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The Romani Nation THE ROMANI NATION The Romani flag is the international flag of the Romani people. It was created by the General Union of the Roma of Romania in 1933, and approved by international representatives at the first World Romani Congress in 1971, held in London, United Kingdom. The flag consists of a background of blue and green, representing the heavens and earth, respectively. The flag also contains a red chakra, or spoked wheel, in the centre, representing the migratory heritage of the Romani people. BIG YEAR ASSIGNMENT – TERM 3 DENISE BRANNAN 1 INTRODUCTION So, there I was back in the early 1990’s sitting in Staines Pentecostal Church waiting for the service to begin and in walked three visitors eager to join us in our worship. They looked a bit different, slightly rugged and spoke with an interesting dialect. It turns out that they were Christian Romani gypsies looking for a Pentecostal church to worship in. Over the next year or so, they came joined by their wives, children and friends. It was great turning up on a Sunday morning to see an array of vans parked in gypsy fashion. The growing number of gypsies joined us each week and we had a great time worshipping together. Little did I know that the Lord would touch my heart and years later I would be studying their culture! As you have probably guessed, this essay is about the Romani nation, their migratory history and the revival that broke out throughout Europe in the 1950’s which continues today. The Romanis are a reached people group, Hallelujah the Lord is doing amazing things in and through them. ETHNO LIGUISTIC GROUPS Based on the Joshua project (1) information there are 44 world gypsy groups with a world population of 17,162,000. In the UK 6 of these cluster groups live in society making up 227,300 people out of the total population. The UK people groups are: CLUSTER POPULATION LANGUAGE SPOKEN The Scottish traveller 4,100 - Scottish cant Irish traveller or Shelta 6,200 - Shelta cant Romani Vlax 62,000 - Romani Vlax Romani Welsh 62,000 - Welsh Gypsy Irish 21,000 -English It is interesting to note that Surrey has the fourth largest population of Gypsies and travellers in the whole of the United Kingdom! They are the largest minority ethnic group in Surrey. (2) ROMANI HISTORY – THE MIGRATION OUT OF INDIA The Romani people have a migratory heritage having travelled to either escape invasion or as a direct result of war. So where was homeland? And how have they ended up settling in the UK? From research, linguistic and genetic evidence indicates that the Romanis are of Indian origin. It is believed that the primary reason the Romanis emigrated from India in the 10th century was due to the Muslim expansion toward the West, initiated particularly by Seljuk Turks. Between 1000 and 1027, India was invaded by Mahmud of Ghazni who was attempting to spread the Muslim religion. Thousands were killed and many were taken captive. Most of the Indian troops left India through the Himalayan pass and through the Middle East either as prisoners of war or travelling to escape conflict. They first arrived in Europe at the end of the thirteenth century having been conscripted into the Turkish battalions. This was at a time when the (1) www.joshuaproject.net (2) www.sabp.nhs.uk - Surrey traveller community relations forum (traveller information pack) 2 Ottoman Turks were taking over the Byzantine Empire with the strategy of spreading the Muslim religion and extending their political influence. INTO SLAVERY – THE BALKANS At the time the Romanis arrived, Balkan society was mainly agricultural, but as the economy gradually moved into a market based one, it became dependant on the artisan skill of the Romanis. The landowners, aristocracy and the monasteries, applied increasingly strict measures on their Romani work force, to prevent them from leaving to the point that slavery became widespread lasting over 500 years. By the mid nineteenth century, there was a call for the abolition of slavery. This was brought on by the economic and social changes in society. More efficient farm machinery was introduced by the Industrial revolution making the ownership of a slave more of a liability than an asset. In 1855 a bill was passed for the abolition of slavery. There were around 600,000 slaves freed at this time. J A Vaillant who had written his book on the Romanis said this: ‘those who shed tears of compassion the Negroes of Africa, of whom the American Republic makes its slaves, should give a kind though to this short history of the Gypsies of India, of whom the European monarchies make their ‘Negroes’. These man wanders from Asia will never again be itinerant; these slaves shall be FREE’ (1) THE MOVE INTO THE REST OF EUROPE including the UK Not all Romanies were taken as slaves, perhaps half of the Romani people were while the other half of the population continued moving into