Roma (Gypsies)

I

Introduction

Roma (Gypsies) or Romanies, close-knit, communal people with a shared biological, cultural, and linguistic heritage, currently dispersed throughout the world. Although Roma have been in Europe for more than 600 years, only in the late 18th century was their original homeland definitively identified as north-western India, through the discovery of the relationship between their languages (varieties of Romani) and the Indo-Iranian dialects of that region. Popular modern stereotypes continue to define the Roma people in terms of nomadism and an uninhibited, flamboyant lifestyle rather than as a genuine ethnic group. This ignores the fact that, nowadays, sedentarized (that is, settled) Roma are in the majority.

II

History

The early history of the Roma remains speculative. It is not clear whether they were a pariah group living on the periphery of Indian civilization, were members of one or more Hindu castes, or represented a number of different social classes and indigenous groups. They may have left their homeland in India in successive migrations, beginning before the 9th century. They initially travelled westwards across Iran into Asia Minor and the Byzantine Empire. From there many proceeded into Europe, and Roma were well established in the Balkans by the 14th century. Their route can be traced by vocabulary borrowings found in European Romani languages, all of which contain words from such languages as Persian and Greek. Roma then spread over the rest of Europe, often in the guise of pilgrims, until by the early 16th century they had reached all areas of the continent, including Russia, Scandinavia, and the British Isles.

Roma were sometimes well received in Europe at first, but soon aroused antagonism because of perceived differences in their lifestyle and society, notably their footloose and masterless status and their eastern provenance. Country after country confronted Roma with policies of rejection and expulsion, sometimes to colonies. In Spain, between 1499 and 1783, at least a dozen laws were enacted prohibiting Roma dress, language, and customs and attempting to force settlement and assimilation. The first official nationwide repression of the Roma in France occurred in 1539 with an order for their expulsion. Similarly, in 1530, Roma had been commanded to leave England, under threat of imprisonment; in 1554 the penalty became death. In Hungary and Romania, many Roma were forced into bondage as serfs, or, in the case of Romania, as chattel slaves. That situation remained unchanged when these territories came under Ottoman suzerainty, and the Roma slaves’ final liberation in Romania did not take place until 1856. On the other hand, during this Turkish rule in south-eastern Europe, lasting almost 500 years, there was no counterpart to the systematically repressive legislation that was being applied in the rest of the continent.

In the 20th century, persecutions reached their height during World War II, when about 250,000 Roma perished in Nazi concentration camps. Large-scale massacres in occupied territories added to the toll. Post-war, the authorities in most Communist countries demanded integration of Roma and sought to proletarianize them (that is, turn them into industrial wage-labour), and largely succeeded in eliminating what remained of full-time nomadism. There was widespread reluctance to accord the Roma recognition as an ethnic group. Only in some republics of the former Yugoslavia were they placed on much the same footing as other minorities. In Western Europe, nomadism survived to a significant extent, but clashed with legislative systems designed for settled societies.

III

Present Distribution

There are wide divergences between estimates of the total number of Roma today. Census figures are not precise because Roma are often wary of identifying themselves as such, even where they are regarded as a distinct grouping. For Europe as a whole, a figure of 6 million is a reasonable order of magnitude. By far the largest concentrations are found in the Balkans (especially Romania) and Central Europe, but there are also sizeable Roma populations in Russia, Spain, and France. Others are scattered through the rest of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Americas, and Australia.

Although the Roma appeared in the Americas from the 16th century onward, owing to the European practice of using colonies as dumping-grounds for “undesirables”, the main Roma migrations across the Atlantic came in post-colonial times. In particular, the closing decades of the 19th century saw the arrival of groups of Roma whose Romani speech was permeated by Romanian influences. These “Vlach” (Wallachian, or Romanian) Roma had long been rooted in Romanian-speaking lands, but were now moving out in all directions from the Balkans and Hungary. In the United States, Roma travelled about largely in rural areas until the Great Depression of the 1930s, when many settled in cities. There are no reliable figures for the numbers now living in the United States and Canada: some estimates are as high as 1 million.

Over the centuries, the Roma have become fragmented into distinctive groupings, sometimes defined by geographic area of settlement or recent origin. European groups include: the Gitanos of Spain; the Manouches of France; the Sinti of Germany and Central Europe; the Romnichals of Great Britain; and the Boyash, Arlie, and Gurbeti among many others in Eastern Europe. Alongside the old-established populations, however, most countries also have more recently arrived communities, notably the Vlach Roma who go by such designations as Kalderasha, Lovara, Churara, and Machvaya. These make up the largest component in the United States. Under the influence of a growing worldwide nationalist movement that stresses cultural and ethnic unity, the outsider's term “Gypsy” is gradually being replaced by the self-designation “Roma” (“Rom”, meaning “man”), though this is not acceptable to all.

IV

Culture and Customs

Because the Roma are widely dispersed and have been subject to a diversity of external influences, their culture and social organization vary considerably. A salient characteristic everywhere, however, is a strong sense of group cohesion and exclusivity stressing the primacy of Roma traditions in opposition to those of the outside world. Close contact with non-Roma people is regarded as potentially “polluting”, a concept probably derived from the religious beliefs of Hindu ancestors. Another unifying force is the influence of Romani, which is a small group of languages (including Balkan Romani, Vlax Romani, and Carpathian Romani) belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. Many Roma people speak some form of Romani; others may employ dialects of the local languages with extensive Romani borrowings.

The Roma show wide differences from one another in the area of religion, as they have tended to adopt the faiths of the countries in which they have lived for some time. Among them can be found Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, and Muslims. Some may have little recourse to the clergy, however, preferring to carry out religious rituals in their own homes or in the context of folk observances. In recent times the Pentecostalist movement has made significant inroads among the Roma.

Roma are family oriented, with the elderly occupying positions of respect and authority. Sexual morality is strict; it is still common for unmarried girls to be chaperoned. Among the Vlach Roma, marriages are usually arranged, representing the desire to create alliances between families or clans. An adjunct to such marriages is the institution of bride-price, a payment made by the family of the groom to that of the bride to indemnify them for the loss of a daughter and to guarantee that she will receive good treatment. Another important institution among Vlach Roma is the kris, a tribunal that adjudicates disputes and matters of common law and custom. In general, Roma have little dependence on the formal social structures of the societies in which they live.

Almost everywhere the Roma are held in low esteem and tend to be concentrated in economically marginal activities. They prefer working on their own behalf, and may turn their hands to a variety of pursuits. The traditional occupations allowed them to avoid the regimentation of wage-labour, and included: blacksmithing and metalworking; horse-trading; peddling and small-scale commerce; fortune-telling and healing; basket-making, woodcarving, and other crafts; and music and entertainment. Though there is no way of making music that is identical to all Roma, they show considerable versatility in creatively adapting the music of those whom they entertain.

In most countries the Roma are under pressure to abandon their traditional way of life. In Great Britain, for example, their right to campsites has long been hotly contested. In the former Communist countries some are suffering badly under the present economic stresses and ethnic rivalries; many try to cross the borders to Western Europe, but are seldom accepted there. Nevertheless, the growing awareness among the Roma of their common origins, language, and culture suggests that their society will endure.