First, the descriptive term gypsies is a misnomer. They were once called that because they were thought to have come from Egypt. That has long been disproved. Their proper name is tzigane.
The Tziganes
The Tziganes are perceived as a people with no homeland and no visible means of income. They wandered around Europe for centuries and, during more than a century, have done so in America.
Due to this wandering lifestyle there are variations of the word Tzigane in French, Russian, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Rumanian, Turkish, Polish and Czech. They were in England by the early 16th century and were on the European continent in the 15th century.
Today’s Tziganes
Today, Tziganes can be found singing and dancing in Hungarian nightclubs primarily frequented by tourists, throughout France where an entire form of music is named for them, in North America and many other parts of the world.
They generally travel in caravans and early on their horse drawn wagons–and now car-towed trailers--captured attention for being decorated in bright colors with lively scenes. Because many of them are nomads these caravan vehicles are their only home. French law says that when Tziganes arrive French municipalities are obliged to allocate a piece of land for their use.
The largest populations of Tziganes are now in Brazil, the United States, France, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Their lifestyle has coined a new meaning of the word “gypsy” in the English language. It now means anyone who moves from place to place, living from day to day, traversing Europe or America as a vagabond.
The Negative “Gypsy” Image
Gypsies have been mentioned in literature as early as the writings of Shakespeare. They often are not described in positive and affirmative ways.
Unfortunately, there has been a down side to their image. Because they typically are very carefree and rarely work at one job, they are distrusted. They have been characterized as thieves and even been cast as sinister and immoral. It is unfortunate that an entire group of people has been cast this way when a few of their members may have gone astray.
Picture this: A hospital in Benton Harbor, Michigan in the early 1950s. Almost overnight its spacious tree-shaded lawns became a tent village. The neighbors saw these swarthy, gaily dressed “foreigners” and reacted in a negative way. The police were called. What was happening? These are tziganes and one of their members became sick and had to be hospitalized. They are there because of their loyalty and family values.
The Origin of Gypsies
The Tziganes have been called Bohemians because they were thought to have come from what is now the Czech Republic. Their language is called Romany, which has led some to say they are Romanian and others to claim they were Italians. Those who were from Germany and could speak German often passed themselves off as Black Dutch (dark complexioned Germans) because it gave them better acceptance in North America.
They actually come from the Indus Valley of Pakistan and from western India. Their language is Indic and their traditional religion is a form of Hinduism. They often call themselves “Rom” or “Dom”, which evolved from the Sanskrit word Domba, meaning low caste (untouchable) or musician.
A hopeful sign is that in many European Union countries the negative descriptive terms for the Tziganes have been replaced by “the travelers”, a more friendly term. However, according to Amnesty International, of the ten million Roma living in Europe, almost 80% live in European Union states. "The Roma population is the poorest and one of the fastest growing in the region, living predominantly on the margins of society. Roma are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Europe."
Sources:
“Gypsies in the United States,” Smithsonian Institution
Rosemary E. Bachelor - Rosemary Bachelor, a prize-winning journalist, has had a career as an editor, feature writer, magazine publisher and author. Her latest ...
