John Lindermuth (writing as J. R.) writes across
genres. Like me he writes westerns for Sundown Press. He tells me a favourite
of his novels is SOONER THAN GOLD,
second of his books featuring Sylvester Tilghman, sheriff of a small
Pennsylvania town.
It’s 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Tilghman is
investigating the murder of a miner. A local band of gypsies claim
the victim stole one of their young women. Tilghman is also investigating one of the first instances of
auto-theft. As if that wasn’t enough, he also has a run-in with a female
horse thief. Meanwhile in his personal life he’s edging closer to his goal of
finally marrying long-time girlfriend Lydia Longlow.
A
Pennsylvania policeman of the 1890s:
A car of
1900 – a Bradley Gasoline Runabout
I thought
I’d take a brief look at Gypsies in this blog, using Wikipedia as a source.
Gypsy is the colloquial term
for the Romani/ Roma/ Romany people. The Romani language is divided into several dialects which
together have more than two million speakers.
Genetic findings appear to
confirm the Romani "came from a single group that left northwestern India
about 1,500 years ago." The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy)
originates from ‘gypcian,’ short for ‘Egipcien.’ This comes from the belief, common in the Middle
Ages, that the Romani originated in Egypt.
Gypsies are first recorded in
Europe in 1322, appearing in Crete. Romani arrived
in North America in colonial times, with small groups recorded in Virginia and
French Louisiana.
Gypsies in the U.S. c. 1900
There are an estimated 3.8 million
Romani people in Europe although some estimates go as high as 14 million. Significant
Romani populations are found in the Balkans, Central Europe, Spain, France,
Russia and Ukraine. Several million more Romanies live outside Europe, in
particular in the Middle East and in the Americas.
As outsiders and itinerants, gypsies
have been subject to discrimination and persecution throughout their history. In
times of social tension, the Romani became scapegoats. For instance, they were
accused of bringing the plague when epidemics broke out.
In England, Romani were
sometimes hanged. In France, they were branded and their heads were shaved. In
Moravia and Bohemia, the women were marked by their ears being severed.
The worst persecution was by the
Nazis, who started by stripping them of German citizenship in 1935 and then embarked
on a systematic genocide. Romani were sentenced to forced labour, imprisonment and
extermination in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight,
especially by paramilitary death squads on the Russian Front.
Ever after World War Two
persecution continued. After 1945 in Czechoslovakia gypsies were labeled a
"socially degraded stratum," and Romani women were sterilized as part
of a state policy to reduce their population, something that was still occurring
up to 2001.
On a lighter note (literally):
Many musical instruments like violins and guitars are said to have originated
from the Romani, as are dances such as the flamenco of Spain. Romani music has
also strongly influenced musical forms like bolero and jazz.
Acclaimed jazz guitarist DJANGO
REINHARDT, of Romani descent, incorporated Romani influences into his music and
is regarded as the founder of the hybrid known as ‘gypsy jazz.’
Reviews
of SOONER THAN GOLD:
‘Characters
are diverse and well-drawn,’
‘This is
a sneaky, twisty, fun ride of a mystery.’
‘Kept me
guessing. The plot is exciting. Characters are fun. The writing is superb with
colorful descriptions and snappy dialogue.’
Another great sociology lesson, Andrew. I knew just a little bit about gypsies, but you've opened my eyes. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteI didn't do that much research, Amy, I just edited down what I found on Wikipedia! I'm glad you enjoyed the post, and thanks again for your great support of my various blogging efforts.
DeleteVery interesting post, Andrew. I remember the gypsies coming to town when I was a child. Interesting people.
ReplyDeleteOne of the fun things about writing these blogs, Marja, is researching issues arising from my fellow authors favourite books. I knew very little about gypsies before I wrote this blog. I'm glad you found it interesting and thanks for stopping by.
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