained, among other things, that it was impossible to include gypsies in the census because they do not live in courtyards.

World Gypsy Day - 04/08/1971.

On April 8, 1971, the first World Gypsy Congress took place in London. The result of the congress was the recognition of the gypsies of the world as a single non-territorial nation and the adoption of national symbols: a flag and an anthem based on the folk song “Djelem, Djelem.” Instead of a coat of arms, gypsies use a number of recognizable symbols: a wagon wheel, a horseshoe, a deck of cards. Such symbols are usually decorated with Gypsy books, newspapers, magazines and websites, and one of these symbols is usually included in the logos of events dedicated to Gypsy culture.
In honor of the First World Gypsy Congress, April 8 is considered Gypsy Day. Some gypsies have a custom associated with it: in the evening, at a certain time, they carry a lighted candle along the street.

For centuries, the origins of the Gypsies have been shrouded in mystery. Appearing here and there, camps of these dark-skinned nomads with unusual morals aroused the burning curiosity of the settled population. Trying to unravel this phenomenon and penetrate the mystery of the origin of the gypsies, many authors built the most incredible hypotheses.

Europeans first heard about gypsies more than five hundred years ago. Mysterious tribe, as if in search of the promised land, wandered from country to country, crossed seas and oceans, penetrating both Australia and America.

And everywhere the gypsies cast spells, sang, told fortunes and danced until they dropped, cast spells on snakes, led trained bears on chains, treated and trained horses, worked as blacksmiths and tinkers. Alienated settled life and traditional crafts, indifferent to peasant labor, but not striving to become among the townspeople, they were strange and suspicious. Aliens - that’s what they would be called today, but in past centuries they were considered almost aliens. If, moreover, we recognize that the gypsies were definitely never angels in the flesh, and need often forced them to resort to dishonest means of extraction (and when they decided to steal, they did it with the recklessness inherent in everything), then it is easy to understand , why the gypsies were feared, disliked, sometimes it reached the point of hatred. In Europe, gypsies first appeared in the 14th century (according to some other sources, in the 15th century), and already from the 16th century, repressive measures were used against them.

The key to the mystery of the origin of the gypsies was found at the end of the 18th century by German linguists E. Grüdiger and G. Grellman. They noticed that the most important root words of the Romani language belong to the northwestern Sanskrit dialects. Scholars have also tried to find the reason for the exodus of the Gypsies from India in Persian texts. Hamza from Isfahan, writing in the mid-10th century, talks about the arrival of twelve thousand musicians - zotts (one of the names of gypsies) - in Persia. Half a century later great poet and the chronicler Ferdowsi, the author of “Shah-name,” mentions the same fact: in 420, the Indian king presented the Persian Shah with ten thousand “luris” - musicians. G. Grelman believed that the gypsies come from the Suder caste, which at the beginning of the 14th century was inhumanly persecuted by the Brahmins. In the ancient history of Kashmir, references were found to camps of “domis” - musicians, blacksmiths, thieves, dancers. They belonged to one of the lower castes, whose name translates as “dog eaters.”

This is what G. Grelman said about the semi-legendary origin of the gypsies and the reasons for their appearance in Europe:

“When the strong and powerful Timurleng, or Tamerlane, under the pretext of exterminating idols, conquered the north-western part of India in 1399 and glorified his victories with extreme cruelty, a wild tribe of robbers, called gypsies and living in Guzurat and especially near Thatta, escaped. This tribe, which consisted of half a million people and owned countless treasures, was called in its Guzu-rat language - Rum (people), and because of its black skin color - Kola (black), and because of its residence on the banks of Sind - Sints" (Sind is now a river Ind).

In Persia, the Gypsy language was enriched with a number of words that were subsequently discovered in all European dialects. Then, according to the English linguist John Simpson, the gypsies split into two branches. Some of them continued their journey to the west and southeast, others moved in a northwestern direction. This group of gypsies visited Armenia (where they borrowed a number of words conveyed by their descendants right up to Wells, but completely unknown to representatives of the first branch), then penetrated further into the Caucasus, enriching themselves there with words from the Ossetian vocabulary.

Ultimately, the gypsies end up in Europe and the “Byzantine” world. Since that time, references to them in written sources are found more and more often, especially in the notes of Western travelers who made pilgrimages to holy places in Palestine.

In 1322, two Franciscan monks, Simon Simeonis and Hugo the Enlightened, noticed people in Crete who looked like the descendants of Ham; they adhered to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church, but lived, like the Arabs, under low black tents or in caves. In Greece they were called "atsiganos" or "atkinganos", after the name of a sect of musicians and fortune tellers.

But most often, Western travelers encountered gypsies in Modon, a fortified and largest port city on the western coast of the Seas, the main transit point on the way from Venice to Jaffa. They were mainly engaged blacksmithing and, as a rule, lived in huts. This place was called Little Egypt, perhaps because here, among the parched lands, there was a fertile region like the Nile Valley. This is apparently the basis for the idea, which at one time was very widespread, that the Gypsies are immigrants from Egypt. And their leaders often styled themselves dukes or counts of Little Egypt.

