The Roma People often referred to as Gypsies, are a heterogeneous ethnic group who live primarily in Southern and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, Latin America, the southern part of the United States and the Middle East. They are believed to have originated mostly from the Rajasthan region of India. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau about 1,000 years ago. Traditionally most Roma spoke Romani (Romany), an Indo-Aryan language. Today, however, most Roma speak the dominant language of their region of residence.

Most Roma refer to themselves as Rom. In the Romani language, Rom (man) derives from the Sanskrit dom (man). Alternate spellings of "Rroma" for the people and "Rromanes" for the language, were rejected by the last World Romani Congress, which defined the universal Romani alphabet.

Etymology

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy), originates from the Greek word 'Aigyptoi' in the erroneous belief that the Roma originated in Egypt, and were exiled as punishment for allegedly harboring the infant Jesus. This ethnonym is not used by the Roma to describe themselves, and is often considered pejorative. However, the use of "gypsy" in English is now so pervasive that many Roma organizations use the word gypsy in their own names.

In North America, the word "Gypsy" is often misunderstood as a reference to lifestyle or fashion, and not to the Roma ethnicity. The Spanish term gitano and the French term gitan may have the same origin.

Linguistic and genetic evidence indicates the Roma originated on the Indian Subcontinent. The cause of the Roma diaspora is unknown. One theory suggests the Roma were originally low-caste Hindus recruited into an army of mercenaries, granted warrior caste status, and sent westwards to resist Islamic military expansion. Or perhaps the Muslim conquerors of northern India took the Roma as slaves and brought them home, where they became a distinct community; Mahmud of Ghazni reportedly took 500,000 prisoners during a Turkish/Persian invasion of Sindh and Punjab. Why the Roma did not return to India, choosing instead to travel west into Europe, is an enigma, but may relate to military service under the Muslims.

Contemporary scholars have suggested one of the first written references to the Roma, under the term "Atsingani", (derived from the Greek atsinganoi), dates from the Byzantine era during a time of famine in the 9th century.

In the year 800 A.D., Saint Athanasia gave food to "foreigners called the Atsingani" near Thrace. Later, in 803 A.D., Theophanes the Confessor wrote that Emperor Nikephoros I had the help of the "Atsingani" to put down a riot with their "knowledge of magic"."Atsinganoi" was used to refer to itinerant fortune tellers, ventriloquists and wizards who visited the Emperor Constantine IX in the year 1054. The hagiographical text, The Life of St. George the Anchorite, mentions that the "Atsingani" were called on by Constantine to help rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his livestock. They are later described as sorcerers and evildoers and accused of trying to poison the Emperor's favorite hound.

In 1322 a Franciscan monk named Simon Simeonis described people in likeness to the "atsingani" living in Crete and in 1350 Ludolphus of Sudheim mentioned a similar people with a unique language who he called Mandapolos, a word which some theorize was possibly derived from the greek word mantes (meaning prophet or fortune teller).

Around 1360, an independent Romani fiefdom (called the Feudum Acinganorum) was established in Corfu and became "a settled community and an important and established part of the economy."

By the 14th century, the Roma had reached the Balkans; by 1424, Germany; and by the 16th century, Scotland and Sweden. Some Roma migrated from Persia through North Africa, reaching Europe via Spain in the 15th century. The two currents met in France. Roma began immigrating to the United States in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana.

Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 1900s, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. Many Roma also settled in Latin America.

Wherever they arrived in Europe, curiosity was soon followed by hostility and xenophobia. Roma were enslaved for five centuries in Romania until abolition in 1864. Elsewhere in Europe, they were subject to expulsion, abduction of their children, and forced labor. During World War II, the Nazis murdered 200,000 to 800,000 Roma in an attempted genocide known as the Porajmos.

Like the Jews, they were sentenced to forced labor and imprisonment in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen on the Eastern Front.

In Communist Eastern Europe, Roma experienced assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom. The Romani language and Roma music were banned from public performance in Bulgaria.

In Czechoslovakia, they were labeled a "socially degraded stratum," and Roma women were sterilized as part of a state policy to reduce their population. This policy was implemented with large financial incentives, threats of denying future social welfare payments, misinformation, and involuntary sterilization (Silverman 1995; Helsinki Watch 1991).

