Introduction

Starting from the study hypothesis that the folklore represents, for the Rromany inherited culture, especially in a historical context of a collective memory marked by a stigmatized identity and of an unwritten cultural heritage, the keystone of ethnic identity shaping, the article aims to identify the main features of the Rromany ethnic identity and the way it is built within some myths and proverbs or old sayings. The article uses the qualitative content analysis applied on the proposed study cases.

Theoretical Framework

The collective memory of a community, using its perceptions about reality, produces myths, proverbs, old sayings and other pieces of folklore that shape identity and this created identity further develops the collective memory and its manifestations, everything describing a virtuous circle of thinking and feeling.

“Myth plays an important role as a mediator of memory. Access to the past is not always mediated through exclusive or direct experience of things that have happened. Rather, past events acquire meaning through their insertion into the differentiated fields of cultural, symbolic, and visual archetypes. (…) Myth derives from oral traditions and has its roots in the fantastic. (…) Myth can refer back to foundational cultural events, whether real or imagined. Communities can come to understand themselves through these myths that conserve a memory of their origins. (…) Myths act as the imagines agents of classical mnemonics: the active or activating images whose force enables things to become fixed in memory. The force of myth renders its image unforgettable and serves to support and boost memory more broadly. In this vein, myth plays a role in the conservation and transmission of the past. (…) In relation to the past, memory is a double agent: it mythologizes the past and, in turn, is mythologized by it. (…) Myth both conceals and reveals the ideology that inscribes it. (…) This common ground shows, above all, how memory and mythology are vessels that communicate a single process of reconstructing the past.”^[1] This theory brings us to the interpretation of myths as one fundamental source of building up the cultural memory of a people that actually reflects its view on their own ethnic identity.

In the same line of analyzing the how the ethnic identity reflects itself in the folklore, the proposed case study brings attention to another species of folklore: the proverbs / old sayings. “A proverb is a short sentence, which is well-known and at times rhythmic, including advice, sage themes and ethnic experiences, comprising simile, metaphor or irony which is well-known among people for its fluent wording, clarity of expression, simplicity, expansiveness and generality and is used either with or without change.”^[2]. So, a proverb to be recognized as such, should be short, clear and simple, but comprising deepness coming from ancestral experience and wisdom.

“The wit of one, and the wisdom of many”^[3], “a proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.”^[4] In these definitions, the accent falls on the collective wisdom and on its inherited nature, so the proverb actually reflects the cultural memory of a group, in our case of an ethnic community, the identity issue being one of the main issue approached.

This conceptual framework is applicable both to myths and to proverbs or old sayings, the last ones actually being the conclusions, the main significance or the lessons learned emerged from the myths. Therefore, the analysis of the myths, proverbs and old sayings of the Rromano folklore leads to the identification of the way the Rromany collective memory shapes or describes the main characteristics of the Rroma ethnic identity.

The Ethnic Identity in Rromane Myths

To begin with the beginning of everything, the first road to be explored when considering the ethnic identity theme in the Rromano folklore are the myths, shidimaske paramisia as we say in the Rromany language. We will take a look to the etiological legends or to the myths that describe how the Rromano people was created and what shaped their ethnic identity.

Dr. Rajko Djuric´, in his book “I historia e rromane literaturaqi” [The History of Rromany Literature], introduces three such myths about the birth of the Rromano people.

One of these etiological legends or myths approaches the topic of the Rroma nomadism, a quite controversial issue linked to the Rroma ethnic identity because some anthropologists support the idea that the nomadism was the Rroma primary way of life and strongly shaped their ethnic identity in many ways, among them the way Rroma see time and space, their relationship with nature and their relationship with the land and, in general, with the property.

On the other side, most Rroma activists clearly state that the nomadism was imposed on the Rromano people as a racist method of persecution and ostracization aiming to drive the Rroma away from everywhere because they were not welcome anywhere and the racist majority society hated them, so the nomadism was totally negative and never an ethnic identity pattern. The Rromano folklore seems to confirm this view, at least the myths that are going to be analyzed in this article, in which, most of the times, the nomadism is seen as a consequence of a curse casted because of a sin.

