Gypsies, tramps and thieves…. the real history behind the Romani ‘Gypsies’
The Romani 'Gypsies' are a variety of clans living across the globe, also known as nomads and they have been around for centuries.
When one thinks of gypsies, their mind goes to a mystical and magical place filled with fortune-telling, big, beautiful dresses, music, dancing, and a whole lot of bling.
Although most of this is true, gypsies have ‘evolved’ over the years and have learned to blend in with their neighbours; however, their traditions are still as sacred and beautiful as ever.
Newcastle Advertiser journalist, Zianne Leibrandt, was fortunate enough to have been invited to the traditional Gypsie wedding of Marcel and Pamela van der Westhuizen, at Drakensbergkloof near Memel on December 15, 2023.
The wedding started with a traditional Christian ceremony, conducted by a pastor, to honour the bride’s family and their religion. This was followed by a traditional gypsy ceremony to honour the groom’s gypsy roots. This ceremony was nothing short of spectacular, giving insight into the magical ways they live.
Mother of the groom, Anne van Dyk said: “As a young girl, I knew when people, mostly family, were going to die and also when someone was pregnant. Sometimes I even knew what gender (the unborn child would be). This still happens today. Once I was told, I accepted it. Being a gypsy in these modern times is difficult, but as we said, we know our traditions and we try to demonstrate them to our younger generation. Among ourselves, we live our traditions in our daily lives as a family. We are very spiritual, we love growing our own food, and when the occasion arrives, like Marcael and Pam’s wedding, we really go all out with tradition.”
See photos here:
The history of the Roma (‘Gypsies’):
The Romani ‘Gypsies’ are a variety of clans living across the globe, also known as nomads. They have been around for centuries and have always lived a wild and free lifestyle.
They were believed to be of Egyptian descent; however, it was later discovered that they were in fact descended from India.
They fled India after an invasion forced ‘the non-believers’ to convert to Islam.
They were then mostly found across Europe but later dispersed into various parts of the globe.
They would travel from town to town, setting up camp just outside town. The men would work as metal workers, horse traders, cobblers, and so on, while the women would work as fortune tellers and tarot readers.
They were also known as artists and musicians. However, they were also dubbed thieves (usually unfairly) and some were caught pick-pocketing and stealing as their means of income, leading to their arrest and sometimes execution.
Upon dispersing across the world, the Romani’s converted to various religions, including Islam as well as Christianity.
However, they continued to practice their pagan ways and rituals, which were frowned upon by mainstream religious groups.
They were eventually forced into slavery by certain European countries, forcing them to go into a more secretive existence.
During World War II, the Gypsies found themselves persecuted by Hitler who had them captured and put into concentration camps, where they were met with the same fate as the Jews.
They were accused of many outlandish crimes, including child abductions and cannibalism, leading to their immediate execution. By the end of WWII, it was believed that an estimated 500 000 to 1,500 000 Gypsies had been murdered by the Nazis.
After 1945, Gypsies continued to face a life of being excluded and shunned away from normal society, leaving them to fend for themselves.
The slavery of the Romani ‘Gypsies’:
Enslavement was one of the most persistent persecutions of the Romans.
Slavery was widespread in medieval Europe, including the territory of modern-day Romania, before the 13th and 14th centuries, when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were established.
All Romani residents in these states, as well as any others, who immigrated there, were classified as slaves.
In the 1840s and 1850s, slavery was gradually eliminated.
Spain launched the Great Roundup of Romani (Gitanos) in its territory on July 30, 1749.
In an attempt to conduct ethnic cleansing, the Spanish Crown authorized a state-wide raid that resulted in the dissolution of families because all able-bodied men were incarcerated in forced labour camps.
The law was subsequently overturned, and the Romani were set free.
Sedentary Romanis were greatly valued and safeguarded in rural Spain when protests erupted in several communities.
The Porajmos, also known as the Romani Holocaust:
During World War II and the Holocaust, Nazi Germany committed genocide against the Romani people, which culminated in the Romani Holocaust (the Porajmos).
The Nuremberg laws robbed Romanis of their citizenship in 1935, and they were subjected to brutality and imprisonment in concentration camps as a result.
The programmewas expanded to areas under German occupation during the war, and it was also implemented by other axis countries, most notably the Independent State of Croatia, Romania, and Hungary.
Gypsies continue to face controversies to this day:
In Europe, Romani are associated with poverty, are blamed for high crime rates, and accused of behaving in ways that are considered antisocial or inappropriate by the rest of the European population.
Partly for this reason, discrimination against the Romani has continued to be practiced to the present day, although efforts are being made to address it.
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