Even a casual acquaintance with the Romanies will reveal the fact that in common with their Oriental relatives, gypsy women and girls are very fond of finery and personal adornment, and many of them may be found wearing valuable ear-rings, finger rings and other jewellery. One old writer, I note, roundly condemns this practice among them and endeavours to substantiate his remarks by quoting the exhortation of the apostle Peter:—
“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting of the hair, and the wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel.”
Let us look at the matter fairly. We may presume the gypsies derive a certain pleasure in wearing such finery and jewellery as they can command, and we may safely give them credit for obtaining them honestly; indeed, most of their articles of jewellery are heirlooms, and are, of course, valued much beyond their intrinsic worth. Who then has any right whatever to interfere with their use of these things, or to dictate whether they should, or should not wear them?
The gypsy also dresses her hair in a particular manner because her ancestors so dressed theirs, because too she knows perfectly well what suits her; moreover, she has not the least desire to dress or appear as a gorgio, and to suggest to a gypsy that she should adopt the ways of Gentiles in these respects is nothing short of an insult.
True gypsies are a most exclusive race, but there have been numerous intermarriages with Gentiles, and even at a single fair or other gypsy gathering a discriminating observer will soon discover almost as many social grades as in a non-gypsy community, and several degrees of racial admixture; at the top of the scale, Romanies of interesting personality, at the bottom, Chorodies, “low, wandering outcasts,” with little or no gypsy blood in their veins, and whose hair has been described as reminiscent of the material of which cheap mops are composed, and whose habits are disgustingly dirty. Unfortunately for the reputation of the real gypsy, many people who have not thought it worth while to look into the matter, are unaware that these differences exist, and consequently class all together as “gypsies.” The language of the Chorodies is a conglomeration of Romany, bad English and slang, differing widely from the “gentle Romany” of the true gypsy.
I have said that gypsies are exclusive,—this is especially noticeable in the way the Romany tongue is kept secret by them. It is scarcely ever displayed, although it may be occasionally used in public for strategic reasons; even a knowledge of it will be denied by them when interrogated by one who appears inquisitive; it is nevertheless spoken, little or much by thousands in England to-day.
It is a curious but indisputable fact that among true gypsies as well as Romany half-breeds, the Oriental characteristics—black hair, dark eyes, swarthy skin, peculiar cast of features, and lithe body—are usually much more evident in the women than in the men, in girls than boys.
A good type of English gypsy girl is Dōsha (see Frontispiece), whose portrait exhibits all these peculiarities most distinctly; the facial angle, the carriage of the head, even the angle of the body, and, one might almost say, the “hang” of the clothes, are Oriental.
