Mujeres gitanas - History Lab https://historylab.es Thu, 19 May 2022 15:04:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Mujeres gitanas - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 Cingara orientale https://historylab.es/cingara-orientale/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cingara-orientale Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:21 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/cingara-orientale/ Engraving by Christoph Krieger, entitled Cingara orientale, included in De gli habiti antichi

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]]> Around 1590 Cesare Vecellio (1521-1601) published in Venice one of the best-known works on Cinquecento costume, entitled De gli habiti antichi, et moderni di diverse parti del mondo. The two-volume volume, illustrated with engravings by Christoph Krieger, contains representative costumes from Europe, Asia and Africa, together with extensive commentaries that provide detailed information on the costume, the place of origin of the people and their customs. Among the pages the author devotes to Asia, with the inhabitants of India, is the Gypsy woman (cingara orientale). What stands out about her is the hat that covers her head, an element that Vecellio calls a “crown” in the original Italian text but which is called a bern in Gypsy women’s clothing. This consists of several wide ribbons wound or intertwined on a wide and more or less rigid base, which could sometimes be made of wicker or even wood. The use of this headdress does not seem to correspond to any kind of social or civil category, but rather it is possible that it was an element of protection for both women and children, useful against the rain or the sun, which they would have to face as a nomadic group constantly exposed to the inclemency of the weather. This female attire was complemented by the use of sackcloth over the body and cloaks over the shoulders, which often made it easier to carry children.

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]]> Gypsies in front of the city of Bern https://historylab.es/gypsies-in-front-of-the-city-of-bern/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gypsies-in-front-of-the-city-of-bern Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:21 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/gitanos-ante-la-ciudad-de-berna/ Illustration by Diebold Schilling showing a group of gypsies at the gates of the city of Bern, Switzerland (1485)

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]]> Although the Gypsy culture has been and still is largely ungrammatical, the linguistic influences to which the Gypsies were exposed have made it possible to trace their origins to India, specifically to the north, in the Punjab region. Settled in tents on the outskirts of villages, it is quite likely that they were engaged in the manufacture of baskets and iron tools, as members of a lower caste. Although the dates of their departure from India remain unclear today, an early reference to their exodus is found in the testimony of the Persian poet Firdusi (11th century), who said that the Gypsies would have arrived in Persia in the 5th century to serve the Sassanid king Bahram Gur as dancers and musicians. In any case, they must have remained in Persian territory long enough for Semitic elements to be incorporated into their language. Around 750, when Persia was under Arab domination, the Gypsy people split into two distinct groups and headed for Syria and Armenia, where they settled long enough to adopt Armenian words. Attacks by Byzantine soldiers in the 11th century caused them to look for a new location, this time in Byzantine Greece. At the dawn of the 12th century they were taken to be descendants of Simon Magus – a Samaritan race associated with witchcraft and animal poisoning; in the 13th century they were taken to be soothsayers and snake charmers; and during the 14th century they were assimilated with the descendants of Cain, son of Noah, who were characteristically very dark-skinned. Before the end of this century, the Gypsies had already reached the Balkans. The Turkish invasion brought them into Western Europe from 1417 onwards, and they expanded rapidly. In 1485 they reached the city of Bern in Switzerland and stayed at the city gates, as recorded in Diebold Schilling’s Spiezer Chronik. In the picture the Gypsies form a compact group, characterised by their tanned skin and brightly coloured clothing in shades of blue, green, red and yellow. The men, in the foreground, cover their heads with pointed hats, while the women, with children in their arms or attached to their cloaks, wear turbans.

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