Modern gypsies. How modern gypsies live. Moldavian city of Soroca - from the Capitol to St. Peter's Cathedral

Those whom we call gypsies beg near the subway and at train stations, steal and impose their supposedly magical abilities on passers-by. In fact, the Gypsies are a whole people, whose representatives are famous for living in camps and honoring the traditions of their ancestors..

Early marriages

Modern women prefer to get married by the age of 30-40. It is believed that by this age a person has already managed to realize himself in a profession, see the world and taste all the delights of a bachelor’s life. For the gypsies, everything is completely different.

Girls in camps are married off at the age of 15-16; unmarried twenty-year-olds are already considered old maids. Marriage, according to their rules, should be one and for life. A woman who leaves her husband or is abandoned by him is called “dirty” and accused of desecrating the entire family. It is extremely rare for gypsy women to get married a second time - who needs the “wrong” wife?

A gypsy girl has no right to marry a representative of another nationality. To preserve their culture, it is customary for gypsies to marry relatives, for example, first or second cousins.

Authority of parents and husband

Parents for an unmarried woman should be above all else. This applies to absolutely any area of life, including marriage. Only the mother and father choose their daughter's husband.

After marriage, a woman is obliged to obey and honor her husband, just as she honored her parents before marriage. The will and desires of the spouse are not discussed in gypsy camps.

Women, by the way, are prohibited from even leaving the camp unaccompanied. There must be a man nearby - a father, brother or husband.

Special outfits

Why do gypsies always dress so garishly? The fact is that while in her home, a woman should be quiet and practically unnoticeable. But they, like all representatives of the fair sex, want to attract attention! This can be done exclusively thanks to bright outfits. Talk to on the street strangers Gypsies are strictly prohibited!

And married gypsies, unlike young girls, are strictly forbidden to wear trousers and shorts. If you really want them and your spouse doesn’t mind, many women wear them under long skirts. What a special dream come true!

Family traditions

As in many countries around the world, men and women in gypsy communities have completely different rights. According to tradition, in big house husbands and wives live on different floors, do not sit at the table together and do not host mutual friends. They are all different.

Gypsies are strictly prohibited from washing men's and women's clothing together. Only women should cook and clean the house. The exception is pregnancy. In this case, the man must take on all the housework.

By the way, many people think that gypsies are extremely sloppy people. This is not true! According to eyewitnesses who visited the gypsy house, perfect cleanliness reigns everywhere! It is not surprising that a woman devotes all her free time to putting things in order and raising children.

If a husband and wife are quarreling, no one will ever call the police. Everyone can intervene - relatives, friends, neighbors, but the gypsies are not used to washing dirty linen out of their large common “hut”!

In general, gypsies are very friendly people! It is completely inappropriate to condemn them for the fact that strange, in some people’s opinion, traditions reign in their families. Each of us chooses what he likes. And there will be disagreements everywhere. The editors of JoeInfoMedia suggest that among the gypsies there are rebels who break the rules!

You may also be interested to know what prohibitions for the fair sex exist in this country.

The Gypsy people always seemed unattainable to me. But I didn’t even imagine that one day I would become part of their family.

One day I met a friend of mine who was visiting her friends, and they placed her friend and her husband with their gypsy friends. So my friend lived with a gypsy family for a week. At first she had the standard opinion that the gypsies were noisy, dirty and dangerous. But she realized that she was very mistaken and told me about it in every detail.

I became very interested in getting to know these people and I had this opportunity. I never thought that one day they would become my friends.

Attitude towards strangers

Most Roma are isolated from outside world, minimizing communication with outsiders. Therefore, when you come to their home, they begin to observe your behavior. How you behave, whether you will have a bad influence on their children and wives. How do you feel about them, do you consider yourself superior to them? Aren't you disdainful? To do this, they will offer you to drink tea; if you don’t drink it, it means you don’t respect him. At the same time, they are distinguished by great hospitality and will definitely feed the guest.

Roma are accustomed to prejudice. And so they mirror this attitude. But if a Russian person treats them well, respecting their traditions and not putting himself above them, he becomes a friend of their family, and the gypsies treat him like a relative: they will never deceive, they will not steal anything, and they will help if possible.

