We’ve all heard or read a bunch of things about Romani in our lives, but there’s very little that we really know about their culture and their lives. We know they’re a nomadic folk, sure, but that’s pretty much where it ends for most people. They don’t have a good reputation either, so I guess most people don’t want to get to know them.
That seems like the perfect excuse to set some things straight and take a look at some cool facts about the Romani, so we can paint ourselves a much more realistic picture of this group of people.
Their Lifestyle
While they are a people with a history of mass migration and exodus, this wasn’t always by choice. Much like today, they’ve met with resistance and scrutiny everywhere they went. This pretty much forced them to leave the place where they’d nested themselves sooner or later. Their nomadic lifestyle might be tied as much to survival as it is to being free-spirited.
Their Religion
While the Romani have no formal belief, they’ll often assimilate to the religion of the country they’re currently staying in. Their own beliefs are treated separately from that and following the dominant religion in the country they’re in can also be seen as a survival mechanism here.
Their Numbers
With all the migrations and moving around the globe, we don’t really know how many Romani there are. Not to mention the fact that there are very good reasons why someone would want to keep their Romani origins hidden from the world. Only The New York Times ever dared guess how many Romani there were, and they reached a number of 11 million. It could be much higher or lower however, it’s anyone’s guess at this point.
