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It is quite baffling to me how so many people continue to become victims to the wave of gypsies in Europe. We can clear this all up by understanding a few simple rules, and by following them. It is not so difficult to figure out how the gypsies work tourists, and here you will find plenty of true stories with insight you will need for knowing them well enough. With all this, along with a chapter on explaining exactly how you should react and what you should expect and look for, you should never have difficulty during a gypsy encounter.
The Top 5 Reasons People are robbed by Gypsies:
Some Lucky Terms to Know
Nomad- A No-Mad? I’d like to familiarize you with this word that comes from Greek. A Nomad bares no proof of a person being mentally unstable. It does not even insinuate that such person is mad. This term is connected to people of the wandering type. Wandering is drifting away from the proper, normal and usual course— which gypsies are known for. Gypsies never really have a stable place to rely on. This way of life is the gypsy life. Welcome to the life of the gypsies! The wandering gypsy population call themselves the ROM’s. We tend to call them bohemians!
What are Bohemians???
Bohemians come from a place called Bohemia, which isn’t a rich country. And the French were quick to label them Bohèmien. They saw them as one of the poorest European people, thus the famous term had been born! What would we do without French aristocrats? —Stereotyping pros— for this forced the Bohemien term to originate, now it is in the dictionary with a definition attached to it.
This phenomenon continues today as we classify artists, writers and others, living an unconventional life, as being "Bohemian". This land of Bohemia is beautiful, so they say —a place where lush fruits flourish, with quite an optimum location— leaning on the cusp of Germany, Austria & the Czech Republic.
Controlled at one time, (because of its weak stereo-typed situation) by Austria and Hungary who soon backed off after WWI, it then became a part of Czechoslovakia. What a city to have in your possession! Prague is the largest city in Bohemia. Ever been a lucky witness to Prague?
Do you possess Bohemian glass? On, we proceed with the gypsy story...
A People Formed...
A people formed in the 1300’s, as they left India to become "the Gypsies". What do they look like? What do you think they look like? I’m sure that if you’ve never seen one in person and you’ve had to develop your own replica of what you think they look like, I will describe them to you later.
Where have they gone? Have they disappeared? Would you really like to know? Well, no not exactly. They used to be around when carnivals were big in the USA. This is a fact, when fairs were more popular? but in short supply. Watch, the gypsy population have not gone too far astray. The gypsy population is lower in the United States compared to Europe even though they entertain with three hundred or four hundred carnivals. It doesn’t appear that people think much about gypsies these days, but they need to be discussed— if you are about to travel overseas. Maybe you remember carnivals.... it had music that was one of it’s kind, unusual music. Carnival music used to amuse one’s ears, and induce one’s brain into thinking about fun! Lights would flicker all night, and you could hear miniature giggles arising from mouths too small to let the big laughter out. Also one could hear the sounds of bottles breaking while bells were going off, making you want to play and win. And you heard the screams from people suffering from vertigo. I bet the whole stack of odd balloons survived in the jolly air— until one spoiled brat came over and demanded it all. And in what way do the gypsies have anything to do with all this?
The gypsies were there, working quietly, without anyone noticing them. One night they packed it all up, and disappeared into another place and time. They have disappeared fairly fast, and the only thing they could leave us with, was the nostalgia of buttered popcorn, sugared cotton candy, and fried doe’s —which patiently waited to take up all the room in your stomach. Gypsies were somehow squeezed into all this confusion, and made their living in there somewhere.
Next comes the Circus—different than carnivals— in which performances take place inside a circular enclosure. It gave a grand performance. In the United States alone, there are fifty or sixty circuses! Performances would include acrobatics and well trained animals scurrying around a dome—while you sat up in metal chairs enjoying the excitement. In fact Gypsies had jobs at training animals— we should say that they were very talented little devils. Bizarre shows seemed to be the norm and would lure you around these small niches, that contained some enigmatical woman inside, who would keenly meditate behind a ball of crystal rock. Or some strange, never seen before deformity of a person, who would not understand why he or she was there—and being terribly humiliated at the same time. To my memory that hasn’t forsaken me yet, I suppose I remember that my mother didn’t care much for the gypsies.
I heard repeatedly: “do not let me see you imitate them”, “gypsies are not glamorous people like you think”, “they go around stealing and live outside.” My expectations were crushed there right then. No more gypsy adoration for me! I was prohibited to buy the things that I loved: Xcheap second-hand clothing that supposedly portrayed the poor gypsy. Ironically, that was the part I admired most. We may have appreciated the style for some odd reason, but I know for sure that we were attracted to the originality of it. It was there in that vision where we had a sense of freedom to express, and the gypsies showed us how. All this, and it’s funny, you know we never actually came face to face with a single one of them? What were they really like? We never really asked ourselves that question.
We as kids were moved by own our own crazy fantasies, we held onto our strange ways of thinking about things, and fortunately most of us remained that way. On Halloween, all the girls wanted to be gypsies. We saw gypsies as free natured, rebels and exotic by disposition. Perhaps our gypsy prohibition is what provoked us and lured us. The mystery of it, all sparks the fires of curiosity, “unfamiliarity” lured us in. The long flowing clothes, the femininity, the jewelry, long hair and the exact way we pictured them, was almost erotic in an infantile way.
