Getting It Right in Bucharest

by A.C. Doyle

The second largest building in the world commands a hilltop overlooking the center of Bucharest. Known as “The Monster” to locals, it was built out of ideological hubris by longtime dictator Nicolai Ceausescu. He never lived to witness its completion, though he nearly bankrupted the national treasury and worked countless slave laborers to death over the twenty years of its construction. In mid-December of 1989, during one of his regular speeches from the balcony of his former headquarters, the crowd, who had been emptied from factories and bussed to the square against their will, began a revolt that spread throughout the country. Soon the military joined in, eventually executing the dictator and his wife on Christmas Day in front of a worldwide television audience.

Ceausescu had prepared a new and grander balcony on The Monster, from which he had hoped to hector his cowed proletariat for years to come. Instead, for the dedication of the new building, someone else appeared on the balcony. The not-yet-disgraced King of Pop, Michael Jackson, strode out and waved to the hundreds of thousands gathered outside, then announced: “Helloooooo, BUDAPEST!”

Stunned silence followed. Such was Bucharest’s fate. After decades under Europe’s most draconian socialist government, and prevailing through the only revolution of the former Eastern bloc that was not “velvet,” they were greeted by the biggest star in the West conflating their name with ... that OTHER capital.

By any other name …

Bucharest (Romanians pronounce it BYOO-kah-rist, rhyming with the communion wafer) is a city of such improbable contrasts, you couldn’t blame it for having an identity crisis. But this is not the case. The city has absorbed centuries of Ottoman, Saxon, Austrian, French, Roma, and Russian influences, but still has its own determined personality. If there are incongruities, the locals take them in stride. Indeed, a sense of the absurd is a Bucharest hallmark. The Surrealist movement found some of its most influential artists here, such as playwright Eugene Ionescu.

While Ceausescu managed to uproot much of the old town and replace it with social-realist architecture of the drabbest sort, a great deal of the old charm has been preserved. Bucharest was once known as “Little Paris,” and the blueprint for its 19th-century redesign was indeed created by Baron Haussmann, who gave Paris its famous, tree-lined boulevards and wide vistas.

Many of the architects who laid out Bucharest’s downtown were French, or Romanians who had studied at Paris’ Ecole des Beaux Arts. They adorned the city with wide avenues, gracious mansions, and public buildings designed in the Belle Epoque style. There are absolutely beautiful parks, heroic statues overlooking classically laid out public squares, and even an arc de triomphe of their own on the Soseaua Kiseleff. In warmer weather, don’t miss Cismigiu Parcul, the central park of Bucharest, whose charming lanes and islands lure joggers in the morning, strollers in the afternoon, revelers in the evening, and lovers at night. There are many bars and restaurants on both the shorelines and the islands, accessible by various private and public boats.

The medieval section of town is called Lipscani. While it is a bit neglected, and could benefit from the sort of facelift Prague and Vilnius have enjoyed, it is dustily evocative. The fine university dominates one side of it, and both day and night its cafes and bars are buzzing with young Romanians. The old town is dimly lit at night, but dreamily so, and an hour or so on foot will allow you to cover most of its charming streets, some of which are cobbled in wood. You can also see the real castle of Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian prince whom we have come to know as Dracula (the one promoted by the Romanian government as Dracula’s Castle lies a few hours north, in the Transylvanian city of Bran, where Vlad had been imprisoned for a while.)

The heart of Bucharest is fairly compact, and most sites can be seen in the course of a day or two. There are a number of fine orthodox churches—a heartening sight when you consider that Ceausescu destroyed at least 26 churches and 7,000 homes to build his “Palace of the People” alone. So don’t be perplexed to find a delicate chapel, sitting forlornly on concrete rollers in the middle of a grim block of modern workers’ flats. It was likely ripped from its 400-year old foundations to make room for some bureaucratic behemoth.

Speaking of behemoths, “The Monster” itself is actually attractive, in an odd Art-Deco-Meets-Renaissance-Revival way, particularly at a distance, as you gaze up at it through rows of lovely gardens representing every county in Romania. You can see it from a great distance, by the way: at 3.76 million square feet, The Monster is second only to the Pentagon in size. Among its oddities: a lobby that spans 300 feet … a three-ton crystal chandelier with 7,000 bulbs … a hall with a sliding ceiling large enough to let a helicopter in. It is a veritable museum of the absurd.

