Romanichal Travellers (UK: /ˈrɒmənɪtʃæl/ US: /-ni-/; more commonly known as English Gypsies, or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom; almost all live in England.
The definition usually refers to those of Irish descent who follow a nomadic lifestyle. Often it is stretched to include Romany gypsies, who originate from parts of India, and New Age hippies.
The term Gypsy, Roma and Traveller has been used to describe a range of ethnic groups or people with nomadic ways of life who are not from a specific ethnicity.
: a member of a traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India and now live chiefly in Europe and in smaller numbers throughout the world : romani sense 1, rom entry 1.
Tommy Shelby and his kin are Irish-Romani (sometimes spelled Romany) Gypsies, a unique cultural and ethnic group present in Britain since the 1500s. The award-winning Peaky Blinders is directed by Steven Knight and has run for 6 seasons, the most recent hitting U.S. Netflix in June 2022.
Background. Polly originates from the criminal Gypsy family the Shelbys. She's the daughter of Mr. Shelby and Birdie Boswell. Her brother is Arthur Shelby Sr. Polly tells her son Michael Gray that his grandmother was a Gypsy Princess.
“Gypsies” were considered dirty, deceitful, too lazy to work, and prone to steal. The most heinous accusation was that they kidnapped the young, a charge frequently hurled against Jews as well. Several of these stereotypes clearly derive from the nomadism of Roma.
Roma (Gypsies) originated in the Punjab region of northern India as a nomadic people and entered Europe between the eighth and tenth centuries C.E. They were called "Gypsies" because Europeans mistakenly believed they came from Egypt. This minority is made up of distinct groups called "tribes" or "nations."
Roma, singular Rom, also called Romany or Gypsies (considered pejorative), an ethnic group of traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India but live in modern times worldwide, principally in Europe.
The families band together in clan systems, cordoned off from mainstream society. The familial structure is often strictly paternalistic, with women tending to home and children, while men may or may not work. Arranged marriage among adolescent brides and grooms remains common.
Gypsy surnames which occur in Surrey include Cooper, Matthews, Ayres, Smith, Green, Taylor, Williams, Brazil, Shepherd, Beaney, Chapman and Scott among others. The Gypsy Lore Society Collections at Liverpool University may be able to help with researching well-known surnames.
“Roma” is the word (ethnonym) that the Roma use to describe themselves: it is the term for the members of that specific people and it is Romani for “man”. “Gypsy” is a derogatory, disparaging term – for many an insult — used by the majority population to define the Roma people.
The term 'Gypsies and Travellers' is difficult to define as it does not constitute a single, homogenous group, but encompasses a range of groups with different histories, cultures and beliefs including: Romany Gypsies, Welsh Gypsies, Scottish Gypsy Travellers and Irish Travellers.
Travelling communities are referred to as Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (and in Europe as Roma) but there are several distinct groups of Travelling and nomadic peoples including Romany Gypsy, Irish Traveller, English Traveller, Scottish Traveller, Welsh Traveller, Showmen, Bargees and New Travellers.
But that change they are calling for often involves leaving the Catholic or Anglican faith that many Gypsies and travellers are born into. "Gypsy people and travelling people have a very strong faith. Every one of them believes in God through Jesus Christ," says Billy Welch.
Data are shaky, but there are around 60,000 gypsies and Irish travellers in England and Wales. It is thought that a big proportion (about 40%, by one very rough estimate) of the population of British gypsies has converted, mostly from Catholicism and atheism, to Pentecostalism.
Couples marry young - girls at around 16 or 17, and boys between 18 and 19. They're not supposed to marry non-travellers but marriage to second cousins in families is common. Once married, the man rules the roost.
In the English language, the Romani are widely known by the exonym Gypsies (or Gipsies), which is considered a pejorative by some Romani due to its connotations of illegality and irregularity as well as its historical use as a racial slur.
The Roma do not follow a single faith, but are Catholic Manouche, Mercheros, and Sinti; Muslim Ashkali and Romanlar; Pentecostal Kalderash and Lovari; Protestant Travellers; Anglican Gypsies; and Baptist Roma.
One of the Oxford English Dictionary definitions of Gypsy is, 'term for a woman, as being cunning, deceitful, fickle, or the like … In more recent use merely playful, and applied esp. to a brunette.
Some of the better known areas of work that Gypsies and Travellers are involved in include seasonal agricultural work, motor trading and tree-felling. Some are employed as academics, teachers and public servants and in this way they add to the local economy.
Significant Romani populations are found in the Balkan peninsula, in some Central European states, in Spain, France, Russia, and Ukraine. The total number of Romani living outside Europe are primarily in the Middle East and North Africa and in the Americas, and are estimated in total at more than two million.
Their lifestyle is comparable to what it was five hundred years ago. The task of the Romani woman is to take care of the children, to maintain the household, and to hold together the extended family. As mother, she knows precisely the details of her children's lives, including all of the stupid things they do.
In the former Yugoslavia, one woman has had more hits over more years than just about anyone else: Esma Redzepova, also known as "Queen of the Gypsies."