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.
In Romany culture different branches of traditional crafts and professions (such as boiler making, ironware, woodwork, basket weaving, sieve craft, soothsaying, playing music or herbal medicine) have existed throughout the ages.
The men were livestock traders, animal trainers and exhibitors, tinkers (smiths and utensil repairmen), and musicians; the women told fortunes, sold potions, begged, and worked as entertainers.
Although most Gypsies and Travellers see travelling as part of their identity, they can choose to live in different ways including: moving regularly around the country from site to site and being 'on the road' living permanently in caravans or mobile homes, on sites provided by the council, or on private sites.
'Gypsy' is actually a term for Romani people—a whole different culture. However, if you have a free spirit, too, that wants to explore the world, meet new people, and live a worry-free life, a modern-day gypsy lifestyle is what you need.
Travelling communities believe in the principle of no sex before marriage and girls who break this code are considered dirty and risk being left on the shelf. Unmarried young men and women are not allowed to socialize alone together because of the emphasis on female chastity.
countable noun. A Gypsy is a member of a race of people who travel from place to place, usually in caravans, rather than living in one place. Some Gypsies object to this name, and prefer to be called Romany.
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.
Whilst this is historically true, 90% of Gypsies and Irish Travellers now live in houses; this is partly due to the lack of site provision across the country. When Gypsies and Travellers live in houses their culture and heritage stays with them. You do not have to travel to be a Traveller.
To earn a living today, gypsies might weave furniture, make bricks, resell clothing and goods, or trade horses, but employment is typically a side note in their existence. Sources repeatedly underscore the difficulty that the Roma have in obtaining regular work because employers often don't want to hire them.
Rom means husband in the Romani language.
The Gypsy and Traveller community firmly believe that “marriage is for life” and divorce is rare. Older children may be particularly reluctant to leave permanently.
Gypsy Roma Travellers are not currently recognised as indigenous, but could be. These communities have distinct cultural practices and experience colonisation. These communities have higher mortality, morbidity and infant mortality.
Rom: Gypsies of East European origin who arrived after 1880. Mostly urban, they are scattered across the entire country. One of the larger groups in the US, possibly in the 55-60,000 range. Romnichels: English Gypsies who arrived beginning in 1850.
Although purists tend to define the group narrowly, loose classifications of ethnic Gypsies include all nomads who live and identify themselves as Gypsies. The two groups of Gypsy Americans about whom scholars know the most are the Rom and the Romnichals.
Romani, the common language of the Roma, the Sinti, the Kale and other European popula- tion groups summarised by the pejorative denomination gypsies, belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family and is the only New-Indo-Aryan language spo- ken exclusively outside of the Indian subcontinent.
The Gypsy, Roma and Traveller group
Gypsies (including English Gypsies, Scottish Gypsies or Travellers, Welsh Gypsies and other Romany people) Irish Travellers (who have specific Irish roots) Roma, understood to be more recent migrants from Central and Eastern Europe.
Like all Latin peoples, non-gypsy or payo Spaniards celebrate Christmas Eve, but the gitanos, in this at least, are like us anglos: they rejoice in the birth of the Señor on the day it happened, December 25th.
Common Gypsy names
You may have Romani, Traveller or Gypsy ancestry if your family tree includes common Romani or Gypsy surnames such as Boss, Boswell, Buckland, Chilcott, Codona, Cooper, Doe, Lee, Gray (or Grey), Harrison, Hearn, Heron, Hodgkins, Holland, Lee, Lovell, Loveridge, Scamp, Smith, Wood and Young.
There is no king or queen. Traveller families often have someone that makes the main decisions that will affect the family as a whole, and is usually a patriarch or matriarch of the family. This is often the same for Romany people, who have no tradition of royalty.
The Boswells (Bosville/Boss) are one of the largest and most well-known of all the British Romany Gypsy families.
Romani groups tend to adopt the religion which is dominant in their countries of residence. In the Euro- pean context this means that they are either Christian or Muslim. Even though they often do not follow all religious rituals and practices, faith in God remains an important part of their life.
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.
“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.