Lunch at the gypsies

Once we even invited the gypsies to visit us. They organized a celebration with dancing and singing. 12 people came to us. They roamed freely around our house. And no one took anything, not even the children.

Me and the gypsy children

Home and life

All gypsies have ideal cleanliness at home. Because it is considered a shame for women to allow disorder. Women take care of the children and all household chores.

From childhood, girls are taught to help with housework. A teenage girl of about eleven is already looking after younger children and doing housework.

How amazing it was for me to see when a three-year-old girl helped her mother clear the dishes from the table and already knew that if she eats, she needs to clean up everything after herself and take it to the kitchen.

Gypsies always have a large guest room in their house, since they always have a lot of guests. This large room usually contains only a large sofa and a couple of armchairs. In the kitchen large table so that many people can fit.

They are so different

What was new to me was that the gypsies living in different cities, differ from each other. In addition to the fact that their language is different in each country, there are also many different dialects of the Roma language on the territory of Russia. Gypsies from different cities may even have different lifestyles and traditions. Abroad in Greece I met nomadic gypsies. They lived right in tents on the seashore, wandered to different places and were far from civilization.

Gypsies living in my provincial town, many decades ago left a nomadic life and lead a sedentary lifestyle. A Gypsies living in the capital are practically no longer different from Russians. If in my city the gypsies wear long skirts and a scarf on their heads as part of the tradition, then in the capital the clothes of the gypsies are the same as all other people.

We know one very rich gypsy family. They live in a large three-story beautiful house. Educated and very cultured, they speak to everyone with respect, do not use swear words, and never steal or cheat.

Editorial opinion

Elena Kalita

Magazine editor

It is unfair to call one nation bad and another good. It is unreasonable to judge the entire nation as a whole by the actions of individual people. But the rule always works: treat other people the way you want others to treat you. A person of any nation with the most positive side characterize such qualities as sincerity, attentiveness and the ability to act taking into account the needs of one’s neighbor.

Gypsy language

The grammar of the Romani language is quite complex in comparison with other languages and is similar to the grammar of the Russian language. All words are declined according to cases, genders and numbers, having different endings in all cases. Nouns are preceded by different articles, as in English. And verbs have four tenses. And although the vocabulary is far from the Russian language, the grammar more than covers this, making the language quite complex.

Modern gypsies have forgotten many words that their ancestors knew., and when they don’t find a suitable word in Romani, they use Russian word, remaking it in the gypsy way. So, for example, the word “flower” among the gypsies is now “tsvitko” and only the old generation remembers that in fact it is “luludi”.

Gypsy marriages

Many people know that early marriages are common among gypsies and this seems wild and terrible. Indeed, there are cases when girls are married off at the age of 14-15, but this is rather a tribute to tradition. More civilized gypsies do not rush the girl.

A girl given in marriage becomes another daughter in the groom's family. Her parents take full care of her, make all decisions themselves, and the young husband and wife are completely accountable to their parents until they become adults themselves and decide to live separately.

The daughter-in-law's first children sometimes even call the mother-in-law, not the daughter-in-law, mother, because the mother-in-law spends most of her time with the children, and the daughter-in-law does household chores. The eldest sons, having matured, must find housing for themselves and live separately from their parents, while the younger son always lives with his parents, takes care of them and becomes the heir of the house.

Unmarried gypsy girl

Gypsies have three options for marriage.

The first is traditional, by agreement. The groom's parents in rare cases together with the groom, they come to the bride’s house for the bride’s viewing. The girls living in this house come in one by one and set the table for the guests. The groom's parents are watching. They pay attention to the cleanliness of the house, the girl’s ability to serve, and most importantly, to her appearance.

Fair-skinned and fair-haired girls are considered the most beautiful. Dark-skinned people are valued much less. If the groom's parents like the girl, they begin to negotiate with the bride's parents, and sometimes the girl's opinion does not play any role.

The girl’s parents also pay great attention to the guy’s family so that their daughter does not end up in a bad family, but is happy. If both parties are satisfied with everything, they agree on the amount of bride price for the bride. Sometimes they can demand up to ten million for a beautiful girl. But most often the amount of kalym varies around one to two million. The bride's parents spend part of this amount on her dowry in the form of clothes and gold.

