THE

ROMANI
PEOPLE
WHO ARE THE
ROMANI
PEOPLE?
the romani people are the largest
and most discriminated ethnic
minority in europe with an
estimate of over 10 million, and 20
million all across the world who
unfortunately face daily racism,
discrimination, job & service
denial, police brutality and even
bullying amongst the younger
generation in educational
environments
WHERE DID
ROMANI PEOPLE
COME FROM?
-
due to genetic & linguistic
studies, it has been found and
proven that roma people
originated in northern india
before fleeing the islamic
invasions that took part in the
11th century which forced
romani people to leave their
homes and travel west of india
into pakistan & afghanistan
WHY ARE WE
CALLED
ROMA/ROMANI?
-
the word roma is believed to
derive from the cast group of
indian musicians & dancers who
were called doma in ancient
india, who can be confirmed to
be the exact ethnic ancestors of
the roma people, interestingly the
roma diaspora who settled in the
middle-east still identify as doma
which suggests that even the
roma people in europe were once
called doma before entering
europe
 ROMANI
-

WEDDINGS
one of the most important parts
of roma culture is marrige and
the continuation of our bloodline,
which is how we percieved our
indian roots & language after a
whole millennium by practicing
endogamy ( not marrying outside
our community )
THE ROMANI
FLAG AND ITS
SYMBLOSIM
-
made & designed in 1971-1978
the romani flag was made to
represent all romani diasporas
all across the globe, green
representing our nomadic
journey across the earth, the blue
representing the sky, and the red
indian dharma chakra in the
middle to represent our indian
orgin which can be seen in the
indian flag aswell
WHAT RELIGION
ARE ROMANI
PEOPLE?
-
the romani people were often
oprssed, killed & esnslaved in the
balkans due to their pagan
practices like tarot card readings
and palm divinations making
europeans label them as
“witches” which lead them to
completely erase & transform
romani people into their own
likes, by forcing them to convert
and accept christianity or islam
TRADITIONAL
ROMANI
CLOTHES
-
romani women are known for
their vibrant and colorful flower
patterns, but the most evident
and beautiful sign of modesty in
roma culture are our headwraps
called “diklo” which is worn by
freshly married romani women
to signify their marrige and
sometimes coming of age
ROMANI
PEOPLE IN THE
HOLOCAUST
-
it may come as shocking and
unheard to some, but indeed
150,000 - 500,000 of the
holocausts victims were romani
people who were classified as
“enemies of the race-based state”
and placing them in the same
category as jewish peoppe
 GYPSY? OR
- ROMANI?
when we hear the word gypsy we ofter
imagine a nomadic group of people living
in caravans, little do people know the
reason why this word exists is due to the
first arrival of romani people in europe,
when romani people arrived in europe
they still haven’t settled fully and
europeans mistakenly thought their origin
mightve been egyptian due to their non-
european physical features, some might
even say that gypsy is a slur reminding
romani people of their negative
stereotypes, but despite that in today’s
society romani people prefer to be called
by their name as the romani people and
not by the name gypsy given to them by
europeans