How do modern gypsies live. How modern gypsies live: three stories
Gypsies are mysterious people who are distinguished by organization and solidarity. And they are not tied to any particular area. Needless to say, if the wheel is depicted on the gypsy flag. And other symbols recognized by them do not speak of stability and settled way of life: wagons, decks of cards, horseshoes.
Despite the fact that representatives of this nationality lead a predominantly nomadic lifestyle, there are still those who have chosen a settled life. But even staying in one place does not at all contribute to the assimilation of gypsies. As a rule, they keep a separate group, constantly conflicting with others. 
Many people have a rather controversial attitude towards gypsies. Their way of life causes surprise and misunderstanding among representatives of neighboring peoples. While the gypsy barons live in luxury, drowning in wealth, ordinary gypsies and their children are forced to live off begging and stealing. 
Gypsies are not too fond of education, so illiterate or even illiterate people among them are a dime a dozen. This can be considered one of the main difficulties of assimilation, because it is very difficult to find a job without an elementary education. 
It is not surprising that without any income, a huge number of gypsies live in poverty. And spontaneous markets, where both women and men trade, are one of the ways to earn money for food. 
In such conditions, the children really do not have time to study, and by hook or by crook they are trying to get money for food for themselves and their families. Therefore, at an early age they break the law. 
One of the ways for poor gypsies to earn money is begging. But they are forced to deceive not from a good life and not for the sake of entertainment. Lack of money, lack of work, housing and hunger are pushing them to this. 
Important issues in the villages are decided by the barons. Moreover, the word "baron" means big, and in no way means a title of nobility. Barons are mature, wealthy and powerful men who are respected in their circles. They give approval for marriages, help solve problems with law enforcement agencies. 
The birth of a girl is not very happy. After all, gypsy women have a difficult fate. All rights in the family belong to men, all duties to women. 
By the way, it is the family that decides how a woman will earn money. Sometimes such decisions are made solely by the husband. A gypsy woman can be forced to steal, tell fortunes or beg without her consent. For any disobedience to her husband, beatings follow. His word is law. 
The main task of a man in a gypsy community (apart from making money, of course) is to dress up and receive guests. Whereas the wife is obliged to get up before everyone else, cook for everyone and clean up after everyone. Moreover, gypsies have been prepared for this since childhood, so they meekly do everything. 
Gypsies still have a tradition of stealing a bride. So if the groom sends matchmakers, but they refuse him, he can steal the bride and deprive her of her virginity. Then the parents will be forced to marry the girl, because she will no longer be able to get into a decent family. 
If the consent of the girl's parents is obtained, the families begin to prepare for the wedding. Sometimes, for a pompous wedding, gypsies can mortgage a house, and then repay debts for years. In addition, you can only get married or marry gypsies. To tie the knot with a "gajo" (non-gypsy) means to incur the wrath of the family and lose your inheritance. 
Although Western trends still affect family traditions. So even same-sex marriages are gradually entering their lives. True, such weddings rarely do without scandals and fights. Which speaks of the serious resistance of the gypsies to everything new. 
Gypsies are amazing with their culture. Of course, in the process of living side by side with other nations, they lost part of their spiritual heritage. But the spread of gypsies around the world contributes not only to the enrichment of their own culture, but also the world takes a lot from the beauty of their music and dances, from the strength of character, from their desire for freedom, finally.
How do you feel about gypsies? Do you share all the negativity that is constantly heard in their direction?
Perhaps the richest gypsies do not advertise their wealth. However, even if we assume that those representatives of the nation who openly demonstrate the available material wealth are the richest, then it is difficult to call this people poor.
It has both the extremely poor and the middle class, but those who happen to master a substantial fortune usually do not hesitate to show it to the whole world, sometimes causing shock among representatives of other cultures with its scope and brilliance.
Briefly about who the gypsies are
Gypsies are a large European ethnic minority that does not have its own territory, consisting of several groups of immigrants from India. They live on the Eurasian continent, in the northern part of Africa, both American and Australian.
Three major Indo-Aryan languages and many of their dialects are spoken. The main languages are Romani, Domari and Lomavren.
In Europe, gypsies are collectively officially referred to as "Roma", which is one of the many names and self-names.
In April of the 71st year of the last century, at the world congress, the gypsies officially recognized themselves as a single nation. Symbols were approved - an anthem based on a folk song and a two-tone blue-green flag with a red wheel in the middle. The value has a traditional and mystical interpretation. It was then that April 8 began to be considered the Day of the Gypsies.
