Where did the gypsy family come from? Who are the gypsies? The origin of the “mysterious Egyptians”

Gypsies are considered free and mysterious people, which is characterized by an ambiguous attitude from society. This is due to their way of life, traditions and customs. Some do not like the people for fraud and deception, others “dote on them” and invite their representatives to various events and holidays to enjoy songs and dances. Signs of what gypsies look like include their bright appearance and clothing, which make them stand out from the crowd.

Characteristic signs of gypsies

Gypsies are a large ethnic group of Indian origin. A common self-name is Roma, Roma (or Romaly in the vocative case). However, other ethnonyms are also used: the Finnish and Estonian peoples call the Gypsies “black” (Kale), the French - Bohemians, the British - Egyptians. They are also called sinti, manush and so on.

Since ancient times, people have been wandering around cities and countries, without having their own state.

On April 8, 1971, at the First World Gypsy Congress, they were proclaimed a single non-territorial nation. Since then, this date has been designated as International Roma Day. According to tradition, in the evening they light a candle and carry it along the street.

The territories where the people live include the countries of Europe, North Africa, North and South America, and Australia. According to Wikipedia, the number of European gypsies is 8-12 million. In Russia, as of 2010, the number of representatives of the nationality is 220 thousand. In many countries there are few gypsies and they are scattered throughout the territory. Such small groups are found among the Croats or in China.

However, it is difficult to say exactly how many Roma live in a particular territory. This is due to their characteristic feature- lack of “legal visibility”. Gypsies and their children live in camps, are often not registered, do not have documents or passports, and are listed as “missing in action.”

The people belong to the Indo-Mediterranean race of the large Caucasian race. They speak the Gypsy language of the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-European family, which is divided into a number of dialects.

The religion of the Roma includes Christianity and Islam. Representatives of the people of the Orthodox faith greatly reverence God and observe church holidays and customs. Significant events for Christians are Easter and Christmas.

The self-name of gypsies who profess Islam is Ogly.

Depending on their territorial affiliation, there are 6 branches of the nationality.

Western Gypsies include:

Eastern gypsies:

In addition to those named, there are narrow groups: British, Scandinavian Kales, Romanichels, and so on. An ethnic group known as the Lovaris was formed in Hungary. The large branch of Roma also includes various groups, for example, the Kotlyars shown in the photo.

In European countries there are ethnic groups close to the gypsies in their way of life: Irish Travelers, Central European Yenishes. However, they have a different origin.

Hindus are truly anthropologically similar to gypsies. The former are distinguished by their high growth; the Hungarian representatives are characterized by average figures.

Face and head shape

Gypsies are characterized by dolichocephaly (long heads), a straight and slightly sloping forehead.

The photograph shows the famous boxer Johann Wilhelm Trollmann "Rukeli".

A gypsy is easily distinguished by his dark complexion, reminiscent of a shade of chocolate or old parchment.

Eyes

Mostly the eye color of a representative of the people is dark, brown, possibly green.

The latter is especially revered by the gypsies, since it is characterized magical power. But they avoid blue-eyed people because of the “evil look” that can cause trouble.

The photo shows the actress, dancer, singer Soledad Miranda, who tragically died at the age of 27.

Gypsies are distinguished by their expressive, piercing and quick gaze, which puts a person into a state similar to hypnosis and helps to see the past and future.

Nose

The forms of the olfactory organ among gypsies are varied. The nose is predominantly large in size. At the same time, it can be long and thin. The shape can be straight or eagle with a hump.

The photo shows footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Hair

For gypsies, hair is a sign of happiness - the longer, the better. In the past they were often shorn, exiled and isolated. Therefore, women and men try not to wear their hair too short.

Dark and curly hair is typical; red color is considered to attract happiness. Gypsies also have chestnut, golden-brown shades.

The photo shows dancer, model, artist Adelina Plakhotnaya and singer, member of the group “Korni” Alexander Berdnikov.

Adeline Plakhotnaya

Alexander Berdnikov

In France, there are Gitans - blue-eyed representatives of the nationality with blond hair.

Blonde gypsies are shown in the photo.

Appearance of a gypsy

The image of the fairer sex among gypsies is distinguished by its brightness; expressive makeup, fluffy colored skirts, beautiful gold jewelry: rings, brooches, chains are always present.

At the same time, modern Western European standards of beauty are alien to them - they do not show long naked legs.

It is believed that the area below the waist is clean only in young girls before the birth of children. Afterwards it becomes “bad” and you cannot touch this area. Two fluffy toe-length skirts cover the “dirty” area, but one is not enough.

The photo shows gypsy women in traditional costumes.

Face

The look of the beautiful gypsy woman is mesmerizing; you can look into her “diamond” eyes endlessly. Their color is predominantly brown or green.

The hair is lush, long, thick, black, dark chestnut, red, light brown. They often curl. The skin is usually dark, but light color is also possible.

Actress, model, dancer Rita Hayworth is recognized as one of the most beautiful gypsy women.

Figure

Traditional gypsy dances allow you to clearly see the figure of a gypsy.

Such dances help fathers look for girls who will be suitable brides for their sons.

Gypsies are characterized by a flexible, graceful body. Young girls are slender, fragile, tender.

The photo shows actress and singer Diana Savelyeva.

Since it is typical for gypsies large families, a woman’s figure becomes rounder and plumper as she matures. However, numerous births do not affect natural elegance and grace.

Gypsy names and surnames

The full name of a nationality includes 3-5 parts:

• official;
• secular;
• surname;
• last name;
• nickname for a branch of the family.

The official name is the one registered in documents or received at baptism.

Secular is widely used when communicating in everyday life with gypsies or other nationalities. These include:

• A nickname is a unique characteristic of a person or the events that happen to him (“Waterman”, “Crow”).
• Baptismal - if it differs from the official one;
• Name in Gypsy or other exotic language (Taghari).

