Gitano.html
 
| ca | de | en | es | fr | it | nl | no | pl | pt | ru | ro | fi | sv | tr | vo |


 

Roma in Spain
Gitanos
Spanish Gitanos:
Lolita Flores · Isabel Pantoja · Joaquín Cortés
Total population

Romani
600,000-800,000
up to roughly 1.5% of the Spanish population
Regions with significant populations
Throughout the Country
 Andalusia 270,000
 Valencia 50,000
 Castile and León 29,000
 Catalonia 80,000
 Madrid 60,000
Languages
Romani language · Caló (Spanish Romani) · Spanish language · Catalan language
Religion
Predominantly
Evangelical , Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Spaniards, Roma people

The Romani people in Spain are generally known as Gitanos. Spanish Roma tend to speak Caló which is basically Andalusian Spanish with a large number of Romani loan words. Estimates of the Spanish Gitano population fluctuate between 600,000 and 800,000 with the Spanish government estimating a number between 650,000 and 700,000.[1]

Contents

History

Main article: History of the Roma people

It is generally accepted that the Roma migrated out of the Punjab & Rajasthan regions of the Indian subcontinent into Europe as early as the eleventh century. They are known to have brought the Indian Classical dance forms & Indian singing styles to Spain in the form of Flamenco, which directly derives from the Kathak dance of India. While in most of Europe the Roma arrived from Asia through Eastern Europe, there are records of their having arrived in Spain from Northern Africa, as early as 1425 and in Barcelona and Zaragoza, in particular, by 1447. At first they were well received and were even accorded official protection by many local authorities, but by 1492 the first anti-Romani law was passed in Spain. Spanish Roma are linked to Flamenco and have contributed a great deal to this Andalusian musical art. Flamenco is indeed the music of the Gitanos and not the Spaniards. According to Blas Infante, in his book Orígenes de lo flamenco y secreto del cante jondo, etymologically, the word Flamenco may derive from Andalusi Arabic fellah mengu, "Escapee Peasant". Infante connects the huge amount of Muslim Andalusians who decided to stay and mix with the Romani newcomers instead of abandoning their lands because of their religious beliefs (Moriscos).

Roma movement
Spanish Roma people. Yevgraf Sorokin, 1853.

After the Castilian reconquest of Andalusia, the Reconquista, most of the land was expropriated and given 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 Moriscos, many of them took refuge among the Roma, becoming fellah mengu in order to avoid persecution, or forced deportation. In 1492 the Roma were included too in the list of peoples to be assimilated or driven out. For about 300 years, Roma 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, Roma were even required to marry non-Roma; they were denied their language and rituals as well as being excluded from public office and from guild membership.citation needed

The sedentary population (payos, "Gadjos") saw them as both dangerous, accusing them of laziness, stealing and kidnapping children, and attractive, bringing novelties from the outer world, having magical powers of palmistry and living freely and carelessly.

During the Spanish Civil War, many Romani Catholics were murdered by Republican Forces, many of them becoming martyrs and saints by Pope Benedict XVI.Under Francisco Franco, Roma were harassed or simply ignored, although their children were, albeit sometimes forcibly, schooled. In the post-Franco era, however, Spanish government policy has been much more sympathetic toward them, especially in the area of social welfare and social services.In 1977, there were eliminated the last anti-Romani, clearly discriminatory laws, promoted by Juan De Dios Rámirez Heredia, the first Roma deputy. Since 1983, for example, 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.

At the same time, many Spanish Roma have found soothing to their lives in Evangelic Christianity, where the church has incorporated Flamenco in their worship.

Religion

Gitanos were traditionally Roman Catholics who participate in four of the church's sacraments (baptism, marriage, confirmation, and extreme unction), but they are not assiduous 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, visit their graves frequently, and spend a great deal more money than non-Gitanos of equivalent economic classes in adorning grave sites.

At present, more than a half of all Gitanos have joined the Evangelical faith.1 This fact has contributed to a better social status and cultural development. The Romani Evangelical Assembly is the only religious institution entirely led and composed by Roma.

Marriage

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

A traditional Gitano wedding requires a pedimiento(similar to engagement party) then the casamiento and at the casamiento(wedding ceremony) "el yeli" must be sung to the bride for giving her honor to her husband (proven by the ritual of the "panuelo"). It is a ritual in which the "ajuntaora" who is an elder woman that is well respected in the family and the older aunts and elder woman of the family go into a separate room during the wedding and then it is there where the woman is proven to be virgin or not. The "ajuntaora" is the one who practices the ritual on the bride as the other woman watch as witnesses that the bride is truly virgin. The cloth(panuelo) must have three rose petals on it and then,the woman come out of the room and sing "el yeli" to the couple. During this,the men at the wedding rip there shirts and lift the wife on to there sholders 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). In some occasions payos(gadjos) may attend as well especially now in modern days,although its not to common. Through the night many bulerias are danced and especially sung and todays rumba gitana or rumba flamenca are a usual party music.

Groups

Autonomous communities of Spain
Autonomous communities Population
Andalusia 270.000
Aragon 18.000
Principality of 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
Total2 600.000

Spanish Roma are called gitanos. In the late 1980s, the gitanos lived predominantly in southern and central 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. Similarly to the English word Gypsy, the name Gitano comes from the old Spanish word Egiptano (Egyptian), because in past centuries it was thought their origins were in the country of 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". Caló is one of the influences of later Germanía and modern Spanish slang.

There is also a current trend of migration of Romanian, Slovak and Muslim Moroccan Roma into the country.

As well there is a relevant number of them in latin america who migrated during the colony, many times escaping from the catholic inquisition.

In art

The Gitanos in Spanish society have inspired several authors:

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

Famous Gitanos

Following are famous people of Gitano ethnicity or descent:

References

  1. ^ http://www.ferede.org/general.php?pag=vernoticia&cod=1086 Los evangélicos pescan fieles en la crisis católica, FEDERE
  2. ^ Fuente: Fundación Secretariado General Gitano de España

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

External links
All Right Reserved © 2007, Designed by Stylish Blog.