Hi all, having barely been around reddit much I'm already saying farewell as I've got a new phone that blocks it (not reddit specifically, just all distracting apps as I've got no self-discipline and a book to write). Thought I'd leave a list of books that I've enjoyed in the last few years. Worth saying it's by no means comprehensive and British/Romanichel-centric as that's what I know.

1. Bury Me Standing - Isabel Fonseca
2. Smoke in the Lanes (and others) - Dominic Reeve
3. Words from the Road - Katie B Morgan (short illustrated book)
4. The Stopping Places - Damian Le Bas
5. We Borrow The Earth - Patrick Jasper Lee
6. The Yellow on the Broom + Red Rowans and Wild Honey - Betsy Whyte (strictly memoirs of Scots lowland traveller life but very informative and cracking reads)

Feel free to add/shout at me in the comments, happy Christmas :)

I‘m not Romani, so I apologize if I’m ignorant about this.

I know that Roma is an ethnic group, but is it also considered a race? or POC, meaning ‘not white’?

I’ve seen some people argue that Roma is only an ethnicity, and you can be ‘white’ by race, while also being Roma. And I have also seen others say that Roma is a race of it’s own, and are not white.

I’m aware that the actual definition of race is blurry in a lot of these cases. But I wanted to hear from Romani people themselves about it.

My grandma is half sinti half romanichal and married a country romanichal man. A beauty Queen, music teacher and jazz singer. Most of the heirloom jewelry I have that weren’t travel goods almost looked like Kashmiri or Polki jewelry, but I know they’re uniquely Roma since I’ve NEVER seen them anywhere else but on Roma women.

In the suburbs here local Tamil and Bengali women wear bangles just like my grandmas.

Since I also love mainland Indian jewelry and have some, I’m curious how it stayed so so similar to authentic Indian jewelry, after a thousand years of every other country possible trying to squish the culture out of us?

https://youtu.be/GNSs96-i9Nk?feature=shared

I mean this in the nicest way possible but like hospital stuff festivals ,food and what seems to be a government but no capital and the subreddit is reopened what dose that mean

• sincerely your curious scouse friend

Hi everyone

I was just wondering how many of the group members have confirmed their Roma ancestry through DNA testing?

Im considering taking the test but I've never liked the idea of freely giving the government access to my DNA to do with what they wish. I don't plan on committing any crimes but I can't speak for my blood relatives and I don't want to be the reason they get found guilty, I'm no dobber 😅

As the title suggests, I'm looking for how Romani speaking Catholics pray before their meals. I haven't found anything on the topic on my own.

I'm just curious regarding how Catholic prayers are translated.

Hi there, I’m a student and currently working on a seminar paper for one of my classes on Feminist studies and medical discourse. I want to focus on Romani women and their experience with labour (child delivery) in a hospital and share their voice in my school environment. From where I’m coming from there is a lot of Romani people and I just know their situation isn’t easy as the country’s political leadership is super racist towards Romani community and they don’t hide their attitude at all. Compared to where I live now (West) it’s definitely better from what I heard from the community but it left me wondering what’s others opinion and how it differs globally. If anyone would like to share I would really appreciate it. If you just want to vent and don’t want me to use your story I’m happy to listen.

Hello, I am not Romani but I am looking for advice from people in your community.

I have a friend who has recently decided to identify as Romani, those is mostly as a result of finding out that their great grandmother may have been Romani. Other than this, my friend was not raised in the culture, they don't know any Romani people, they have made no attempt to connect with Romani people either other than follow a couple of people on Youtube (Florian). She is a white woman born and raised in Australia by white people who were also born and raised in Australia.

However, they have changed the way they dress. They now exclusively wear what I would describe as stereotypical Romani clothing (google: Romani clothing, basically exactly like that). They even wear a Diklo which I believe is something worn by married romani women, which she is not.

I even found a secret Online account of hers where she speaks with an accent, does card reading and fortune telling, tells people she is a which, that she is muslim, and that she is a Romani person of colour.

To me it feels very much like cultural appropriation like she wears her Romani identity like a costume.

I don't know how to talk to her about this. I tried and she told me that as a gadje I am in no place to tell her whether she is Romani or not.

Are there resources available online in regards to who the Romani community actually considers to actually be a fellow Romani person?