Secular names can coincide with official ones or be their abbreviations: Dmitry - Mito. Moreover, a person is called this not only in childhood and adolescence, but throughout his life.

The patronymic is used when you need to introduce yourself officially (when interacting with government agencies, during ceremonial congratulations, and so on).

The Kotlyars have a unique naming system. They may have a middle name from their father, mother, or both parents.

The gypsy is satisfied with the secular name, which is even used together with the surname.

Surnames are used in the same way as other Europeans. With a large family, a special nickname is added to the surname. In Russia it usually comes from secular name famous ancestors.

In gypsy society, good names are those that are associated with faith, God, jewelry, and the sun. This is Bogdan ( given by God), Zlata, Vera, Drago (precious), Rubina, Diamond and so on. “Flower” names for women are also welcome: Lily, Jasmine, Rose and others.

To designate a character trait in a person they call it: Veselina (cheerful), Svetlana (light), Shanita (calm), Shuko (handsome) and so on.

Origin

In the world

Roots gypsy people originate in India. This is evidenced by their genetic analysis. Haplogroup H (Y-DNA) is present in Gypsies (60%) and Native Indians (27%). It is also found among Tajik, Syrian peoples, Kalash, and Kurds from Turkmenistan.

The gypsies are originally from northwestern India and appeared about 1.5 thousand years ago. Their language was influenced by the Persians and Greeks. The homeland of the gypsies is determined by Rajasthan, Kashmir and Gujarat.

After 6 centuries, the people immigrated to Europe, most likely due to their oppression by Muslims. In this case, there is a mixture of blood with other nationalities. The main part of the ethnic group occupies the territory of Europe, but most of all there are Romanian and Hungarian gypsies. Their number ranges from 2.5-8 million people. In Bulgaria, the share of ethnic groups is 4.7% of the population (370 thousand people). Sufficient number of representatives among Serbs.

The photo shows gypsies in Romania and Hungary.

Gypsies in Romania

Gypsies in Hungary

Description of history during tyranny German fascists led by Adolf Hitler includes the mass extermination of Roma, along with Jews.

The attitude of other nationalities towards the Roma people has long been ambiguous. Until the 15th century, Europeans were friendly towards them, but then the situation reversed. Why this happened is explained by the behavior of the gypsies: it turned out that they steal, deceive, and beg, which is how they earned the reputation of swindlers and vagabonds.

After this, the people began to be ousted from the territories, spread oppression, abuse of them and even murder. However, after 3 centuries the situation has stabilized, the gypsies are treated more tolerantly.

The people are divided into sedentary, semi-sedentary and nomadic castes. The latter lived in a camp, the main one of which was the waida - the leader. He resolved internal conflicts, represented people before the authorities of the country where they were nomadic at that moment.

Sedentary or semi-sedentary people took root everywhere, adapting to religious customs and accepting the faith of the people where they were located.

In Russia

The routes where the gypsies came from on Russian soil are the Balkan countries (in the 15th century), Germany, Poland (in the 16th-17th centuries). They appeared in the 17th century on the territory of modern Ukraine.

The increase in the number of Gypsies occurred as the borders of Russia expanded. With the annexation of part of Poland, Polish Roma emerged, Bessarabia - Moldavian, Crimea - Crimean.

Before the revolution of 1917, men were engaged in horse trading, women - fortune telling and magic. The nomads were fond of begging, fortune-telling and witchcraft, and sometimes blacksmithing. The gypsies who settled in St. Petersburg in the 30s of the 19th century replenished the choirs, many of which were freed by the government from serfdom. The popularity of the people and their culture at that time was extremely high. Noble people married gypsy girls.

After the revolution, a decree is issued so that the people organize a lifestyle suitable for working. This is how the gypsies joined the Soviet family; the nationalities fought together against the enemy during the Great Patriotic War.

The only gypsy who was awarded the title “Hero” Soviet Union", became Timofey Prokofiev, Marine. Thanks to the gypsy, the Germans did not defeat the Nikolaev landing force. He kept up machine-gun fire until the last minute, and even after being mortally wounded in the head, gathering his strength, he fired a burst at the approaching fascists.

In 1956, a decree was issued again, after which the bulk of the nomads accepted sedentary image life. Modern gypsies are endowed with the rights to choose their field of work, receive secondary and higher education. However, only a few use them.

The origin of the gypsies is known to scientists, but rumors are widespread about who they are and where they came from. There are versions that these are Moldovans or Romanians. Or even gypsies are descendants of the sunken Atlantis. The Moldovan and Romanian people belong to other ethnic groups. And the version about belonging to Atlantis is due to the mystical abilities of the ethnos.

The nationality is correctly written in the plural “Gypsies”, despite the fact that Alexander Pushkin’s poem is called “Gypsies” - this is an outdated form.

Features of the character and life of gypsies: customs and laws

In 1971, after the World Roma Congress, the national anthem and flag shown in the picture were adopted.

People use symbols as a coat of arms: a deck of cards, a horseshoe, a wheel.

Gypsies are characterized by a free lifestyle. Its representatives to this day are engaged in traditional activities: they sing, dance beautifully, walk, play the guitar, train bears and other animals, and like to tell fortunes. At the same time, mostly friendly and warm relations develop in the community.

Cheerful jokesters are invited by request to holidays: birthdays, weddings, anniversaries.

Gypsies are often portrayed as swindlers and beggars. They can be found at train stations, on trams, trolleybuses, electric trains, sitting on the roadsides with small children, begging for alms.

They pester passers-by with offers to tell fortunes; they are excellent psychologists who can gain trust. If a person talks and answers, they beg him for alms by suggestion. In this case, the victim voluntarily gives away all the money from the wallet.

Of interest is the ethnic group of sea gypsies - the Bajo, who roam around Indian Ocean. They live in huts over the water and practice fishing. They go to land exclusively for trade, boat repairs, replenishing fresh water, or in case of funerals.

However, modern young sea gypsies often do not want to live by the rules of their ancestors. They move to land, study and work in normal conditions, which was not common among previous generations.

