Post by Saviya on Mar 12, 2004 17:02:58 GMT -5
Until recently, scholars only offered vague ideas about the true origins of the travelling people of Europe and the Middle East but since the Second World War, more and more research has been done which connects the Roma with a very specific area in the north west of the Indian subcontinent.
Why they left is more difficult to ascertain. Professor Ian Hanthingy of the University of Texas argues that they were honorary members of the 'Kshattriya' or warrior caste who were recruited into the ill-fated armies which faced the Islamic invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni. Some have theorised that they were simply driven out of their homes by either Islam or a neighbouring 'tribe'.
Whatever the reasons for their wanderings, the Romani arrival in Europe was greeted with anything but Christian charity.
In Romania, it was perfectly legal to keep Romanies as slaves until 1864. In England in 1530, a ship's owner could be fined £40 (a good annual income) for transporting 'Gypsies' - the passengers themselves were hanged. Almost every country enacted anti-Romani legislation at some point or another thus denying the travelling population any chance of settling and integrating.
Romani history is definitely not a story of free and fanciful wanderings but a chronology of persecutions and attempted genocides which dancers should, perhaps, be aware of and treat with due respect.
For a detailed account, go to
www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/timeline.htm
Why they left is more difficult to ascertain. Professor Ian Hanthingy of the University of Texas argues that they were honorary members of the 'Kshattriya' or warrior caste who were recruited into the ill-fated armies which faced the Islamic invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni. Some have theorised that they were simply driven out of their homes by either Islam or a neighbouring 'tribe'.
Whatever the reasons for their wanderings, the Romani arrival in Europe was greeted with anything but Christian charity.
In Romania, it was perfectly legal to keep Romanies as slaves until 1864. In England in 1530, a ship's owner could be fined £40 (a good annual income) for transporting 'Gypsies' - the passengers themselves were hanged. Almost every country enacted anti-Romani legislation at some point or another thus denying the travelling population any chance of settling and integrating.
Romani history is definitely not a story of free and fanciful wanderings but a chronology of persecutions and attempted genocides which dancers should, perhaps, be aware of and treat with due respect.
For a detailed account, go to
www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/timeline.htm