Greece diversified the vocabulary of the gypsies, and it also gave them the opportunity to get acquainted with the way of life of other peoples, since here, at the crossroads of civilization, they encountered pilgrims from all over the world. Pilgrims enjoyed many privileges compared to other travelers, and when the gypsies set off again, they were already posing as pilgrims.

After a long stay in Greece and life in neighboring Romania and Serbia, some of the Roma moved further to the west. Their political position in territories that had repeatedly passed from the Byzantines to the Turks, and vice versa, was difficult. And so the gypsies created a myth that, having left Egypt, they were at first pagans, but then they were converted to Christianity, then they returned to idolatry again, but under the pressure of the Christian rulers-monarchs they accepted Christianity for the second time and are now making a pilgrimage to to the whole world in atonement for numerous sins. These emerging legends about the origin of the gypsies, about the reasons for their wandering lot, include both political savvy and a spell against dangerous people, lordly anger, unexpected misfortunes, etc.

Thus, dear reader, the magic of the road is born, first of all, as a means to protect yourself and your loved ones from numerous imaginary and real troubles that are possible along the way.

And the paths of the Gypsy people diverge more and more, breaking up into separate paths. But each group of gypsies that has begun an independent journey through Europe tries to justify their intentions and give their nomadism a meaningful character. Great myth-makers and romantics, the gypsies skillfully combined practicality and the beauty of fiction in their “legends.”

The earliest Russian official document mentioning gypsies dates back to 1733 - Anna Ioannovna’s decree on new taxes for the maintenance of the army:

In addition, for the maintenance of these regiments, determine taxes from the gypsies, both in Little Russia and in the Sloboda regiments and in the Great Russian cities and districts assigned to the Sloboda regiments, and for this collection, identify a special person, since the gypsies are not included in the census . On this occasion, the report of Lieutenant General Prince Shakhovsky explained, among other things, that it was impossible to include gypsies in the census because they do not live in courtyards.

The next mention in the documents occurs a few months later and shows that the Roma came to Russia relatively shortly before the adoption of the decree on taxes and secured their right to live in Ingermanland. Before this, apparently, their status in Russia was not defined, but now they were allowed:

live and trade horses; and since they showed themselves to be local natives, it was ordered to include them in the capitation census wherever they wished to live, and put them in the layout on Horse Guards regiment

From the phrase “they showed themselves to be natives here,” one can understand that there was at least a second generation of gypsies living in this area.

Even earlier, about a century, gypsies (serva groups) appeared on the territory of modern Ukraine. As we can see, by the time the document was written they were already paying taxes, that is, they were living legally.

In Russia, new ethnic groups of Roma appeared as the territory expanded. So, when joining Russian Empire parts of Poland, Polish Roma appeared in Russia; Bessarabia - various Moldovan gypsies; Crimea - Crimean gypsies.

The decree of Catherine II of December 21, 1783 classified the Gypsies as a peasant class and ordered that taxes and taxes be collected from them in accordance with the class. However, Gypsies were also allowed, if they wished, to attribute themselves to other classes (except, of course, the noble, and with the appropriate lifestyle), and by the end of the 19th century there were already quite a few Russian Gypsies of the bourgeois and merchant classes (for the first time, Gypsies were mentioned as representatives of these classes, however , back in 1800). During the 19th century there was a steady process of integration and settlement of Russian Gypsies, usually associated with the growth financial well-being families. A layer of professional artists has emerged.

IN late XIX centuries, not only settled gypsies, but also nomadic ones sent their children to schools (staying in the village in winter). In addition to the groups mentioned above, the population of the Russian Empire included Asian Lyuli, Caucasian Karachi and Bosha, and at the beginning of the 20th century also Hungarian gypsies: Lovari, Ungari (Romungr), as well as Hungarian and Romanian Kelderars.

The revolution of 1917 hit the most educated part of the Gypsy population (since it was also the wealthiest) - representatives of the merchant class, as well as Gypsy artists, whose main source of income was performances in front of nobles and merchants. Many wealthy gypsy families abandoned their property and went into nomadism, since nomadic gypsies during the Civil War were automatically classified as poor. The Red Army did not touch the poor, and almost no one touched the nomadic gypsies. Some Roma families emigrated to European countries, China and the USA. Young gypsy boys could be found both in the Red Army and in the White Army, since the social stratification of Russian gypsies and serfs was already significant by the beginning of the 20th century.

After the Civil War, gypsies from among the former merchants who became nomads tried to limit their children’s contact with non-gypsies and did not allow them to go to school, in fear that the children would accidentally reveal their families’ non-poor origins. As a result, illiteracy became almost universal among the nomadic gypsies. In addition, the number of settled gypsies, whose core was merchants and artists before the revolution, has sharply decreased. By the end of the 20s, the problems of illiteracy and large quantity the nomadic gypsy population was noticed by the Soviet Government. The government, together with activists from among the Roma artists remaining in the cities, tried to take a number of measures to solve these problems.