In the early 1990s, Germany deported tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to Eastern Europe. Sixty percent of some 100,000 Romanian nationals deported under a 1992 treaty were Roma.

Worldwide, there are an estimated 8 to 10 million Roma, most of whom reside in Europe. Although the largest Roma populations are found in the Balkan peninsula, significant numbers may also be found in the Americas, the former Soviet Union, western and central Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Countries where Roma populations do or may possibly exceed half a million are Romania, Egypt, Spain, Bulgaria, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Some other countries with large Roma populations are the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey.

The Roma recognize divisions among themselves based in part on territorial, cultural and dialectal differences. Some authorities recognize five main groups:

• the Kalderash (the most numerous, traditionally smiths, from the Balkans, many of whom migrated to central Europe and North America),
• the Gitanos (also called Calé, mostly in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and southern France; associated with entertainment),
• the Manush (also known as Sinti, mostly in Alsace and other regions of France and Germany; often travelling showmen and circus people), and
• the Romnichal (Rom'nies) (mainly in Britain and North America).
• the Erlides (also known as Yerlii) (settled Roma population in South-Eastern Europe and Turkey).

Most Roma speak Romani, an Indo-Aryan language likely derived from Sanskrit. Romani is also related to Pothohari. A 2003 study published in Nature suggests Romani is also related to Sinhalese, presently spoken in Sri Lanka. Today, however, most Roma speak the dominant language of their region of residence. Romani is not currently spoken in India.

Some Roma have developed creole languages or mixed languages, including:

• Caló or Iberian-Romani, which uses the Romani lexicon and Spanish grammar (the calé).
• Romungro or Carpathian-Romani
• Lomavren or Armenian-Romani
• Angloromani or English-Romani
• Romano-Greek or Greek-Romani
• Traveller Norwegian or Norwegian-Romani
• Romano-Serbian or Serbian-Romani
• Boyash, a dialect of Romanian with Hungarian and Romani loanwords
• Tavringer Romani or Swedish-Romani
• Sinti-Manouche-Sinti (Romani with German grammar)

Genetic data strongly supports linguistic evidence that the Roma originated on the Indian subcontinent. Studies of Bulgarian, Baltic and Vlax Roma genetics suggest that about 50% of observed haplotypes belong to Y-chromosomal haplogroup H. Similar studies of the same population with mitochondrial DNA show 50% belong to female mitochondrial haplogroup M. Both of these are widespread across South Asia.

This genetic evidence indicates that approximately half of the gene pool of these studied Roma is similar to that of the surrounding European populations. Specifically, common Y-chromosome (i.e. male-line) haplogroups are haplogroups H (50%), I (22%) and J2 (14%), and R1b (7%). Common mitochondrial (i.e. female-line) haplogroups are H (35%), M (26%), U3 (10%), X (7%), other (20%). Whereas male haplogroup H and female M are rare in non-Roma European populations, the rest are found throughout Europe. However female haplogroups U2i and U7 are almost absent from female Roma, but are present in South Asia (11%-35% approx).

By contrast, male Sinti Roma in Central Asia have H (20%), J2 (20%) and a high frequency of R2 (50%) which is found frequently in West Bengal and among the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. The M217 marker, which accounts for about 1.6% of male Roma, is also found in West Bengal (Kivisild (2003) et al). Haplogroup L is found in about 10% of Indian males but is absent from Roma (though Gresham et al. does not seem to test for it), and also from West Bengal and Central Asian Sinti (Kivisild (2003) et al).

However, a search of the Yhrd database shows that some Roma populations in Europe have considerable percentages of male haplogroup R1a1. Yhrd gives few matches with South Asian population, but a large number of matches on haplogroup H with Asian Londoners, a populations that has a large proportion of Bengali and South Indian groups.

All these genetic studies indicate a South-East Indian origin of the male Roma population. Haplogroup R1a1 occurs around 35-45% in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, but only 10-15% in the southeast. On the other hand, Y-haplogroups H, R2 and J2 increase in frequency towards the southeast. R2 occurs arond 20-40% in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh (Bamshad et al. 2001, Kivisild et al. 2003, Sengupta et al. 2006, Sahoo et al. 2006). H and J2 occur 20-30% in South and East India.