Movies are made about the life of gypsies, rules and traditions: “The Return of Budulai”, “The Camp Goes to Heaven”, “Gypsy” and so on. Many world-famous actors have gypsy roots.

For example, People's Artist Russia's Ekaterina Zhemchuzhnaya, shown in the photo.

The famous actor and comedian Charlie Chaplin was a gypsy.

About belonging to the nationality of many famous people there are disputes. Data is provided that famous singer Elvis Presley comes from a family of German gypsies who emigrated to the United States.

The peculiarity of the life of a nationality is that its representatives are often either fabulously rich or poor. In the first case, their houses resemble palaces with luxurious and expensive furnishings.

In the second case, the Roma live in extreme poverty in the absence of basic living conditions. They often act as illegal immigrants.

Gypsies eat simple food, in dishes national cuisine Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian trends can be traced. They love chicken, lamb, beef, beet soups, sauerkraut, they prepare tumals (tamals) - minced meat wrapped in a corn tortilla, harbu - a product made from blood, liver and lard. The national drink is black tea with herbs and berries.

The life of the Roma is filled with customs and rules, many of which are mandatory.

Other nationalities have beliefs associated with gypsies. If you dreamed of a camp, the dream book speaks of a desire for promiscuous sex life with frequent changes of partners. The dream of gypsies riding horseback from place to place signals nostalgia for the past. The fortune teller is seen as giving fate to the wrong person. In general, what gypsies dream about means hasty decisions and actions. If you went to buy something from them, this foreshadows the loss of money.

Wedding

The ritual is responsible for the transition of a young boy and girl to a new hierarchical status. This is the reason why gypsies marry early. If a girl is 19 years old and unmarried, she is considered an old maid. At what age young people get married is often decided by their parents. A girl is recognized as a potential bride after 14 years of age. Only in late marriages are the feelings and choices of the lovers taken into account.

The wedding is preceded by a betrothal ceremony performed by the parents. In early marriages, the decision to marry does not depend on the will of the children.

A bride price is possible, but in this case she is expected to earn back the money spent.

The girl marries a virgin. Proof in the form of a bloody sheet is provided after the wedding night. If a gypsy girl is not a virgin, it is considered a disgrace by the nation.

Marriages between representatives of the nationalities of different states are unlikely. This is tantamount to marrying a non-gypsy, which is not encouraged by gypsy law. Repeated marriages are discouraged.

Funeral

The ritual of how the funeral takes place is determined by the belief that a person in the other world needs things that he needs in life. Gypsies prepare for burial in advance; children save money to send their parents off with dignity. A gravestone of impressive size, where the deceased is depicted in full growth, is considered luxurious.

When a person is buried, relatives or friends are given 3 items through the coffin: an icon (male or female), a carpet and a bed. Essential items and alcohol are placed inside. Mirrors are covered for 40 days and mourning is observed for a year.

Gypsy curses

The rituals are recognized as carrying magical powers and are considered among other nationalities to be the reason why gypsies are dangerous. However, not all of them have mystical abilities. A real magician will not perform complex rituals in vain. Therefore, curses from angry fortune tellers are usually empty words.

Gypsies can curse when causing offense to the family. There is usually no charge for it.

Signs that a person has a curse are:

• weight loss or gain, deterioration in health, appearance (aging);
• development of diseases that cannot be treated;
• apathy;
• nightmares;
• a believer does not wear a cross, refuses to attend church out of fear;
• scandals in the family;
• leaving pets at home.

To remove damage, it is advisable to use water - wash your face in the river in the morning for 12 days, reciting a special spell. Cemetery rituals and others are also used to get rid of damage.

Gypsy law

It is an unwritten set of rules to be followed in gypsy society and outside it. Currently, each country has its own law, and even different nationalities within it.

Compliance is monitored by elderly members of the community, conflicts and violations are dealt with by a Roma court, which includes authoritative people.

Most terrible sentence- expulsion of the criminal.

The main tenet of the law is compliance with the rules and restrictions of non-Gypsy society when dealing with it.

Murder, rape, and infliction of severe physical harm are prohibited.

The rules of behavior within the gypsy society are also announced: clothing, holidays, everyday life, an overview of professions, and so on.

Common Stereotypes

Stereotypes about gypsies come from numerous stories about their lives, stories of victims of fraud and people's own observations, since gypsies are present in almost every country in the world.

• They have no homeland. Roma are people without a specific citizenship, which they are often denied even if they were born in a given country. Recognition of a nationality as non-territorial made them legally “invisible”.
• They don't like to study. Representatives of the nationality send their children to school to teach them basic knowledge: reading, writing, and counting. Often, after this, the child quits his studies, helping his parents in trading.
• Gypsies consider it an honor to drink a lot without getting drunk.
• Gypsies are good psychologists who have hypnosis. For this reason, they should be avoided; fortune telling with them will do more harm than good. The main goal of a gypsy is to earn income. Rare individuals have the ability to predict; others create a magical image around themselves: witchcraft balls, tarot cards and other paraphernalia.
• Roma have high rates of domestic violence. The wife bears a heavy burden, submitting to a tyrant husband, and at the same time is forced to endure, since tradition implies marriage for life.
• A gypsy family must have at least one son. If this does not happen for a long time, the boy is taken from the orphanage, regardless of his nationality. This was one of the reasons explaining the claim that the gypsies stole children. Often people, seeing a bright, blue-eyed and completely different child in the camp, declared that he had been stolen.
• If a family has a two-story house, a woman cannot climb to the second floor if her husband is on the first

Material from Wikipedia

Total population: 8~10 million

Settlement: Albania:
from 1300 to 120,000
Argentina:
300 000
Belarus:
17 000
Bosnia and Herzegovina:
60,000
Brazil:
678 000
Canada:
80 000
Russia:
183,000 (2002 census)
Romania:
535,140 (see population of Romania)
Slovakia:
65,000 (officially)
USA:
1 million Handbook of Texas
Ukraine:
48,000 (2001 census)
Croatia:
9,463 to 14,000 (2001 Census)

Language: gypsy language, Domari language, Lomavren

Religion: Christianity, Islam

Gypsies are the collective name for about 80 ethnic groups, united by a common origin and recognition of the “Gypsy law”. There is no single self-name, although recently the term Romanies, that is, “rum-like,” has been proposed as such.

