Romani people in Spain

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Romani people in Spain
Gitanos
Lolita Flores.jpgIsabel Pantoja (Caracas 2007).jpgJoaquín Cortés.jpg
Spanish Gitanos:
Lolita Flores · Isabel Pantoja · Joaquín Cortés
Total population
600,000-1,500,000
1.5 to 3% of the Spanish population
Regions with significant populations
 Spain 600,000-1,500,000
 Andalusia 270,000
 Catalonia 80,000
 Madrid 60,000
 Valencia 50,000
 Castile and León 29,000
Languages

Romani · Caló · Spanish · Catalan · Erromintxela · Asturian · Aragonese
Religion

Predominantly
Evangelical , Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups

other Romani people

The '''Gitanos are a Romani people belonging to the Iberian Kale Romani group, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as Ciganos) in southern France, Morocco and Algeria. They tend to speak Caló, which is basically Andalusian Spanish with numerous Romani loan words and, to varying degrees, identify with Andalusian culture and music. The latest estimates of the Romani population in Spain are of 970,000 people or 2% of the total population. [1]

The Erromintxela of the Basque Country are also Romani. They identify as distinctly separate from the Caló-speaking Romani in Spain.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The Gitanos emigrated from Northern India, presumably from the Punjab and Rajasthan region, as early as 1000 A.D. The music and culture of the Gitanos highly influenced the cultures they had reached in Al-Andalus through North Africa. Flamenco, the heart of Gitano culture, is a mixture of Indian, Romani at its core with Persian, Greek, Moorish, and Arabic elements. The Flamenco lengthy rhythmic time cycle of 12 beats is a feature of Indian classical music, as is the Zapeateado or foot tapping, seen in Indian Katakh dance. The straight posture and graceful arm movements are seen in Indian dance. Lastly, the musical scales used by the Gitanos in singing are based around the Indian raga scale, unlike Arabic singing, which uses quarter-tone scales.

Although many gachos (non-gitanos) associate stamping of feet with that seen in the Espectáculo Flamenco (flamenco show), the Zapateo (or intense foot tap) is done only in the Espectáculos. At juergas (gypsy parties), flamenco is more reserved in form.

Romani migrations.

While in most of Europe, the Romani traveled from Asia through eastern Europe, they were recorded as having arrived in Spain from Northern Africa as early as 1425. They were recorded in Barcelona and Zaragoza by 1447. At first they were well received and were even accorded official protection by many local authorities.[citation needed] By 1492, a time of increased persecution of minorities, the first anti-Romani law was passed in Spain.[citation needed] Spanish Romanies are linked to Flamenco and have contributed a great deal to this Andalusian musical art.

According to Blas Infante, in his book Orígenes de lo flamenco y secreto del cante jondo, etymologically, the word flamenco may derive from Andalusian Arabic fellah mengu, meaning "escapee peasant". Infante believes that numerous Muslim Andalusians became Moriscos, who decided to stay and mix with the Romani newcomers instead of abandoning their lands because of religious persecution.

Spanish Romani people. Yevgraf Sorokin, 1853.

After the Castilian reconquest of Andalusia, the Reconquista, the government expropriated formerly Muslim lands to give to warlords and mercenaries who had helped the Castilian kings' enterprise against Al-Andalus. When the Spanish Crown later ordered the expulsion or forceful conversion of the Andalusian Moors, many of them took refuge among the Roma, becoming fellah mengu to avoid persecution or forced deportation. In 1492 the Romanies were included in the list of peoples to be assimilated or driven out.

For about 300 years, Romanies were subject to a number of laws and policies designed to eliminate them from Spain as an identifiable group: Romani settlements were broken up and the residents dispersed; sometimes, Romanies were required to marry non-Roma; they were prohibited from using their language and rituals, and were excluded from public office and from guild membership.[citation needed] In 1749 A major effort to get rid of the gypsy population in Spain was carried out through a raid organized by the government. It arrested all gypsies (Romani) in the realm, and imprisoned them in labor camps.

The majority sedentary population (payos, "Gadjos") saw them as dangerous, accusing them of laziness, stealing and kidnapping children, and of bringing novelties from the outer world. They also thought the gypsies had magical powers of palmistry and lived too freely.

During the Spanish Civil War, Republican Forces murdered many Romani Catholics. Some are being recognised as martyrs and saints by Pope Benedict XVI. Franco's supporters killed many Romani who supported the Republic. Under Franco, Romanies were harassed or simply ignored, although their children were educated, albeit sometimes forcibly.

In the post-Franco era, Spanish government policy has been much more sympathetic, especially in the area of social welfare and social services. In 1977, the last anti-Romani laws were repealed, an action promoted by Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia, the first Romani deputy. Since 1983, the government has operated a special program of Compensatory Education to promote educational rights for the disadvantaged, including those in Romani communities. The challenge will be to devise programs that bring the Romani population into the mainstream of the country's economic and political life without eroding the group's distinctive cultural and linguistic heritage.