A study recently published in Nature journal associates the Roma with Sinhala, and must be viewed from this genetic profile of Romas. Sinhalese are mostly descendants of East and South Indian communities.Luba Kalaydjieva's research has shown that the original group appeared in India some 32-40 generations ago and was small, likely under 1,000 people.(Ref: Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies), David Gresham, Bharti Morar, Peter A. Underhill, et al, Am J Hum (2001); The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity, Wells et al.)

The traditional Roma place a high value on the extended family.

Virginity is essential in unmarried women. Both men and women often marry young; there has been controversy in several countries over the Roma practice of child marriage. Roma law establishes that the man's family must pay a dowry to the bride's parents.

Roma social behaviour is strictly regulated by purity laws ("marime" or "marhime"), still respected by most Roma and among Sinti groups by the older generations. This regulation affects many aspects of life, and is applied to actions, people and things: parts of the human body are considered impure: the genital organs, because they produce impure emissions, and the lower body.

Fingernails and toenails must be filed with an emery board, as cutting them with a clipper is taboo.

Clothes for the lower body, as well as the clothes of menstruating women are washed separately. Items used for eating are also washed in a different place.

Childbirth is considered impure, and must occur outside the dwelling place. The mother is considered impure for forty days.

Death is considered impure, and affects the whole family of the dead, who remain impure for a period of time.

Many of these practices are also present in some Hindu cultures such as those of Bengal and the Balinese.

There are very similar practices found in Judaism. However, in contrast to the Hindu practice of cremating the dead, Roma dead must be buried. It is possible that this tradition was adapted from Abrahamic religions after the Roma left the Indian subcontinent.

Roma have usually adopted the dominant religion of the host country while often preserving aspects of their particular belief systems and indigenous religion and worship. Most Eastern European Roma are Catholic, Orthodox Christian or Muslim. Those in Western Europe and the United States are mostly Catholic or Protestant. Most Roma in Latin America are Orthodox. In Turkey, Egypt, and the southern Balkans, the Roma are split into Christian and Muslim populations.

Roma religion has a highly developed sense of morality, taboos, and the supernatural, though it is often denigrated by organized religions. It has been suggested that while still in India the Roma people belonged to the Hindu religion, this theory being supported by the Romani word for "cross", trushul, which is the word which describes Shiva's trident (Trishula).

Since World War II, a growing number of Roma have embraced Evangelical movements. Over the past half-century, Roma have became ministers and created their own churches and missionary organizations for the first time.

In some countries, the majority of Roma now belong to the Roma churches. This unexpected change has greatly contributed to a better image of Roma in society. The work they perform is seen as more legitimate, and they have begun to obtain legal permits for commercial activities.

Evangelical Roma churches exist today in every country where Roma are settled. The movement is particularly strong in France and Spain; there are more than one thousand Roma churches (known as "Filadelfia") in Spain, with almost one hundred in Madrid alone. In Germany, the most numerous group is that of Polish Roma, having their main church in Mannheim. Other important and numerous Romani assemblies exist in Los Angeles, Houston, Buenos Aires and Mexico. Some groups in Romania and Chile have joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In the Balkans, the Roma of Macedonia, Kosovo (Southern province of Serbia) and Albania have been particularly active in Islamic mystical brotherhoods (Sufism). Muslim Roma immigrants to Western Europe and America have brought these traditions with them.

Roma music is very important in Eastern European cultures such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, Russia and Romania, and the style and performance practices of Roma musicians have influenced European classical composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms.

The lautari who perform at traditional Romanian weddings are virtually all Roma, although their music draws from a vast variety of ethnic traditions - for example Romanian, Turkish, Jewish, and Slavic - as well as Roma traditions. Probably the most internationally prominent contemporary performer in the lautar tradition is Taraful Haiducilor. Many famous classical musicians, such as the Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra, are Roma, as are many prominent performers of manele.

Zdob Zdub, one of the most prominent rock bands in Moldova, although not Roma themselves, draw heavily on Roma music, as do Spitalul de Urgenta in Romania.The distinctive sound of Roma music has also strongly influenced bolero, jazz, flamenco and Cante Jondo in Europe. European-style Gypsy jazz is still widely practised among the original creators (the Roma People); one who acknowledged this artistic debt was Django Reinhardt.

