Between Two Worlds

[biglin]

First and foremost our family matters to us. We might fight among ourselves, even physically, and the language we use even as young kids might shock a lot of gadjes/gorgers/gaujis/gorgios (we’ve got lots of names for non-gypsies) but we’re family and we stick together.

Only just below our love of family comes our passion for freedom. Freedom is the air we breathe, the rat (blood) that flows in our veins, the thing we prize above everything else. Take our possessions, take our money, all our worldly goods, but leave us our freedom!

For all our freedom we follow a strict code of laws. They govern how we dress, how we behave in public, who we can be friends with, how we prepare food, how to keep ourselves and our homes clean and even our bodies. No Roma will willingly go a single day without at least a strip wash if not a shower and will bathe at least twice a week..

Of all the lies and insults we face, the words ‘dirty gypsy’ hurt me more than most. As anyone who knows me will testify, I’m obsessional about cleanliness and I’d rather be called almost anything other than a ‘dirty gypsy!’

I'll talk a bit about the history of the Romani people.

The origin of the Romanies go back to the Banjala tribes in India. Their first recorded appearance in the West was during the sixth century A.D. where they were mentioned by Byzantine chroniclers.

At the beginning of the new millenium a wave of them spread out of India into Persia, Syria, Egypt and what is now Turkey but at the time was still the Byzantine Empire. The Romani exodus from India was one of the largest mass migrations before the nineteenth century. It was caused by the persecution of the fanatical Indian Muslim ruler Mahmood of Ghazni. His attempts to force the overwhelmingly Hindu Romanis to convert to Islam met with resistance and wave after wave of them abandoned India and moved westwards.
Many of the men were soldiers and plied their trade as mercenaries, mainly fighting for the Byzantine Empire but some also fought for the Turks. Many settled in the Sulukule area of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and that lasted for a thousand years as a continuously inhabited Romani settlement before Erdogan demolished it to make way for his building projects.

As the Byzantine Empire slowly crumbled, many Romanies went westward, arriving in Eastern Europe around the fourteenth century. Over the course of their sojourn in the Middle East and Byzantium they had acquired a smattering of Christianity and Islam but remained overwhelmingly pagan.

Most of the new arrivals in Europe quickly developed at least a veneer of Christianity. That did not stop them falling under suspicion from the Inquisition, especially with the large number of Romani women who earned their living through palmistry, cartomancy and other forms of divination. Many of them were burnt at the stake as witches and many others were hung. In several European countries Romanies were sold into slavery, a lifelong condition of bondage which their children also inherited. It was three centuries before this practice finally ceased.
From Eastern Europe they gradually spread out into the relatively more tolerant lands of Russia to the east and France to the West. By the early sixteenth century the first recorded mention of gypsies in England appears though they had almost certainly arrived much earlier.

A number of features marked them out as different and led to suspicion and hostility. One was the belief that they were pagans at heart and only paid lip-service to Christianity. (There was probably a lot of truth in that especially in the early years of their arrival.) Another was their dark skin and their foreign, secret language. Most of all, though, was their reluctance to integrate and insistence on maintaining their traditional culture and lifestyle.

In some parts of Europe, particularly Britain and Spain, they were able to reach some kind of accommodation with the authorities that allowed them to preserve most of their traditional way of life. That was much less true in other European countries. Britain in particular saw a high degree of intermarriage with the gorgia (non-gypsy) population and slowly the language declined. The once pure Romanes tongues, primarily Sanscrit in origin, was either totally lost with many Roma in Britain becoming 'lalleri' - non-Romanes speaking - or, more commonly, morphing into a dialect known as Anglo-Rom, Romanichal or (in Romanes) 'poggerdi jib' - broken language.

Anglo-Rom bears the marks of its long travels out of India, with Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Greek, Albanian, Russian, Polish, Czech, Spanish, French, Basque, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and of course English all having been mixed together into a heady linguistic casserole. Anglo-Rom is about the least pure dialect of Romanes there is and sometimes when I've talked to European or Turkish Roma we've used quite different words for things.