Nevertheless, there are some Rroma, especially the ones that still experience the semi-nomadic life, such as the Travelers from the United Kingdom of Great Britain, who see the nomadism as being important for their ethnic identity.

The author of this article, Rroma anthropologist and activist herself, expressed, many times, both in her speeches and in her writings, her position about the nomadism and its relationship with the Rroma ethnic identity as follows: it is very likely that the nomadism was imposed on the Rroma people by the racist majority society as a mean of exclusion and it became a way of survival, but experienced for centuries, it at least influenced, if not even shaped the Rromany ethnic identity in various ways, among them the collective responsibility, the intra-community solidarity, the mobility and the adaptability.

The Rromano folklore itself, when addressing the theme of ethnic identity, many times also approaches, within it, the topic of nomadism, so, good or bad, positive or negative, it is viewed as an element belonging to the roots of the Rromany ethnic identity, linked to its birth or to its creation.

Back to the three myths from Dr. Rajko Djuric´’s book “I historia e rromane literaturaqi” [The History of Rromany Literature] about the birth of the Rromano people, one of these myths speaks about a curse that was casted on the Rromano people, who lived on the banks of Ganga River^[5]. The tragedy was caused by the decision taken by the king’s son, after the death of his father, the king, to marry the neighbor king’s daughter, with whom he had been raised as he was her brother, but without being her blood brother. Learning this, the Rromano people divided into two positions: one that accepted this marriage as legitimate because the two aiming to marry were not brother and sister by blood, and the other one that condemned this marriage as being illegitimate and sinful because the future bride and groom were raised as brother and sister, so they had no right to get married. Hearing all these, a sorcerer predicted a big invasion, a war and very hard times to come for the Rromano people. All these happened. Seeing that the tragic prediction came true, the people sent a messenger to the victorious warrior king to ask him to make a judgement on case when a brother and a sister want to get married. Instead of making the judgement, the warrior king killed the messenger, making a mortal sin because there it is known in the universal thinking and provided in the unwritten war laws that a messenger of peace should never be killed or ostracized in any way. This sin attracted after it the immediate and radical punishment of the sinner, so the guilty warrior king and his horse not only that died on the spot, but they also broke into a thousand pieces as they were a clay pot hit by a rock and their pieces were blown by the wind as is they had never existed. Here it is to be emphasized the fact that the warrior king died and disappeared together with his horse, the symbol of honor, so, together with him, his honor died. And something else, the warrior king and his horse not only died, but also disappeared by being blown by the wind, so their name and memory might also disappear, fact that is worse than the physical death. More than that, being blown by the wind anticipates the tragic fate of the Rromano people condemned to be blown by the wind, in other words to be nomadic.

The metaphor of being blown by the wind is frequently used in the Rromano folklore and it stands for the nomadism. More than that, the Rromano folklore sees the wind as the most powerful force of nature, worthful to be feared of and to be respected at the highest level possible almost as God. This view about the wind certainly comes from the nomadic life of the Rroma that depends a lot of the weather and especially of the wind.

That part of the people that was against the decision of the king to marry his, let’s say, spiritual sister, drove him away from the country. Then, a big sorcerer casted a terrible curse on this Rroma king for him to become nomadic: “May you wander on earth your whole life, never to sleep twice in the same place, never to drink water twice from the same spring”. It seemed that the curse extended from the king to his people, who also became nomadic. So, as this myth describes, the Rroma were not nomadic from their beginnings, they became nomadic because of a sorcerer’s curse.

So, the nomadism is seen as something bad, as a result of a curse casted by a sorcerer, curse rooted in the sin of a marriage between a brother and a sister, even if they were not blood relatives, but only raised together as brother and sister. This brings our reflection on the ethnic identity theme in this Rromano myth to another element of the Rromanipen – the Rroma ethno-type, the traditional marriage that, on one side, strongly forbids any type of supposedly incestuous relationship, reaching up to the seventh generation of relatives, including cousins, and on the other side, is mainly arranged between a future bride and a future groom raised by their families as close as brother and sister, but without any blood relationship, this last situation as being created to fight the curse from the myth casted for a false sin.

