Stiati Ca... Optiuni

[Mihai]

Frati Siamezi

Numele de frati siamezi vine de la prima consemnare istorica a nasterii unor copii "legati" biologic unul de celalalt, in Siam (Thailanda de astazi), la data de 11 mai 1811, in localitatea Maklong. Cei doi se numeau Chang si Eng Bunker, fii ai unui pastor anglican, si erau uniti printr-un cartilagiu al pieptului.

Bricheta

In anul 1910, din dorinta de a-si ajuta un bun prieten, invalid de un brat, Alfred Dunhill a inventat un mecanism de aprindere care avea avantajul ca de a se putea aprinde doar cu o singura mana. In felul acesta aparea... prima bricheta, devenita de atunci un accesoriu aproape nelipsit din recuzita fumatorilor.

Rimelul

Unul dintre produsele cosmetice cel mai des utilizate de catre femei, rimelul, a fost inventat in anul 1834 de catre botanistul si chimistul englez Eugene Rimmel. Curios este ca preparatul care-i poarta numele, a fost, de fapt, realizat la comanda, avand initial destinatia de a innegri, netezi si fixa prin ungere... mustatile lui Napoleon al III-lea.

[soka norman]

stiati aceste kestii despre rromi?
There are unquestionable facts that regard the Roma people, which provide the key for discovering their true origin and allow to elaborate a feasible historic course. Here I intend to expose some of them.

Belief

Roma's belief shows the following characteristics:
·Strict monotheism, without the slightest trace of any alleged past polytheistic or pantheistic religion.
·The very personal character of God, Who is accessible and with Whom it is possible to have an argument (Hebrew conception) - not unapproachable like Allah and not even relatively accessible like in the Christian faith, that usually needs a Mediator for a personal contact with Him.
·The existence of a spiritual world, consisting in pure and impure spirits (Hebrew conception) representing good and evil who fight each other - this is also originally Hebrew, but with a marked Zoroastric influence that is typical result of the Assyrian/Babylonian/Persian exile and developed in the same way as Kabbalistic Judaism, showing a contemporaneous evolution of Roma spirituality and Mystic Judaism, within the same environment.
·The belief in death as a definitive passage to the spiritual world (Hebrew). Not the slightest trace of any idea of reincarnation.
·The dead person is impure during his/her journey to the realm of the souls (Hebrew concept), and all the items connected with his/her death are impure, as well as his/her relatives during the period of mourning (Hebrew concept). Further details under the next topic, "marimé".
·Roma's destiny after death is Paradise, while Gadje are redeemed and deserve Paradise only if they have been good towards Roma - identical to the Jewish concept of "righteous among the Goyim".

These belief patterns go beyond any "official" religion the Roma may confess. There are usually additional features and rituals that belong to their adopted faith, and which they express in a picturesque way and observe with great respect, as for example the "pomana", an Orthodox practice, or other ceremonies. There are also other complementary elements of a rather superstitious nature, all of them linked with the fire-worship of ancient Persia. Some of them are considered valid for their own society, like having lighted fire in the house permanently, day and night, winter and summer (a tradition that is still kept by the most conservative families, while in general is evolving into a "symbolic" fire like the TV set, always switched on though nobody actually watching). Other customs are only practised outwardly, like fortune-telling, palmistry, tarot, etc. in whose powerful qualities Roma do not believe but use them to take some profit from the Gadje. This has been learnt from the ancient Persian Magi and alchemists.
There are founded reasons to presume that Roma were Christians since the first century c.e., that is, before they arrived in India or during the first period of their sojourn there, and that is why they did not adopt any Hinduist element in their religious conception. It appears that Roma were very well aware of what Christianity consisted in when they entered Europe, even though they had no possibility of having ever read the Bible. There is something mysterious in Romany spirituality that in the last decades led them to a genuine approach to the Evangelical movements (the form of Christianity closer to Judaism, without saints and image-worship) and lately a further step to Messianic Judaism. There is no other people in the world having experimented such a massive number of conversions in such a short time. The interesting fact is that this phenomenon is not the result of missionary work but of spontaneous, autonomous will (indeed, Gadje would have hardly dared to evangelize "Gypsies", devoted to occult arts and witchcraft, according to their prejudiced views). Against all odds, Roma from different countries in roughly the same time, without connection to each other, experimented conversions and began to read the Bible. Now the missionary work among Roma and Sinti is carried on by themselves. This may be explained by understanding that there is an atavic legacy that is unique feature of Romany spirituality. Most Roma are now abandoning the ancestral fire-worship elements and the practices forbidden by Torah, like pomana, divination and other things related to it.
A feasible conjecture (remark: a conjecture) is that their first approach to the Christian faith might be connected with the biblical Magi that worshipped the child Yeshua of Natzaret; evidently, they were not just Persian fire-worshippers, but people that hoped in the promise of a Messiah for Israel, therefore, Israelites of the Northern Kingdom that at that time were fully immersed in the Zoroastrian cult, yet waiting for the redemption of their people. Historic accounts report that in the first century c.e., massive conversions took place in Assyria, where the Apostles went to rescue the "lost sheep" of the House of Israel, as many were still in that region. Some of the Apostles reached India in search of them. A curious fact is that the recently discovered Israelites of India were almost all Christian, not Hindu or other. The complete absence of Hindu elements in Romany spirituality must have some meaning.