I'll talk about my family beginning with my grandparents.

 

[biglin]

Romani identity has always been complex but there is one overwhelming factor that determines it. That is our possession of Romani 'rat,' blood.

Particularly among British Roma there has been extensive intermarriage with non-gypsies which obviously dilutes the percentage of Romani geness.

There are pure Romanies, posh-rats - people who are half-Roma- and diddakai - people with some Roma blood in them.

Romanies are divided into two principal groups, Roma and Sinti. The terms Roma and Romani are often used interchangeably but this is a mistake.

Just as there ar two separate groups of Romanies, so there are distinct 'vitsas' - tribes - within the groups. In Britain the predominant tribe among the Romanies is Cale but with the growing numbers of Eastern European gypsies arriving that is becoming less true.

There are at least twenty-three subgroups of the Romani people.. The most importan are the Cale, Manush, Kalderash, Lovara and Horahane. In recent years with the collapse of Communism and freer movement across the European Union many of the Rudara (mainly from Bulgaria and Romania) have become highly visible presences in other European countries.

The Cale are widely spread out but are mainly found in Britain (particularly Wales), the Basque region of Spain and France, Spain, Portugal and (perhaps surprisingly) Finland. Cale means 'black' and is directly derived from the Sanscrit word 'kala' meaning black

The Manush are Sinti rather than Roma and they are mainly found in France and Central Europe. 'Manush' means 'people' in Romanes and again the same word is used in Sanscrit with the same meaning.

The Kalderash are mainly found in Romania, Bulgaria, Central Europe and the Ukraine.

The Lovara are mainly found in Hungary, Germany, Austria and Central Europe.

The Horahane are mainly found in Greece, Albania, Bosnia, Kossovo and Turkey. Unlike most European Romanies they are Muslim.

The Rudara are mainly found in Romania, Bulgarian, Hungary and Serbia.

Though they are different with different dialects and customs all these groups are Romanies.

My blood is mainly Cale with some Kalderash but I've got friends who are Lovara, Manush and Horahane as well as Cale and Kalderash.

It is our blood that gives us our identity, more even than our language. Our traditions and the law of the brothers still prevail among us though sadly a combination of persecution and practical difficulties is slowly eroding them which makes me sad.

For all our differences in language, culture and lifestyle it is the blood within us that deifnes us and makes us Romanies.

We are also bound by the law of the brothers and anyone who violates that risks losing their Romipen.

Our blood and our code of conduct bind us together and define us as Romanies.

None of the other trappings matter.

One of the most common mistakes by gadjes is to assume that gypsies and travellers are the same thing. They point, for example, to the Gypsy and Traveller Council in Britain, cheerfully ignoring the fact there's a conjunction in its title!

Gypsies AND travellers.

NOT the same thing.

As I said when I was talking about Roma identity, to BE a gypsy means you MUST have at least SOME Romani blood in you.

Throughout the history of the Romanies travel has played a huge part in our lives and culture. Sometimes it's been willing - seeking the freedom of the open road; sometimes it's been enforced on them either by escaping from persecution or by deliberate deportation..

But where they have been relatively welcomed they have often chosen to stay.

I was privileged to visit and talk to the Horahane gypsies of Sulukule in Turkey who lived there for a thousand years. A few years after my visit Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister and now President, demolished their homes to make money out of building projects.

There are many different groups of travellers. The Irish tinker speak Shelta Thari which is a debased form of Irish Gaelic as well as English. Other Irish travellers speak a mixture of English, Irish and cant that is sometimes called 'gammon.' Scottish travellers speak a mixture of Gaelic, Scots and English. Welsh travellers speak a mixture of Welsh and English.

There are also 'mumpers' - rural tramps - and 'crusties' - the most visible examples of the last group being the New Age Travellers.

All these groups travel to a greater or lesser extent though many have settled habitations.

A similar group found only in Switzerland are the Yenish. They have no Romani blood but periodically are overcome with wanderlust and travel around the country in the teeth of official persecution.

