Roma

Core values & worldview

If you ask a Romani person what makes someone Roma, the answer is rarely about a country. It is about family, language, the way you live with others, and a long shared memory of being outsiders.^•

Family above all. For many Roma the extended family is the centre of life: grandparents, parents, children, cousins, often living close together, sharing work, celebrations and responsibility for one another. Large families are common, people marry relatively young in more traditional communities, and elders are respected and consulted. Being alone, without family, is seen by many as a kind of misfortune.^•

Roma and gadje. Many Romani groups draw a strong line between themselves and outsiders, gadje (in Spanish Caló, payos). This is partly self-protection after centuries of persecution, and partly a moral world: what holds among Roma, trust, solidarity, shared obligations, does not automatically extend to outsiders, and many Roma have learned to keep their private lives private.^•

Purity and respect. In some groups, especially Vlax Roma, ideas of purity (marime or mahrime) govern daily life: the upper body is clean and the lower body polluting, so dishes, clothes and washing water are kept carefully apart, and serious breaches of the code can lead to temporary exclusion from the community. British Romanichal and other groups have similar cleanliness rules, often visible in spotless trailers and separate washing bowls. Other Roma keep few of these rules, and many urban Roma none.^•

Honour, modesty and gender. In more traditional communities, women’s modesty and family honour matter a great deal; among Spanish Gitanos, the bride’s virginity has traditionally been celebrated in a wedding ceremony. Men and women often have distinct roles. Many Romani women, including activists and scholars, are pushing for change from inside their communities, while defending them against outsiders who use gender to stigmatise them.^•

Living for today. The anthropologist Michael Stewart found among Hungarian Roma a philosophy of sharing and living in the present, valuing cleverness, trading and good company over saving and accumulation. It is one strand of a worldview shaped by centuries in which planning for a secure future was often impossible.^•

Daily life & customs

Most Roma are settled, and have been for generations; only a small minority travel, and many travelling families do so only seasonally. Daily life looks like that of their neighbours, with jobs, school runs and phones, but often in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone is related.^•

Work. Historically Roma were smiths, coppersmiths, horse-dealers, basket-makers, scrap dealers, traders and musicians, often self-employed and moving with demand. Today many work in markets, construction, recycling and services; a growing number are teachers, nurses, lawyers and civil servants, though some hide their identity at work to avoid discrimination.^•

Celebrations. Weddings are huge, often lasting days, with live music, dancing and a show of generosity; among some Vlax Roma, families negotiate a bride-price. Baptisms, saints’ days and Easter are major feasts. Death is treated with great seriousness: relatives gather for days, there may be a vigil with the body, and among many Eastern European Roma memorial feasts (pomana) follow at set intervals to honour the dead.^•

Community justice. Some Vlax Romani communities still settle disputes through a kris, a gathering of respected elders, rather than going to the police or courts.^•

Faith. Roma usually share the religion of their country, Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim or Protestant, often with their own pilgrimages, such as the May gathering at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Since the 1950s, a Romani Pentecostal movement has drawn huge numbers, especially in Spain, France and Romania.^•

Language. Romani is spoken by several million people in dozens of dialects, often mixed with the local language; some groups, such as Spanish Gitanos and British Romanichal, now speak a local language with Romani words (Caló, Angloromani), and others, such as the Beash of Hungary, speak an old form of Romanian. Romani has long been an oral language, and standard writing systems are still debated.^•

Wounds & sensitivities

Slavery. For Roma in Romania, nearly five centuries of slavery, ended only in 1856 and left out of school history for most of the twentieth century, is a foundational wound.^•

The genocide. The Porajmos destroyed whole families. Its long denial, the refusal of compensation and the slow arrival of memorials made it a double injury. Many Roma feel their victims are still “forgotten” in Holocaust remembrance.^•

Bodies and children. The forced sterilisation of Romani women in Czechoslovakia and its successors, and the removal of children by authorities over centuries, explain a deep distrust of hospitals, social services and schools. The old myth that “Gypsies steal children” still causes harm: in October 2013, after a case in Greece, police in Ireland briefly removed two fair-haired children from Romani families whose parents turned out to be exactly who they said; an official inquiry found the removals were driven by ethnic profiling.^•

Everyday racism. Many Roma are followed by security guards in shops, refused service or housing, stopped by police, or pushed into separate schools. Casual phrases such as “gypped” or using “gypsy” to mean “carefree wanderer” hurt more than people realise.^•

Being treated as a “problem”. Roma are often discussed only through crime, begging or welfare, and rarely asked their own views. Being the object of endless “integration” projects, designed without them, is exhausting.^•