Thus, in 1927, the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine adopted a resolution on assistance to nomadic gypsies in the transition to a “working sedentary lifestyle.”

At the end of the 20s, Roma pedagogical technical schools were opened, literature and press were published in the Roma language, and Roma boarding schools operated.

During World War II, according to recent research, about 150,000-200,000 Roma in Central and Eastern Europe were exterminated by the Nazis and their allies (see Roma Genocide). Of these, 30,000 were citizens of the USSR.

On the Soviet side, during the Great Patriotic War from Crimea, together with Crimean Tatars, their co-religionists, the Crimean Gypsies (Kyrymitika Roma), were deported.

The gypsies were not only passive victims. Gypsies of the USSR participated in hostilities as infantrymen, tank crews, drivers, pilots, artillerymen, medical workers and partisans; Gypsies from France, Belgium, Slovakia, the Balkan countries were in the Resistance, as well as Gypsies from Romania and Hungary who were there during the war.

Roma are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world without their own state. They can be found in any country in Europe, the CIS, and America, and their number is about 8-10 million people. How did it happen that the gypsies began to lead a nomadic lifestyle and settled in many countries of the world, while their closest relatives continue to live in their homeland?

According to geneticists, the ancestors of modern gypsies left India around the 6th-10th centuries and moved to Persia (the territory of modern Iran). According to one version, 1000 people were given by the Padishah of India as a gift to the Shah of Persia. According to historical information, these were jewelers and musicians, and the donation of representatives of valuable professions was common for that time. Having lived there for about 400 years, the gypsies headed west and soon found themselves in Byzantium.

On the territory of Byzantium, they adopted Christianity and lived along with other peoples, being full members of society. According to written sources, the Gypsies were famous blacksmiths. In addition, they were engaged in the manufacture of horse harnesses, breeding horses, and also trained animals and gave performances.

But after the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century, the gypsies, in search of work and food, left their inhabited places and moved to the north and west of Europe. In Europe itself there were quite difficult times and the settlers were not very happy. The situation was complicated by the fact that the first gypsies who arrived in new countries were, as a rule, not the best representatives of gypsy society. Seekers of an easy life, unencumbered by family and household chores, they engaged in theft, fraud and begging. This led to the fact that the gypsies gained a reputation as vagabonds and scammers, and it became increasingly difficult for them to find work and become part of European society. Looking for better life Gypsies from Spain and Portugal began to move to Latin America.

Thanks to their difficult history and constant wanderings, the gypsies found themselves in genetic and linguistic isolation from the closest speakers of their language - the Indians. The Romani language belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of Indian languages. The language itself has several dialects, formed in different regions compact residence of gypsies. In addition to their native language, Roma often speak the language of the country in which they live.

According to statistics, greatest number Gypsies live in the USA, where there are about 1 million of them. More than 500 thousand Roma live in Brazil, Spain and Romania, and about 200 thousand representatives of this people are registered in Russia. Today, April 8, is considered Gypsy Day and, despite the fact that this people does not have their own state, they have their own flag, in the center of which there is a symbolic wagon wheel.

1. "Gypsies" is a collective term, the same as "Slavs", "Caucasians", "Scandinavians" or "Latin Americans". Several dozen nationalities belong to the gypsies.

2. The Roma have a national anthem, a flag and an artistic culture, including literature.

3. Gypsies are conventionally divided into Eastern and Western.

4. The Gypsies as a nation were formed in Persia (eastern branch) and the Roman Empire (aka Romea, aka Byzantium; western branch). In general, when talking about gypsies, they usually mean Western gypsies (Roma and Kale groups).

5. Since the Roma gypsies are Caucasians and arose as a nation in a European country, they are Europeans, and not a “mysterious eastern people,” as journalists like to write. Of course, like the Russians and Spaniards, they still have some heritage of Eastern mentality.

6. “Eastern” gypsies began to be called gypsies only in the 19th and 20th centuries, when Europeans visiting Asia drew attention to their external resemblance to gypsies, as well as some common crafts and traditions. “Eastern” Gypsies have a culture that is sharply different from the “general Gypsy” (i.e., the culture of the noticeably more numerous and culturally developed “Western” Gypsies), although both have something in common cultural heritage Indian ancestors. “Eastern” and “Western” gypsies practically do not communicate.

7. The Romani languages ​​are overwhelmingly descendants of Sanskrit. Ethnically, the Gypsies are descendants of the Aryans, with a Dravidian admixture (the Dravidians are the indigenous population of India, conquered by the Aryans, one of the oldest literate cultures, at the time of the conquest they were more developed than the culture of the nomadic Aryans).

8. Contrary to the statements of some people who are far from ethnography and history, there was never any “expulsion of the Gypsies” from India and the Roman Empire.

