From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Gypsies/rom/Matt T. Salo
The division of the world into Rom and non-Rom has its counterpart in an elaborate set of taboos dividing the clean from the unclean. The concept of purity is central to the Rom identity and informs virtually every sphere of behaviour. The basis of the purity codes is a conceptual division of the human body into upper clean and lower impure zones, the boundary being at the waist. Items of clothing, dishes, bedlinen, furniture, table cloths, and other articles associated with one sphere must not come in contact with those from the other. The placement of these objects in and around the camp, tent, or house is strictly regulated according to the category to which each belongs. Thus, shoes and brooms are considered unclean since they come in contact with the floor; cups, silverware, pillowcases, and facecloths, which are associated with the upper body, are considered wužo, or clean, and are not to be mixed with items of an unclean nature. In the laundry, shirts, pillowcases, and dish towels may be washed together, but never with underpants or socks. The more conservative families may even launder men’s and women’s clothes separately. Individuals not aware of, or not observing, these rules are considered beyond the pale of proper behaviour.
Everyday life is also regulated by several abstract concepts of the supernatural that are an integral part of the Gypsy religion and ethical system. One of the most important of these is bax, an expression that translates simply as “luck.” Its counterparts are bibax or prikaza (bad luck), biwužo (the unclean), and the iakhalo, or evil eye. Proper Rom, especially the women, are expected to maintain the sanctity of the family by following strict rules in the handling of food, laundry, and personal hygiene. The family’s bax or fortune is said to depend on the daily observance of these rules.
It is no exaggeration to state that Gypsy society is based on deeply felt religious principles or laws that have at their centre the concept of household purity. All good things are said to flow from the proper maintenance of this sacred state, described as an intangible power that embodies the bax of the family. A community of such observant families constitutes the larger entity known as the Romania. In order to belong to this community, one must follow the purity rules established by the forefathers. Not to do so renders an individual liable to be branded as pokelime, or outcast from the public life of the Rom. In earlier days, more severe sanctions might be put into effect; entire families being designated marime, or unclean, and forbidden to eat, drink, or visit with other Gypsies. If anyone else was in contact with such a family, he or she might run the risk of being labelled marime also.
That the term does not have to do with physical impurity is clear from the fact that a separate word, melalo, exists for ordinary dirt. Marime clearly refers to the symbolic pollution brought about by mixing the sacred and profane categories within the Gypsy world. The regulations reflect deeper societal principles; although most minor infringements go unnoted, when a significant issue is at stake, violations of the community laws are brought to public attention and used as the means to restore social order. In extreme cases, the kris, or Gypsy court of arbitration, is convened.
When they first came to the New World, the Rom were nominally Eastern Orthodox, but, because of the scarcity of Orthodox churches in North America, most soon turned to Catholic churches instead. They maintain only marginal adherence to the tenets of formal religion, however, and their knowledge of the church’s teachings is rudimentary. Widespread illiteracy prevents many from reading the Bible or other religious writings, and they often misinterpret the message of sermons. Churches are seen as the source of sacred power, to be used at times of need or at critical points in the life cycle. Attendance is sporadic and is usually limited to Christmas and Easter services. For a while, the transition from one church to another resulted in some confusion, leading, for example, to the celebration of a double set of holidays. At first, the Orthodox dates were seen as more correct for such Gypsy celebrations as Romani Krečuno (Christmas) and Romani Patragi (Easter). Within the last decade, many families have turned from Catholicism to the Pentecostal churches; it is still too early to tell what impact this development will have on Canadian Rom.
Among Catholic Rom, O Del (God), Jesus, St Mary, and St Anne are particularly venerated; they also honour other saints, among whom St John, St George, St Nicholas, and St Anthony have been most prominent. Since the 1920s they have made pilgrimages to the shrine at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec on the saint’s day to pray for the healing of family members who are ill. Saints’ days (slavas) are sometimes observed according to the Eastern calendar and at other times following Catholic tradition. The Rom will usually rent a hall when a large number of people are to celebrate together, but they hold the slava at home if only the close family will attend. Slavas are observed for a specific purpose, such as to give thanks for the healing of a sick child. Because such celebrations are dedicated to a person, they can be inherited; for example, it is common for a parent who has had the responsibility for a particular slava to give it to the child on whose behalf it is observed when the parent is no longer able to make the arrangements.
In addition to their religious practice, the Rom are also guided by various folk beliefs that they hold in common with other eastern European groups. Whether anything remains of the traditions that their ancestors possessed when they left India is difficult to determine. However, since Indic names have been retained for some supernatural concepts, it is possible that a continuity of beliefs and practices exists. Most Rom retain their faith in a host of other spirits, both good and bad. Among them are O Beng (the devil), balval (the wind), which is believed to cause strokes, and the biwužo, an unclean spirit that may lurk where the women fetch water and strike them with illnesses. Čoxane, or ghosts of the dead, wander about at night, and when the Rom camped out in areas where ghosts might be present, they would keep a fire burning to drive these spirits away.
Ghosts can take various shapes, but often they are described as appearing in the form of dogs that lurk around the camp at night. Death itself is sometimes personified as Martia, a figure who comes to collect a person when his or her time is up. A haglike old woman called mamiori le vešeski, or the little grandmother of the woods, acts as a guardian of everyday mores. For example, one should not leave dishes unwashed overnight, because the mamiori might come and throw up on them. A form of slime mould found growing on the ground in the woods after rain is described as mamioreski shada, or witches’ vomit. The women collect it and use it to prepare an amulet (baiero), which is placed around the neck of a child to keep evil spirits and illness away.
Benevolent counterparts of these spirits also exist. Even among the čoxane, some may be well disposed toward human beings. People who were known to be kind during their lifetime do no harm even after death. One man regularly prayed to his dead parents for guidance because, he believed, their spirits could continue to advise him as they had done while they were alive. Benevolent supernaturals may also watch over the newborn. On the third day after a birth, special offerings are made to the seven Wursitorea, the Fates of Gypsy mythology. They determine what is in store for the child during his or her lifetime.
The management of death is of crucial importance in Rom ritual. The spirits of the dead (mulé) are believed to visit all the places and people with whom they associated during their lifetime, especially relatives who had been close to the deceased. A new suit, money, toilet articles, and other travel necessities are placed in the coffin for the last trip. Good words are spoken about the dead person, and the people attending the funeral are expected to eat, drink, and joke so that the individual will have a happy, rather than a gloomy, journey. Several commemorative feasts mark the stages of this progression, and the final one a year after death signals the release of the dead person’s soul to raio, or heaven. Called “opening the road,” the ritual consists in placing a lighted candle on a small raft and sending it downstream to light the way to the other world. Anniversaries of the person’s death are commemorated in a ceremony called and’o vas, literally “out of the hand.” Through such observances the line between past generations and the present is blurred, and the belief that, despite the loss of individual members, the Romania will continue is reinforced in the minds of those left behind.