The Rudara who come mainly from Romania and Bulgaria are perhaps the poorest and most oppressed people in Europe. They also travel extensively but in their case almost entirely to escape persecution or to seek a better economic future.

The Rudara are the only one of these groups who are Romanies but because of their appalling treatment they have become feral and predatory upon gadjes and have all but forgotten the way.

The whole notion that being a gypsy implies the necessity of travel is nonsense.

Equally being a non-Romani traveller refers to a lifestyle rather than a literal process of perpetual motion.

Apart from the fact that these travellers do NOT follow the laws of the brothers and often do bad things for which we, the Roma, are blamed, so too when local criminals learn that Romanies or travellers are in an area they 'up' their own crime rate knowing that 'the gypsies' will be blamed for their crimes!

Travelling certainly is important to the Roma; it's often the only way we can hook up with distant friends and family.

So we 'jaul the drom' - travel the road; 'pen the patrin' - leave signposts for other Roma to follow' and camp at our 'atchin tans' - stopping places.

But more ad more the law is being misused to close down our atchin tans and move us on.

I am writing a record of a way of life that is becoming extinct in front of my eyes.

In the words of the Ewan McColl song:

'the day of the traveller's over;
there's nowhere to run to and nowhere to bide,
so farewell to the life of a rover.'

 

[biglin]

Until the Second World War it was still possible for most British Roma to lead a traditional lifestyle. We could ‘jaul the drom’ – travel the road – freely and most of our ‘vardos’ – caravans/mobile homes – were still drawn by horses.

Then the war came. Most of our young men had to fight and the mothers had to take over running the family. Their economic role expanded as so did their range of skills. Roma women began to learn carpentry, metal working, dealing in scrap and timber and hauling heavy loads. Many of them also began to learn to drive.

After the war the men returned and they too began to turn away from horses and vardos toward ‘drags’ – cars – and motorised homes. At about the same time legislation began to be passed that made it more difficult for us to travel the highways and particularly to stop anywhere longer than twenty-four hours. The gavers – police – began to move us on and harass us generally.

On top of that many of our traditional ways of making money got less profitable. We also found that more and more travellers were arriving, mainly from Ireland though some from Scotland and Wales and they all seemed to descend on our ‘atchin tans’ – stopping places – and cause problems. The Scots and Welsh travellers were not so bad but the Irish tinkers and mumpers got us a bad reputation that was completely undeserved. They were ‘mokardi’ – dirty – loved a ‘chingary’ – fight – and they ‘chored’ – stole on a huge scale. They’d steal the lead off a church roof and think nothing of it while we were very religious and wouldn’t dream of doing that.

So these ‘jenishers’ – non-Roma travellers – got us blamed for stuff we’d never done. Pubs and other places we’d been welcome turned us away because of what that mob had done.

Until the Second World War it was still possible for most British Roma to lead a traditional lifestyle. We could ‘jaul the drom’ – travel the road – freely and most of our ‘vardos’ – caravans/mobile homes – were still drawn by horses.

Then the war came. Most of our young men had to fight and the mothers had to take over running the family. Their economic role expanded as so did their range of skills. Roma women began to learn carpentry, metal working, dealing in scrap and timber and hauling heavy loads. Many of them also began to learn to drive.

After the war the men returned and they too began to turn away from horses and vardos toward ‘drags’ – cars – and motorised homes. At about the same time legislation began to be passed that made it more difficult for us to travel the highways and particularly to stop anywhere longer than twenty-four hours. The gavers – police – began to move us on and harass us generally.

On top of that many of our traditional ways of making money got less profitable. We also found that more and more travellers were arriving, mainly from Ireland though some from Scotland and Wales and they all seemed to descend on our ‘atchin tans’ – stopping places – and cause problems. The Scots and Welsh travellers were not so bad but the Irish tinkers and mumpers got us a bad reputation that was completely undeserved. They were ‘mokardi’ – dirty – loved a ‘chingary’ – fight – and they ‘chored’ – stole on a huge scale. They’d steal the lead off a church roof and think nothing of it while we were very religious and wouldn’t dream of doing that.