In India there were no gypsies at all, there were Hindus. According to recent genetic and linguistic studies, the ancestors of the Gypsies, a group of Hindus of the "house" caste of approximately 1,000 people, left India sometime in the 6th century. It is assumed that this group of musicians and jewelers was presented by the Indian ruler to the Persian, as was the custom of that time. Already in Persia, the size of the group grew greatly, and a social division appeared within it (mainly by profession); In the 9th–10th centuries, part of the Roma began to gradually move westward and finally reached Byzantium and Palestine (two different branches). Some remained in Persia and from there spread to the east. Some of these gypsies eventually reached the homeland of their distant ancestors - India.

9. The gypsies left Byzantium during the period of its conquest by Muslims, in the hope of receiving help from fellow Christians (the people and times were naive). The exodus from the Roman Empire lasted for decades. Some Gypsies, however, remained in their homeland for various reasons. Their descendants eventually converted to Islam.

10. There is a hypothesis that the gypsies received the nickname “Egyptians” back in Byzantium, for their dark complexion and for the fact that the most noticeable part of the gypsies, like the visiting Egyptians, were engaged in circus art. Another nickname was associated with circus art and fortune telling, from which the word “gypsies” came: “atsingane”. Initially, this was the name given to certain sectarians seeking secret knowledge. But over time, apparently, the word has become a household word, ironic for anyone involved in esotericism, magic tricks, fortune telling and divination. The gypsies even then called themselves “Roma” and gave themselves the nickname “kale”, that is, dark-skinned, dark-skinned

11. It is believed that it was the gypsies who widely spread belly dancing in Muslim countries. However, there is no evidence or refutation of this.

12. Traditional areas of activity for Gypsies include the arts, trade, horse breeding and crafts (from the prosaic of brick making and basket weaving to the romantic art of jewelry and embroidery).

13. Soon after coming to Europe, the Gypsies became one of the victims of great socio-economic crises and were subjected to severe persecution. This has led to severe marginalization and criminalization of Roma. What saved the Gypsies from complete extermination was the generally neutral or friendly attitude of the majority of the common people, who did not want to implement bloody laws against the Gypsies.

14. They say that the famous Papus learned fortune telling from the gypsies.

15. The Inquisition was never interested in the gypsies.

16. Medicine knows no cases of leprosy among the Roma. The most common blood types among Roma are III and I. The percentage of III and IV blood is very high compared to other European peoples.

17. In the Middle Ages, Gypsies, like Jews, were accused of cannibalism.

18. In the 18th and 19th centuries, with increasing tolerance towards them in European society, the crime rate of the Roma decreased sharply and greatly. In the 19th century, a very rapid process of integration of Roma into society began in Europe.

19. Gypsies came to Russia more than 300 years ago. Like other now established peoples (for example, Kalmyks), they received imperial permission to live in Russia and engage in traditional crafts (trade, horse breeding, fortune telling, singing and dancing). After some time, these gypsies began to call themselves Russian Roma, which is still the largest gypsy nationality in Russia. By 1917, the Russian Roma were the most integrated and educated Gypsies in Russia.

20. At various times, Kelderars (Kotlyars), Lovaris, Servas, Ursaris, Vlachs and other gypsies also immigrated to Russia.

21. Almost all names of Roma nationalities are either the names of key professions or reflect the name of the country they consider their homeland. This says a lot about Roma priorities.

22. Famous Gypsy National Costume was invented in the 19th century. The Kalderars were the first to wear it. The Russian Roma national costume was invented by artists to create a more exotic stage image. Historically, Gypsies have always tended to wear clothing typical of their country of residence.

23. Gypsies are famous pacifists. However, at various times they served with the armies and in the armies of Germany, Prussia, Sweden and Russia.

In 1812, Russian Roma were voluntarily handed over to the Russian army for maintenance. large amounts. Young Roma boys fought as part of the Russian troops.

At the same time, what’s funny is that quite a few French gypsies fought in Napoleon’s army. There is even a description of a meeting between two gypsies from different sides during the battle between the Spaniards and the French.

During the Second World War, Gypsies participated in hostilities as part of both regular armies (USSR, France; privates, tank crews, military engineers, pilots, orderlies, artillerymen, etc.) and partisan groups, mixed and purely Gypsy (USSR , France, Eastern Europe). The guerrilla actions of the Roma against the Nazis are sometimes called “Aryans against Aryans.”

24. As a result of the systematic targeted extermination of the Gypsies by the Nazis, about 150,000 Gypsies (for comparison, in the USSR lived from 60,000, according to the census, to 120,000, according to assumptions) died in Europe. "Gypsy Holocaust" is called Kali Thrash (there are also variants Samudaripen and Paraimos).

25. Among the outstanding Roma there are scientists, writers, poets, composers, musicians, singers, dancers, actors, directors, boxers (including champions), football players, historians, politicians, priests, missionaries, artists and sculptors.