The ritual purity laws, "marimé"

The Romany concept of "marimé" is equal to the negative form of the Jewish concept of "kosher", the first indicates ritual impurity, while the second refers to ritual purity. Besides this viewpoint difference, the essence is the same (it is like saying if the cup is half-empty or half-full). What is marimé for a Rom, is not kosher for a Jew, so both of them will take the necessary measures in order not to be defiled with such things, or if they are a necessary, unavoidable contamination, they both will follow certain rules to be purified. In the same way as Jewish kashrut, the rules that regulate marimé are a fundamental value in Romany society that set the behavioural boundaries within their social and spiritual realm and condition their relationship with the external world (the Gadje society).
Roma classify everything into two categories: "vuzhó" (=kosher, pure) or "marimé" (impure). Such classification regards primarily the human body, but is extended to the spiritual realm, the house or camp, animals and things.
·The human body: the rules concerning the parts of the human body to be considered impure are exactly the same ones that we find in the Mosaic Torah (Leviticus, chapter 15). In the first place, the genital organs, since they convey impure discharge out of the inner body, and the lower part of the body, because it is below the genitals. The upper external part of the body is pure, and the mouth in the first place. The hands are transitional, since they have to perform both pure and impure acts, therefore they must be washed in a particular way, for instance if one has to eat after having put on one's shoes or woken up from bed (the bed is impure since it is in contact with the lower body). When the hands have been defiled, they should be washed with a separate soap and dryed with a separate towel to render them pure. Different soaps and towels are always used for the upper and lower bodies, and they cannot be exchanged.
·Clothes: they are accurately distinguished since they must be washed separately, in separate recipients assigned for each category. Impure clothes must always be washed in the marimé basin, and pure clothes are still separated from the tablecloth and the napkins, which have their own washing recipient. Upper body clothes and children's clothes are washed in the vuzhó basin, lower body clothes in the marimé one. All the woman's clothes are impure during her menstruations and washed with the marimé items. The only people that apply these washing rules besides Roma are Jews.
·The camp: before the recent forced urbanization, the Romany home was the camp rather than the house. The camp enjoys the status of territorial purity, by which the physiological "business" are performed outside its proximity (or eventually the hygienic services are placed outside the camp), this is a Jewish law (Deuteronomy 23:12). Also garbage should be thrown at an acceptable distance from the camp.
·Birth: the childbirth is an impure event and should take place in an isolated tent right outside the camp, when possible. After the child is born, the mother is considered impure for forty days, mainly the first week: this rule is unique of the Mosaic Torah - Leviticus 12:2-4 -. During this period, the woman cannot get in touch with pure items or perform any common activity like cooking or even appear in public, mainly in presence of the elders; she cannot attend any religious service. Special dishes, cups and tableware are assigned to her, which are thrown away after the 40 days of her purification are over, the clothes she wore and her bed are burnt, as well as the tent or caravan where she lodged during those 40 days. This law is unknown to any people except Roma and Jews.
·Death: as well as in Judaic Law, somebody's death conveys impurity to everybody and everything that was related to that person in that moment. All the food present in the house of the dead should be thrown away, and the whole family is impure for three days. Particular rules are to be observed during those three days, like washing oneself with water only in order not to make foam; to comb or shave is interdict, as well as sweeping, making holes, writing or painting, taking photographs, and many other things. Mirrors are covered. The camp where the death occurred is abandoned and transferred to another place, or the house is sold. The soul of the dead is believed to wander during three days of purification before reaching the final abode: this is not written in the Hebrew Scriptures, but is anyway a common idea within some Judaic mystic currents. The concept that contact with a dead body attaches impurity is not found in any ancient tradition except in the Jewish Bible (Leviticus 21:1). As the Jewish Law establishes, also among Roma the dead should be buried and cannot be burnt.
·Things: they can be marimé by nature or by use, or be defiled by accidental circumstances. Whatever is touched by the lower body is impure, like shoes, chairs, etc. while tables are pure. The rules that concern these laws are described in Leviticus 15 and other Hebrew Scriptures.
·Animals: Roma consider that animals are either pure or impure, even though the patterns by which they are classified are different from the Jewish ones. For instance, dogs and cats are marimé because they lick themselves, horses, donkeys and any animal used for riding is impure because people sit on them, and so on. Impure animals cannot be eaten.
·Spirits: the evil spirits are marimé, which is also a Jewish concept.