The English traditionally called them Gypsies (from Egyptians - “Egyptians”), the Spaniards - Gitanos (also from Egiptanos - “Egyptians”), the French - Bohémiens (“Bohemians”, “Czechs”), Gitans (distorted Spanish Gitanos) or Tsiganes (borrowing from Greek - τσιγγάνοι, tsinganos), Germans - Zigeuner, Italians - Zingari, Dutch - Zigeuners, Armenians - Գնչուներ (gnchuner), Hungarians - Cigany or Pharao nerek ("Pharaoh's tribe"), Georgians - ბოშე ბი (bosebi), Finns - mustalaiset (“black”), Turks - Çingeneler; Azerbaijanis - Qaraçı (Garachy, i.e. “black”); Jews - צוענים (tso’anim), from the name of the biblical province of Tsoan in Ancient Egypt; Bulgarians - Tsigani. Currently, ethnonyms from the self-name of a part of the gypsies, “Roma” (English Roma, Czech Romové, Finnish romanit, etc.) are becoming increasingly widespread in various languages.

Three types predominate in the traditional names of Gypsies:

The literal translation of one of the self-names of the Gypsies is Kale (Gypsies: black);
reflecting the ancient idea of ​​them as immigrants from Egypt;
distorted versions of the Byzantine nickname “atsinganos” (meaning “fortune tellers, magicians”).

Now gypsies live in many countries of Europe, Western and South Asia, as well as in North Africa, Northern and South America and Australia. The number, according to various estimates, ranges from 2.5 to 8 million and even 10-12 million people. There were 175.3 thousand people in the USSR (1970 census). According to the 2002 census, about 183 thousand Roma lived in Russia.

National symbols

Gypsy flag

On April 8, 1971, the first World Gypsy Congress took place in London. The result of the congress was that the gypsies of the world recognized themselves as a single non-territorial nation and accepted national symbols: flag and anthem based on the folk song “Djelem, Djelem”. Lyricist: Jarko Jovanovic.

The peculiarity of the anthem is the absence of a clearly established melody; each performer arranges the folk tune in his own way. There are also several versions of the text, in which only the first verse and chorus are exactly the same. All options are recognized by gypsies.

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 Roma Day. Some gypsies have a custom associated with it: in the evening, at a certain time, they carry a lighted candle along the street.

History of the people

The most common self-name of the gypsies, which they brought from India, is “rum” or “roma” among the European gypsies, “home” among the gypsies of the Middle East and Asia Minor, and “lom” among the gypsies of Armenia. All these names go back to the Indo-Aryan "d"om" with the first cerebral sound. The cerebral sound, relatively speaking, is a cross between the sounds "r", "d" and "l". According to linguistic studies, the Roma of Europe and houses and crowbars Asia and the Caucasus were the three main "streams" of migrants from India. Under the name "d"om, low-caste groups appear today in various areas of modern India. Despite the fact that modern houses in India are difficult to directly relate to the gypsies, their name has a direct connection with them. The difficulty is to understand what the connection was in the past between the ancestors of the Gypsies and the Indian houses. The results of linguistic research conducted back in the 20s. XX century by the major Indologist-linguist R.L. Turner, and which is shared by modern scientists, in particular, the linguists-Romologists J. Matras and J. Hancock, show that the ancestors of the Gypsies lived in the central regions of India and several centuries before the exodus (approximately in the 3rd century BC) migrated to Northern Punjab.
A number of data indicate the settlement in the central and northwestern regions of India of a population with the self-name d"om / d"omba starting from the 5th-4th centuries. BC. This population was originally tribal groups of common origin, possibly related to the Austroasiatics (one of the largest autochthonous strata of India). Subsequently, with the gradual development of the caste system, d"om / d"omba occupied the lower levels in the social hierarchy and began to be recognized as caste groups. At the same time, the integration of houses into the caste system occurred primarily in the central parts of India, and the northwestern regions remained a “tribal” zone for a very long time. This tribal character of the areas of origin was supported by the constant penetration there of Iranian nomadic tribes, whose resettlement in the period before the migration of the ancestors of the Gypsies from India took on a massive scale. These circumstances determined the nature of the culture of the peoples of the Indus Valley zone (including the ancestors of the Gypsies), a culture that for centuries retained its nomadic and semi-nomadic type. Also, the very ecology of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the arid and infertile soils near the Indus River contributed to the development of a semi-pastoral, semi-trading mobile economic model for a number of local population groups. Russian authors believe that during the period of exodus the ancestors of the Gypsies represented a socially structured ethnic population of common origin (rather than a number of separate castes), engaged in commercial transportation and trade in transport animals, and also, if necessary, as auxiliary occupations - a number of crafts and other services, which formed part of everyday skills. The authors explain the cultural and anthropological difference between the gypsies and the modern houses of India (which have more pronounced non-Aryan features than the gypsies) by the indicated strong Aryan influence (in particular, in its Iranian modification), characteristic of the northwestern regions of India, where the ancestors of the gypsies lived before the exodus . This interpretation of the ethno-social origin of the Indian ancestors of the Roma is supported by a number of foreign and Russian researchers.

Early history (VI-XV centuries)

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. Various researchers approximately determine the outcome of the so-called “proto-Gypsy” groups in the 6th-10th centuries AD. 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 concentrated for some time in the eastern region of Byzantium called Armeniak, where the Armenians were settled. One branch of the ancestors of modern Gypsies advanced from there to the region of modern Armenia (the Lom branch, or Bosha Gypsies). The rest moved further west. They were the ancestors of the European gypsies: Romov, Kale, Sinti, Manush. Some of the migrants remained in the Middle East (the ancestors of the houses). 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, they are, as is sometimes figuratively said, 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.