Modern attitudes

Pride and invisibility. A growing number of Roma, especially young, educated ones, are openly proud: celebrating 8 April, flying the blue-green flag, writing and performing in Romani. Others, especially those who have moved into middle-class jobs, keep their identity quiet to avoid prejudice, and some census counts are far below estimates for this reason.^•

Activism. Romani organisations campaign against antigypsyism, school segregation and police violence, for recognition of the genocide and slavery, and for Roma to be included in decisions about them. Romani women’s movements have become especially influential.^•

Tradition and change. Communities debate early marriage, girls’ education and the role of elders, and many families combine strong traditions with change: girls staying in school longer, couples choosing each other, Pentecostal churches replacing older customs.^•

Migration. Since EU enlargement, many Roma from Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have moved to the UK, Spain, Italy, France and Germany for work; some found better schools and less prejudice, others new kinds of exclusion.^•

Not all Roma are the same

Groups and names. Roma (or Rom) in Central and Eastern Europe include many subgroups: Vlax Roma such as the Kalderash and Lovara, Hungarian Romungro, Polish Polska Roma and Bergitka Roma, Balkan Arlija and Erli. Sinti, in Germany, Austria and northern Italy, and Manouches in France often do not call themselves Roma at all. Kale (Calé) include Spanish and Portuguese Gitanos, Finnish Kale and Welsh Kale. Romanichal are the Gypsies of England, many proud of the word “Gypsy”.^•

Travellers are not Roma. Irish Travellers (Mincéirí) and Scottish Travellers are indigenous peoples with their own languages (Shelta/Cant) and history; Ireland recognised Travellers as an ethnic group in 2017. In Britain they are often grouped with Romanichal as “Gypsies and Travellers” because they face similar discrimination, but they are distinct.^•

Related but separate. The Dom of the Middle East and the Lom of Armenia and Georgia share Indian origins with the Roma but are separate peoples. In Kosovo and Albania, Albanian-speaking Ashkali and Egyptians often reject the Roma label.^•

Religion, class and lifestyle. Roma can be Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim or Pentecostal; rich traders or poor settlement dwellers; traditional or entirely secular. A Romani lawyer in Madrid and a family in a Slovak settlement share a name but little of daily life.^•

Meeting someone

Conversation starters

• Family. Ask about their family and where they come from; most Roma love to talk about relatives, often a great many of them.
• Music. Flamenco, Balkan brass, Django Reinhardt or their own family’s musicians; many will happily share favourites.
• Language. Ask whether they speak Romani and which dialect; showing you know it is a real language, related to Hindi, is often appreciated.
• 8 April and the flag. Ask what International Roma Day means to them.

Topics to approach carefully

• Names. Don’t call someone a “Gypsy” unless they use the word themselves; “Roma” or “Romani” is a safe default in most of Europe, but follow their lead.^•
  • Factsheets on Romani History: Emancipation and the Romani movement — Council of Europe
  • I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies — Yaron Matras, Allen Lane (2014)
• Customs and purity rules. Questions about marriage, virginity or marime can feel intrusive or like a test of “how traditional” they are. Let them bring it up.
• The genocide, slavery and sterilisation. These may be family history. Listen; don’t ask for proof.
• Crime and begging. Don’t make Roma explain or answer for headlines about other people.

Common misconceptions

• “Roma are nomads.” Most Roma have been settled for generations; travelling was usually a response to work or to expulsion, not an essence.^•
  • I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies — Yaron Matras, Allen Lane (2014)
  • The Gypsies — Angus Fraser, Blackwell (1992)
• “Roma are Romanians.” The similar names are a coincidence: “Roma” comes from Romani rom, “man/husband”, while “Romania” comes from Rome. Many Roma live in Romania, but most Romanians are not Roma.^•
  • Romani: A Linguistic Introduction — Yaron Matras, Cambridge University Press (2002)
• “Gypsy is just a lifestyle.” Roma are an ethnic group with a shared origin, language and history, not people who choose a bohemian life.^•
  • Romani: A Linguistic Introduction — Yaron Matras, Cambridge University Press (2002)
  • Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data — Isabel Mendizabal et al. (Current Biology) (2012)
• “Roma don’t want to work or study.” Exclusion from jobs and schools, and generations of poverty, explain far more than culture does; where discrimination falls, Romani education and employment rise.^•
  • Roma in 10 European Countries: Main Results (Roma Survey 2021) — European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2022)
  • Roma equality, inclusion and participation in the EU — European Commission
• “All Roma are the same.” They are dozens of distinct communities across every European country and the Americas.^•
  • I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies — Yaron Matras, Allen Lane (2014)