the rest of Europe. The first Romanis into Europe were very different from the local population, being dark skinned, wearing unfamiliar clothing and spoke a language not understood by the locals. They were neither Christian, Jew nor Muslim and were a people without a country of their own. Europeans came up with various notions that they were either offspring of the Jews or Christian vagabonds. The first Romanis were identified with Cain and were believed to be cursed never to settle. Some believed that they were criminals from different European societies. Either way they were treated with hostility and were subject to ethnic cleansing, forced labour and the abduction of their children. The first record of Romanis in England was in 1505 where they were met with the same hostility as the rest of Europe. In 1530 a law was introduced expelling the Romanis from England. This led to the further expansion of the nation, where many were transported to America. By 1554 a law had been formed making it illegal to be an immigrant Gypsy and anyone found to be was hanged. Those Romanis who were looking to the Church to find a faith in God were rejected by them. The Archbishop Petri of Sweden decreed in 1560: ‘The priest shall not concern himself with the Gypsies. He shall neither bury their corpses nor christen their children.’ (2) (1) 1857- Histoire Vraie des Vrais Bohémiens. Paris: Dentu & Cie (2) www.treetruth.sowebs.org 3 Priests in Magdeburg were ordered not to baptize Gypsy children without obtaining higher authorization. Gypsies were rejected by the Church for two major reasons. Firstly the church was afraid that the Europeans would turn against a decision of accepting Gypsies into the Church and secondly they were threatened by the Gypsies superstitions. During the 19th century, in Bulgaria, the Orthodox clergy declared it a greater sin than theft to give alms to the Gypsies. Muslim and Christian preachers treated the Romanis as outcasts. They were not allowed to participate in church and religious functions even when they professed to be converted to the religion of that country. Gypsies who were true to the faith were made to sit and listen outside an open window of the church or mosque. The Catholic clergy used its great power to heighten the persecution of the Romanis by decreeing that sympathizers were themselves subject to punishment even death. THE HOLOCAUST During world war 11 the Nazis attempted to eradicate the Romanis in a plan to have a Gypsy free Europe. One of the largest mass murders in history destroyed over half of the Romani population in Nazi occupied Europe. In Romani the Holocaust is referred to as the ‘Baro Porrajmos or ‘great devouring’ of human life. It can also mean ‘rape’ as well as ‘gaping’ as in shock or horror. ‘The motives invoked to justify the death of the Gypsies were the same as those ordering the murder of the Jews and the methods employed for the one were identified with those employed for the other.’ (Novitch, Ghetto Fighters House, Israel, 1968:3)(1) Since the end of World war 11 nobody was called to testify on behalf of the Romani victims of the Holocaust at the Nuremburg trials and no war reparations have ever been paid to them as a people. Even in Eastern Europe today, Romanis are prime targets of racial violence by neo-Nazi activists. HAS MUCH CHANGED TODAY Romanis and other gypsy ethnic minorities are amongst the most misunderstood and socially excluded groups in the UK. Throughout history they have suffered discrimination and hostility and even today prejudice and hatred are openly expressed. In May 2005 the BBC wrote a news article entitled ‘Gypsies are Europe’s most hated’. In this article Dr James Smith, co-founder of the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire stated that: ‘their plight is often forgotten and they remain ‘demonised’…Up to half a million were killed. Yet even after the Holocaust, gypsies remain perhaps the most hated minority in Europe’ (2) A MORI poll in 2003 found that 35% of the population admit to prejudice against Gypsies and Travellers, while 38% believe such prejudice exists. 32% cited newspapers and 42% cited television as among the most important influences. In 2003, the former Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) launched a consultation strategy for Gypsies and Travellers. In the document, it stated that: ‘Extreme levels of public hostility (are) fuelled in part by irresponsible media reporting of the kind that would be met with outrage if it was targeted at any other ethnic group.’ (3) (1) We are the Romani people – Ian Handcock (2) www.treetruth.sowebs.org 4 (3) www.sabp.nhs.uk - Surrey traveller community relations forum (traveller information pack) The British medical Association believes that the ‘Gypsy’ traveller community to be the most ‘at risk’ with the lowest life expectancy and highest child mortality rate.
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