Gypsies in Western Europe (XV - early XX centuries)

The first gypsy camps that came to Western Europe told the rulers of European countries that the Pope had imposed a special punishment on them for a temporary apostasy from the Christian faith: seven years of wandering. At first, the authorities provided them with protection: they gave them food, money and letters of protection. Over time, when the period of wandering had clearly expired, such indulgences stopped, and the gypsies began to be ignored.

Meanwhile, an economic and social crisis was brewing in Europe. Its result was the adoption of a number of cruel laws in Western European countries, directed, among other things, against representatives of itinerant professions, as well as simply vagabonds, the number of which increased greatly due to the crisis, which, apparently, created a criminogenic situation. Nomadic, semi-nomadic, or those who tried to settle down but became bankrupt, the gypsies also became victims of these laws. They were allocated to special group tramps, issuing separate decrees, the first of which was issued in Spain in 1482.

In the book “History of the Gypsies. A New Look" (N. Bessonov, N. Demeter) provides examples of anti-Gypsy laws:

Sweden. A law from 1637 prescribed the hanging of male Gypsies.

Mainz. 1714 Death to all Gypsies captured within the state. Flogging and branding of women and children with hot irons.

England. According to the law of 1554, the death penalty was for men. According to an additional decree of Elizabeth I, the law was tightened. From now on, execution awaited “those who have or will have friendship or acquaintance with the Egyptians.” Already in 1577, seven Englishmen and one Englishwoman fell under this decree. They were all hanged at Aylesbury.
Historian Scott-McPhee counts 148 laws adopted in the German states from the 15th to the 18th centuries. They were all approximately the same, the diversity is only evident in the details. Thus, in Moravia, gypsies had their left ears cut off, and in Bohemia, their right ears. In the Archduchy of Austria they preferred to brand, and so on.

Stigma used in Germany during the anti-Gypsy laws

Perhaps the most cruel was Frederick William of Prussia. In 1725, he ordered that all male and female gypsies over eighteen years of age be put to death.

As a result of persecution, the Roma of Western Europe, firstly, were heavily criminalized, since they did not have the opportunity to legally obtain food for themselves, and secondly, they were practically culturally preserved (to this day, the Roma of Western Europe are considered the most distrustful and committed to literally following ancient traditions). They also had to lead special image life: moving at night, hiding in forests and caves, which increased the suspicion of the population, and also gave rise to rumors about cannibalism, Satanism, vampirism and werewolves of the gypsies; the consequence of these rumors was the emergence of related myths about the abduction of people and especially children (for use in food or for satanic rituals) and about the ability to perform evil spells.

Picture from a French entertainment magazine showing gypsies cooking human meat

Some of the gypsies managed to avoid repression by enlisting in the army as soldiers or servants (blacksmiths, saddlers, grooms, etc.) in those countries where soldier recruitment was active (Sweden, Germany). Their families were thereby also taken out of harm's way. The ancestors of Russian gypsies came to Russia through Poland from Germany, where they mainly served in the army or with the army, so at first among other gypsies they bore the nickname, roughly translated as “army gypsies.”

The repeal of anti-Gypsy laws coincides with the beginning of the industrial revolution and Europe's recovery from the economic crisis. After the repeal of these laws, the process of integration of Roma into European society began. Thus, during the 19th century, gypsies in France, according to Jean-Pierre Lejoie, author of the article “Bohemiens et pouvoirs publics en France du XV-e au XIX-e siecle,” mastered professions thanks to which they were recognized and even began to be valued: they they sheared sheep, weaved baskets, traded, were hired as day laborers in seasonal agricultural work, and were dancers and musicians.

However, by that time, anti-Gypsy myths were already firmly rooted in the European consciousness. Now traces of them can be seen in fiction, linking gypsies with a passion for child abduction (the goals of which are becoming less and less clear over time), werewolves and service to vampires.

By that time, the abolition of anti-Gypsy laws had not occurred in all European countries. Thus, in Poland, on November 3, 1849, a decree was passed on the arrest of nomadic gypsies. For each Roma detained, the police were paid bonuses. As a result, the police captured not only nomadic, but also sedentary gypsies, recording those detained as vagrants and children as adults (to get more money). After the Polish Uprising of 1863, this law became invalid.

It can also be noted that, starting with the abolition of anti-Gypsy laws, gifted individuals in certain areas began to appear among the Gypsies, stand out and receive recognition in non-Gypsy society, which is another evidence of the prevailing situation, which is more or less favorable for the Gypsies. So, in Great Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries, these were preacher Rodney Smith, footballer Rabie Howell, radio journalist and writer George Bramwell Evens; in Spain - Franciscan Seferino Jimenez Mallya, Tocaor Ramon Montoya Salazar Sr.; in France - jazzmen brothers Ferret and Django Reinhardt; in Germany - boxer Johann Trollmann.

Gypsies in Eastern Europe (XV - early XX centuries)

Migration of Roma to Europe

At the beginning of the 15th century, a significant part of the Byzantine gypsies led a semi-sedentary lifestyle. Gypsies were known not only in the Greek regions of Byzantium, but also in Serbia, Albania, lands modern Romania and Hungary. They settled in villages or urban settlements, gathering compactly based on kinship and profession. The main crafts were working with iron and precious metals, carving household items from wood, and weaving baskets. Nomadic gypsies also lived in these areas, who also engaged in crafts or circus performances using trained bears.

In 1432, King Zsigmond of Hungary granted tax exemption to the gypsies because they began to play an important role in the defense of the region. The gypsies made cannonballs, edged weapons, horse harnesses and armor for warriors.