Some are better known, for example, Marishka Veres, Ion Voicu, Janos Bihari, Cem Mace, Mateo Maximov, Yul Brynner, Tony Gatlif, Bob Hoskins, Nikolay Slichenko, Django Reinhardt, Bireli Lagren, others less, but can also boast of significant contributions to gypsy culture.

26. If you see the phrase “nomadic people” without quotation marks in an article about Russian gypsies, you don’t have to read it. The author will not write anything truly reliable if he does not even know the fact that only 1% of Russian Gypsies are nomadic.

27. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, despite the fact that in the media Roma fraud is in first place when mentioned in criminal articles, in statistics they are in last place. Ethnographers believe that the situation with gypsy fraud and drug trafficking is similar in Russia.

28. During Stalin's time, the Roma were subjected to targeted repression.

29. The term “gypsy baron” has been used by gypsies only for the last couple of decades, and not by everyone. This is borrowed from the media and romantic literature. The term is used specifically to communicate with non-Gypsies.

30. There are several notable gypsy theaters in the world: in Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany, as well as smaller theaters and studios in these and other countries.

31. One of the most interesting gypsy concepts is the concept of “filth”. It is associated with the lower body of a married woman or simply adult woman. All she has to do is walk over something and the place becomes “desecrated.” Clothing worn by a woman below the waist and shoes are automatically considered “defiled.” Therefore, the women's national costume of many gypsies around the world includes a large apron. And for the same reason, in order not to be desecrated, gypsies prefer to live in small, one-story houses.

32. Short hair among gypsies is a symbol of dishonor. The hair of the exiled and isolated was cut. Until now, gypsies avoid very short haircuts.

33. Gypsies understand many simple phrases spoken in Hindi. That's why gypsies love some Indian films so much.

34. Roma have “undesirable” professions, which are usually hidden so as not to “fall out” of Roma society. These are, for example, factory work, street cleaning and journalism.

35. Like every nation, gypsies have their own national dishes. Since ancient times, gypsies lived in or near the forest, so they ate animals caught in hunts - hares, wild boars and others. Special National dish gypsy - hedgehog, fried or stewed.

36. Carriers of gypsy genes are called Romano rats. Romanians are recognized as having the right, if they wish, to become gypsies. Romano Rath is the guitarist of the Rolling Stones group Ronnie Wood, Sergei Kuryokhin, Yuri Lyubimov, Charlie Chaplin and Anna Netrebko.

37. The word “lave” in Russian slang is borrowed from the Gypsy language, where it has the form “lowe” (Gypsies do not “akayut”) and the meaning “money”.

38. An earring in one ear of a gypsy means that he is the only son in the family.

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The content of the article

GYPSIES, or Roma, are a nomadic people, or more precisely, ethnic groups with common roots and language, whose origins can be traced to northwestern India. Today they live in many countries of the world. Gypsies are usually black-haired and dark-skinned, which is especially typical for populations living in countries close to India, although lighter skin is not typical for Gypsies at all. Despite their spread throughout the world, the Gypsies remain everywhere a distinct people, more or less adhering to their own customs, language and maintaining a social distance from the non-Gypsy peoples around whom they live.

Gypsies are known by a number of names. In the Middle Ages, when the Gypsies first appeared in Europe, they were mistakenly called Egyptians, because they were identified as Mohammedans - immigrants from Egypt. Gradually this word (Egyptians, Gyptians) was shortened, becoming "gypsy" ("gipsy" in English), "gitano" in Spanish and "giphtos" in Greek. Gypsies are also called "zigeuner" in German, "gypsies" in Russian, "zingari" in Italian, which are variations Greek word athinganoi, meaning “don’t touch,” is an offensive name for a religious group that formerly inhabited Asia Minor and, like the gypsies, avoided contact with outsiders. But the Gypsies do not like these names, preferring the self-designation “Roma” (plural, Roma or Roma) from “Romani (person)”.

Origin.

In the middle of the 18th century. European scientists managed to find evidence that the Gypsy language comes directly from the classical Indian language Sanskrit, which indicates the Indian origin of its speakers. Gray-anthropological data, in particular information on blood groups, also indicate an origin in India.

Much, however, remains unclear regarding the early history of the Roma. Although they speak one of the languages ​​of the Indian group, it is quite possible that they are actually descended from the Dravidian aborigines of this subcontinent, who eventually began to speak the language of the Aryan invaders who occupied their territory. IN last years Scholars in India itself have begun academic studies of the Roma, and there is also a renewed interest in the subject in Western academic circles. The myths and misinformation surrounding the history and origins of this people are gradually dissipating. It became obvious, for example, that the Gypsies were nomads not because they possessed any nomadic instinct, but because widespread discriminatory legislation left them no choice but to continue their constant movement.

Migration and settlement.

