what is a gypsy?

I always hear myths & legends surrounding them. I even made brief acquaintence with a few people who claimed to be gypsies. I was always scared I might offend them by asking. what exactly is a gypsy? is it a race or religion? I wasnt sure exactly where to post this but figured I would get the most educated answers here.

My grandmother was raised by her gypsy grandmother so I have some gypsy blood in me. I have to admit that even with this ancestry I don't know much about them myself.
I did a search and came up with this www.bbc.co.uk...
Which tells me a bit about gypsies in the UK, specifically in the south east

gypsies are a "nomad people"
and spread in a wide area from india to europe
here in europe,
more of them in the balkans region.
they have GREAT music,
i can guarantee you that,
thats why they are very popular (if they play music).

but the other side of the gypsy story is sadder.
everyday i see young gypsy children age 4 and above,
begging for money in the streets.
and its the same in almost every major city in europe.

and they have best fortune tellers in the world.

More precisely, the gipsyes are from the Panjab province in India

One of the more common of the "family" or tribal groups that's called gypsies are the Rrom, or Rroma. Generally, it's considered better to use the proper noun for the group, as "gypsy" has a very perjorative sense to it.

For some good information, directly from the source, check out the Patrin Web Journal.

My grandfather used to chase the Gypsies out of his yard all the time. They are nomads, yes, but they are also thieves and con-artists. If my wifes town in Germany, back in the old days, when the Gypsies left town, there were sometimes some of the town children missing too.

Nothing mythical or magical or mysterious about them. Just avoid them, and keep your hand on your wallet

ummmm....gypsys......there the people that dump burnt matresses in your garden?.......have a tendancy to turn up at your house and sell you on the idea of re-tarmacing your drive.....turn up on waste land and leave all sorts of crap and human waste when they leave or move on.....and basically rob you blind given half a chance!.....no seriously mention gypsys in the uk and youll get the previous response (or something similar)....by roots i thought they were from romanian descent and basically were nomadic people,my grand father tells me that they didnt used to have such a bad rep but know they seem to be associated with tax dodgers and thieves.

Gypsys are a group of people that live in europe, supposedly they're 'non-european' or at least were in the begining. Sometimes they're presented as an indic people, other times as having come from egypt, hence 'gypsy'.

Basically they're just another ethnic group. Apparently the nazis nearly exterminated them, more so than the jews (higher percentage, lower overall numbers), to the point that there are so few left that you don't even hear about their near extermination.

Any body seen the UK film SNATCH by Guy Richie (Maddonas hubby)???

If not find a copy, that will show you what a Gypsi is!!!

That is very true- I always found it sad that people tend not to know this. Of the 11 million people killed by the Nazi's, only 6 million were Jewish. (I am not belittling the death of the Jewish) This leaves another 5 MILLION people killed who weren't Jewish, so it was clearly NOT just a Jewish problem, the Nazi's put Gypsies right up there on the top of the list too, along with anybody who was handicapped, deformed or mentally had problems. There were enough gypsies killed we've almost forgotten them altogether.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Basically they're just another ethnic group. Apparently the nazis nearly exterminated them, more so than the jews (higher percentage, lower overall numbers), to the point that there are so few left that you don't even hear about their near extermination.

Originally posted by MickeyDee
If not find a copy, that will show you what a Gypsi is!!!

I thought pitt's character was a 'Pikey', not an actual gypsy?

during the middle, ages as i recall most were from the areas of Romania and Armenia, they were nomadic, anti-church, skilled artisians, readers of the tarot,
and traveling shows. I read somewhere that Roslin was one of their safe
havens for many years. even after laws were enacted that forbid the enacting
of plays with the characters of The May Queen (Maid Marion) , Robin Goodfellow,
Robin of the Greenwood, Little John, Friar of unreason. etc,etc.

Originally posted by Nygdan

I thought pitt's character was a 'Pikey', not an actual gypsy?

you are correct in saying that they weren't gypsies in snatch, but in fact Irish travellers as I believe they prefer to be known.

I was actually confused as to the identity of these people in that movie. They weren't explicitly gypsys, they said that they specifically were not irish, even tho they sounded like they talked with a brough, and they called them 'pikeys', is that like some other group, or just an english word for gypsys? Any englishers here more familiar with it? The seemed to live like rednecks in alabama or somethign.

Originally posted by Nygdan
I was actually confused as to the identity of these people in that movie. They weren't explicitly gypsys, they said that they specifically were not irish, even tho they sounded like they talked with a brough, and they called them 'pikeys', is that like some other group, or just an english word for gypsys? Any englishers here more familiar with it? The seemed to live like rednecks in alabama or somethign.

Pikey is normally a term used for travelling people of Irish descent. These are the same people depicted in the movie Snatch. They don't refer to themselves as Irish but merely as "Travellers".

Excellent, thanks.

Come to think of it, whats this got to do with Secret Societies anyway? The gypsys aren't a group you can fill out an application for.

Umm, well, much like any good secret society...
Gypsies only treat other gypsies equally.

They have two names, a Gypsy name, and a name for profane use. An outsider can never know a Gypsy's true name, but I haven't asked (nor would I).

They use masks in healing, and in magick, but I can't vouch for all of them being into that.

Basically, their code of ethics is, you MUST always treat Gypsies fair, and you have to take advantage of non-Gypsies in any way available (I guess the belief is, if they were to show kindness, the Gypsies would get taken advantage of, or be deceived themselves).

So there you have it, take out the word Gypsy, and you wouldn't know what bunch of elitists we were talking about!

note: the word Gypsy, and the root 'Egypt'ian. Damn 'Gyptians.

[edit on 10-2-2005 by akilles]

To be honest when i first came across this thread , I was unsure as to whether I should move it out of the forum or not. But after checking up on the subject I think it does fit in here. I found this site, in which it does state that you can be accepted into gypsy society.

( EDIT, I won't cover my tracks by deleting these links but please feel free to ignore them as I don't know what I'm talking about as zombiemann points out in the post below )

larp.com...

From time to time, the Gypsies will permit an outsider -a gaje as non-Gypsies are called- to be adopted into their clan. Before the adoption can take place, however, the chosen person must first partake of a ceremony involving drinking a special potion from the magical Gypsy cup. Those who fail to pass the test die a painful death; anyone who succeeds has their blood changed to Gypsy blood and may enjoy the benefits of clan membership.

this page has a list of some of the most important gypsy laws.
larp.com...
I'm sure that there is much that is secret amongst them , so perhaps this is fitting for this forum.

[edit on 10-2-2005 by pantha]

ummm I dont usualy mke an effort to argue with moderators as such but Im niot sure I would go by anything on that site as fact. Its is a site for live action roleplaying and if you click around that is actualy basicaly information for people who play charecters of that race.

feel free to argue with me I'm certainly no expert , far from it . Like I said I didn't know much about the subject to start with, now I've just got to have a word with admin about adding a red faced smiley that shows embarrasment