After the conquest of the Balkans by Muslims, most of the artisans remained in their jobs, since their work remained in demand. In Muslim sources, the gypsies are described as craftsmen who are capable of any delicate metal work, including the manufacture of guns. Christian Gypsies often obtained guarantees of security for themselves and their families by serving the Turkish army. A significant number of Gypsies came to Bulgaria precisely from Turkish troops(which was the reason for their rather cool relations with the local population).

Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror imposed a tax on the Gypsies, but exempted the gunsmiths from it, as well as those Gypsies who lived in the fortresses. Even then, some Roma began to convert to Islam. This process accelerated due to the subsequent policy of Islamization of the conquered lands by the Turks, which included increased taxes for the Christian population. As a result of this policy, the Roma of Eastern Europe were actually divided into Muslims and Christians. Under the Turks, Gypsies also began to be sold into slavery for the first time (for tax debts), but this was not widespread.

In the 16th century, the Turks made considerable efforts to census the Roma. Ottoman documents detail age, occupation, and other information required for tax purposes. Even nomadic groups were included in the register. The list of professions was very extensive: documents from the Balkan archives list blacksmiths, tinkers, butchers, painters, shoemakers, watchmen, wool beaters, walkers, tailors, shepherds, etc.

In general, Ottoman policy towards Roma can be called soft. This had both positive and negative consequences. on the one hand, the Roma have not become a criminalized group, as in Western Europe. On the other hand, the local population recorded them as the “favorites” of the Turkish authorities, as a result of which the attitude towards them was cold or even hostile. Thus, in the Moldavian and Volosh principalities, the gypsies were declared slaves “from birth”; Each gypsy belonged to the owner of the land on which the decree found him. There, for several centuries, Roma were subjected to the most severe punishments, torture for entertainment and mass executions. Trade in Gypsy serfs and torture of them were practiced until the mid-19th century. Here is an example of advertisements for sale: 1845

The sons and heirs of the deceased Serdar Nikolai Nico, in Bucharest, are selling 200 families of gypsies. Men are mostly metalworkers, goldsmiths, shoemakers, musicians and farmers.

And 1852:

Monastery of St. Elijah offered for sale the first lot of gypsy slaves, May 8, 1852, consisting of 18 men, 10 boys, 7 women and 3 girls: in excellent condition

In 1829, the Russian Empire won the war with the Turks; Moldavia and Wallachia came under her control. Adjutant General Kiselyov was temporarily appointed ruler of the principalities. He insisted on amending the civil code of Moldova. Among other things, in 1833 the gypsies were recognized as individuals, which meant that their killing was prohibited. A paragraph was introduced according to which a gypsy woman forced to become her master’s concubine was freed after his death.

Under the influence of the progressive minds of Russia, the ideas of abolition of serfdom began to spread in Moldavian and Romanian society. Students studying abroad also contributed to their spread. In September 1848, a youth demonstration took place on the streets of Bucharest demanding the abolition of serfdom. Some of the landowners voluntarily freed their slaves. However, for the most part, slave owners resisted new ideas. In order not to cause their discontent, the governments of Moldavia and Wallachia acted in a roundabout way: they bought slaves from their owners and freed them. Finally, in 1864, slavery was outlawed by law.

After the abolition of slavery, active emigration of Kalderar gypsies from Wallachia to Russia, Hungary and other countries began. By the beginning of World War II, Kalderars could be found in almost all European countries.

Gypsies in Russia, Ukraine and the USSR ( late XVII- beginning of the 20th century)

The earliest Russian official document mentioning gypsies dates back to 1733 - a decree of Anna Ioanovna on new taxes for the maintenance of the army.

The next mention in documents occurs a few months later and shows that the Roma came to Russia relatively shortly before the adoption of the tax decree 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 natives of the area, it was ordered that they be included in the capitation census wherever they wished to live, and placed in the regiment of the Horse Guards

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.

2004 Modern gypsy servants in 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.

Gypsies from the city of Novy Oskol. Photography from the early 20th century.

At the end of the 19th century, not only settled gypsies sent their children to schools, but also nomadic ones (staying in the village in winter). In addition to the groups mentioned above, the population of the Russian Empire included the Asian Lyuli, Caucasian Karachi and Bosha, and at the beginning of the 20th century also the Lovari and Kelderar.

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 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 a large number of nomadic gypsies in the gypsy population were 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.

Gypsies and World War II

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 Second World War from Crimea, along 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 military operations as privates, 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.

Gypsies in Europe and the USSR/Russia (second half of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century)

Ukrainian gypsies, Lviv

Ukrainian gypsies.

After World War II, the Roma of Europe and the USSR were conventionally divided into several cultural groups: the Roma of the USSR, socialist countries, Spain and Portugal, Scandinavia, Great Britain and Western Europe. Within these cultural groups, the cultures of different Roma ethnic groups moved closer together, while the cultural groups themselves moved away from each other. The cultural rapprochement of the Gypsies of the USSR took place on the basis of the culture of the Russian Gypsies, as the largest Gypsy ethnic group.

In the republics of the USSR there was intensive assimilation and integration of Roma into society. On the one hand, the persecution of Roma by the authorities, which took place shortly before the war, did not resume. On the other hand, original culture, in addition to music, was suppressed, propaganda was carried out on the theme of the liberation of the Gypsies from universal poverty by the revolution, a stereotype of the poverty of the Gypsy culture itself was formed before the influence of the Soviet regime (see Culture of the Gypsies, Inga Andronikova), the cultural achievements of the Gypsies were declared achievements in the first place turn of the Soviet government (for example, the Romen Theater was universally called the first and only gypsy theater, the appearance of which was attributed to the merit of the Soviet government), the gypsies of the USSR were cut off from the information space of the European gypsies (with whom some connection was maintained before the revolution), which cut off Soviet gypsies also from the cultural achievements of their European fellow tribesmen. However, the assistance from the Soviet government in the development of artistic culture and in increasing the level of education of the Roma population of the USSR was high.