Love for gold
Gold for gypsies is not just a material good, love for this precious metal has a deeper meaning. The lifestyle of the people made such an investment of their own wealth very convenient - gold items can be carried with you, changed, hidden, stored without worrying that they will depreciate or deteriorate.
Passion for brilliance and ostentatious luxury, bright, catchy outfits has led to the fact that it has become the norm to wear a wide variety of jewelry: massive, noticeable. More voluminous gold items could be hidden under clothes, and in the body bags-belts of gypsies they accumulated up to eight kilograms in the form of coins, chains, jewelry, etc.
The custom to wear rings, bracelets, chains, earrings and all kinds of pendants, to make elements of clothing out of gold, and now manifests itself not only on holidays, but also in everyday life.
In addition, traditions associated with gold have developed: for example, a son must double what he received from his father.
The richest gypsies in the world
When it comes to the wealthiest gypsies, one can mention kings, barons and representatives of various families, as well as various ways of their display of wealth. However, there is no such concentration of ostentatious luxury of gypsy houses anywhere in the world as in the Romanian Buzescu, a town of millionaires with a population of five thousand people.
Gold is measured in kilograms. It is believed that 55 kilograms of this metal was spent on the interior of the house of the gypsy "king" Florian Cioaba. The annual income of one of the main gypsies is estimated at 50-80,000,000 euros, and joint with the clan subject to him - at 300-400 million euros.
The well-being of local gypsies is based mainly on the trade in metal - ferrous and non-ferrous. Many of them belong to the large group "kalderash", associated with the blacksmith's trade and in translation called "coppermen". It can not do without the hotel business, legal and smuggling trade.
There are eight hundred houses in the settlement of different scale and degree of pretentiousness, different in style of architecture. The number of storeys is usually four or more. The lower ones, especially the two-story ones, are few in number and not new. Often old buildings are completely demolished in favor of the construction of new large ones.
Mostly in the settlement, old people and children, adult residents gather only on the occasion of tribal celebrations. Weddings, christenings, funerals are not uncommon and are held on a grand scale, so there are plenty of reasons to gather with family members.
The general condition of the town of the richest gypsies is estimated at about four billion dollars. Here all the houses belong to millionaires. Their cost ranges from 2 to 30 million dollars (in some sources, the same figures are indicated in euros).
Buzescu, like all gypsy cities, amazes not only with the competition in richness and fantasy of home design, but also with contrast. Here, typical crafts are practiced, cattle are kept, and the toilet is erected in a separate room from the main building, since the philosophy of the gypsies orders to separate and not place under one roof the place of defecation of the body from where food is prepared.
Moldovan city of Soroca - from the Capitol to St. Peter's Cathedral
Ethnographers can never come to a conclusion about gypsy titles. The richest gypsies, who have the most influence in the clan, are traditionally called barons, kings and even emperors. However, there is no unanimity. Self-proclaimed heads appear here and there - and each is supported by a certain part of the community.
For example, in the Moldovan city of Soroca, the hereditary baron Artur Mikhailovich (a Russified version of the patronymic, the original name sounds like Mirchi) Cherare has been living for almost sixty years now, waiting to proclaim himself as the king of the Gypsies of the CIS.
He inherited the position from his father, who, along with his brother Valentin, was one of the first Soviet millionaires. Having made a fortune on tailoring and selling underwear under a family brand, Mircea was surrounded by a halo of mystery and various legends, the truth of which is no longer possible to understand. There are rumors about a private jet and about a golden-toothed beloved shepherd.
It was during the heyday of the Cherare business that the Gypsy Hill in Soroca began to be built up with pretentious and chic houses. Here you can find imitation of the most famous architectural structures from different parts of the world.
However, much remained unfinished, due to the fact that after the collapse of the USSR, only the first decade was successful for the business of local gypsies. And now many buildings are empty most of the time, as their owners have scattered around the world in search of a successful income.
It is difficult to call the current head of the Roma in Moldova the richest. However, Arthur has ambitious plans - he dreams of the official status of his city as the capital, a university with a faculty of gypsy studies, office space and a throne room, his own periodical printed edition and television.
Gypsy holidays: the richest wedding
A gypsy wedding traditionally symbolizes the merger of families, an increase in common wealth. It is on this holiday that there is both a reason and an opportunity to surprise others. Often gypsies prefer the European version - a white puffy dress, and add a lot of jewelry.
However, some parents try to dress up their children in such a way that fabulous wealth is evident. Here all methods and symbols are used - a golden crown, a dress and a veil made of the same metal, huge jewelry on the bride (often incredibly young).
It has become a tradition for the richest gypsies to dress up a young wife in a dress made of banknotes. Often, very large banknotes, for example, with a face value of 500 euros, are defiantly used for decoration.
