The Muslim Gypsies in Romania Are Sun- Which the Dead Are Commemorated
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3 2 Regional Issues I S I M NEWSLETTER 8 / 0 1 Eastern Europe ANA OPRISAN & GEORGE GRIGORE The Muslim Gypsies The Islamic community of Romania is concentrated in the Dobrudja, a southeastern province of Romania lying between the Danube River and the Black Sea. The community comprises an ethnic mosaic of Turks, Tartars, Albanians and Gypsies.1 Muslim Gypsies in Romania identify themselves as ‘Horahane Rroma’ Ð Horahane meaning Turkish in the Rromani language. The Mus- everyday Turkish variety spoken in the area. lim community accepts the Horahane Rroma as be- A kind of pidgin Turkish is also used. Classi- longing to the Islamic religion, but otherwise does cal Arabic is used for the Islamic prayer ritu- not affiliate with them. The great majority of the Ro- al, the n a m a z, and some religious expres- manian population rejects Horahane Rroma because sions derived from Arabic Ð but with a very of their adherence to a religion different from the specific pronunciation Ð are part of their ‘national’ Orthodox Christianity. For the other Gyp- spoken language. Romanian, the official sies, they are simply known as ‘Turks’. language, is normally spoken by the major- ity of Gypsies. The official number of the Rroma, or Gypsy, A direct result of this situation is the ap- population of Romania is still based upon pearance of the phenomenon of code- the 1992 census: 409,723 persons, or 1.8% of switching, which is defined as the alternate the entire population. However, unofficial use of two or more languages in the same estimates by Rromani associations amount sentence or in the same discourse. to approximately 2.5 million people. A very small part of this Gypsy population (10,000- Changing lifestyles The women and 15,000) is estimated to be Muslim, and is dis- Muslim Gypsies, once nomads, used to children of the tributed over a dozen towns and villages.2 travel as artisans and seasonal labourers by b u l i b a s h a’s family Because very few written records have sur- tilt wagons from village to village offering in Babadag vived little is known of the history of the their services, such as tinning kitchen dish- Muslim Gypsies in Dobrudja. It is thought es, in exchange for agricultural products or that they arrived in the area in the early 16t h Muslims of Dobrudja to the old dualist reli- Linguistic aspects for money. However, modern industries led century as a s a n j a k (division) of a specific gion (Devla-God/Benga-Satan) of the Gypsies. Name-giving among the Muslim Gypsies to a crisis of the traditional craft practised category of Gypsies serving in the Ottoman Generally Gypsies are capable of adapting, reflects the pragmatic and eclectic ap- by the Muslim Gypsies. Taking also into army. This hypothesis is sustained by the at least superficially, to all sorts of circum- proach of this small community living in a Ð consideration the forced sedentarization Special Law for the Gypsies of Rumelia, pro- stances while maintaining their identity. This sometimes Ð hostile environment. Often policies of the communist authorities, their mulgated by Sultan Suleiman the Great in phenomenon may also be noticed at the level their names are a combination of a Turkish entire way of life was changed. Without the 1530, and by the Law for the supervision of of religion. In spite of their declared affiliation (Islamic) name and a Romanian (sometimes traditional skills they once had, nowadays the s a n j a k of Gypsies of 1541. Others may be to Islam, many of their ancestral religious rep- even Christian) name. For example, the the Muslim Gypsies are seeking employ- descendants of Gypsies that came from the resentations, beliefs and practices are still name of the b u l i b a s h a (community head) in ment opportunities outside of their com- other territories to the Ottoman dominions present, such as belief in demons, totemism the town of Babadag is Recep Lupu, Lupu munity. Attracted by the economic activi- that embraced Islam. Muslim Gypsies in Do- and divination. Of interest is that the two Is- being a name from the Romanian bestiary, ties of the large cities, a considerable num- brudja have no written culture, but they lamic categories halal (allowed) and haram meaning wolf. The women in the communi- ber of them migrated, usually settling in the have a rich oral tradition, which includes (prohibited) have been superposed on two ty have at least two names. For example, city outskirts as petty traders, domestic ser- fairytales, legends, riddles, charms, and categories of the ancestral culture of Gypsies, one of the outstanding women in the com- vants and day labourers. Their cities of pref- songs. Unfortunately this