On October 5, 1956, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the introduction to work of gypsies engaged in vagrancy” was issued, equating nomadic gypsies to parasites and prohibiting a nomadic lifestyle. The reaction to the decree was twofold, both from local authorities and from the Roma. Local authorities carried out this decree, either by providing housing to the gypsies and encouraging or forcing them to take official employment instead of handicrafts and fortune-telling, or by simply driving the gypsies out of the sites and subjecting the nomadic gypsies to discrimination at the everyday level. The gypsies either rejoiced at their new housing and quite easily transitioned to new living conditions (often these were gypsies who had gypsy friends or settled relatives in their new place of residence who helped them with advice in establishing a new life), or they considered the decree the beginning of an attempt to assimilate, to dissolve the Gypsies as an ethnic group and avoided its implementation in every possible way. Those gypsies who initially accepted the decree neutrally, but did not have informational and moral support, soon perceived the transition to settled life as a misfortune. As a result of the decree, more than 90% of the Roma of the USSR settled.

In modern Eastern Europe, less often in Western Europe, Roma often become the object of discrimination in society.

At the end of XX - beginning of XXI century, Europe and Russia were swept by a wave of gypsy migrations. Impoverished or marginalized Roma from Romania, western Ukraine and former Yugoslavia- former social workers countries in which economic and social difficulties arose after the collapse of the USSR - went to work in the European Union and Russia. Nowadays, they can be seen literally at any crossroads in the world; the women of these gypsies have returned en masse to the ancient traditional occupation of begging.

In Russia, there is also a slower but noticeable impoverishment, marginalization and criminalization of the Roma population. The average educational level has decreased. The problem of drug use among teenagers has become acute. Quite often, gypsies began to be mentioned in criminal chronicles in connection with drug trafficking and fraud. The popularity of the gypsy language has noticeably decreased musical art. At the same time, the Gypsy press and Gypsy literature were revived.

In Europe and Russia, there is active cultural borrowing between gypsies of different nationalities, a common gypsy music and dance culture is emerging, which is strongly influenced by the culture of Russian gypsies.

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 art 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 paid attention to their external resemblance with the 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 were engaged in, like the visiting Egyptians, 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. The 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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For centuries, the origins of the Gypsies have been shrouded in mystery. Appearing here and there, camps of these dark-skinned nomads with unusual customs aroused the curiosity of the settled population. Trying to unravel this phenomenon and penetrate the mystery of the origin of the gypsies, many authors built a variety of incredible hypotheses. In the 19th century, when, thanks to scientific research, a completely substantiated answer was found, the most fantastic stories were still being born.

This heap of outright prejudices and dubious hypotheses was destroyed with the beginning of serious research into the Romani language. Scientists had some ideas about it already in the Renaissance, but at that time they did not associate it with any group of languages ​​and did not establish the place of its origin. Only at the end of the 18th century. Based on scientific data, it was possible to establish the origin of the gypsies.

Since then, prominent linguists have confirmed the conclusions of these first research scientists: in terms of grammatical and vocabulary, the Romani language is close to Sanskrit and such modern languages ​​as Kashmiri, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Nepali.

And if modern scientists no longer doubt that the Gypsies come from, then many questions related to ethnography, sociology and the history of the first migrations of the Gypsies are still awaiting an answer.

Linguistics plays a leading role in establishing the origins of the Roma, but scientific disciplines such as anthropology, medicine and ethnography can also make a contribution.

Written evidence of the era that could be called the “prehistoric period of the Gypsies” is very scanty. Ancient Indian writers focused on gods and kings rather than on people known as aott, jat, lyuli, nuri or dom.

However, since the first migrations to the west, we have had somewhat more accurate data about the Gypsies, contained primarily in two texts in which history and legend merged. Writing in the middle of the 10th century. Hamza from Isfahan talks about the arrival of 12 thousand Yaott musicians in Persia; 50 years later, the great chronicler and poet Ferdowsi, author of the Shahnameh, mentions the same fact.

This mention most likely belongs to the realm of legends, but it indicates that in Persia there were many gypsies who arrived from India, they were reputed to be good musicians, did not want to engage in agriculture, were prone to vagrancy and did not miss an opportunity to grab what they had. lies badly.

These ancient texts are the only source of data on Roma migrations in Asia. To find out more about this, we need to look at language factors.

In Persia, the Gypsy language was enriched with a number of words that were subsequently discovered in all its European dialects. Then, according to the English linguist John Sampson, they split into two branches. Some of the gypsies continued their journey to the west and southeast, others moved in a northwestern direction. These gypsies visited Armenia (where they borrowed a number of words brought by their descendants all the way to Wales, but completely unknown to representatives of the first branch), then penetrated further into the Caucasus, borrowing words there from the Ossetian vocabulary.

Ultimately, the gypsies end up in Europe and the world. From that moment on, mentions of 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. They were called “atkinganos” or “atsinganos” after the name of the sect of musicians and fortune tellers.

But most often, Western travelers encountered gypsies in Modon, a fortified and largest port city on the western shore of the Morea, the main transit point on the way from Venice to Jaffa. “Black as the Ethiopians,” they were mainly engaged in blacksmithing and, as a rule, lived in huts. This place was called “Little Egypt,” perhaps because here, in the middle of parched lands, lay a fertile region like the Nile Valley; that is why European gypsies were called “Egyptians,” and their leaders often styled themselves dukes or counts of Little Egypt.

Greece enriched the vocabulary of the gypsies with new words, but most importantly, it gave them the opportunity to get acquainted with the way of life of other peoples, since it was in Greece that they encountered pilgrims from all countries of the Christian world. The gypsies realized that the pilgrims enjoyed the status of privileged wanderers, and, having set off again, they already passed themselves off as pilgrims.

After a long stay in Greece and such neighboring states as the Romanian principalities and Serbia, many Roma moved further west. The situation of the Gypsies in the territories that were repeatedly transferred from the Byzantines to the Turks was not easy. Trying to inspire confidence in themselves, they told about this to the spiritual and secular rulers of those places where their fate led them; The gypsies said that when they left Egypt they were at first pagans, but then they were converted to Christianity, then they returned to idolatry, but under pressure from the monarchs they converted to Christianity a second time: they claimed that they were forced to make a long pilgrimage around the world.