The second option to get married in the 21st century has become the most common. The girls, secretly from their parents, begin to correspond and call back with the guys, and subsequently run away from home to the groom. The groom comes with one of his relatives to the girl’s city, and at night she runs away to them, without even taking any things with her. After all, the groom’s family will buy everything necessary. For guys, this option is much more profitable, because they no longer need to pay such a large bride price, although parents can still demand it, but not in such a large amount.

The third option has almost become obsolete: when a girl is stolen. I was told several similar stories. Gypsies find out where he lives beautiful girl, they lay in wait for her, catch her and put her in the car. The bride's relatives begin to look for their girl, they hide her with relatives. A few days later, when the captive resigns herself and begins to live with her husband, her new family comes into contact with her family, the conflict is resolved, and relations between families improve. After all, they can no longer take their daughter back, since she is already considered married.

Gypsy wedding

The gypsy wedding, magnificent, noisy and cheerful, takes place over two days. On the first day - matchmaking. The bride's parents give their daughter to the groom's family. On the second day the girl is already in wedding dress and the richer the family, the more luxurious the wedding and wedding attire. Sometimes the bride's attire along with gold, which relatives love to put on the bride in a huge number, can cost several hundred thousand.

At the wedding, all the unmarried girls dance a lot and are watched closely by older family members who are thinking about marrying their own sons.

Today, it is extremely rare for very young people to get married. Usually newlyweds are 16-18 years old. In one family I know, the girls are already 18 and 20, and their parents still don’t think about letting them get married.

Having made friends with the gypsies, I changed my opinion about them. Now I have many friends among this nation living in different cities. The unknown seems frightening to us, which is why many are prejudiced against these people. But now I don’t allow someone to speak badly about them, but I prove the opposite by telling them what they really are like. After all, they love my family as if they were their own relatives, and are always ready to help in difficult times.

Over the centuries, attitudes towards the Gypsy people have been 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, gypsy elite literally drowning in gold and riches. Today, 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 at all prevent them from invariably remaining a separate group and in no way assimilating with the rest of society. TravelAsk presents 20 bright and eloquent photographs that fully demonstrate the peculiarities of life, everyday 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 around the world famous monuments architecture.

Interior decoration of houses

The interior decoration of the palaces matches the appearance.

Housing...

But such housing can hardly be called a home. Author of the photo: Maxim Bespalov.

Gold BMW

The chic of gypsy majors.

Vehicle

But for a simple gypsy, one horsepower is enough.

Gypsy Baron

The 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 jewelry.

Roma

A family of gypsies shovels sawdust, which they use to heat their home. Author of the photo: Maxim Bespalov.

Parents and children

Mom and children.

We live in dirt and without roads

Breadwinner

Sleepers are also firewood.

Baroness

Not every queen can afford that 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 holiday.

Gypsy gay wedding

The fun ended in a mass brawl because of a drunken guest who wanted to know what was under the bride’s skirt.

Bride's dress

The chic outfit weighs more than ten kilograms due to the large amount of gold.

Languid romances and dances with bears for the amusement of the public, the lack of normal housing and even primary education, luxurious palaces and large-scale festivals - all the splendor and all the poverty everyday life 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 for the gypsies, they continue to roam the world with their “gypsy spirit”, as if on their own. And this problem of socialization in the modern world, shrinking under the influence of globalization, is determined for them by the same thing as for the Israeli Bedouins. Roma do not recognize state borders, and states do not recognize those who do not recognize their borders.

Photo: borda, deviantart

And who else if not us, the inhabitants of the territories of the former Russian Empire And Soviet Union, notice the metamorphoses that have occurred with the Gypsy people. Even a century ago, without the gypsies with their small orchestras and dance troupes, it was impossible to imagine any more or less large feast; artists of the gypsy family distinguished a good tavern from a bad one with their presence; at every fair they were with the obligatory trained bear. Today, the majority of the population associates Russian gypsies with a semi-beggarly existence in illegally occupied flimsy huts, criminal activity and other not very pleasant things. This transformation, of course, did not happen on its own - assimilation and transfer to a sedentary lifestyle of the Roma were important points in the social program of the Soviet government, which the Roma themselves were often not happy about. In many camps it was forbidden to receive even primary education (this, in general, is considered a rule among the gypsies good manners), the fruits of which in the form of mass lack of education are still being reaped by Russian Roma (not without exceptions, of course, for example, the Servas are considered one of the most educated Roma ethnic groups in the world).