Another etiological legend of the Rromano folklore, quoted by Dr. Rajko Djuric´ in his book, that approaches the creation of the Rromano people speaks about a beautiful, happy and rich Rroma country named Sind, where the Muslims’ invasion brought war, killed many Rroma and destroyed their country^[6]. That is why the Rroma were forced to leave their country conquered by the Muslims and to migrate in another part of the world such as Arabia, Armenia and Byzantium. There are three important topics linked to the beginnings of Rromano people addressed in this legend: the certitude of the Rroma collective memory that the Rroma had a country and it was wealthy and full of beauty, joy and happiness; the clear relationship between the Rroma migration and the conquering of the Rroma country Sind by the Muslims and the main directions of the Rroma migration towards areas such as Arabia, Armenia and Byzantium, which are actually mainly validated by the most reliable history researches.

Remaining in the framework of analyzing the nomadism as being somehow linked to the beginnings of the Rromano people, we can observe the etiological legend of the Beyashi Rroma from Hungary, still nomads at the moment the legend was collected from their community, quoted in Delia Grigore’s book „Curs de antopologie și folclor rrom. Introducere în studiul elementelor de cultură tradițională ale identității rrome contemporane” [Course of Rroma Anthropology and Folklore. Introduction in the Study of Contemporary Rromany Identity’s Traditional Culture Elements]^[7]. The legend speaks about the Rroma as being descendants of birds, because they were born as birds, they had a totally free life, flying all over the world, but their life was quite hard, because they had to eat whatever they collected during their endless voyage. One day, after a long time of hunger and thirst, they reached a field cultivated with wheat and their head got down and started eating wheat grains. Following his example, they did the same, then they went to sleep. Next day, they did the same. Then, the same. Then, the same. And they became fatter and fatter. And they got accustomed with that comfortable life because they had enough food right there, without being forced to fly away to find something to eat. And, more than that, even if they would have wanted to fly, they would no longer be able to do it because of being too fat and less mobile. One day, the food ended and they woke up with nothing left to eat. And the winter came and it was cold and windy and they had nowhere to shelter from snow and frost. They had to follow the example of other animals, to learn from them and to put grains in pits dug in the ground, and to build huts made of straw and branches to shelter themselves during the winter. Because of work, their legs became thicker and thicker, and their wings became arms. Thy saw this as the end of their beautiful and free life. But what stayed was their unsatiable wish to travel, at least to move from one place to another expressed like this: “When we pitch a tent in the valley, we want to be in the hill, if we stay on top of the hill, we want to fly in the valley. Only that now we have to get there on foot. We live from day to day, without amassing fortunes, for the simple reason that, one fine day, we will be birds again.”^[8]

Using the metaphor of the bird, that symbolizes freedom, this legend actually describes the process of Rroma sedentarization lead by the head of the nomadic community, who was taken as an example by his people. Another example followed by the nomads in order to settle was the one of the other settled beings, from which the former birds took their way of life. Nevertheless, even after becoming settled, the Rroma still preserved, in their collective mind, the memory of their nomadic life and an endless need to travel, the consequences of this mobile state of mind being a certain relationship with the property: they do not accumulate fortunes and they simply live every day for its own beauty. This brings us either to the Latin saying Carpe Diem! [Enjoy today], originated from Horatius’ poetry („Odes”, I, 2, 8: „Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero” [Enjoy today and trust too little tomorrow]) or to the Rromano old saying, very much used in many traditional cultures: “Na-i amen igi kodolestar nashti paruvas les, na-i amen tehara kodolestar na janas les, si amen numai ages” [The past is not ours because it can’t be changed, the future is not ours because we don’t know it, only the present is ours]. Taking all these into account, we can draw some important conclusions about the shaping of the Rromany ethnic identity in this etiological legend: the nomadism is linked with the birth of the Rroma, who were born as birds and afterwards became humans; the nomadic life is seen as the symbol of freedom, but also as quite difficult to keep, reason for which finally the settled life was the only choice possible; the cultural archetype of the Rromanipen, the collective thinking pattern of the Rromano people, includes the fundamental view about space – the perpetual mobility feeling the nomadic life’s nostalgia (“one fine day, we will be birds again”) – and the fundamental view about time – there exists only the present and it should be lived as it is (“We live from day to day”).