Am I in the wrong about this being appropriation? Is there a history of Romani people travelling to Australia and maybe it is true that her great grandmother is Romani?

Hello, I want to preface this with I know I am a guest and I may be WAY out of line. So, if I am, please know that I truly come with curiosity and mean no ill intent. And if I mis-speak, please correct me. I want to learn and grow.

My husband is a pianist (Central American) and works all sorts of gigs here in Los Angeles. Over the last year, a specific band has been calling him to work gigs - and these gigs have become his FAVORITE. They are Romani weddings. Specifically South American Romani weddings that hire Salsa bands.

Every time he gets a call, he's ecstatic. Because the Romani families are kind and let the band eat and y'all, when I say he's a changed man, I mean it. Romani wedding food has become his FAVORITE cuisine. And we have NO idea where to start.

I understand the culture can be a bit closed to outsiders so he's not really allowed to talk to wedding guests to learn more about the food. But he has 2 dishes he's in love with and every time he comes home he begs me to find recipes - but I don't know where to start. And neither does he.

Can anyone help me out? Here's what I know:

1. These Romani people come from Venezuela and Colombia and these weddings take place in Los Angeles, California.
2. There's a beef dish: Cubed beef in a reddish, orangish sauce. Likely tomato based? But it doesn't taste strongly of tomatoes. Flavorful, but only a 1 of 5 spice level - not really spicey (in terms of heat) at all. The beef has a bit more of a chew, it's not fall-apart-on-your-spoon tender. The beef is in the sauce along with green beans, peas, carrots, and potatoes. (Editing to add, sometimes the potatoes are subbed for garbanzo beans)
3. There's a chicken dish: Cubed chicken in a yellowish, greenish sauce. A bit creamier of a sauce. 0 of 5 spice (heat) level. The chicken is in a sauce with also green beans, peas, potatoes but also corn. Maybe turmeric is involved to add yellow to the sauce color?
4. There's a pull-apart bread: dark brown crust, SUPER light and airy on the inside, sliiiiiight hint of sweetness - he said it pulls apart as if a log of dough was rolled out long and thin and then the dough was just kind of piled on top of itself like a rope in a pile would be and then baked.

He loves, Loves, LOVES the food above. But he has no way to ask. He asked who the caterer was hoping he could talk one gig-worker to another.... but it turns out the mother of the Bride always makes the food.

So we're stuck. Aaaaannnny advice you can give in terms of dish names or resources would be super helpful. ♥

I just learned that “lollipop” comes from “loli phabay” (candy apple in the Romani language) and think it’s fascinating! I’m curious to know if any other words that have been “borrowed” by English (or other languages.) I also saw something about how “chavo/chaval” in Spanish come from the Romani word “chavo” (makes sense.)

ETA: Maybe even “chav” in British slang?

I’m probably not going to see the movie and I lost a lot of respect for RDJ for other reasons. I just don’t understand how or why these people that say no to racism and talk about representation proceed to be excluding towards Romani people and culture with their hypocrisy. Sorry for sounding like this is a rant, but seeing Marvel talk more about this, shows to me their lack thereof of Romani people. I don’t know everything of their ways but if I were the lead of the project, at least I would find an actual Romani actor and consult with Romani people as to give them good representation.

Romani and other "g*psy" people are the quintessential diaspora ethnicity. We are all over the world yet with no defined place as being ours. While eastern and southern europe seems to have the highest concentration of Rom, there are folks all over the globe that share in romanipen and others that wish to be welcomed back into the fold. In the United States, the most common gathering of Romani people outside of weddings occur around arts & music events.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area (which has a large number of Romani people), there is an event that happens twice a year called "kafana balkan" organized by Željko Petković that features romani music, food and drink that serves as informal communal space for people looking to connect with their culture. It's always a sold out event full of dancing and good vibes and is a great opportunity to meet up with people and practice romanes.

What events in your region celebrate romani culture that you'd invite those wishing to connect to attend? I know they are out there because I've managed to find them every place that I've lived. Tell me!

I’d like to start this off by saying that I am not claiming to be Romani in any sense of the word. So please, please, please don’t take this as appropriation.

