"Gypsies in a noisy crowd / Roam around Bessarabia / Today they are over the river / In tattered tents they spend the night…" in her. The romantic trend in art was different in that it contrasted the European consciousness, jaded, corrupted by civilization, with a different “pure”, natural, natural attitude to life. Therefore, the heroes of such works were either independent, proud mountaineers, or freedom-loving children of the Gypsies, or brave, risky pirate smugglers without a clan or tribe. Of course, fiction embellished a lot, put a lot in a special light. How do the Roma really live? Let's conduct a small study, based on the ethnographic materials of the former Bessarabia, and the current Moldova.
Three Capitals
On the territory of the state there are 3 recognized centers of the gypsy tribe. All of them are located in the northern part of Moldova, in the cities of Soroca, Ataki and Edinet. This does not mean that nowhere else on the territory of the former Soviet republic you will not meet these dark-skinned, black-haired people with a quick, tenacious look and a peculiar guttural dialect. Long colorful skirts of Roma women sweep the pavements of Chisinau, B alti and Ungheni streets. But it is in the north of Moldova that the largest, most numerous communities of this once nomadic people are concentrated. And every diaspora has its own gypsy barons!
Meaning of title
Cultural, musically educated people will associate this phrase with the famous operetta of the Austrian composer Johann Strauss. However, we are interested in another meaning of the expression. Gypsy barons are authoritative representatives of a tribe (camp) or an entire clan.
The Roma people, although considered wild and uncontrollable by Europeans, are actually not alien to some kind of organization and submission to their own laws, “customs and customs”. Therefore, ordinary gypsies allowed a rather solid, respected person to “stood” over them, who could speak flamboyantly and brightly, who knew several basic languages of the area in which the camp usually roams or where the clan settled. He had to resolve disputes between "his own" and the local population, administration and law enforcement agencies. Gypsy barons also regulated intra-tabor or intra-communal relations.
Play on words
By the way, about the “baronetcy”. The Roma people do not really have any high titles, especially noble, aristocratic ones. But there is a sonorous word "baro", which means "important". And rum baro translates as "important gypsy." What does this combination remind people whose language is far from the dialect of "romantics from the main road"? That's right, the same "Baron". And so the myth arose that the leaders of the camp are aristocrats from the natives. That is, gypsy barons! However, those who have been in direct contact with the life of the camp, know its nuances from the inside, will say the opposite: power there is concentrated in the hands of not one person, but a group of the most respected people. It is they who lead society on the basis of fairly strict local gypsy laws. By the way, unwritten!
From fairy tale to reality
Also, a huge number of rumors, legends, fairy tales envelops the life of this once nomadic tribe. Yes, long gone are the days when the life of the gypsies passed on wheels, to the cheerful clatter of horse hooves and the creak of wagons. Most representatives of the nationality began to lead a settled way in the second half of the twentieth century. Many parents even sent their children to schools - though not for long, grades 3-4, to learn how to read and write. In the Soviet era of total shortages, gypsies sold jeans and rubber flip-flops, books and cosmetics, cigarettes, chameleon wallets, and many other attributes of a “beautiful” life. As well as the famous lollipops, toffee candies, chewing gum. Naturally, along the way, they offered to tell fortunes, “tell the whole truth”, bewitch,remove damage and even heal from a sudden illness that happened. In Soviet times, the poor Roma rarely hunted horse-stealing, theft. The children, however, begged, but not obviously, in moderation.
The situation has changed dramatically over the past 20+ years. Gypsies, on the one hand, are clearly "cultivated", somewhat civilized. On the other hand, their strongest social stratification occurred. Crime, marginalization are now quite familiar phenomena among the Roma. But they still adore gold, bright, colorful outfits, dance and sing wonderfully, while maintaining their originality. Even a little grimy gypsy has a cool mobile phone, most often “expropriated”. Mostly women work in families. The scope of their work is all the same markets, trade. Men trade in the delivery of goods and the "turning" of affairs. Girls are not allowed to have sex before marriage. And even the custom of showing the sheet after the wedding night is honored and performed by the gypsies. Elders in the family are always honored, adultery is punished severely, divorces are rare, abortions are prohibited, children are loved and many will be born - these are the basic realities of being gypsies.
On the issue of locks
As already mentioned, the social stratification of the people is immediately evident, one has only to walk along those streets of the small village of Edinet or larger cities - Atakam and Soroki, where the gypsy population is concentrated. The last settlement is really the Moldavian capital of this people. Old houses with peeling window frames, cracks inthe facade, crumbling plaster, standing in cluttered, neglected courtyards, show a sad look and scream about deep poverty. The picture is completed by half-naked dirty kids with obviously hungry, but very cunning faces.
The house of gypsy barons and just very rich representatives of the diaspora is another matter! In the same Soroca, a whole hill is allocated for their magnificent buildings! And the dwellings themselves, in terms of whimsical architectural solutions, richness of design, can compete with the palaces of show business stars. And another question - who will win the argument!
Architectural fantasy
How gypsy barons live can be imagined at least by the external parameters of their houses. There are no single floors. Rare two stories. Usually three and four. Red tiled roofs, columns and balustrades, arches, pediments, stucco molding, statues, weathercocks… Turrets, medieval spiers, domes like in cathedrals are also signs of “baronial” palaces. Many are decorated with coats of arms, as the owners assure, ancient ones. True, for some reason with images of the head of the family himself, who, in fact, tells about the history of the family. The courtyards are tiled and resemble Italian courtyards. They have fountains, gazebos or just benches, comfortably placed under the canopy of trees, among flowering flower beds. Ancient Greek gods and goddesses, the quadriga of the Bolshoi Theater, the spire of the Admir alty, wonderful animals, peacocks are the usual attributes of the palaces in which the clan of the gypsy baron lives. But this splendor is often reminiscent of the title of the novel "Shine and Poverty of the Courtesans." Most of the buildings are not completed, work goes on from year to year.year with no end in sight.
Interior decoration
Icons, paintings, gilding, marble, natural wood, antique carpets and newfangled wallpapers, upholstered furniture make up the interior entourage of dwellings. Eye-catching luxury, sometimes obviously tasteful, but more often colorful and lurid, is the main element in interior decoration. Many rooms, including separate bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, even offices for receiving guests and petitioners. The gypsy barons, whose photos you can see in this article, pass on their title by inheritance, and with them many serious duties and obligations to their fellow tribesmen. Indeed, at present, it is these people who have concentrated the fullness of power in the diaspora. It is customary for gypsies to resolve legal disputes, administrative, even family disputes through the baron. That is why their houses have separate rooms for reception rooms.
Instead of a conclusion
To say that the Roma know is rich is to say nothing. As the media pointed out, in 2012, according to estimates, Baron Artur Cerari of Soroca and his clan had an annual income of up to 40 million euros. And it's not the ceiling! Particularly impressive, oddly enough, the funeral. Crypts made of Italian marble, graves where cars, computers, household items, furniture and much more are lowered along with the body, which, according to the Roma, their relatives may need in the next world, once again confirm the validity of the well-known song: “Gypsies love rings, / And the rings are golden … Yes, they love glitter, noise, movement, everything is bright,exotic - such as they are.