The last myth we aim to analyze is, again, one from Dr. Rajko Djuric´’s book. This myth^[9] speaks about the way God created the humans, among them the Rromano people. God is seen as a very familiar person, a craftsman working in clay, who shapes figurines and puts them to burn in the oven in order to make humans out of them. Because God went for a walk and came back too late, his first figurine burned too much, so it became black, this being the ancestor of the black humans. Being afraid not to burn the next figurine, God opened the oven too early, so his second figurine was left unfinished and remained raw or white, this being the ancestor of the white humans. Like in most myths, fairy-tales or other stories, at the third try, seen as the golden one or the victorious one, God kept his third figurine in the oven as much as was needed, not too much, not too little, so this last figurine became as it should be: golden colored, this being the ancestor of the Rroma.

It is worth to emphasize the way of humans’ creation God followed in order to make it evolve: from the mistake of neglecting the humans, going through another mistake of over-caring the humans, finally repairing His mistakes and arriving to what is the best for humans: assisting them to achieve perfection. As for the view on the Rromany identity, this legend proves a high level of ethnic self-esteem because the Rroma are seen as the perfect human beings, born at the third try of God’s creation, after His two failures. This is actually one of the few, if not the only Rromano myth studied in this article showing a clear positive ethnic self-image. Most of the other analyzed myths float somewhere between the curse of being nomadic and the pain of losing the nomadic free life.

The Ethnic Identity in Rromane Proverbs and Old Sayings

We continue our journey within the way the Rromano folklore reflects the Rromany ethnic identity by looking at some proverbs and old sayings^[10], purane godimata ai purane vakiarimata, as we say in the Rromany language.

The first topic linked to ethnic identity approached in the Rroma proverbs is the racism against the Rroma, that leads to the internalized stigma, also embodied in believing in an immutable tragic fate, but also to fighting against racism.

While the negative stereotypes and the prejudiced behavior leading to racism manifest themselves, the Rromano people is only seeking for respect and consideration: T-avel o gajo e rromeste and-o kher, rodel mel; t-avel o rrom e gajeste, rodel pakiv. [If the Gajo comes to the Rrom’s house, he looks for dirt; if the Rrom comes to the Gajo, he seeks respect.]

The anti-Rroma racism manifests itself as lack of recognition and of respect for the Rroma and as cruel exploitation of the Rroma: O gajo e rromes na pringiarel, na del leske pakiv, buki lestar mangel. [The Gajo doesn’t recognize the Rrom, doesn’t respect him, he only asks him to work.]

The anti-Rroma racism is acknowledged, but accepted as an immutable fact, this vision reflecting the resignation in front of the Rromano people’s sealed tragic fate of being racialized: O romesko phiko musai te vazdel duivar buter desar e gajesko. [The Rrom’s shoulder must carry twice as much as the Gajo’s.]

The same strong belief in fate (Rr. baht) can be interpreted in two ways: preservation of ethnic identity no matter what or impossibility, also seen as inability to escape from an old conservative fate: O rroma biande si and-o vurdon, vi and-o vurdon meren. [The Rroma are born in a waggon, they also die in a waggon.]

There is also a belief in the immutable tragic fate that reflects, again, resignation and the internalized ethnic stigma of not being capable to change something: O rromano jivipen, sar e ciavoresko gadoro: hevalo, melalo, harno. [The life of the Rroma, like a child’s shirt: torn, dirty, short.]

In the same collective thinking direction based on the internalized ethnic stigma, the Rromano people’s tragic fate is seen as coming from God, that is why it is impossible to be changed: Marel o Devel kas kamel, e rromes duivar mai but. [God strikes whoever he wants, He strikes twice the Rroma.]; O rromano Devel marel. [The God of the Rroma strikes.]. More than that, the tragic fate of the Rroma is linked with the disappearance of God, situation that gives the Rroma no chance of changing anything: O rromano Devel si mulo. [The God of the Roma is dead.].