Marriage laws

Romany betrothal and marriage are celebrated in the same way as they were in ancient Israel. Both partners' parents play an essential role in arranging the bride's dowry and the celebration is performed within the Roma community, without any participation of Gadje's institutions. In case that the girl runs away with her fiancé without the consent of her parents, they are regarded as a married couple, but the husband's family must pay a compensation to the wife's parents, usually equivalent to twice the dowry amount; that compensation is called "kepara", a word that has the same meaning of the Hebrew term "kfar" (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). The payment of the dowry by the male partner's family to the female's parents is a biblical rule, exactly the opposite to Indian peoples, in which it is the bride's family that pays to the husband's one.
There is a particular precept that must be observed to consolidate the marriage, the "virginity proof cloth", that should be shown to the whole community after the first sexual relationship - this is a rule found in Torah, Deuteronomy 22:15-17. Of course, in the case of runaway couples such rule is meaningless and consequently not observed.

Social behaviour

Like Jews, Roma assume different behaviour standards for the relationships with their own people and for the interaction with the outsiders, so that we can state with certainty that the opposition Roma/Gadje and Jews/Goyim are regulated in a quite similar way, maybe identical in almost all details.
Since the Gadje do not know the laws regulating marimé, they are suspected of being impure or just assumed that they are, consequently, Roma would not lodge at Gadje homes and would not eat with Gadje; some Roma do not even enter a gadje house - the same custom is found in ancient Israel, and still practised by Orthodox Jews. Gadje who become Roma's friends are admitted once they are aware of the main rules they should observe in order not to offend the community, and after having passed some "tests" of reliability. Otherwise, gadje institutions are used as a "free-trade area", where impure activities may be performed with safety - a typical example is the hospital, that allows to avoid setting up a special tent for childbirth.
Courtesy, respect and hospitality are obligatory within Roma. When they greet each other should ask for each other's family wishing all members good and blessing, even though they meet the first time and do not know the respective families. Self-introduction includes one's parents names, grandparents and as many generations as they remember - civil name and surname are irrelevant; Roma are called like in ancient Israel, A son of B, son of C, of the family of the D's. This is however, a common feature of many eastern peoples, but the way Roma formulate these terms are quite biblical.
Judicial causes among Roma are presented to the elders' assembly, right according to the Mosaic Law. The Romany elders' assembly is called "kris", and is a true Court of Justice, whose sentences should be obeyed, otherwise the disobedient party would be banished from the Romany community. Cases are usually not so serious as not to be solved by a payment of an amend, as regulated by Torah (Exodus 21:22; 22:9; Deuteronomy 22:16-19).
There are many other aspects that may be of a secondary importance, which anyway recall the ancient Israelite customs and rules. Unfortunately, such details are being lost with new generations (as many have been lost among Jews as well) because of modern society systems that restrict individual and "exotic" communities freedom. Yet, the Romany feelings and tendencies are to be taken into consideration, as they correspond to an ancestral psychological heritage transferred from generation to generation, in an unconscious manner but recalling the true origins. For example, Roma do not feel any attraction at all towards Indian culture or music (what is more, Roma women have a low-pitch voice, in contrast with the Indian singers, a detail that may be insignificant, but maybe not), while they have always preferred Middle Eastern music. In Eastern Europe, most of the folk expressions are either Jewish or Romany, and many times the same work is attributed to either one or the other of these two traditions. "Klezmorim" bands were often composed by Roma together with Jews, and the European Jazz style has been cultivated by Roma as well as by Jews. Flamenco is probably originated among Sephardic Jews before they were expelled from Spain, and later developed by Roma that remained in that country. In other aspects, Roma have a great commercial skill (and if they have to work in partnership Jews are preferred) and those who choose a professional insertion in the gadje society usually prefer the same careers chosen by Jews (perhaps connected with the purity laws, that do not allow to perform every kind of work). Last but not least, Roma make a distinction between common "Gadje" and Jews, who are not considered fully Gadje but an intermediate category that observes the purity laws and consequently not subject to marimé suspicion.
See also: Romany Law.

Conclusion:

This brief essay intends to set the principles on which a new, accurate and serious research about the origins of Roma and Sinti should be founded, instead of the insistence in going on with an only-linguistic and misleading trend. The presented facts do not exclude that Roma might have been actually dwelling in Kannauj or somewhere else in India, although the Indus Valley seems to be the most appropriate land for their sojourn in the subcontinent, but show that however Roma do not belong to the Indic (and not at all to the Aryan) background, but to a Semitic and more precisely Hebrew origin. Israelite groups were numerous throughout India, and it has been possible to rediscover some of them by setting aside the linguistic trace (because all of them spoke Indian languages) and concentrating the research on some cultural hints that revealed the true origin, such hints are up to now less relevant than those we may find now in Romany culture, yet they have been enough to determine the Israelite ancestry.



