| green,navy blue, black, or khaki. But this just made me tired, so I backed away to a seat as the train slowly began to chug out of Prague station in the total darkness. I sat wondering what—or who—was the cause for such concern about security. ▲ ▲ ▲ Egyptians The word Gypsy (sometimes spelled Gipsy) derives from the word Egyptian. Gypsies were initially believed to have come from Egypt, but this assumption has never been documented or proven. The Gypsies’ true ancestors were a group of people who left India between 800 and 950 CE. The best estimates have dated their earliest official appearance in Europe, in modern-day Turkey , to around 855 CE; however, it is possible that there were Gypsies in Europe before this official recognition. Romani (or Romany) is the language of the Roma, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. Analysis of the Romani language has shown that it is closely related to those spoken in northern India, Punjabi in particular. The Romani language has lent many words to English over the centuries, including posh, pal, dukes (as in the expression “put up your dukes”), lollipop, and the slang term for knife, shiv or chiv. Gypsies, or Roma, as they prefer to be called, are a race of nomadic people. The Roma of nineteenth-century Europe traveled the countryside, carrying all their belongings in covered wagons and pitching tents wherever they stopped. For Gypsies, traveling, or wanderlust, is not a pastime or leisure activity but a way of life. In the Gypsy world it is considered as natural to move as it is for the majority of the population to stay in one place. Whatever the source of the Gypsy itinerant lifestyle, it made it necessary that their occupations involve mobility, and it was in this economic sphere, then, that Gypsies interacted with settled society. Gypsies played important economic roles in society as migrant farm workers, picking fruits and vegetables during harvest time. Many made their primary living by hawking small homemade goods and by tinkering, such as repairing pots and pans and sharpening farm tools. These kinds of employments were plentiful and suited the Gypsy lifestyle perfectly as they moved from village to village. ` Aside form these labor-oriented functions, Gypsies have always been famous for entertaining. They danced, sang, and played musical instruments. However, the form of entertainment for which Gypsies are best know for is fortune-telling. Taking advantage of outsiders’ long-held belief that Gypsies possessed magical powers, Gypsy women sold fortunes at fairs, and they read palms and tarot cards and even cast charms and spells, making considerable profits in the process. Gypsy music and musicians have influenced such European classic composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. Contemporary classical musician Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra is Romani. The distinctive sound of Roma music has also strongly influenced bolero, jazz, and flamenco music, while the Roma people who came to the United States contributed to almost every musical style, including salsa, rumba, mambo, and even country music. |
| Gypsies on the Train (continued) |