Crimean Roma

Crimean Roma
	Family of Crimean Roma in the Stavropol Governorate. Pre-Russian Revolution.
Languages
	Crimean Romani, Crimean Tatar, Russian
Religion
	Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
	Ursari, Ruska Roma

The Crimean Roma (also known as Crimean gypsies, Tatar gypsies, Ayuji (Crimean Tatar for 'bear cub'), Krymy, or Çingene[lower-alpha 1]) are a sub-ethnic group of the Muslim Roma. Currently, they live in many countries of the former Soviet Union, including Russia. They speak the Crimean Tatar language and their own Crimean Romani dialect.[1] Crimean Roma traditionally practice Islam.

History and ethnogenesis

Auguste Raffet. Crimean gypsies. Lithograph, 1837

Gypsies arrived on the territory of Crimea with the Golden Horde. In the Crimean Khanate, the Roma, like people of other nations, were not harassed; the authorities did not persecute them and they were not treated with contempt.[2] In Crimea, they led a sedentary and semi-sedentary lifestyle, engage in productive labor and music.[2] In the 18th century, Islam became the traditional religion of the Crimean gypsies. Roma researcher Nikolai Stieber wrote in his essay on Roma in Crimea:

Все крымские цыгане исповедуют мусульманскую веру, многие из них выполняют даже заповеди Корана не менее строго, чем другие мусульмане. Крымские цыгане живут постоянно среди татарского населения, носят обыкновенно татарские имена, говорят свободно на татарском языке. В отношении одежды цыгане стараются подражать татарам: мужчины одеваются в халаты, покрывают голову татарской шапкой: цыганки на голове татарскую шапочку. Чингене в качестве ремесленников пользуются среди местного населения большим успехом и влиянием, к ним относятся как к честным труженикам. Некоторые из крымских цыган служат носильщиками на судах при нагрузке зернового хлеба; ведут разносную торговлю. Крымские цыгане играют на дауле, скрипке и зурне; они играют всюду, где только их приглашают; в городских кофейнях и гостиницах, на татарских свадьбах и вечерах.

All Crimean gypsies profess the Muslim faith, many of them even fulfill the commandments of the Koran no less strictly than other Muslims. Crimean gypsies live permanently among the Tatar population, usually have Tatar names, speak fluently in the Crimean Tatar language. With regard to clothing, the gypsies try to imitate the Tatars: men dress in bathrobes, cover their heads with a Tatar hat: gypsies wear a Tatar hat on their heads. Chingene as artisans enjoy great success and influence among the local population, they are treated as honest workers. Some of the Crimean gypsies serve as porters on ships when loading grain bread; carry on a peddling trade. Crimean gypsies play the daul, violin and zurna; they play wherever they are invited; in city coffee houses and hotels, at Tatar weddings, sünnet toy (circumcision evenings).

—Nikolai Stieber[2]

Settlement and migration

Auguste Raffet. Gypsies of Crimea at the mosque (on the ground), 1837

Crimean Roma lived in Crimea and in the Kuban steppe, which was part of the Crimean Khanate. The Crimean Roma were the first Roma to appear in the Kuban steppe. Today, the descendants of the first Roma who settled in the Kuban do not call themselves Crimean gypsies, but Kuban gypsies, while they retain the Crimean dialect of the Romani language and follow Islam and boys are circumcised.

From 1854 to 1862, Tatar Roma together with the Crimean Tatars were expelled to the Ottoman Empire. Most settled in Northern Bulgaria, especially in Dobruja, near the Danube, and in the Vidin region.

Crimean Tatar intervention saved the lives of Crimean Muslim gypsies from the Nazis, but in 1944, the Crimean Roma, as well as the Crimean Tatars, were deported to Central Asia, due to the fact that most of the Crimean Roma were registered as Crimean Tatars in their Soviet passports.

In 1948–1949 the Crimean Roma began to return to Crimea.

Currently, the majority of Crimean Roma live outside of Crimea in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. There are also families living in Ukraine, namely in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, and Kherson.

Demographics

According to the 2014 Crimean census, the Roma were the youngest ethnic group in Crimea with an average age of 28.3 years, while the average age of the entire republic was 40.9 years.[3]

Note

Russian: чингене; anglicized as 'Chingen'

References

Marushiakova, Elena; Vesselin, Popov (2004). "Segmentation vs. consolidation: The example of four Gypsy groups in CIS" (PDF). Romani Studies. 14 (2): 145–191. doi:10.3828/rs.2004.6.
"Крымские цыгане, или чингене: кто они?" (in Russian). avdet.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
"Демографические перспективы крымских татар | Газета 'Голос Крыма new' — официальный сайт". Archived from the original on 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2017-10-25.

Sources

Toropov, V. G. (2009). Crimean Roma: Language and Folklore (PDF). Translated by Stepanov, A. V. Unona Publishing House. ISBN 978-5-89729-118-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-04-21.
"Crimean Gypsies". Poemas del río Wang. June 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
"Oral History of Tatar Roma of Bulgaria". Roma: past, present, future. Khristo Ki︠u︡chukov, Elena Marushiakova, Veselin Popov, Gypsy Lore Society. Annual Meeting. Muenchen: Lincom GmbH. 2016. ISBN 978-3-86288-736-1. OCLC 985346229.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Smirnova-Seslavinskaya, M. V. (November 2016). "ROMA MIGRATION IN THE SOUTHERN REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CRIMEA, FORMATION OF THE CRIMEAN ROMA (KRYMY) COMMUNITY" (in Russian). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

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[1] Russian: чингене; anglicized as 'Chingen'

[2] Marushiakova, Elena; Vesselin, Popov (2004). "Segmentation vs. consolidation: The example of four Gypsy groups in CIS" (PDF). Romani Studies. 14 (2): 145–191. doi:10.3828/rs.2004.6.

[avdet-3] "Крымские цыгане, или чингене: кто они?" (in Russian). avdet.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2019-12-27.

[4] "Демографические перспективы крымских татар | Газета 'Голос Крыма new' — официальный сайт". Archived from the original on 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2017-10-25.