tradition has been namely ujo (pure) and melalo (impure). This munity of Babadag is called Maria Rubie. erence are Constantza and Bucharest in Ro- recorded only sporadically thus far and it has taboo system is regulated by rituals, such as Depending on circumstances, some of mania and Istanbul in Turkey. Those re- not been analysed at all. The study of these the use of charms, and not by resorting to Is- them declare themselves Romanians and maining in villages are also involved in cultural expressions would certainly lead to lamic teachings. Christians, making use of the Romanian petty trade and domestic service. One can a greater understanding of their history. Another illustrative example of the syn- name only, while at the other occasions often find them travelling with their mer- cretism that characterizes their worldview is they proclaim themselves Turks and Mus- chandise from one village to the other in Ancestral beliefs and Islam the annual Hirdelezi festival, an occasion on lims, making use of the Turkish name. the area, by car or sometimes still by tradi- The Muslim Gypsies in Romania are Sun- which the dead are commemorated. This fes- Muslim Gypsies in Dobrudja present a tional tilt wagon. nites of the Hanafitic rite. Identifying Islam tival takes place on the 6 th of May and is cele- typical case of languages in contact. A num- The Muslim Gypsies can be said to still have with the Ottoman civilization, some of them brated by all the Muslims in Dobrudja. Fire ber of languages Ð Horahane (a Rromani di- close-knit communities. The tradition of proclaim: ‘We are Muslims, so we believe in plays a central role for the Gypsies on this spe- alect), Turkish, and Romanian, as well as va- ‘Hanamic’ is a way to construct strong rela- the God of the Turks.’ The other Muslim in- cial day. Fires are lit in front of their houses rieties of these are widely used in everyday tionships between families: More powerful habitants of Dobrudja often stress that the and the members of the family jump over interactions. The choice of using a particu- than blood kinship, the parents vow, before Gypsies do not have much knowledge of reli- them in order to purify themselves from sins lar language is governed by social factors. their children are born, that their offspring gion. They name them Allahsiz insanlar, God- and liberate themselves from bad spirits. This For instance, the Horahane dialect is spo- will intermarry when they have reached the less people, because they do not live a mani- ritual is similar to the Newroz festival celebrat- ken inside the community, especially by proper age. As of yet, mixed marriages are fest religious life. They go to the mosque only ed by Kurds, Iranians and others. The Hirdelezi women and children. The type of Turkish very rare. This may nonetheless change: It on the occasions of great Islamic festivals, festival is sometimes called ‘Turkish Easter’, used is linked to a whole spectrum of vari- seems that the Muslim Gypsies could lose such as the Id al-Fitr and the Id al-Adha. Pejo- because the Gypsies also light candles in their eties ranging from the Ottoman Turkish, their distinct identity through assimilation. rative allusions are sometimes made by other houses. used for the invocation of God, to the However, through the strengthening of rela- tions with the Muslim Gypsies in other parts of southeastern Europe, especially in Bulgar- ia and Turkey, a revival of their ethnic identi- ty indeed belongs to the future possibilities. A N N O U N C E M E N T Cinema, Media and the Middle East: ‘The Maghreb’ N o t e s Urgent Change: media images. In addition to the latter, studies will 1 . See also Grigore, George (1999), ‘Muslims in The forthcoming conference on ‘Cinema, Media and the also focus on gender, social class, culture and other is- Romania’, ISIM Newsletter, 3. Middle East’ has to be postponed due to unforeseen or- sues raised by various disciplines. The conference 2 . The towns of Babadag, Harsova, Constantza, and ganizational circumstances. It will be held from 24 to 25 aims to bring together scholars from different re- Medgidia, and the villages of Cobadin, Negru- October 2001 at the Department of Film Studies on the search areas and media professionals. The conference Voda, Dobromir, Baneasa, Lespezi, Valeni, Castelu, campus of the University of Mainz, Germany. will be hosted by Prof. Anton Escher (Geography, Mihail and Kogalniceanu. The interdisciplinary research network on ‘Cinema, CERAW (Centre for Research on the Arab World)) and Media and the Middle East’ is organizing its third in- Prof. Thomas Koebner (Film Studies). Ana Oprisan is a Rromologist working at The Rroma ternational conference in Mainz from 24 to 25 Octo- Center for Public Policies ‘Aven Amentza’, Bucharest, ber 2001.