In 1418, large groups of Gypsies crossed Hungary and Germany, where Emperor Sigismund agreed to issue them letters of safe conduct. They appeared in Westphalia, in Hanseatic cities and in the Baltic, and from there they moved to Switzerland.

In 1419, the gypsies crossed the borders of the territory of modern France. It is known that on August 22 they presented documents signed by Emperor Sigismund and the Duke of Savoy in the city of Chatillon-en-Dombes, 2 days later in Macon, and on October 1 in Sisteron. Three years later, other groups of gypsies appeared in the southern regions, arousing curiosity among the inhabitants of Arras. There, as in Macon, they were explained that they were on royal lands, where the emperor’s letters of safe conduct were invalid.

It was then that the gypsies realized that in order to move freely in the Christian world they needed to have a universal safe-conduct issued by the pope. In July 1422, Duke Andrew, at the head of a large camp, passed Bologna and Forlì, announcing that he was on his way to meet the pope. However, neither in the Roman chronicles nor in the Vatican archives is there any mention of this visit by the gypsies to the capital of the Christian world.

However, on the way back, the gypsies talked about how they were received by the pope, and showed letters signed by Martin V. Whether these letters were genuine is unknown, but one way or another they made it possible for gypsy camps to roam freely for more than a hundred years where as they please.

In August 1427, the gypsies first appeared at the gates of Paris, which was at that time in the hands of the British. Their camp, located near Chapelle-Saint-Denis, attracted crowds of curious people for three weeks. There were some oddities: they said that while clever fortune-tellers read the life line from the palm of their hand, clients’ wallets disappeared. During his sermon, the Parisian bishop condemned the gullible and superstitious flock in this regard, so the “Egyptians” had no choice but to fold their tents and go to Pontoise.

Having traveled the length and breadth of France, separate groups of gypsies soon penetrated into Aragon and Catalonia under the pretext of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. They traveled through all of Castile and arrived in Andalusia, where the former chancellor of Castile, Count Miguel Lucas de Iranzo, warmly welcomed the Gypsy counts and dukes in his home in Jaena.

A number of authors, despite the lack of any data, claim that the gypsies, having sailed along the coast Mediterranean Sea, arrived in Andalusia from Egypt. However, there is not a single Arabic word in the vocabulary of the Spanish gypsies, and their route was completely specified: in Andalusia they referred to the patronage of the pope, the kings of France and Castile.

The first mentions of gypsies (Ciganos) in Portuguese written sources date back to the 16th century. Around the same time, gypsies appeared in Scotland and England. How they got there is unknown. Perhaps they attracted less attention there than at their previous sites in Germany, France or the Netherlands, since the British Isles had been inhabited for centuries by nomadic “tinkers”, whose lifestyle was in many ways similar to that of the gypsies.

It was much more difficult for the gypsies in Ireland, where the numerous “tinkers” by that time perceived the new newcomers as competitors and did everything possible to arouse hostility towards them.

Count Anton Gagino of Egypt Minor arrived in Denmark on board a Scottish ship in 1505, introducing to the Danish king John's recommendations from James IV of Scotland. On September 29, 1512, Count Antonius (probably the same person) triumphantly arrived in Stockholm, to the great surprise of the local residents.

The first “Egyptians”, who appeared in Norway in 1544, did not have such recommendations. These were prisoners whom the British got rid of by forcibly taking them out of the country on ships. In Norway, the gypsies had a meeting with the nomadic “funters”, similar to the one that was provided to their fellow tribesmen in England and Scotland by the “tinkers”.

From Sweden, some groups of gypsies entered Finland and Estonia. Around the same time, “mountain gypsies” from Hungary and “lowland gypsies” from Germany came to Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

By 1501, some groups of gypsies were wandering around southern Russia, others were moving from Poland to Ukraine. Finally, in 1721, gypsies from the Polish plains reached the Siberian city of Tobolsk. They announced their intention to advance to the borders of China, but the city governor prevented this.

Thus, in the period of the XV-XVIII centuries. gypsies have penetrated everything European countries; They also ended up in colonies on the American and African continents, but this time not of their own free will. Spain expelled some groups of gypsies overseas, setting an example for Portugal, which from the end of the 16th century. deported them in large numbers to its colonies, primarily to Brazil, as well as Angola, Sao Tome and the Cape Verde Islands. In the 17th century Gypsies were sent from Scotland to the plantations of Jamaica and Barbados, and in the 18th century. - to Virginia.

During the reign of Louis XIV, Gypsies sentenced to hard labor were released by royal decree, subject to travel to the “American Islands.” Among the colonists recruited " Indian company"for the development of Louisiana, the "Bohemians" appeared. Like other colonists, they settled in New Orleans. A century later, their descendants, who settled in Biloxi, Louisiana, still spoke French.

Since the 19th century. many Roma families voluntarily migrated from Europe to New World. They can be found in Canada, in California, in the suburbs of New York and Chicago, in Mexico and Central America, and much further south - in Chile and Argentina. They have the same occupation as the gypsies in Europe, the same customs, and they feel at home everywhere, since the place where they pitch their tent becomes their homeland.

P.S. Ancient chronicles They say: By the way, I wonder how things are now with the immigration of Roma to various countries, especially since nowadays even for non-Roma it is sometimes difficult to obtain a visa to certain countries, such as, for example, Canada. Take a look at the website CanadianVisaExpert, they describe the rules for immigration to Canada for residents of Eastern Europe, South and Central America, and even countries such as Saudi Arabia, United United Arab Emirates, Qatar. And they, these rules are very difficult, even for people who can be conditionally classified as the “middle class,” not to mention the poor segments of the population who go to Canada solely to earn money as cheap labor.

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.