Romani Culture and Self-Assessment - Essay Example

Romani Culture The Romani people mostly referred to as gypsies, originated from India and settled in eastern, central, western and south eastern Europe. They live scattered among the populations of the host countries. There are over 12 million gypsies world with most of them living in the European countries. The gypsies lead a nomadic way of life and move with all their belongings, but years of enslavement by the Europeans and execution by the nazis has led them to live independently. Their ancestors lead both nomadic and sedentary ways of life. The host countries tried repressive measures for the gypsies to abandon their ways of life; they were not allowed to married other gypsies. They were also forced to settle but still managed to continue with their nomadic way of life with most of them living in Bulgaria and Romania. White christians excluded gypsies from their professions, and they resorted to fortune telling, iron making and trading animals. They also manufactured cheap household goods and sold them. Family The gypsies value family and both the man and the woman help each other. The man is the head and the woman is the heart of the family. Upbringing of children is a responsibility of all members of the community.The extended family is highly valued, and the family has a power structure and the oldest man in the family has most powers or has authority over the other members. Bringing and handling money was the responsibility of the woman. A romani has three names which are given at birth, after baptism and after second baptism in a Christian church. The first name given at birth and only known to the mother is meant to confuse the evil spirits. The second name given after getting baptized is used within the tribe and the third name is often used when dealing with non-Romas. Traditions and customs The gypsy culture is diverse but believes that birth and death are unique and this custom is passed on through the generations. The gypsies live in groups of extended families and travel together providing each other with mutual support and companionship. The extended family is the basis for which work is divided, resources are shared and food is prepared and shared Children are often married off when they are teens, they consider them adults. The gypsies celebrate the birth of newborns and often invest in marriages that are done traditionally. They have high standards of hygiene and consider dogs and cats impure because they lick themselves. Several extended families combined form a nation through and share a traditional origin practising similar occupations and trades. The nation is the organizational structure through which they govern themselves since they have no central government. A chieftain is elected by the families to lead the band for their lifetime . Marriages are often within members of the same band whom they share similar customs of events such as birth, burial and other festivities.It is considered a taboo to marry outside their ethnic group and they don't take their children to western schools due to their spiritual beliefs and the need to preserve their culture. They also share attitudes, values and ways of clothing. When gypsies came to Europe, they were often persecuted and enslaved, and this led to them living in isolation with the other members of the host country. Gypsies are hesitant to tell strangers their forenames or even open their homes to strangers. The Gypsies refer to other people who don't belong to their ethnic group as gadze and avoid mixing with strangers Spiritual beliefs Gypsies do not embrace religion like the Christians and muslims do but have spiritual beliefs that were influenced by the religion prehistoric Vedic culture. They believe in a compassionate divine being called o Del and a devil, o Beng who struggle for world dominance. They understand that one's future is shaped by their actions, both good and bad. They believe that events are preplanned and do not occur by chance and one;s wrong actions are meted by punishment from their ancestors. The gypsies culture and beliefs are different from my culture.They have many superstitions and rituals surrounding death but consider illness of an individual as a concern for all, which we all do. People suffering from infectious diseases are often quarantined in my culture; the gypsies buried the dead ones and burnt everything they came into contact with to prevent the infection from spreading. The ability of a contamination to spread from the dead to the living made gypsies belief in life after death. The bible teaches us about the afterlife. The gypsy family members do not struggle to inherit the possessions of the deceased as most people from my culture would do, fighting for a share of the deceased one's property. The gypsies believe that death is an omen and hence perform rituals to ensure that the spirits of the dead leave the world happily so as not to haunt them later. We believe that when people die they rest in peace although there may be evil spirits, they are not from our deceased loved ones. They believe that the sick ones should not be left alone, and everyone must see them before he or she dies to ask for forgiveness. The gypsies also don't touch the bodies of the deceased and sick ones are washed and dressed in fine clothes before they die. If the death occurs before one is dressed, gypsies invite a non-Roma to perform those tasks. Contrary to my culture; the deceased ones are washed and dressed after their death. The dead are buried together with the things they would need in their after life including personal things, tools and money. In our culture, the dead may be buried or cremated depending on ones wish or a decision by the family. Gypsies don't entertain cremations. The Romani people don't tell their fore names to strangers unlike in my culture whereby greetings and saying names is normal. The names of the dead are not be mentioned so as not to anger the spirits of the dead which might haunt the living, and even if the names are to be passed to daughters or sons, they are spelled differently or nicknames are used. My culture does not consider mentioning of the dead person's names and naming children a taboo. According to my culture hygiene refers to washing with soap and avoiding dirt but gypsies have an intricate perception of hygiene. They believe that clothes worn above the waist should be washed separately from the ones worn below the waist. They consider the groin unclean and should not come into contact with the upper body parts. Men and women can expose their upper body parts without losing respect; in my culture men can expose their upper bodies but women are not allowed to. It's considered to be diminishing when women expose their upper body parts. After a woman has given birth, she and her child are isolated since they are considered to be contaminated which is contrary to my culture where we welcome the birth of newborns. Gypsies only wash with running water; they do not use baths as we do in my culture. Gypsies joined the religions of the countries in which they reside, but for the purposes of burial ceremonies. They needed recognized institutions to officiate their burial ceremonies. The gypsies are Catholics in Spain, Lutheran in Germany, orthodox in Romania and also muslims in other parts of Europe. Their weddings are private affairs and are not done in the church. They also don't register marriages with the state since the agreement between the parties is all that is required to officaite a marriage. In my culture, weddings can be traditional or done in the church and a marriage certificate that is issued by the state as proof of marriage. In Romani culture, marriages are often arranged by the parents. Teenage girls are often married off as early as twelve years of age. In my culture, marriage is out free will and one chooses whom they want to be married to. The groom's family is required to pay for the bride price in the gypsy culture whereas, in my culture, payment of dowry is not a requirement. The woman in the gypsy culture was required to bring money and manage it for the family although this has changed and the man provides for his family while the woman tends to the family. Women made money through fortune telling. In my culture both, man and woman can provide for the family, although providing for the family is considered as the responsibility of the man. The Romani children do not go to school till they are 10 to 11 years of age and most of the education is done from homes and the community. They do not go to western like schools for fear that they might adopt the western culture. In my culture, children go to school as early as at four years of age and interact with others from other religions. Romani kids are babysitted only by friends or relatives but in my culture children are babysitted by professionals. I would not want to be part of the gypsies due to their cultural beliefs and practises. They remain isolated and do not welcome socialization and interaction with other communities. I believe any person from a different culture would not want to be part of the gypsy culture. The discrimination of the gypsies when they settled in Europe shows that their culture and practises were not welcomed. References Roma Culture: An Introduction. (n.d.). Roma Culture: An Introduction. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://romafacts.uni-graz.at/index.php/culture/introduction/roma-culture-an- introduction Read More