Russia's richest gypsies lead a more secular and Europeanized lifestyle. Often these respected families belong to the creative elite of the nation. However, they are usually not alien to the demonstration of wealth, and the holidays are striking in the abundance of gold and the scale of events.
Gypsy funeral
The richest gypsies live surrounded by ostentatious wealth and luxury, in the same splendor they go to another world.
The funeral of very wealthy gypsies resembles the burial of the pharaohs, but on a smaller scale. Entire crypts are placed underground, imitating real housing - a chic bedroom with furniture and necessary household items. Together with the deceased, even a car can be buried. It is known that together with the Moldavian baron Mircea Cherare, who died in 1998, they buried his Volga.
For centuries, the attitude towards the gypsy people was very contradictory, and their way of life has always caused at least bewilderment and misunderstanding among everyone. While most people associate gypsies with thieves and beggars, the gypsy elite is literally immersed in gold and riches. To date, some gypsies continue to lead a nomadic lifestyle, constantly on the road, and some have chosen a settled, stable life, which, by the way, does not prevent them from staying in a separate group and in no way assimilate with the rest of society. TravelAsk presents 20 bright and eloquent photographs that fully demonstrate the features of the life, life and culture of the Roma people.
Scavenger City
gypsy quarter
When there is a lot of garbage, it is removed.
gypsy houses
The houses of rich gypsies have their own style.
Residence of a gypsy baron in Moldova
Local residents even build copies of world-famous architectural monuments.
Interior decoration of houses
The interior decoration of the palaces matches the appearance.
Housing...
But such housing can hardly be called a house. Author of the photo: Maxim Bespalov.
Golden BMW
The chic of gypsy majors.
Vehicle
And a simple gypsy needs one horsepower.
Gypsy baron
Gold from gypsy jewelry could feed hundreds of ordinary gypsies for a long time.
Gypsy "King" of Romania
The most influential and respected baron.
"Golden youth
Life is full of luxury surrounded by gold and jewels.
Roma
A gypsy family shovels sawdust, which they use to heat the house. Author of the photo: Maxim Bespalov.
Parents and children
Mom and children.
We live in mud and without roads
Getter
Sleepers are also firewood.
Baroness
Not every queen can afford so much gold. Author of the photo: Maxim Bespalov.
A typical representative of the gypsy "elite"
Clothing and jewelry should be as rich as possible.
Gypsy wedding
A gypsy wedding is a closed ceremony. Outsiders are not invited to the party.
gypsy gay wedding
The fun ended in a mass brawl, because of a drunken guest who wanted to know what the bride had under her skirt.
Bride's dress
A chic outfit due to the large amount of gold weighs more than ten kilograms.
As a rule, gypsies were seen by all the peoples of the world. This nomadic nation has settled almost everywhere, incorporating and adopting a lot from those with whom it neighbors side by side. During the Second World War, the gypsy genocide was as horrific as the "solution of the Jewish question", but there is still no reliable data, due to the fact that the gypsies did not have passports or any other identity documents.
Historians call only approximate figures in the region of 200 thousand people. Now the gypsies, thanks to their enormous fertility, have restored their world numbers and are increasing it year by year. They had their own developed and enlightened barons, they mastered the latest advances in technology, but the majority remained true to their medieval culture.
So, what do we know about modern gypsies?
Language
Most of the gypsy peoples have long lost their native language, only 20% of the gypsies around the world have remained faithful to their native dialect, while the rest have adopted the languages of the country in which they stopped. Only in Russia do gypsies speak gypsy, and here the number of speakers of one language is unusually large. Gypsies also do not have an alphabet, but all over the world they write in either Russian, or Romanian, or Hungarian letters, depending on their place of birth. Also, it is these three countries listed above that are considered by the gypsies to be something like a “homeland”.
customs
Although the gypsies stopped stealing horses on an industrial scale, the horseshoe is the main symbol of good luck. Finding a horseshoe on the road, which with the onset of progress has become incredibly difficult, is the main event of a gypsy's life, but if he finds it with its ends towards him, then it is considered spoiled - happiness will spill out of it. If the horseshoe is facing the gypsy with a convex side, then it should be picked up sooner and then luck will never leave the gypsy.
Every gypsy has two or three names in use. One for the passport, the second, short, for everyday use in the camp. The third name is lucky, has a sound similar to jewelry or a flower: Lily, Rose, Rubinchik, Currency.