So these ‘jenishers’ – non-Roma travellers – got us blamed for stuff we’d never done. Pubs and other places we’d been welcome turned us away because of what that mob had done.

 

[biglin]

The vardo was sold and the horses too and the family said goodbye to a long tradition.

Of course they still tried to follow the way as best they could and the kids could all speak Romanes although as my mum went on with school she got more and more unwilling to rocker the jib (talk the language). You'll turn into a gorger rawni, Sara, her parents and siblings used to say to her. But mum didn't care. I think she WANTED to be a gorger because she'd seen a bit (and heard a lot more) about how hard hte life of a Romani was.

After the war Jakob came to Britain. He was tall, dark-haired, dark-skinned and very handsome and charming. He was also a bit of a rogue in many ways. Not only was he a terrible womaniser but he also led a very chequered existence. His CV included service in the British army, a spell in prison and a period working for ETA. Mainly he earned his living working in the wood trade.

He had loads of aliases - Diego in Spain, Jaime in the Basque country, Jacques in France and (mostly) Jimmy in Britain. When I talk about him a bit more I'll call him Jimmy because that was the name most people knew him by.

Far more than my mum, Jimmy was my real teacher in the Romani way. He was also, in my experience of him, a lovable man who could be tender without being wimpish and tough without being thuggish.

Aunt Reenie and Uncle Billy got married young, each at the age of 16, to other Romanies. My eldest aunt, Louisa, was 23 when she married which was almost ancient in the eyes of the tribe especially in those days. Most Romanies marry between the ages of 16 to 18. All of them gave birth to their kids on the straw - it's our tradition and even if we give birth in hospital - as I did with my first - we must have a least a bit of straw under us.

Even though money was always tight for my grandparents (and my aunts and uncle) they were all happy to trade off their lack of money for the freedom of living their own life and earning their own living. British Romanies always prefer to be self-employed and we make excellent businessmen and businesswomen.

Like all the family, my grandparents were brilliant dancers. As well as the more traditional Romani styles of dancing, they could also do a lot of ballroom - waltz, quickstep, tango and foxtrot. My grandad was also an excellent guitarist and my nan had a beautiful singing voice. Unfortunately neither of those talents passed on to yours truly - I had to make do with writing instead!

Though my grandad drove regularly he always hated it and used to get nostalgic about the days of horse-drawn travel. Drags is for gorgias, he used to say. You can't feel the earth and air around you like you can with a grai (horse.)

And of course in the sixties hostility and harassment got worse. Several times he or other family members would get stopped by the gavers - police - for NO reason, just done for a sus which is a diabolical liberty. He also found that when he met up with other Roma at our meets local villains would commit crimes and we'd get blamed for it.

And of course the closing off of the countryside, closing down our atchin-tans (stopping places), barring us from pubs, shops and so on became a lot more common. My mum even started to deny her romipen (an untranslatable word - gypsyhood, gypsyness, gypsy nature) to the gorgias. I'm not a gypsy, she'd say.

I’ll talk about our language later but very briefly Anglo-Rom, also known as Romanichal, is less ‘pure’ than some other dialects. It’s picked up lots of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish words along the way.

Now they were settled Mum and the other kids – eight in all – had to go to school. Mum and her siblings had quite a torrid time of it, especially Mum. She’s an Aries like me and has a terrible temper and you could never tell her anything. And being raised the Romani way meant problems for her.

She was always fighting with the other kids and always in trouble with the teachers for swearing. In those days they still had the cane at school and Mum would often come home with stinging hands where the teachers had caned her. She never showed her pain, though; she was too proud to let them know they’d hurt her.

Three schools later she settled down a bit but still left school at the age of 15. (This was before ROSLA). Mum did a bit of this and a bit of that and eventually settled down to working as a barmaid. She liked her drink and she liked the relative freedom of the job and that’s how she met my Dad.

 

[Nebulous]

Thank you so much for sharing @biglin

Looking forward to more entries from you!