3min chapter

Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong cover image

History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 1 -- From Ancient Origins to the Eighteenth Century

Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong

CHAPTER

Keeping the Roma in Existence a Group Within Europe

There is an enduring, very strong taboo against exposure of the lower body. There are limits on contact, fraternization and particularly intermarriage with outsiders. One cannot take up any gaja dwelling place, a home, or even a field without doing some sort of ritual cleansing. And all these things that are unclean or impure are called marime, and they have to be somehow managed by being avoided or cast out or cleansed out. So it seems that this sort of set of attitudes about activity and about boundaries between pure and impure, carried over from india, likely helped to maintain a cohesive, distinct group as they migrated westward.

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