Following the vision about the anti-Rroma racism, there are proverbs fighting it, most of its manifestations being focused on the skin’s color that should not be a reason for discrimination and exclusion: Dikh man akatar k-i buki, ma dikh man akatar k-i morki. [Judge me by what I do, not by my skin.], but it should be a symbol of equality: Vi parnes, vi kales hin lolo rat. [Both white and black have red blood.] and it can be a reason for Rroma pride: Te na ulias kali i phuv, na ulias parno o manro. [If the earth wasn’t black, the bread wasn’t white.]; Vi e kale khainiatar si parno o anro. [Also of the black hen, the egg comes out white.]; Mai kali e mura, mai gugli avela. [The blacker the blackberry, the sweeter.].

In such conditions, it was expected for the Rroma ethnic identity to be marked by the fear of loneliness, the preference for collectivity instead of individuality, the need for solidarity and unity, but also by the ethnic dissociation and, sometimes, even dissolution: Iekh rrom korkoripen; dui rroma – hanamikipen; trin rroma – maripen. [One Rrom – loneliness; two Rroma – kinship; three Roma – quarrel.].

Another topic linked to the Rroma identity refers to the way the ethnic identity is shaped by the internalized positive stereotypes: joy of life – E rromeste shai na cialiosa, ta asasa. [At the Roma, maybe you can’t get enough of food, but you can get enough of laughter.], love and talent for music – Kai rroma, odoi gili shundiol. [Where there are Rroma, one can hear music.], momentary anger caused by a choleric temperament, but with no wish for rancor or revenge – Rromani holi sar balval – avel, jal. [The anger of the Rroma is like the wind – it comes and goes.], focus on emotion and passion – Sar o rromano ilo, nai p-i sasti phuv. [Like the heart of the Rroma, nowhere in the world.].

There are also some important features of the ethnic identity strongly underlined in the Rromano proverbs: the Rroma universality or presence everywhere, followed by the recommendation for everybody to be good with the Rroma because they are everywhere: Te jives and-o vesh, ov lacio e ruventsar, te jives and-o gav, ov lacio e gajentsar, ta kai te jives, ov lacio e rromentsar. [If you live in the forest, be good to the wolves, if you live in the village, be good to the Gajos, but anywhere you live, be good to the Rroma.], Kai jas, si rroma. [There are Rroma everywhere.]; brotherhood as intra-ethnic solidarity and mutual support beyond social status’ boundaries: O rrom, kai savo barvalo te ulias, nivaht na bistrel so si les ciore rromane phrala. [The Rroma, no matter how rich they are, never forget that they have poor brothers.]; social justice and equality: Le rrom den pakiv sarkoles, barvales vai ciores. [The Rroma respect everyone, rich or poor.]; mutual trust, solidarity and power of the intra-ethnic role models: O rrom e rromestar sikliol. [The Rrom learns from the Rrom.], Kai iekh rrom jal, savore rroma pal leste. [Where a Rrom goes, all Rroma follow him.]; sharing thoughts and mutual understanding beyond wording: Vi bilavengo, janel o rrom so leske aver rrom kamel te phenel. [Even without speaking, a Rrom knows what the other Rrom wants to say.]; the Rromany language, that should not be a reason for shame or stigma, but for ethnic pride, because it is the mother tongue and the mother is fundamental: Kon lajal peski cibiatar, lajal peski daiatar. [He who is ashamed of his mother tongue is ashamed of his mother.], but also the Rromany language as a value because it is spoken all over the world: Rromane cibiasa jas p-o sasto sundal. [With the Rromany language you can reach all over the world.]; the way the Rroma play music: emotionally or from and to the heart for the Rroma and technically or to the ears and pragmatically for the Gaje – E gajeske bashavav e lovenghe, e rromeske e ilestar. [I play to the Gaje for money, to the Rroma from the heart.], E gajeske bashavav and-o kan, e rromeske and-ilo. [I play to the ears of the Gage, to the hearts of the Rroma.].

