This is the first thread I’ve actually started, so please bear with me.
I’ve read some of the Pit threads re:the Romani people, and I guess I am confused about 1 thing: what distinguishes the Romani from anyone else? Are they an ethnic group? Religion? Is it simply their way of life? Could you tell a Romani on sight if you saw them in the street? I have read about the atrocities commtted against them, and it has sickened me- is this similar to Jewish persecution in Europe? Is there anything that they can do to ‘stop’ being Romani and avoid this hatred?
I apologize if any of my questions are considered offensive. I am just horrified by what I have read and don’t really understand the root of it all.
You probably know them better as Gypsies, but yes, they’ve long been persecuted. They’re an ethnic group. I can’t tell you very much, but maybe knowing that they’re not as unfamiliar as you think would be helpful.
Yes their more commonly known as Gypsies, but Roma/Romani is the proper term as “Gypsies” is based on the incorrect idea they orginated in Egypt (they actually orginated in what is now Pakistan). IIRC roughly half a million Roma were killed by the Nazis in the concentration camps and though antisemitism was greatly diminished by WWII hatred towards the Roma never went away.
The Rom are an ethnic group that appears to have originated in Northern India ( based on linguistic analysis ) and migrated into Eastern Europe perhaps as early as the 11th century, reaching Western Europe by maybe the 15th. They speak a group of closely related Indo-Aryan languages ( or dialects depending on your definition ).
The term “gypsy” ( almost universally considered perjorative these days ) encompasses a somewhat wider group, including folks like the Irish Travelers who are probably unrelated historically to the Rom ( other than perhaps by association, as both commonly, though not exclusively, had a semi-nomadic lifestyle and as such were regarded with suspicion by settled populations ).
As Tamerlane said, the Irish Travellers are also sometimes called Gypsies, though they are not ethnically related to the Rom. Like the Rom, however, they have faced a large amount of persecution both in the British Isles and (to a lesser extent) here in the US. I’ve read in some sources that the travelers are decendents of the original celtic population of Ireland(to this day they speak a variation of Gaelic called Shelta), Can anyone confirm or deny this?
When the Roma arrived in most of Eastern Europe, they were enslaved. Slavery in Romania, for example, started happening within 50 years of Romany arrival in that country, and that led to stereotypes…“they steal, they’re dirty”, etc., because slaves are a group that everybody can feel superior to. So between that, and the fact that the Roma spoke a different language, and have a unique culture, with things like laws about ritual cleanliness, for example, that distinguished them from the rest of the population, mistrust and prejudice developed, that still lasts today.
Any group which is obviously different will face hatred from the the mainstream community. It’s so obvious historically and in the present times that I’m surprised you’re asking this question.
Beside, they had a nomadic way of life, which don’t help in creating trust (especially during times when everyone you didn’t have known since your childhood and who was living in a five miles radius around your own village was a stranger not to be trusted), and they were (and still are) accused of being thieves. And also in older times of having many witches and sorcerers amongst them, which has not always been a trivial accusation.
The looked different (darker) they spoke differently, they had different cultural traits. People have never needed more than just one of those things to “hate” another group. Taken altogether, and you’ve got the classic recipe for ethnic hatred.
As for the Irish Gypsies (Travellers), I do believe those in the US are dscended from original ones in Ireland. Rememeber the woman from about a year ago who was caught on tape slapping her kid around in a store parking lot? She was a Traveller.
And as someone already mentioned, the term Gypsy derived from Egyption (eronously asigned to the origin of the Roma), but is now used as a tag for almost any ethnic group that leads a nomadic type of life within a settled or industrial society (as opposed to the few true nomands still in existence who live completely outside settled communities).