Can gypsies cast spells, influencing our styles? I think from my childhood they had already done the job—but can they even cast spells? Spells are not a part of their tarot card work, but many have been influenced by their fashion. Music artists confirm influences in their dress and through their songs. Stevie Nicks achieved both. Her “Gypsy style” was addicting. In her song “Gypsy” she created a true love for the gypsy, as she portrays herself on the floor; of a room that she loved, with some lace and paper flowers. Then, people we admire unknowingly, influence our personalities as well as our style. Now let us look at the true picture....
May I Present You with What Gypsies Truly Look Like?
The gypsies were from the Indian race. That gives you a hint as to their general description. Women to be Covered—Abiding by the rules, the gypsy woman must always have her legs covered. She must never touch another man with not even with a brush of her skirt.
You will notice that their skirts will always be at ankle length.
Gypsy Hair we can try and recall the fact that gypsy’s hair usually results in a somewhat understandable description, let’s see it for what it is: long or short, blackish or brown, and usually thick and curly. There are few with light brown hair. It can look unwashed at times, greasy in the scalp. A lot of the girls wear their hair in braids. The mystic long gypsy hair sings out the gypsy’s individuality. Its length garnishes their tanned bodies, whether it is flowing or tied back.
Gypsy Eyes are simple to describe; they are usually a shade of brown, or black with few exceptions of lighter colors, like blue.
A Gypsy’s Skin Color is of a dark bronze—thanks to their Indian background, though I have seen some with fairly light complexions.
A Gypsy’s Height is on average 5 ft. 4 in.
The Basic Clothing of a Gypsy: bangles, head wraps, scarves, long skirts & dresses—embroidered and colorful Indian type skirts. Sandals or slippers are usually worn instead of shoes, and sometimes with socks. Those that are well off wear most gold jewelries. And some of them can be pretty sophisticated. The wealthy gypsies are well lavished with gold, wearing bright new clothes, and are standoffish in their character.
Gypsy men, are easier to describe and harder to trace. They also wear sandals with socks, as well as regular leather shoes with everyday pants and shirts. The gypsy men tend to look like regular men from India. The younger generations tend to dress more like those of their own age groups.
The Afri’s, the Bang’s & the Chin’s
The Bangladeshis, the Chinese, and the Africans I mention here, are because I wanted to transit the gypsy subject a bit— mainly to differentiate between varieties of groups. I wanted you to have a clear picture of who are the gypsies, and not to confuse them with any other street vendors, even if the Chinese and Africans do not look at all Indian!
When speaking of business, these three are all rolled into one tight fish. The Bangladeshis, well, they are the “Rose men,” the Bangs, if you haven’t yet imagined— they are not gypsies, and they differ in their work and living arrangements. The Bangs come from Bangladesh, a country squished into a pocket of India. They are all men, rarely do you see the women— most likely they had to stay behind in their own country. Their job is to sell roses by the millions. They sell them everywhere, and to everyone! They’re like limpets. They wash cars in the streets like professionals car washers, and if they were paid as much as they earned with the roses, their daily life would be changed dramatically. The Bangs carry sunglasses and costume jewelries.
On the other hand, the Africans (the Afri’s) wouldn’t be the kind to fling purses at you, ‘cause I find them extremely helpful, sweet and respectful. They display magnificent handcrafted African animals carved in wood and leather sandals that are similar to wearing your own skin—they are all presented on gorgeous spreads. You’ll see them all around Rome especially in the areas surrounding San Pietro and in Napoli as well.
Chinese women sell scarves and gadgets (when they are not running from the Carabinieri state police) or necklaces with religious medallions hanging on them. They purchase them from the stores right there around St. Peter’s Square, tripling prices and hoping you don’t figure it out.
The Carabinieri crawl down lanes looking for illegal peddlers, in which all three A.B.C’s are. One day, an oriental woman was flashing bright colorful scarves at every person walking by, as she mumbled something maybe in Chinese. I was parked on a flight of stairs— as though I was watching a film. All of a sudden, she grew the look of white fear—it formed in back of her black eyes. I turned around noticing the police creeping down the main drag towards us. Her wobbly legs trembled, they couldn’t hold her, her arms swung back and forth, and scarves flew in every direction while she, startled, removed herself from police view down onto a narrow cobblestone alleyway.
The Africans hightailed it out— leaving behind one simple purse in the middle of the sidewalk. This was highly comical, and I knew somehow that the people would react strangely to this. Tourists piled down the sidewalk in groups and locals passed. The funny thing is that they all turned or stopped— trying hard to figure out why someone had left one brand new purse in the middle of a sidewalk standing upright. They were afraid to touch it or to take it. They stared at it and then looked around in curiosity and with smirks on their faces they simply walked on. This was repeated and repeated by everyone! So, you see, this is the continuous life of most others that work on the streets.
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