My Grandfather Mehmed Ali
My grandfather Mehmed Ali was an old-fashioned Turk. He wore a long beard and the traditional Turkish costume. Each morning he would sit down next to the charcoal, the earthenware pot filled with live coals, sip his coffee and puff his long-stemmed chibouk. He would often
The History Of The Dobrujan Turks
The history of Dobrudja, this ancient stretch of land between the Danube and the Black Sea, the territory thereof rightfully has been noted as an authentic ethnic blend, has along the centuries imposed a genuine model of co-habitation. Dobrudja was the trunk carrying the
La Tzigane
Gais Bohémiens, d'où venez-vous?Béranger She's softly walking by with sylph-like grace,Her ample skirts unfold in gliding pleatsAs she moves lithely, at a hurried pace,Svelte as a lily, through unending streets. Her dainty foot, arched elegantly, keenTo travel
Dilitufan
* Once upon a time there was an emperor, half snake, half man. This emperor had a daughter. She was locked in a room, so as not even the sun could touch her, until she was twenty-two. At that time, a Gypsy came to the pond to catch fish. He caught two fish, the kings of
The Dynamic Equivalence Of Gypsy Fashion
Gianina lu' Manşonică of Sinteşti interviewed by Tita Chiper Our host's courtyard could be best described as transition in progress, accurately preserving each of its successive stages: it begins with two run-down foreign cars, and ends with an ashen tent proudly
Four Life Stories
At the Outskirts of Giurgiu*At the outskirts of Giurgiu there was a Turkish village, and that village was called Selima. When the Turks left the city, a hundred and a half years ago, we, the gypsies who tinned the pails, continued to live in that village. We remained in
The Violin Player Ion Voicu
It is hard to say when the Gypsies came to Romania for the first time, and then settled for good, but the oldest documents date from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when the royal charters mentioned the fiddler slaves, sold alongside the dependencies and objects from
The Origin Of The Violin
In a beautiful forest on a mountain, there lived a girl with her four brothers, her father and mother, in a little house. The girl loved a handsome rich hunter, who often walked the woods but never tried to strike a conversation with the beautiful girl. So, Mara wept bitterly
Théodore Valério (1819-1879)
Gypsy slave French painter, engraver and lithographer Théodore Valério started to work and set up shows quite early. Between 1840 and 1850, he created in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, and then traveled to Hungary and the neighboring countries, including the
The Roma In The Romanian Medieval Imaginary
The Roma Study Center, the History Faculty of the University of Bucharest I. The Roma's first contacts with the natives of the Romanian spaceThe Roma are a people hailing from India and their migration to Europe, in successive waves, spanned several centuries from the
The Polish Community In Romania - Durability And Continuity
We are very aware that there is a continuity in history from past to future, through the present. Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (1901-1981), Primate of the Millennium BackgroundRomanian history from the 14th century until the 18th century displays the significant influence
The Wild Wine Gallery
excerpt Bunthe had thought it appropriate to put up their two unexpected guests from Bucharest with Father Calist. The villagers were saying they had got lucky. The weather was beautiful, spring was coming. The sun shone as if it was already April. The wildflowers that