Many Spanish Romanies have found consolation in Evangelical Christianity, where churches have incorporated Flamenco in worship services.

[edit] Religion

In Spain, Gitanos were traditionally Roman Catholics who participated in four of the church's sacraments (baptism, marriage, confirmation, and extreme unction). They are not regular churchgoers. They rarely go to folk healers, and they participate fully in Spain's state-supported medical system. Gitanos have a special involvement with recently dead kin and visit their graves frequently. They spend more money than non-Gitanos of equivalent economic classes in adorning grave sites.[citation needed]

The Spanish Evangelical Federation (mostly composed by members of the Assemblies of God and Pentecostal) claims that 150,000 Gitanos have joined their faith in Spain.[2][citation needed] The Romani Evangelical Assembly is the only religious institution entirely led and composed by Roma.

[edit] Marriage

The traditional Spanish Romani place a high value on the extended family. Virginity is essential in unmarried women. Both men and women often marry young.

A traditional Gitano wedding requires a pedimiento (similar to an engagement party) followed by the casamiento (wedding ceremony), where el yeli must be sung to the bride for giving her honor to her husband (proven by the ritual of the pañuelo). In the pañuelo ritual, a group consisting of an ajuntaora (an elder woman who is well respected in the family), along with the older aunts and elder woman of the family, take the bride into a separate room during the wedding and examine her to ascertain that she is a virgin. The "ajuntaora" is the one who practices the ritual on the bride, as the other women watch to be witnesses that the bride is virgin.

The cloth (pañuelo) must have three rose petals on it. When finished with the exam, the women come out of the room and sing el yeli to the couple. During this, the men at the wedding rip their shirts and lift the wife onto their shoulders and do the same with the husband, as they sing "el yeli" to them. Weddings can last very long; up to three days is usual in the Gitano culture. At weddings, "gitanos" invite everyone and anyone that they know of (especially other gitanos). On some occasions, payos (gadjos) may attend as well, although this is not common. Through the night, many bulerías are danced and especially sung. Today, rumba gitana or rumba flamenca are a usual party music fixture.

[edit] Groups

Autonomous communities of Spain
Autonomous communities Population
Andalusia 270,000
Aragon 18.000
Asturias 10.000
Balearic Islands 6.500 (?)
Basque Country 13.000
Canary Islands (?)
Cantabria 5.000 (?)
Castile-La Mancha 20.000
Castile and León 29.000
Catalonia 80.000
Extremadura 15.000
Galicia 9.000
La Rioja 7.000
Madrid 60.000
Navarre 6.000
Region of Murcia 20.000
Valencian Community 50.000
Total[3] 600.000

Spanish Romanies are called gitanos. In the late 1980s, the gitanos lived predominantly in southern Spain.

Gitanos is a Spanish name; in southern France they are known as Gitans or more generally Tsiganes (includes the other French Roma); and in Portugal they are known as Ciganos. Similar to the English word Gypsy, the name Gitano comes from the old Spanish word Egiptano (Egyptian). In past centuries, it was thought their origins were in Egypt.

After losing their original Romani language, they used Caló, a jargon with Spanish grammar and some Romani vocabulary . Caló means "dark" in Caló and the Caló word for "Gitanos" is calé, also "the dark ones". Cañí[4] is another Caló word for "Gitano". Caló is one of the influences of later Germanía and modern Spanish slang.

Romanian, Slovak and Moroccan Romanies have recently migrated into the country.

A significant number of Romani emigrated to Latin America during colonial times. Often they emigrated to escape the Catholic Inquisition.

[edit] In literature

The Gitanos in Spanish society have inspired several authors:

The Roma is the most basic, most profound, the most aristocratic of my country, as representative of their way and whoever keeps the flame, blood, and the alphabet of the universal Andalusian truth.
—Federico García Lorca

[edit] Notable Gitanos

The ballet dancer Carlotta Grisi as the Romani Paquita (1844).

Following are notable people of Gitano ethnicity or descent:

[edit] Gitano surnames

Due to endogamy, several Spanish surnames are more frequent among the Gitanos,[5] though they are not exclusive to them:

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gitanos

[edit] References

  1. ^ Vizarraga, Óscar "Erromintxela: notas para una investigación sociolingüística", in I Tchatchipen, Vol 33, Instituto Romanó, Barcelona (2001)
  2. ^ "Evangelics fish faithful in catholic crisis"; FEREDE, October 2008 (Spanish)
  3. ^ Fuente: Fundación Secretariado General Gitano de España
  4. ^ cañí in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.
  5. ^ Diccionario de apellidos españoles, Roberto Faure, María Asunción Ribes, Antonio García, Editorial Espasa, Madrid 2001. ISBN 8423922898. Section III.3.8 page XXXIX.

[edit] External links

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