Gypsies:The Truth Behind the Myth
How the Romani Were Created
At the beginning of time, the Creator was working on
the world. All the land, the animals and the plants
were created. But the new Earth was missing something.
The Creator took out the dough used to create the
world, and thought. She took the dough and rolled it
out, shaped it into a human and put it in her oven.
She cooked it for a time, and when she removed it, it
was blackened. She considered it, and set the human
aside. She rolled out another form, and cooked it for
a much shorter time. She removed it, and looked again,
but this one was pasty white and pale. The Creator
tried and tried, but every time she did the form came
out too browned, or too yellowed, or some other way.
Over and over she tried. Then, when the Creator had
only enough dough for one more piece, she had an
idea. She rolled out the form, a beautiful one at
that, and place it into the oven. But, every few
minutes she would move the piece, shifting it all over
the oven until it was perfectly browned. And from
this last piece, this moving, travelling perfect piece were born us, the Rom."
Baxt, Aliyana Paramit
last of the family of Paramit
Singer of songs, teller of tales and dancer of life
Total population
8 to 10 million
Regions with significant populations
Albania 70,000
Argentina 300,000
Bosnia/Herz. 17,000
Brazil 678,000
Bulgaria 750,000 ±50,000
Canada 80, 000 (est)
Croatia 9,463 to 14,000
Czech Republic 12,000 or 220,000
France Finland 10,000
Germany 100,000
Greece 200,000 or 300,000-350,000
Hungary 190,046 or 500,000
Iran 110,000
Italy
Rep. Macedonia 53,879
Moldova
Montenegro 2,601
Poland 15,000 to 50,000
Portugal 40,000
Romania 500,000 to 2 million
Russia 183,000
Serbia 108,193
Slovenia 3,246
Slovakia 92,500
Spain 600,000 to 800,000
Turkey 2 to 5 million
United Kingdom 40,000+
United States 1 million
Ukraine 48,000
Norway 5,000+
Languages
Romani, languages of native region
Religions
Christianity, Islam
Related ethnic groups
Doms, Domba, Lyuli, Dalit, Europeans and Indo-Aryans.
If you would like to chat with the creators of this site, we will be on yahoo messenger between the hours of 11AM AND 130PM under guitargoddess_jess. So, please feel free to say hello!
Self Expression: A People's History Wirtten In Song
Trials and Tribulations of a Misunderstood People
The Romani Anthem-Galeem, Galeem
