The Bulgarian Gypsies (Romani people) - The Gipsy community in Bulgaria

• published: 07 Apr 2015
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In Bulgaria, the Romani are most commonly referred to as Tsigani (цигани, pronounced [tsiɡəni]), an exonym that some Romani resent and others embrace. The form of the endonym Roma in Bulgarian is romi (роми). Bulgaria participates in the Decade of Roma Inclusion, an international initiative to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Romani, with eight other governments committing themselves to "work toward eliminating discrimination and closing the unacceptable gaps between Roma and the rest of society". The rights of the Romani people in the country are also represented by various political parties and cultural organizations, most notably the Civil Union "Roma". Noted Romani from Bulgaria include musicians Azis, Sofi Marinova and Ivo Papazov, surgeon Aleksandar Chirkov, politicians Toma Tomov and Tsvetelin Kanchev, footballer Marian Ognyanov, and 1988 Olympic boxing champion Ismail Mustafov. Gypsies in Bulgaria are not a unified community in terms of culture and lifestyle. The most widespread group of the Romani in the country are the yerlii or the 'local Roma', which are in turn divided into Bulgarian Gypsies (daskane roma) and Turkish Gypsies (horahane roma). The former are mostly Christian (Eastern Orthodox and Protestant), while the latter are Muslim. Many of the Muslim Romani or the so-called Turkish Gypsies are usually well integrated within the ethnic Turkish society in Bulgaria and many possess Turkish ethnic identity and speak Turkish in addition to Romani. Racism against the Romani population in Bulgaria has existed for centuries and was fuelled during Ottoman rule when many, probably due to ill treatment from the native Bulgarians sided with the Turks adopting their language and religion. A subgroup of the Bulgarian Gypsies in Southern Bulgaria, the Asparuhovi bâlgari ('Asparuh Bulgarians') – that is known also as either stari bâlgari ('Old Bulgarians'), sivi gâlâbi ('Grey Doves', 'Grey Pigeons'), or demirdzhii – self-identify as the descendants of blacksmiths for Khan Asparuh's army. Some deny any connection with the Romani and most do not speak Romani. Other Romani groups include the conservative wandering Kalderash (sometimes referred to by the exonym Serbian Gypsies) that are Eastern Orthodox and the Rudari (or Ludari) who speak a dialect of Romanian and are known as Vlax Gypsies. They are further subdivided into three groups by their traditional craft: the Ursari or Mechkari ('bear trainers'), the Lingurari or Kopanari ('carpenters', primarily associated with wooden bowls) and the Lautari ('musicians'). They migrated from Wallachia to present-day Bulgaria after 1856, the year of their liberation from slavery. Even a superficial acquaintance with the Bulgarian Gypsies gives us some impression of the great variety of Gypsy communities (some of whom do not have a Roma identity) in the country. There are traditional communities (nomads or sedentary) with preserved old trades, language and ethnic and cultural characteristics, as well as communities who have integrated in the surrounding population and are relatively well-educated and socially active. In order to have a better understanding of the present day situation of the Gypsy minority in Bulgaria we have to consider their basic ethnic and social parameters and ethnic and cultural features, as well as their place in society from a historical point of view1. Based on the above the present day problems of Bulgarian Gypsies and the main trends of development of the Gypsy community become clear. The first wave of large-scale settlement of Gypsies in Bulgarian lands can be traced back approximately to the period of the 12th—14th c., some earlier contacts are also possible (as early as the 9th century according to some scholarly opinions). Processes of sedentarization in the towns and villages were active among a part of the Gypsy population in the Ottoman Empire (15th—19th c.), others were still living as nomads and had preserved the old trades. A new type of semi-nomadic lifestyle also emerged at the time (Gypsies with a winter residence and an active nomadic season within the regional boundaries). In the 17th and 18th c. a great number of Gypsies, leaving the Danubian principalities (Wallachia and Moldova), entered the Ottoman Empire (the Second Gypsy migration wave in Bulgarian lands). New waves of Gypsy groups came to Bulgaria in the second half of the 19th c. and the beginning of the 20th c. from the principalities after the end of Gypsy slavery (the Third Gypsy migration wave in Bulgarian lands). The migration of Gypsies from neighbouring countries (mainly Rumania and Greece) continued until the 20th c. and was usually related to the change of country borders in the wars (the two Balkan wars, W. W. I and W. W. II).