Recently, I discovered some very distant Romani ancestry. It initially showed up on a DNA test, but since it was so small and not something that I knew of, I dismissed it as miscalculated info from another ethnicity. I then took a different test which showed I had trace amounts of the “generic” Romani ethnic breakdown (North Indian, Middle eastern, and Balkan) which prompted me to pay attention this time. I compared results with about 300 other matches and a little over 100 of them (all from my grandmother’s side) had “Eastern European Roma” percentages anywhere from 1%-6%. So, I took this as confirmation of a far back Romani ancestor. This side of my family is from Louisiana and I’ve since learned that Louisiana is one of the few places in America with a significant Romani historical presence (there’s even a mixed Afro-Romani community in St. Martin parish to this day.)

With this being said, is there anybody here who is well-versed on the Roma history in Louisiana? I’m just curious about any potential surnames/significant families that might have been present in the area? I’m trying to piece together that portion of my family tree but am having lots of issues finding any info about the subject.

I just want reiterate that this is purely out of interest in genealogy and is not by any means a way for me to claim this culture as my own. I am a genealogy nerd and having chunks of my ancestry undocumented drives me crazy lol. (I’d be doing the same thing if this was any other culture that I was having issues with researching) I figure that I prefer to get info from members of the actual community and not just a historian with no ties whatsoever. I’ve read a lot about the treatment that the Roma people have faced as a whole, and I completely understand how touchy of a subject it is. I have nothing but respect and apologize if this comes off as anything other than that. This is not my ethnicity, it is just a distant part of my ancestral past. Nothing more.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Hello, I'm doing a little research on animals and their significance in in different cultures, myth and customs and how that reflects in modern culture (for example how storks now are associate with babies, but in old slavic folklore they were basically a magical vibe check and killing one would get you exiled from community)

Unfortunately I do have some problems with finding any legit articles on the topic, expect from bears and bearkeepers

So now I'm curious whether there are some animals that have significant meaning in romani culture, or perhaps if anyone could reccomend me any place where I could find any legit information on the topic?

Come from a Roma family from London, and when looking at my ancestry there are domestic servants that seem to have been procured from workhouses (hard to verify but seems more likely than not). It makes sense that the poor laws would've heavily penalised Roma who generally worked out West in the summers and lived in London over the winter, but it's hard to find specific info about how Roma were impacted during this time. I'd be very grateful for any book recs or if anyone knows where to look (I live in the West Country but a trip to London to look at records is not out of the question).

Hello ! I’ve been unclear since going through high school on whether or not to call people who travel romani or gy**** (censoring the word just in case). I’ve been told by someone who identifies as Romani that they don’t mind being called either because she was proud of the latter but I wanted to know whether the g word is classed as a slur in general or whether romani is a regional term that isn’t offensive or if there are other less offensive terms in general that I should use. Thank you for any input <3

Edit: told by* not told as lmao

Edit 2: to make things a bit clearer, I live in the uk where the terms to use for anyone are absolutely on blurred lines and just want to know what to Actually use

Edit 3: thanks for all of the clarification, I’m glad to say that I now know that there are multiple groups of heritage that have been called travellers and ‘gypsies’ (still putting in quotations just in case I’m completely wrong with the oncoming statement, pls correct me if I’ve overgeneralised or misunderstood) and some have been grouped together in views of prejudice, and general grouping, and labelled but that there are groups that take pride with the label of ‘gypsy’ and know that there are groups who just don’t identify with that and the word isn’t inherently a slur but still offensive. I just wish that more people like me who haven’t been educated on the cultures that are literally next door could be taught literally anything more about them than they are so maybe there wouldn’t be such muddied waters on which cultures are which

In all honesty, the extent of my knowledge on “gypsies” came from Borat and I only found out about Romani people somewhat recently. If I use the word, it’s because I’m quoting my family and the fact that it’s not something they’ve learned, it’s just something is.

So basically I’m 24 years old and my whole life there’s been moments where different members of my family have vaguely talked about our ancestry. I always thought my family had their quirks and were into weird superstitions/mystical stuff but I always shrugged it off as non sense.

About a month or two ago I started to look into my families origins in this country which made me bring it up to my mom. That’s when I got the full story and so many things that I shrugged off started making sense.

She started talking about my great great grandmother Maude who was born in Scotland, but not Scottish. She explained that Maude was a “gypsy” who worked as a fortune teller and when she had the money, she came to the United States in the 1910s. Here she was a single mother who owned a home and grew poppies for opium.

I started to question this in disbelief and she said that she knows this because this is what Maude had told her.