Later, Roma people who came to the Americas contributed to almost every musical style. Salsa, rumba, mambo and guajira from Cuba, the tondero, zamacueca and marinera from Peru, mariachi music from Mexico, "llanero" from the borders of Venezuela and Colombia, and even American country music have all been influenced by their mournful violins and soulful guitar.

Persecution

Because of an image that they like to steal and kill innocent animals and refuse to live like normal people, there has been a great deal of mutual distrust between the Roma and their more settled neighbours. According to legend in some European nations, particularly in the Black Forest region, at the time of the Crucifixion, no blacksmith would make the nails for the cross. One blacksmith agreed to do so, however, and the spirit of these nails came back to haunt him and his family some years later, forcing them to constantly wander and become the Roma.

Persecution of Roma reached a peak during World War II in the Porajmos.There are still tensions between the Roma and the majority populations around them. Common complaints are that Roma steal and live off social welfare, and residents often reject Roma encampments. In the UK, travellers (referring to Irish Travellers and New Age Travellers as well as Roma) became a 2005 general election issue, with the leader of the Conservative Party promising to review the Human Rights Act 1998.

This law, which absorbs the European Convention on Human Rights into UK primary legislation, is seen by some to permit the granting of retrospective planning permission. Severe population pressures and the paucity of greenfield sites have led to travellers purchasing land, and setting up residential settlements almost overnight, thus subverting the planning restrictions imposed on other members of the community.

Travellers argued in response that thousands of retrospective planning permissions are granted in Britain in cases involving non-Roma applicants each year and that statistics showed that 90% of planning applications by Roma and travellers were initially refused by local councils, compared with a national average of 20% for other applicants, disproving claims of preferrential treatment favouring Gypsies.

They also argued that the root of the problem was that many traditional stopping-places had been barricaded off and that legislation passed by the previous Conservative government had effectively criminalised their community, for example by removing local authorities' responsibility to provide sites, thus leaving the travellers with no option but to purchase unregistered new sites themselves.

In Denmark there was much controversy when the city of Helsingřr decided to put all Roma students in special classes in its public schools. The classes were later abandoned after it was determined that they were discriminatory, and the Roma were put back in regular classes.

Assimilation

During the Enlightenment, Spain briefly and unsuccessfully tried to assimilate the Roma into the mainstream population by forcing them to abandon their language and way of life; even the word gitano was made illegal. Many nations have subsequently attempted to assimilate their Roma populations.

The popular image of Roma as tramps and thieves unfit for work contributed to their widespread persecution. This belief is often cited as the etymological source of the term gyp, meaning to "cheat", as in "I got gypped by a con man." The German name Zigeuner is often thought through popular etymology to derive either from Ziehende Gauner, which means 'travelling thieves', or from the Hungarian Cigány from their word "szegény" meaning "poor". The validity of these derivations, however, is disputed.

Law enforcement agencies in the United States hold regular conferences on the Roma and similar nomadic groups.

Roma in European population centers are often associated with petty crime such as pickpocketing, utilizing a variety of deceptions and tactics. An example would be a Romani woman at a subway or train platform, waiting for passengers to begin boarding an arriving train at which point she pushes through the crowd with an infant in her arms, deftly opening a woman's purse or reaching for a man's wallet. Being a woman makes her appear less threatening and the infant causes people to naturally yield to her as she approaches her target, while distracting people from her other arm. Usually by the time the victim notices the missing item(s), the doors have already closed and the train is moving away from the station.

In Central and Eastern Europe, Roma often live in depressed squatter communities with very high unemployment, while only some are fully integrated in the society. However, in some cases - notably the Kalderash clan in Romania, who work as traditional coppersmiths - they have prospered. Although some Roma still embrace a nomadic lifestyle, most migration is actually forced, as most communities do not accept Roma settlements.

