Post by Kuro on Oct 26, 2011 15:32:52 GMT -5
The Roma are a proud people that live throughout Europe. They are vastly spread out over the world with about ninety thousand in Britain. While the term Gypsy can be seen as a derogatory term, it is more towards the lifestyle that the Roma currently live. Some Roma will also use the term gypsy in a non-derogatory manner. Roma are typically descended from peoples living in India which were exiled out to the west. Roma are the descendents that eventually moved into central and eastern Europe along with central Italy. Another group of Romani lives in Britain, the Romanichal who have also imigrated to the States and Australia. However, it is curently illegal for the Romani to immigrate to the United States.
Romani place a high value on family and marriage. Women are to be virgins until marriage and then are responsible to tend to her husband and children's needs. Men have more value then women in the Romani society. The eldest male, or grandfather, has the most authority and is considered the leader of the group of Romani. The older a woman gets and the more children she has, the more authority and respect she gains. The leader of the Romani is the Rom Baro.
The Romani typically travel using wagons, or Vardo. These wagons have some living spaces within. Roma have a very strict set of morals and beliefs. Hygeine is very important and they have a very determined set of rules regarding it. Certain clothing and objects need to be washed seperately and it is viewed as unclean to have a bathroom within a living space. The upper body is considered clean while the lower body is considered unclean. A gypsy will never share a cup with another person. A person is considered unclean if they come in contact with death, blood or bodily waste.
Romani are often seen as fortune teller and thieves, and they are descriminated against by most folks. Most of the Gypsies usually end up getting run off from various communities. Roma gaurd their culture and rarely share with outsiders as the outside world would hardly understand. Despite this, the Roma are a generous folk and will often adopt children from outside their troupe and raise them as their own. The Roma are often highly gifted with abilities that are shunned by the rest of the world. It is not uncommon for them to take in people who have been shunned.
You can find more information about the Roma people in the real world on Wikipedia
Romani place a high value on family and marriage. Women are to be virgins until marriage and then are responsible to tend to her husband and children's needs. Men have more value then women in the Romani society. The eldest male, or grandfather, has the most authority and is considered the leader of the group of Romani. The older a woman gets and the more children she has, the more authority and respect she gains. The leader of the Romani is the Rom Baro.
The Romani typically travel using wagons, or Vardo. These wagons have some living spaces within. Roma have a very strict set of morals and beliefs. Hygeine is very important and they have a very determined set of rules regarding it. Certain clothing and objects need to be washed seperately and it is viewed as unclean to have a bathroom within a living space. The upper body is considered clean while the lower body is considered unclean. A gypsy will never share a cup with another person. A person is considered unclean if they come in contact with death, blood or bodily waste.
Romani are often seen as fortune teller and thieves, and they are descriminated against by most folks. Most of the Gypsies usually end up getting run off from various communities. Roma gaurd their culture and rarely share with outsiders as the outside world would hardly understand. Despite this, the Roma are a generous folk and will often adopt children from outside their troupe and raise them as their own. The Roma are often highly gifted with abilities that are shunned by the rest of the world. It is not uncommon for them to take in people who have been shunned.
You can find more information about the Roma people in the real world on Wikipedia