New historical and linguistic evidence indicates that the migration of Gypsies from northwestern India occurred in the first quarter of the 11th century. as a result of a series of Islamic invasions led by Mohammed Ghaznavid. According to one hypothesis, the ancestors of the Gypsies (sometimes called "Dhomba" in the literature) organized themselves into military units called Rajputs to fight these invasions. Over the next two centuries, the Gypsies moved further and further west, stopping in Persia, Armenia and the territory of the Byzantine Empire (in modern language Gypsies have many Persian and Armenian words and, especially, many words from Byzantine Greek), and reached southeastern Europe in the mid-13th century.

The movement to the Balkans was also caused by the spread of Islam, which was the cause of the migration of gypsies from India two centuries earlier.

Not the entire mass of Gypsies crossed the Bosphorus and entered Europe; one of its branches migrated eastward to the areas of today's Eastern Turkey and Armenia and became a separate and distinct sub-ethnic group known as “Lom”.

Another population widespread throughout the Middle East is the Dom, which was long thought to be part of the original Roma migration (from India, but later split off from the main population somewhere in Syria). While the "house" itself and their language are clearly of Indian origin, their ancestors apparently represented a separate and much earlier wave (possibly 5th century) of migration from India.

In the Byzantine Empire, the Gypsies acquired a deep knowledge of metalworking, as indicated by the metallurgical vocabulary in the language of the Gypsies of Greek and Armenian (non-Indian) origin. When the gypsies came to the Balkans and, in particular, to the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, this knowledge and skills ensured a steady demand for their services. This new artisan population of Gypsies proved so valuable in fact that in the early 1300s laws were passed making them the property of their employers, i.e. slaves. By 1500, approximately half of the Roma had managed to leave the Balkans for northern and western Europe. The resulting division between those who remained enslaved in Wallachia and Moldavia (today's Romania) for five and a half centuries and those who left is of fundamental importance in the history of the Gypsies and is referred to in literature as the First European Gypsy Diaspora.

It did not take long for the Balkan population to realize that the Gypsies were completely different from the Muslims they so feared. But the population in countries more distant from the Balkans, i.e. in France, Holland and Germany, for example, there was no previous opportunity to meet Muslims directly. When the gypsies arrived there with their exotic speech, appearance and clothing, they were associated with Muslims and were called “pagans”, “Turks”, “Tatars” and “Saracens”. The Gypsies were easy targets because they had no country to return to, no military, political or economic power to protect yourself. Over time, one country after another began to introduce repressive measures against them. In Western Europe, punishments for being a Gypsy included lashing, mutilation, deportation, galley slavery, and even, in some places, execution; in eastern Europe, gypsies remained slaves.

Political changes in 19th-century Europe, including the abolition of slavery for Gypsies, led to a sharp increase in their migration, marking the period of the Second European Gypsy Diaspora. A third diaspora emerged in the 1990s with the fall of communist regimes throughout eastern Europe.

Gypsies who were enslaved were either house slaves or slaves in the fields. These broad categories include many smaller occupational groups. Brought to work in the houses of landowners, the gypsies eventually lost their language of Indian origin and acquired Romanian, based on Latin. Now Romanian-speaking gypsies such as "boyash", "rudari" ("miners") and "ursari" ("bear guides") are found not only in Hungary and the Balkans, but also in Western Europe and in other regions of the Western Hemisphere.

Much more of the ancient traditions were preserved by groups of gypsies descended from field slaves. Kalderasha ("copper workers"), Lovara ("horse traders"), Churara ("sieve makers") and Močvaja (from the Serbian town of Močva) all speak closely related dialects of the Romani language. These languages ​​form a dialect group called Vlax or Vlach, characterized by a large influence of Romanian. By the end of the 19th century. Vlax-speaking gypsies undertook long journeys in search of places where they could settle. Countries in Western Europe were inhospitable due to centuries of anti-Gypsy legislation, so the main flow of migration was directed east to Russia, Ukraine and even China, or, through Greece and Turkey by sea to North and South America, South Africa and Australia. After World War I, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in central Europe caused a mass exodus of Roma from these lands to western Europe and North America.

During World War II, the Nazis targeted the Gypsies for genocide, and the Gypsies were targeted for extermination along with the Jews by Reinhard Heydrich's notorious decree of July 31, 1941, to implement the "Final Solution." By 1945, almost 80% of all Gypsies in Europe had died.

Modern settlement.

Gypsies are dispersed throughout Europe and western Asia and are found in parts of Africa, North and South America and Australia. The exact number of Roma in each country, however, cannot be established because censuses and immigration statistics rarely single them out, and centuries of persecution have taught Roma to be wary of identifying their ethnicity on census forms. There are between 9 and 12 million Roma in the world. This assessment is given by International Union Roma: about one million in North America, about the same in South America, and between 6 and 8 million in Europe, where Roma are concentrated mainly in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and elsewhere in the Balkans.