Many former Eastern bloc countries have substantial populations of Roma. The level of integration of Roma into society remains limited. In these countries, they usually remain on the margins of society, living in isolated ghetto-like settlements (see Chánov). Only a small fraction of Roma children graduate from secondary schools, although during the Communist regime, at least some of these countries forced all children to attend school, and provided them, like other citizens, with all required basics such as textbooks and the compulsory uniform. Usually they feel rejected by the state and the non-Roma majority, which creates another obstacle to their integration.

In some countries, dependence on social security systems is part of the problem. For some Roma families, it may be preferable to live on social security than on low-paid jobs. That creates anger against Roma, conditions that produce crime, and extreme sensitivity to changes in social security.

A good example of the latter is Slovakia, where reduction of social security (a family is paid allowance only for the first three children) led to civil disorder in several Roma villages.In most countries within or applying to join the European Union, Roma people can lead normal lives and may integrate into the larger society.

Nevertheless, the Roma most visible to the settled community are those who perpetuate the negative image of the Roma. The reasons include that Roma avoid non-Roma because they traditionally consider them "mahrime" (spiritually unclean), avoid them out of fear of persecution, still live in shacks (usually built ad hoc, near railways) and beg on the streets. The local authorities may try to help such people by improving infrastructure in their settlements and subsidizing families further, but such aid is mostly viewed by the Roma as superficial and insufficient. Begging with pre-school children is sometimes practiced by the Roma, despite its illegality in many countries.

In 2004, Lívia Járóka and Viktória Mohácsi of Hungary became the two current Roma Members of the European Parliament. The first Roma MEP was Juan de Dios Ramirez-Heredia of Spain.

Seven former Communist Central European and Southeastern European states launched the Decade of Roma Inclusion initiative in 2005 to improve the socio-economic conditions and status of the Roma minority.

In Kosovo, the Roma are seen by many Albanians as being allied with Serbian national interests. The Kosovo Liberation Army has targetted Roma as well as Serbs. During the Yugoslav wars, Roma were often victim to discrimination and violent attacks from all sides, although relations were friendliest with the Serbs.

There is a sizable minority of Roma people in Romania, 1.8 million to 2 million. They are not well accepted and there is much prejudice against them. The rise of hate groups such as Noua Dreapt
 causes violence and retribution by both sides.

The number of Roma people in Hungary is disputed. In the 2001 census only 190,000 people called themselves Roma, but sociological estimates give much higher numbers, about 5%-10% of the total population. Since World War II, the number of Roma has increased rapidly, multiplying seven-fold in the last century. Today every fifth or sixth newborn is Roma. Estimates based on current demographic trends project that in 2050, 15-20% of the population (1.2 million people) will be Roma.

Romas (called cigányok or romák in Hungarian) suffer particular problems in Hungary. School segregation is an especially acute. Many Roma children are sent to classes for pupils with learning disabilities.

Slightly more than 80% of Roma children complete primary education, but only one third continue studies into the intermediate (secondary) level. This is far lower than the more than 90% proportion of non-Roma children who continue studies at an intermediate level. The situation is made worse by the fact that a large proportion of young Roma are qualified in subjects that provide them only limited chances for employment. Less than 1% of Roma hold higher educational certificates.

Their low status on the job market and higher unemployment rates cause poverty, widespread social problems and crime.

Rom in Israel Before 1948, there was an Arabic-speaking Roma community in Jaffa, whose members were noted for their involvement in street theatre and circus performances. Like most other Jaffa Arabs, this community was uprooted in April 1948, and its descendants are assumed to be presently living in the Gaza Strip refugee camps; it is unknown to what degree they still preserve a separate Roma identity. Another Roma community is known to exist in East Jerusalem, its members complaining of prejudice and discriminatory treatment by the surrounding Palestinian society despite their sharing in the hardships of those Palestinians.

Some Eastern European Roma are known to have arrived in Israel in the late 1940s and early 1950s, having intermarried with Jews in the post-WWII "displaced persons camps" or, in some cases, having pretended to be Jews when Zionist agents arrived in those camps. The exact numbers of these Roma living in Israel are unknown, since such individuals tended to assimilate into the Israeli Jewish environment. According to several recent accounts in the Israeli press, some families preserve traditional Romani lullabies and a small number of Romani expressions and curse words, and pass them on to generations born in Israel who, for the most part, speak Hebrew.

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