Gypsies: what different peoples call them
Gypsies are a people without a state. For a long time, they were considered to be natives of Egypt and called the “pharaoh’s tribe”, but recent research refutes this. In Russia, the Gypsies gave rise to a real cult of their music.
Why are Gypsies “Gypsies”?
Gypsies don’t call themselves that. Their most common self-designation of the Roma is “Roma”. Most likely, this is the influence of the life of the Gypsies in Byzantium, which received this name only after its fall. Before that, it was thought of as part of Roman civilization. The common word “Romale” is the vocative case of the ethnonym “Roma”.
Gypsies also call themselves Sinti, Kale, Manush (“people”).
Other peoples call the Gypsies very differently. In England they are called gypsies (from Egyptians – “Egyptians”), in Spain – gitanos, in France – bohemiens (“Bohemians”, “Czechs” or tsiganes (from the Greek – τσιγγάνοι, “tsingani”), the Jews call the Gypsies צוענים(tzo’anim), from the name of the biblical province of Zoan in ancient Egypt.
The word “gypsies”, which is familiar to the Russian ear, conventionally goes back to the Greek word “atzingani” (αθίγγανος, ατσίγγανος), which means “untouchable”. This term first appears in the Life of George the Athonite, written in the 11th century. “Conditionally” because in this book “untouchables” is one of the heretical sects of the time. So, it is impossible to say with certainty that the book is about the Gypsies.
Where did the Gypsies come from?
In the Middle Ages, Gypsies in Europe were considered Egyptians. The word Gitanes itself is derived from the Egyptian. There were two Egypts in the Middle Ages: the upper and the lower. The Gypsies were so called, apparently from the name of the upper one, which was located in the region of the Peloponnese, from where they migrated. Belonging to the cults of Lower Egypt is visible in the everyday life of even modern Gypsies.
Tarot cards, which are considered to be the last surviving fragment of the cult of the Egyptian god Thoth, were brought to Europe by the Gypsies. In addition, the Gypsies brought from Egypt the art of embalming the dead.
Of course, there were gypsies in Egypt. The route from Upper Egypt was probably the main route of their migration. However, modern genetic studies have proven that the Gypsies did not come from Egypt, but from India.
The Indian tradition has been preserved in the Gypsy culture in the form of practices for working with the mind. The mechanisms of meditation and gypsy hypnosis are similar in many ways, gypsies are good animal trainers, just like Hindus. In addition, the Gypsies are characterized by syncretism of spiritual beliefs, which is one of the features of modern Indian culture.
The First Gypsies in Russia
The first Gypsies (groups of Servs) in the Russian Empire appeared in the 17th century on the territory of Ukraine.
The first mention of Gypsies in Russian history is found in 1733, in a document by Anna Ioannovna about new taxes in the army:
“In addition to the maintenance of these regiments, taxes are to be determined from the Gypsies, both in Little Russia and in the Sloboda regiments and in the Great Russian cities and districts assigned to the Sloboda regiments, and for this collection a special person is to be appointed, since the Gypsies are not included in the census.”
The next mention of the Gypsies in Russian historical documents occurs in the same year. According to this document, the Gypsies of Ingria were allowed to sell horses, since they “showed themselves to be local natives” (that is, they had lived here for more than a generation).
A further increase in the Roma contingent in Russia came with the expansion of its territories. With the annexation of a part of Poland to the Russian Empire, “Polish Roma” appeared in Russia, with the annexation of Bessarabia – Moldavian Gypsies, after the annexation of Crimea – Crimean Gypsies. It should be understood that the Roma are not a mono-ethnic community, so the migration of different Roma ethnic groups took place in different ways.
On an equal footing
In the Russian Empire, the Roma were treated quite friendly. On December 21, 1783, Catherine II issued a decree that included the Gypsies in the peasant class. Taxes began to be levied on them. At the same time, no special measures were taken to forcibly enslave the Roma. Moreover, they were allowed to be assigned to any class except the nobility.
Already in the Senate decree of 1800 it is stated that in some provinces “gypsies became merchants and burghers”.
Over time, settled Gypsies began to appear in Russia, some of them managed to acquire considerable wealth. For example, in Ufa there lived a gypsy merchant Sanko Arbuzov, who successfully traded horses and had a solid spacious house. His daughter Masha went to a gymnasium and studied French. And Sanko Arbuzov was not alone.
In Russia, the musical and performing culture of the Roma was duly appreciated. Already in 1774, Count Orlov-Chesmensky summoned the first Gypsy Chapel to Moscow, which later grew into a choir and laid the foundation for professional Gypsy performance in the Russian Empire.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the serf gypsy choirs were released and continued their independent activities in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Gypsy music was an unusually fashionable genre, and the Gypsies themselves were often assimilated into the Russian nobility – marriages to Gypsy girls were concluded by quite famous people. Suffice it to recall Leo Tolstoy’s uncle, Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, an American.
Gypsies also helped the Russians during the wars. In the war of 1812, the Gypsy communities donated large sums of money for the maintenance of the army, supplied the best horses for the cavalry, and the Gypsy youth went to serve in the Uhlan regiments.
By the end of the 19th century, not only Ukrainian, Moldavian, Polish, Russian and Crimean Gypsies lived in the Russian Empire, but also Lyuli, Karachi and Bosha (since the annexation of the Caucasus and Central Asia), and at the beginning of the 20th century, the Lovari and Kolderars migrated from Austria-Hungary and Romania.
At present, according to various estimates, the number of European Roma is estimated at 8 million to 10-12 million people. The official population in the USSR was 175,300 (1970 census). According to the 2010 census, about 220,000 Roma live in Russia.