It wasn’t until one of my cousins was over where my mom brought it up again. She was almost mocking me and said “my name doesn’t believe Maude was a gypsy”. That when my cousin started to laugh and go on about how she had things like a handmade tarot deck and three crystal balls. He pretty much confirmed everything I’ve heard my whole life which shocked me because my cousins not that “free spirit” mystical type (used to sell crack and has been to jail)

Now I’m very confused as this isn’t something my family ever talks about yet the more I learn about Romani traditions/ways of life, the more I realize that my family shares a lot of these things in some way or another. My grandmother even looks like a spitting image of a Romani woman I found on Google.

I was also always told that my great grandfather fought in world war 2 to “get back at the Germans for what they did to us” which I always took “us” as being the USA. My mom recently clarified that “us” meant Romani people. I honestly didn’t even know the holocaust included anyone other than Jewish people.

I know that’s a lot to read but my questions are pretty much,

Is it common for Romani people in the USA to have little understanding of their heritage like my family?

Why do people in the USA not know about Romani’s never mind the meaning of a “Gypsy”?

Am I alone in the fact that I had very little knowledge of the holocaust involving Romani people?

And lastly, would I still be considered “Romani” since I’m so far down the line from my great great grandmother Maude? It doesn’t matter to me really but only in the aspect that a lot of my families traditions, mind set, and values, align pretty closely with what I’ve learned about Romani people.

Sorry for all of that, I’m just really shocked that this isn’t a more talked about thing in my family considering how they hold true to things my great great grandmother passed onto her children.

I got into a bit of an argument with an acquaintance of mine.
He doesn't think calling Romani people "gypsy" is offensive.

For a while, I've thought the better / correct word to use is "Roma" or "Romani". I thought Romani people don't like being called gypsies, and take offense to the word.

Can some of you educate me please, and set the record straight?

Hello, I'm an aspiring writer. I have a half-finished plot and an almost completely finished protagonist for it. Well and she's Roma. and I’ll say right away that I don’t plan to make the Roma in my story magical, mysterious, etc. they are just Roma... without much imagination. and that’s why I came here firstly, to learn better about the Roma from... the Roma themselves. cus there almost no good sourses about culture and language.

I want her story to talk about how racism occurs, how people with power can use discrimination and how this discrimination can affect people. and to more people would try to understand the situation of others before judging

Well, the question is, should I really change my mind about this idea because I’m not Roma? It seems to me that some kind of compromise can be found. for example ask Roma to become a beta reader or I don’t know. or non-Roma authors should not get involved in this at all and not even try

I am interested in learning about Y-DNA haplogroups J-M67 and J-M92 among Roma people as subclades of these two haplogroups are founder haplogroups among Roma.

Are there any Roma folks here that belong to either J-M67 or J-M92?

Hello! Nonroma here who is interested in learning more about romani culture. I know language is forbidden to be taught, but I’d like to know if there are any non offensive resources I can use to further educate myself on romani culture, specifically around turkey/armenia. I’d like to also try and learn more about Armenian roma, as I’m Armenian myself, and I like to learn stuff about Armenia too, plus I heard that we share lots of history with Romani people :)

I am not Roma, so I apologize beforehand if I am saying something offensive. I can imagine that simply my asking is imposing and annoying (I noticed the "where to I even start"). If I misstep, I can only promise that I will try to listen and learn.

That said, I have been always quite curious about the people that non-Roma refer to as Romanian Roma (I believe they come from several other countries too?), who are known for being present in all major European cities selling in the streets or panhandling. There's this lady I see very often by my local shop selling a magazine, with whom we always exchange smiles, and I am genuinely curious. I am quite surprised that the internet does not provide much useful information: there is good information about Roma in Romania, but when looking for the ones abroad, everything is about organized crime, or worse. This is why I decided to write a post here. As I am writing this, I am digging up a bit more decent information, but I am hoping that someone can illuminate me.

Does anyone have any tips on how to learn more? Specifically about those going abroad. How uniform is the culture of those going abroad, can it be said that they are all of the same ethnicity, or is there a wide variety? How common going abroad is? Why do people decide to go abroad, is it an occupation like any other? What kind of status does going abroad have in the community, is it regarded as a good or bad thing? Do people leave temporarily or they are not planning to go back? Do they interact with local Romanis? What do they do in their free time? Many questions :-D Thanks in advance!