In the thousand years or so since the exodus of the Gypsies from India, their way of life has become remarkably varied, although each group has retained to a greater or lesser extent elements of the basic culture of the Gypsies. Those that have settled in one place for a long time tend to acquire the national characteristics of the people who adopted them. In both Americas, a significant number of gypsies appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, although the gypsies have a legend that on Columbus's third voyage in 1498, there were gypsy sailors among the crew, and the first representatives of this people appeared there in pre-colonial times. It is documented that the first gypsies appeared in Latin America (on the Caribbean islands) in 1539, when persecution against this people began in Western Europe. They were gypsies from Spain and Portugal.

New waves of immigrants began arriving in the Americas after 1990.

Life of gypsies.

Despite their common linguistic, cultural and genetic heritage, Roma groups have become so diverse as a result of time and space that it would be inappropriate to attempt to paint a generalized portrait of them. In the rest of the article Special attention is given to the Vlax-speaking Gypsies, who are the largest and most geographically widespread population.

Social organization.

Taken as a whole, the life of the Gypsies is called “romanipen” or “romania” and is built on the basis of a complex system family relations. A group of related families forms a clan ("vista" clan), headed by a leader called a "baro" (he is not a king; the so-called kings and queens of the Gypsies are an invention of journalists). He is the recognized leader of his group and can control its movements and represent it in contacts with outsiders. By important issues he may consult with the elders of whist. Violations of the rules of morality and conduct may be dealt with by a special assembly of men called the kris. This court has jurisdiction over a wide range of violations, including material and matrimonial matters. Punishments may include fines or exclusion from the community, with the culprit being called merimeh or ritually unclean. Since contact with non-Gypsies is avoided as a matter of course, and since the Gypsy community itself must exclude anyone who is a Merime, the individual in this situation ends up in conditions of complete isolation. This idea of ​​ritual pollution, inherited from India and extended to the individual in his relationship to food, animals and other human beings, was the most general factor that contributed to the fact that the Gypsy populations remained separate from others and internally united.

Marriages with gojes (non-gypsies) are frowned upon; even the choice of marriage with other gypsies is limited. When mixed marriages children will consider themselves gypsies only if their father is one. The family plays an active role in the formalities of marriage, which to the uninitiated may seem lengthy and complex. Firstly, there are long negotiations between parents, especially about the amount of the “darro” (dowry). This is the amount to be compensated for the earning potential of a "bori" or daughter-in-law who is transferred from her family and is included in the family of her new relatives by marriage. The wedding itself (“abiav”) is held in a hall rented for the occasion with the presence of many friends and relatives. The celebrations accompanying the wedding usually last three days. Once created, the marital union usually remains permanent, but if divorce is necessary, the consent of the “kris” may be required. As a rule, civil and ecclesiastical marriages are becoming increasingly common, even if they represent only the final phase of a traditional ritual.

The official religion did not have much influence on the way of life of the gypsies, although they were unable to escape the attempts of missionaries to convert them to their faith. They accepted, in most cases superficially, such religions as Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism of the countries in which they lived for some time. The exception is the surprising and very rapid adoption by some groups of the charismatic “new” Christianity of recent years.

Most famous religious holidays Romani Catholics make annual pilgrimages to Quebec to the Basilica of St. Anne (Sainte Anne de Beaupre) and to the town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the Mediterranean coast of France, where gypsies gather every time from everywhere 24 –May 25, to honor their patron saint Sarah (according to legend, an Egyptian).

Livelihood and recreation.

Gypsies prefer activities that provide them with minimal contact with the “gadje” and independence. Services catering to occasional needs and an ever-changing clientele fit well with the Gypsy lifestyle, which may require an individual to travel urgently to attend a wedding or funeral, or attend a 'kris' in another part of the country. The Gypsies are versatile, and the means by which they earn their living are numerous. But there are some main professions of gypsies - such as horse trading, metal working, fortune telling and, in some countries, picking vegetables or fruits. For joint economic enterprises Gypsies can also form a purely functional association “kumpania”, the members of which do not necessarily belong to the same clan or even to the same dialect group. In the field individual activities many gypsies work as peddlers, especially in Europe. Some resell goods purchased at a lower price, others sell on the streets, noisily offering goods they themselves produced, although in the 20th century. a number of Roma crafts suffered from competition with mass-produced products. Women play their full role in earning their livelihood. They are the ones who carry baskets with produced goods from door to door and do fortune telling.

Although many of the names of the various groups of Gypsies are based on the occupations in which they were engaged during the period of slavery, they can no longer serve as a reliable guide to the activities of specific families. In Mexico, for example, coppersmiths are now much more likely to be operators of mobile film installations than metal workers. For many coppersmiths in the United States, the main source of income is the fortune telling salon ("office"), which may be located in the front of the fortune teller's house or in the front of the store.