A wedding is no less important ceremonial event
They usually get married at the age of 16-18, although it is possible earlier, with the consent of the parents. First, matchmaking takes place, then the bride's parents evaluate whether the groom is good or not, if everything goes smoothly - they arrange a magnificent wedding, which is increasingly taking place in a cafe or restaurant. It is considered bad form to invite DJs, toastmasters and other wedding characters.
The eldest or most influential relative assumes the duties of a manager and announces that such and such a family is dancing, and everyone, young and old, is obliged to dance. In the morning, the bride and groom are sent to the bedchamber, and relatives guard the door, they are required to show a sheet with evidence that the wedding was “honest”.
The wedding is invariably recorded on video, and this video material is wealth and a kind of currency for the gypsies. Distant camps come specifically to “buy a wedding video”, and gatherings with viewing and reviewing “our own wedding, someone else’s wedding and the wedding of relatives” replace our usual TV shows and trips to the cinema.
Appearance
Gypsies in colorful wide skirts are not only a tribute to the past, but also a tribute to gypsy fashion, which has not changed from century to century - the wider, shiny and richer the skirt looks, the more beautiful the gypsy. You can’t walk in trousers, because the trousers highlight too much everything that is “unclean” that is below the belt. For the same reason, a gypsy woman needs to be able to deftly manage her wide skirt, she must not hurt men with her - this is an insult.
Wearing a lot of gold, the gypsies of today explain simply
Firstly, these are family jewels, the memory of parents. Secondly, leading a continuous nomadic life it is difficult to take with you and transport acquired property, and if everything is translated into gold jewelry, the task is simplified. Bracelets, chains, earrings are bought for each child, since birth. The bride should be provided with a solid gold dowry, and gypsy barons often wear a large gold cross as a symbol of their high position.
earnings
Gypsies do not like to work - this is a generally recognized fact. However, men who mainly spend their time playing cards and having friendly gatherings are hungry, so the gypsies earn money in the following way. The youngest, under the supervision of one or two "mothers", go begging, the older ones are left to their own devices - they collect scrap iron, bottles, but one way or another they must also supply money.
The elders are usually engaged in trade. Gypsies trade mainly in clothing or household items (carpets, jackets, slippers) or, succumbing to the trends of the times, resell Chinese mobile phones and tablets. Men in this case provide protection and supervision.
Theft or sale of drugs, contrary to popular belief, is rare for Roma. In an average camp, a relative caught in such a kinsman is expelled from the community, the person is no longer helped and invited to visit. Moving to another city will not give anything - the gypsy post office works like clockwork, and the news of the "bad romal" will be transmitted very far.
A very narrow segment, those same enlightened and cultured gypsy families are engaged in real estate - they rent out premises or keep their own cafes and restaurants. It is they who are called barons, and it is they who have built large mansions, next to which there are SUVs of the latest models.
Education and medicine
This is where the gypsies are hopelessly behind and are not at all eager to close the gap. Children are reluctantly sent to schools, as study interferes with earnings. Even a gypsy who has entered there is unlikely to be able to fully complete it, since the gypsies are hostile to obtaining any documents, certificates, passports, etc.
Birth certificate- even this document is considered by the gypsies to be completely optional, and its absence is the first obstacle to entering school. Only with the onset of inexorable progress, when a passport became mandatory for social benefits, residence and border crossing, did the gypsies begin to receive it, often putting the first city that came across in the “registration” column.
Gypsies are treated exclusively with herbs and conspiracies
In pharmacies, in their opinion, there is nothing but chemistry, and tinctures of herbs, berries and a tested secret conspiracy are the best remedy for illness. If the gypsy still dies, it means that his life path has simply come to an end, it is imperative to throw away all his things, except for gold, and, if possible, break his house.
Languid romances and dances with bears for the amusement of the public, the lack of normal housing and even primary education, chic palaces and large-scale festivals - all the brilliance and all the poverty of the everyday life of the most famous nomadic people in our story.
Gypsies are a truly global, international phenomenon. They live on every continent, somewhere absorbing the culture of the local population, but always preserving their own. Incomprehensible to the general population, which is often reprehensible to the gypsies, they continue to roam the world with their "gypsy spirit", as if by themselves. And this problem of socialization in the modern, shrinking world under the influence of globalization is determined by them in the same way as the Israeli Bedouins. Gypsies do not recognize state borders, and states do not recognize those who do not recognize their borders.