Photo: Joakim Eskildsen

And the case with Soviet Russia is by no means unique - the gypsies in Europe have always shared the title of 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 (mass evictions of Roma from France in 2010, for example). So what makes the Roma people for centuries, under monstrous pressure, live the way their ancestors lived, engage in habitual (albeit often reprehensible from the point of view of the law) things, resist perfection? modern world to the last? The answer is simple - romanipe. This is the unwritten philosophy of the gypsies, everyday esotericism (not a religion; by religion, most gypsies are Christians, a few are Muslims), a set of laws passed on from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. What is commonly called the “gypsy spirit” is the way of life, chosen professions, cultural traditions.

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” has less and less free space. For example, most of the gypsies, who have long been considered an exclusively nomadic people, have long switched to a sedentary lifestyle. Many camps settled in vacant houses in villages and on the outskirts of cities, having already survived several generations of settled life. A gypsy house is a small hut, often rickety from age, mostly one-story. The last fact is due to the fact that female body below the waist among 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 Roma ghetto Stolipinovo in the Bulgarian Plovdiv abandoned this rule long ago, otherwise they simply could not live in elderly five-story “Khrushchev” buildings. Among the design features of the house - a must-have large hall(often to the detriment of the living space), in which the gypsy family receives guests and holds mass holidays. For those gypsies who, according to the behests of their ancestors, continue to lead a nomadic lifestyle, the role of the hall is played by fresh air. Accommodating all the guests in mobile homes, which in our time have replaced tents for gypsies, understandably seems an impossible task.

Photo: Joakim Eskildsen

Like all peoples of the world, the Roma are no stranger to social stratification - the difference between welfare ordinary people and the so-called gypsy barons can reach incredible sizes. 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 residential trailers covered in dirt, if they were located among them. But, as a rule, barons place their mansions, which are striking in luxury (and, often, in complete bad taste), in very fashionable areas. The size of the profits of some of the Roma leaders is sometimes due to the fact that stealing in Roma society is not considered something shameful. According to one legend, a camp passing by the crucifixion of Christ took with it one of the nails - as a result, God allowed the people to appropriate a little of someone else’s property.

Photo: gdtlive.com

But the gypsies do not live by horse theft and begging alone. Many of them prefer to earn their income through honest labor. Not by working in factories, which among these people is considered a “non-gypsy” profession, for which they can even be expelled from ethnic society, but with the talents of first-class artists. Gypsies may settle in one place forever, they may stop speaking native language, but at the same time the gypsies never forget their own culture. And even fortune telling, with which we often associate gypsies, is perceived among them as an esoteric artistic art. But the Roma people achieved much greater success in music and dancing. In Russia they still sing romances and dance the 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 find on the street (especially in decent concentration, which remains only in the Balkans), but it blooms in riotous colors at festivals of gypsy culture - the May “Khamoro” in Prague, the autumn “Romani Yag” in Montreal , September “Amala” in Kyiv. And every day - in any place where gypsies live today, because their way of life, the “gypsy spirit”, romanipe - this is real art.

Photo: Angelita70, panoramio

According to the results of the population census, 204,958 Roma live in Russia. This ancient people belongs to the eastern branch of the Gypsy people, and at a time when its western branch is losing languages and customs, the eastern Gypsies are trying to preserve them.
The exodus of Gypsies from India occurred about a thousand years ago, when several ethnic Aryan groups went north.

Experts count three waves of gypsy migrations - first from India to Asia, then in the 14th century - to Europe, and in late XIX century - to America. The language of all Gypsies comes from Sanskrit, but each ethnic group has its own dialect. Ethnographers divide the Gypsies into three large groups - the Domari (Gypsies living in the Middle East), the Lomari living in Europe, and the Romani inhabiting Eastern Europe and Russia.
Gypsy scholar Nikolai Bessonov, in the article “Gypsy ethnic groups in the post-Soviet space” (National Geographic magazine), believes that Gypsy ethnic groups in Russia are distinctive, but differ in language, customs, faith and occupations.