Gypsies are also known as great specialists in entertaining the public, especially as musicians and dancers (several famous actors, including Charles Chaplin, talk about their gypsy ancestors). In Hungary and Romania in particular, gypsy orchestras with their virtuoso violinists and dulcimer players have created their own style, although much of what audiences hear is, in fact, European music with a gypsy interpretation. There is another, very special type of music - the original music of the Gypsies, which is a highly rhythmic sequence of tones in which few or no instruments are used and the dominant sound is often the sound of clapping hands. Research has shown that much of the Central European classical musical tradition and the works of composers such as Liszt, Bartok, Dvorak, Verdi and Brahms are marked by significant Romani influence. The same has been demonstrated by research regarding the Jewish music klezmer. characteristic features which are unusual scales and lively rhythms.

In Andalusia, in southern Spain, according to one study conducted by the University of Wisconsin, gypsies, along with Moroccans, created the tradition of flamenco as a covert way of expressing anger towards the repressive Spanish regime. From Andalusia, the style spread through the Iberian Peninsula and then into Spanish-speaking America until flamenco-style song, dance, and guitar playing became an accepted form of popular entertainment. Since the late 1970s, the music of the group "Gipsy Kings", consisting of six guitarists, has put forward modern version flamenco-based music into the pop charts, and the jazz guitar technique of the late Django Reinhardt (he was a gypsy) has experienced a revival thanks to his great-nephew Bireli Lagrene.

Like all peoples with a developed oral tradition, gypsy storytelling reaches the level of art. Over the course of many generations, they expanded their folklore, selecting and adding to it folk tales the countries in which they settled. In exchange, they enriched the folklore of these nations with oral histories acquired during past migrations.

Due to strict restrictions on communication with outsiders, the gypsies spent a lot of their free time in each other's company. Many of them believe that the negative consequences of being among the Gadje can only be compensated by the time they spend among their own at community ritual events, such as christenings, weddings, etc.

Food, clothing and shelter.

The eating habits of Western European gypsy groups reflect the influence of their nomadic lifestyle. Soups and stews, which can be cooked in one pot or cauldron, as well as fish and game meat occupy a significant place in their cuisine. The diet of sedentary Eastern European gypsies is characterized by the use of a large amount of spices, especially hot peppers. Among all groups of gypsies, food preparation is strictly determined by the observance of various taboos of relative cleanliness. The same cultural considerations govern issues of clothing. In Gypsy culture, the lower part of the body is considered unclean and shameful, and a woman's legs, for example, are covered long skirts. In the same way, married woman must tie a scarf around her head. Traditionally, acquired valuables are turned into jewelry or gold coins, and the latter are sometimes worn on clothing as buttons. Since the head is considered the most important part of the body, many men draw attention to it by wearing wide hats and large mustaches, while women love large earrings.

Mobile homes are of great importance for those families whose livelihoods require them to be constantly on the move. There are still large numbers of Gypsy families, especially in the Balkans, who travel in light open carts drawn by horses or donkeys and sleep in traditionally constructed tents made of canvas or woolen blankets. The relatively recent appearance of the gypsy cart, decorated with intricate carvings, complements rather than replaces the tent. Together with the less picturesque horse-drawn carriage, this residential carriage is quickly falling into disuse in favor of the motorized trailer. Some of the gypsies with trucks or cars with trailers adhere closely to the old habits of the cart people, while others have fully embraced such modern conveniences as bottled cooking gas and electricity.

Modern gypsy population.

Various groups of Roma in Europe were almost completely destroyed by the fires of the Holocaust, and it was not until more than four decades later that their national movement began to gain strength. For the Gypsies, the concept of “nationalism” does not mean the creation of a real nation-state, but implies gaining recognition by humanity of the fact that the Gypsies are a separate extra-territorial nation of people with their own own history, language and culture.

The fact that Roma live throughout Europe but do not have a country of their own has led to enormous problems following the fall of Eastern European communist regimes and the resurgence of ethnic nationalism there. Like those gypsies who first came to Europe seven and a half centuries ago, European gypsies of the 20th century. are increasingly perceived as very different from traditional European peoples and causing inconvenience. To combat these prejudices, the Roma organized themselves into several political, social and cultural groups with the goal of developing ideals of self-determination. The International Roma Union has been a permanent member of the UN Council for Economic and Social Development since 1979; By the end of the 1980s, it had gained representation in the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNESCO, and in 1990 the formation of the European Roma Parliament began. By the beginning of the 1990s, a large number of Roma professionals had already appeared, such as journalists and political activists, educators, and politicians. Ties were forged with the ancestral homeland of India - since the mid-1970s, the Indian Institute of Romani Studies has existed in Chandigarh. Roma organizations focused their work on combating racism and stereotyping in the media, and seeking reparations for the war crimes that led to the deaths of Roma in the Holocaust. In addition, issues of standardization of the Roma language for international application, compiling a twenty-volume encyclopedia in this language. Gradually, the literary image of “nomadic gypsies” is replaced by the image of a people ready and able to take their place in today’s heterogeneous society.

The main source of information on all aspects of Gypsy history, language and lifestyle is the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, published from 1888 to the present.