Photo: borda, deviantart
And who, if not us, the inhabitants of the territories of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, should notice the metamorphoses that have occurred with the gypsy people. A century ago, without gypsies with their small orchestras and dance troupes, it was impossible to imagine any more or less large feast, gypsy artists distinguished by their presence a good tavern from a bad one, at every fair they were with an obligatory trained bear. Today, Russian gypsies are associated by most of the population with a semi-beggarly existence in illegally occupied flimsy shacks, criminal activity and other not very pleasant things. This transformation took place, of course, not by itself - the assimilation and transfer to a settled way of life of the Gypsies were important points in the social program of the Soviet government, which the Gypsies themselves were often not happy about. In many camps, it was forbidden to receive even primary education (this, in general, is considered a good form rule among the gypsy environment), the fruits of which in the form of mass ignorance of Russian gypsies are still reaping (not without exceptions, of course, for example, servis are considered one of most educated gypsy ethnic groups in the world).
Photo: Joakim Eskildsen
Photo: Joakim Eskildsen
And the case of Soviet Russia is by no means unique - the gypsies in Europe have always shared the title of a persecuted people with the Jews. Together with them, they were among the peoples who became victims of the Holocaust. In a more democratic form, this continues today (massive evictions of Roma from France in 2010, for example). So what makes the gypsy people for centuries under monstrous pressure to live the way their ancestors lived, to engage in habitual (albeit often reprehensible from the point of view of the law) deeds, to resist the perfection of the modern world to the last? The answer is simple - romanipe. This is the unwritten philosophy of the gypsies, everyday esotericism (not a religion, most of the gypsies are Christians by religion, a few are Muslims), a code of laws that is passed down from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. What is commonly called the "gypsy spirit" - lifestyle, chosen professions, cultural traditions.
Photo: Joakim Eskildsen
Photo: Joakim Eskildsen
But under the pressure of the modern world and our reality, which does not tolerate alternatives from freedom-loving people, the “gypsy spirit” is left with less and less free space. For example, most of the gypsies, who since ancient times have been considered exclusively nomadic people, have long since switched to a sedentary lifestyle. Many camps settled in free houses in villages and on the outskirts of cities, having survived several generations of settled life. Gypsy house - a small hut, often rickety from old age, mostly one-story. The last fact is connected with the fact that the female body below the waist among the gypsies is considered something sacredly dirty, and, therefore, they cannot be on the floor below the one on which the lady walks. Although, not without exceptions, for example, residents of the Stolipinovo gypsy ghetto in the Bulgarian Plovdiv abandoned this rule a long time ago, otherwise they simply could not live in the elderly five-story "Khrushchev". Of the design features of the house - the obligatory presence of a large hall (often to the detriment of living space), in which a gypsy family receives guests and holds mass holidays. For those gypsies who, according to the precepts of their ancestors, continue to lead a nomadic lifestyle, fresh air plays the role of a hall. To accommodate all the guests in mobile homes, which in our time have replaced the gypsies with tents, of course, seems to be an impossible task.
Photo: Joakim Eskildsen
Photo: Joakim Eskildsen
Like all the peoples of the world, social stratification is not alien to the gypsies - the difference between the well-being of ordinary people and the so-called gypsy barons can reach incredible proportions. The houses of the barons, the heads of the camps, into whose hands illegal financial flows often flow, could sharply contrast with the rickety shacks and dirt-smeared caravans, if they were located among them. But, as a rule, the barons set up their amazing luxury (and, often, complete bad taste) mansions in very fashionable areas. The amount of profits of some of the gypsy leaders is sometimes due to the fact that stealing in gypsy society is not considered something shameful. According to one of the legends, the camp passing by the crucifixion of Christ took one of the nails with him - as a result, God allowed the people to appropriate someone else's a little.
Photo: gdtlive.com
But the gypsies do not live by stealing horses and begging alone. Many of them prefer to extract their income by honest labor. Not labor in factories, which among these people is considered a "non-gypsy" profession, for which they can even be expelled from ethnic society, but the talents of first-class artists. Gypsies can settle in one place forever, they can stop speaking their native language, but at the same time, Gypsies never forget their own culture. And even fortune-telling, with which we often associate gypsies, is perceived in their environment as an esoteric artistic art. But the gypsy people achieved much more success in music and dance. In Russia, they still sing romances and dance a gypsy girl, in Spain they play and dance flamenco no worse than the Spaniards themselves, but with their own flavor, in Turkey they perform their own special belly dance, in which gypsy men are not averse to showing their skills. All this cultural diversity today is already more difficult to meet on the street (especially in a decent concentration, which remained if only in the Balkans), but it blooms in riotous color at festivals of gypsy culture - the May "Khamoro" in Prague, the autumn "Romani Yag" in Montreal , September "Amala" in Kiev. And every day - in any place where gypsies live today, because their way of life, "gypsy spirit", romanipe - this is real art.
Photo: Angelita70, panoramio