Russian gypsies

The largest gypsy ethnic group is the Russian Roma. The ancestors of the ethnic groups came out of Poland in the 18th century; Roma were engaged in horse trading, music and fortune telling. In the 19th century they were artists, musicians, merchants, and some were peasants; The main faith was Orthodoxy, and the language became the Russian-Gypsy dialect.
The Russian government treated the Gypsies favorably, they were given the right to be assigned to estates, and Russian aristocrats married Gypsy singers. After the revolution, horse markets disappeared, the Gypsy merchants were destroyed, but the Nazi occupation dealt an even greater blow to the Gypsies - the Nazis shot entire camps of Gypsies.
IN modern Russia 100% of Russian gypsies lead a sedentary lifestyle, they nice houses, often have an excellent education, many are engaged in trade, agriculture, and become musicians and artists.

Ukrainian gypsies

Servas came from Romania, the main religion is Orthodoxy. In Russia they live in Rostov, Samara and Voronezh. Before the revolution, there were good blacksmiths among the Serovs. After the revolution, servas settled in cities and villages, children went to study; during the war, their men became officers of the Red Army and fought against the Nazis. Now these people have an excellent education; among them there are many scientists, businessmen and musicians. Linguists note that the servas are losing their language and assimilating.
Among the Ukrainian gypsies there are the Vlachs - immigrants from Wallachia. These are Orthodox Christians, also famous for their blacksmithing, which they still do today. In Russia, Vlachs live in the south, the majority are engaged in small trade and part-time work, but the Vlachs have preserved their culture and way of life.
The Gypsy people of Crimea descended from the Moldavian Gypsies who came to Crimea and, under the influence of the Crimean Tatars, became Muslims. The Crimea came to Russia in the 1930s. Now people are engaged in business, many live in Moscow, but still remain Muslims - they pay bride price for their wife and go to the mosque. This is very musical people, there are many good athletes among the bottom.

Polish gypsies

Polish Roma live in the Smolensk region, in language and traditions they are close to Russian gypsies. They did not stop wandering even in winter, exchanging wagons for sleighs and asking to spend the night in Russian houses in the villages. If they were refused, they camped in the nearest forest, lighting a huge fire. Eyewitnesses recalled that the women of this nationality remained barefoot in the deepest frost. Until the middle of the 20th century, the ethnic group was engaged in horses and fortune telling. now they live in houses and have prestigious professions.

Romanian gypsies

They are called kelderars or kotlyars. Orthodox Christians, they have their own “zest”: their outfits have become an example for gypsy fashion. Before the revolution, men made and soldered boilers, and their wives wondered; now boilers live by resale or handing over metal. It is Kotlyarki and Vlashki who tell fortunes on the streets of Russian cities. The people live in communities and observe customs: they preserve the language and folklore, which is little known to ethnographers. According to the old customs of the Kotlyars, they give a ransom for a girl.

Hungarian gypsies

The Lovaris are relatives of the Kotlyars, in the past they worked with horses, often lived off female fortune tellers, became pop artists under the USSR, and have now mastered the business. Among the gypsies they are considered rich but arrogant people. They follow traditions, but dress in modern clothes.
Magyars - these gypsies were always involved in music, weaved baskets, and made bricks from adobe. Magyar women never told fortunes. Under the USSR, Magyars worked in the countryside and in enterprises, but after the collapse of the country, many chose to leave. Russian gypsies consider the Magyars not gypsies, which is very offensive.

Carpathian gypsies

This small nation is called the Plaschuns. Before the revolution, the wives of the plashuns were thieves, and now there are few literate people among them. Despite their poverty, the Shrouds adhere to traditions and are in no hurry to assimilate.
In addition to these ethnic groups, people live in Russia separate families Moldavian gypsies: Kishinevtsy, Ursars, Chocenari, Lingurars; There are also Lotvas in the country - Latvian gypsies.

Gypsies of Central Asia

These gypsies are called Mugat, they are Muslims and adopted clothing and traditions from the peoples of Central Asia. If you see a woman with a child asking for alms on the street of Moscow, most likely she is a Mugat, because begging is a tradition that Mugat have used to earn their living for centuries; in addition, Mugat have been engaged in fortune-telling and witchcraft. In the USSR they worked in agriculture, and then were left without work; Russian gypsies do not consider Mugat gypsies.