Sándor Avraham

See Map of Migrations of Peoples from Mesopotamia to India


Comments:

Roma involved in research and other cultural activities are giving their contribution to this essay. Here I want to quote a letter from a true Kalderash who knows his own culture very deeply, not only because his family keeps the most "orthodox" Romany life style, but also because he is an intellectual person that has achieved a high education level:

«The term "o Devel", that in Romany means "the God", is said to be derived from the Sanskrit word "Deva". The same word in Hebrew is "EL". When the Israelites reached India, a country with many gods having each one its own name, they remembered that their One was called EL (the ineffable Name of God was not allowed to be uttered, therefore they called Him simply "God", EL), whence they said that they worshipped "Dev-EL", that is, "the God called EL". Indeed, every Hebrew name ending in "~el" is related to the Hebrew word meaning God, and the fact that Roma call Him "Devel" - or the contracted form "Del" - may indeed be Hebrew».

(translated from Romany)

Lolya le Yonosko, ande'l Chaykoni (Argentina)



«Not one to ignore local knowledge, the first thing I did in India was to ask as many people as possible if they knew or had heard where the Gypsies of India came from. Almost without exception, I was told, "our Gypsies came from Israel"».

Paul Polansky



«There are hundreds of Roma families living in Israel, and they consider themselves both Roma and Jews. Most of them are not only Israeli citizens, but have also the status of “Yehudim”, that means, they are Jewish Israeli citizens. Those who have European citizenship are regarded as foreign legal residents, enjoying the same respect their fellow-citizens have - a higher respect than in their own countries, where there are still generalized anti-Gypsy feelings, which do not exist in Israel. All Roma living in Israel are fervent supporters of the State of Israel, because it is perhaps the only country where Roma do not feel as an alien minority but as a people living in their own homeland».

Tomas Milanovich



«We are not able to explain many spontaneous characteristics of our behaviour, because they belong to our ancestral heritage. Until somebody switches on a light and tells us with certainty the reasons of these peculiarities that before we did not even notice. The outstanding research by Sándor Avraham is this kind of mirror, that surprises us».

João Romano Filho (Sinti Estraxhari - Brazil)



«It is interesting to consider the people recorded as “Habiru” or “Apiru” in many ancient documents throughout the Middle East, in almost every country from Mesopotamia and Anatolia to Egypt. This term, equivalent to the biblical “Hebrew”, was used exactly in the same way as “Gypsy” in modern society (implying the same social prejudices):
Shulgi of Ur (ca 2150 bce) describes them as “people who travel in dead silence, who destroy everything, whose folk go where they will — they establish their tents and their camps — they spend their time in the countryside without observing the decrees of my king”. In his account of the conquest of Jaffa, general Toth of Pharaoh Tuthmose III of Egypt (ca 1440 bce) asks that “his horses be taken inside the city, lest they be stolen by a passing Apiru” (horse stealing seems to have been one of their well-known activities).
In Sumerian, they were defined with the logogram “SA.GAZ”, pronounced GUB.IRU, and are seen as ‘lawless’ people, not obeying the laws of others but being a law to themselves.
“Habiru” was a general definition for wandering peoples without citizenship and social status: so the Bible says “Avram the Hebrew” as Avram was stateless. Also the stateless children of Israel, having no connection with recognised cities or tribes, were described by the Egyptians as “Apiru”.
They are at first considered people from Hurrian extraction, that is, from the country where Avraham dwelled before he wandered in Canaan and Egypt. Ancient records show the Habiru to be scattered over western Asia for centuries until about 1100 bce, and the term is used with the meaning of “wanderers”, “those who pass from place to place”.
It is significant the fact that the term disappears in coincidence with the occurrence of the new name “Israel” that replaced it. The Habiru acquired a national identity and a recognized State. Also the Israelites did not call themselves “Hebrews” but it was a term with which others identified them, in the same way as Roma do not call themselves “Gypsies”, but are called that way by others».

Antoshka (Argentina)



«I believe that those who were afraid may now show themselves with pride, and those who do not know who we are, will someday cover their mouths with their hands in shame. Even before the truth about our heritage was revealed to me, I would read every form of literature possible in regards to getting to our "roots". But what I always found is that it was written by a Gadje, for Gadje! And what I would do is "scan" the first few pages and as soon as I would see the "Indian theory" I would put the book down! My heart did not bear witness to their so-called facts and I knew it was not the truth, though I knew not what the truth was yet... I know that your essay is at this time for the ones that God is choosing to reveal it».

Jamie Hanley “La Cshay” (Manouche Flamenco dancer - California)