The Romani and Domari People’s 1,700-Year-Old History
They are pejoratively known as Gypsies, they are the wonderers of the world.
The Mystical ‘Gypsies’
They are said to have mystical powers of fortune-telling and bewitchment. Their passionate temper and irascible personality reflect their indomitable spirit. Legends say that their love of freedom often drives them to commit acts of crime as they wonder in their caravans from one town to the next. They have been accused of spreading disease, abducting children, treachery and murder. Some experts say the same accusations often leveled on Jewish people going back hundreds of years.
Dr. Abigail Rothblatt Bardi writes in The Gypsy as Trope in Victorian and Modern British Literature, the Romani people or Gypsies have been portrayed as having “sinister occult and criminal tendencies” and of being associated with “thievery and cunning.”
In European literature and music, Romani women have been portrayed as seductresses, extravagant, loud, sexually available, exotic and mysterious. These stereotypes have over the years endured and transcended geographical, cultural and societal boundaries. Hollywood and European movies have promoted these characteristics for strictly commercial purposes, meanwhile establishing the image of…