Above everything else, the intra-ethnic unity and solidarity is highly appreciated and recommended as it shapes the ethnic identity: Rrom rromesa, gajo gajesa. [The Rrom with the Rrom, the Gajo with the Gajo.]. Following this, the ethnic dissociation is blamed: Nai ciacio rrom kon dur e rromendar tsirdel pes. [Those Rroma who stay away from the Rroma are not true Roma.]. More than that, changing the ethnic identity is not only blamed, but also seen as impossible: Shai keres tusa so kames, ama nashti te keres tut gajo. [You can make of yourself whatever you want, but you can’t make of yourself a Gajo.] mainly because the feeling, the emotion, the heartbeat of being Rroma: Vi te kerel pes o rrom ungroske, italoske, hoci-soske, o ilo lesko savaht marel rromane ritmosa. [Even if the Rrom makes himself a Hungarian, an Italian, or whatever else, its heart always beats in a Rromano rhythm.]. This might be seen as stereotypical, but reflecting more, it isn’t judging after frequency and intensity of reasoning.

There are Rroma proverbs that show a highly positive self-image and a strong ethnic self-esteem, the respect being accepted only if the ethnic belonging is its core: Te man varekon kamel te del pakiv, te del man pakiv sar rromes; te na, man khanci ma te del. [If one wants to respect me, to respect me as a Rrom; if not, don’t give me anything.] and its top being the invincibility of the Rroma: Rromano kokalo na phaghel nikon. [No one can break the Rromano bone.].

Conclusion

As a conclusion to be drawn, the analyzed case studies of the Rromano folklore, both the etiological legends and the proverbs, show a big range of reflecting the ethnic identity within the Rromany collective memory, from the curse to be nomadic and the internalized stigma caused by the anti-Rroma racism to the positive ethnic self-image and the pride of belonging to the Rromano people. Taking this into account, the exploration of the ethnic identity topic in other Rromano folklore species is worth to be done in order to understand how the Rroma collective mind refers to and shapes the ethnic identity as one of the important topics approached.

References

Own Archive – Interviews collected in time, from different Rroma communities.

Delia Grigore, Curs de antopologie și folclor rrom. Introducere în studiul elementelor de cultură tradițională ale identității rrome contemporane (București: Universitatea din București – Editura CREDIS, 2001)

Dr. Rajko Djuric´, Istoria literaturii rrome. I historia e rromane literaturaqi (București: Universitatea din București – Editura CREDIS, 2005).

Hassan Zolfaghari, Hayat Ameri. ,,Persian Proverbs: Definitions and Characteristics”. Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research 2, (2012).

K. P., Agrawal, Tresure Of Book: On Poetries, Ghazals, Proverbs, Riddles, Idioms, Jokes and Quotes. (Shashwat Publication; Bilaspus, 2022).

Roberto Vecchi, Mythology and Memory, (2018), 3. https://tinyurl.com/4cz3wnj7.

Wolfgang Mieder, The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age 3–40, (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993).

NOTE

^[1] Roberto Vecchi, Mythology and Memory, (2018), 3. https://tinyurl.com/4cz3wnj7

^[2] Hassan Zolfaghari, Hayat Ameri. ,,Persian Proverbs: Definitions and Characteristics”. Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research 2, (2012): 107.

^[3] K. P., Agrawal, Tresure Of Book: On Poetries, Ghazals, Proverbs, Riddles, Idioms, Jokes and Quotes. (Shashwat Publication; Bilaspus, 2022), 13.

^[4] Wolfgang Mieder, The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age 3–40, (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993), 5.

^[5] Dr. Rajko Djuric´, Istoria literaturii rrome. I historia e rromane literaturaqi (București: Universitatea din București – Editura CREDIS, 2005), 17-18.

^[6] Dr. Rajko Djuric´, Istoria literaturii rrome, 18.

^[7] Delia Grigore, Curs de antopologie și folclor rrom. Introducere în studiul elementelor de cultură tradițională ale identității rrome contemporane (București: Universitatea din București – Editura CREDIS, 2001), 38-39.

^[8] Delia Grigore, Curs de antopologie, 39.

^[9] Dr. Rajko Djuric´, Istoria literaturii rrome, 15.

^[10] Own Archive – Interviews collected in time, from different Rroma communities.