The gypsy beat

Periodically you will pass Roma (gypsy) settlements, both in Bucharest itself as well as on the roads leaving town toward the provinces, where copper-complexioned men work at stone-cutting and metalwork, and lushly beautiful women tend the crops, their colorful scarves and sashes billowing in the breeze. There are anywhere from half a million to a million gypsies in Romania, and still several thousand who are true nomads, traveling in their covered wagon “duplexes.” The Roma people arrived in Romania during the 13th and 14th centuries, and many were slaves up until their emancipation in 1850. Roma people have been persecuted through the ages, here as elsewhere. But today, they run one of Romania’s largest unions and have a seat in Parliament. Of their 21 castes, an increasing number tend to avail themselves of the national education and healthcare systems, and often complete higher education. Many members of the national symphony are gypsies, and of course their own native music is an aural wonderment of devilishly quick reels and dizzying chromatic scale inflections, dating back to the fifth century BC, but incorporating many modern elements as well.

Beyond Bucharest

From Bucharest there are stunning roads winding up into the Carpathians, where the castles and monasteries and Renaissance towns of Transylvania all beckon, not to mention the Carpathians themselves, the most rugged mountains in Europe. Sinaia, Brasov, and Sighisoara are not to be missed. Bucharest is also quite near the sunny resorts of the Black Sea, including Constanta, its largest port and the eastern terminus of Grand Circle’s river cruise of the Danube.

When you come, don’t repeat Michael Jackson’s gaffe. Get it right: say “Helloooooo” BUCHAREST, grab a 90-cent glass of wine, and toast the lovely people and places abounding in this rare unpolished gem.

What’s in a name? Remember, the root word of Bucharest, bucur, means “joy.”

The Romani People: Demystifying Europe’s largest minority

by S.M. Nichols from Currents

Movie goddess Rita Hayworth descended from a Spanish Romani family whose patriarch introduced the bolero to the world. British actor Michael Caine counts South London Romani horse traders in his family tree. A secret letter that surfaced after Charlie Chaplin’s death claimed his mother gave birth to him in a “Gypsy caravan.”

“Diamond Jim” Brady, famed as much for his outsized appetites as for his fabled fortune, is reputed to be of Romani ancestry. Even President Bill Clinton’s roots have been traced to Charles Blythe, who was crowned “King of the Scottish Gypsies” in 1847, according to Romani scholar Ian Hancock (whose heritage is also Romani).

With a worldwide population conservatively estimated at twelve million, it seems the Romani (pronounced as rom-uh-nee)—popularly, though inaccurately, called Gypsies—would be well represented in all walks of life. However, their marginalization throughout history dictated against conventional mainstream success. For centuries, they lived at society’s edge: by dictum, by discrimination, and by their desire to preserve their cultural integrity.

So, who are the Romani?

A history on the move

Using linguistic and cultural clues and, finally, genetic markers, investigators now agree the Romani (also known as Roma) can track their origins to northern India. A mass exodus from the region occurred around AD 1000 at the time of the Muslim invasion of the Hindu Rajput kingdoms. These displaced Indians moved west and spent about 250 years within the bounds of the Byzantine Empire.

By the 1300s, though, they had arrived in the Balkans along with the Ottomans, perhaps as soldiers or servants of the Army. It may have been at this juncture that they first identified themselves as Romiti, past residents of the Sultanate of Rum. Disturbingly, within 100 years, the Romani became slaves in the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (today, Romania) and did not regain their freedom until 1856.

Not all Romani, though, had settled in these principalities. Many had moved on to other parts of Europe. Perhaps, because of their dark skin, foreign language, dissimilar clothing, and uncertain origin, they were sometimes met with suspicion and fear. In addition, the Romani’s adherence to strict rules of ritual cleanliness, not practiced by gadže (pronounced gah-jeh) or non-Romani people, kept them at a distance and may have contributed to their “outsider” status.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, laws began to appear that constrained the Romani’s movements or outright banished them. Expulsions were ordered in parts of Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, England and Denmark. Spain, England, and Portugal deported Romani to the countries’ respective colonies. In the 18th century, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI ordered them killed throughout his domain. At other times, less “extreme” measures prevailed, such as forced labor, branding, child abduction, banning of the Romani language, and the outlawing of Romani marriages.

During World War II on the grounds of racial purity, the Nazis rounded up the Romani, shipped them to ghettos, and exterminated them in concentration camps. Between 200,000 and 800,000—more by some estimates—lost their lives in the Baro Porrajmos or “great devouring.”

In their bid for survival, the Romani have kept on the move.

A scattered people

Circumstances, not choice, led to the Romani’s nomadic lifestyle. Harassed and discriminated against, they traveled in kumpania, or small family groups, camping on the outskirts of towns and villages and fleeing when rousted by local authorities.

Through the centuries, the Romani split off and became identified by regions or countries. In Central and Eastern Europe, the Romani call themselves Roma; in England, Romanichal; in Germany, Sinti; in France, Manouche; in Scandinavia, Romanisæl; and in Spain, Wales, and Finland Caló or Kale.

Today, about 1.8 million Romani live in Romania, constituting approximately eight percent of the country’s population. Slovakia has the highest concentration of Romani, accounting for 9.75 percent of the population, according to Migration Information Source. Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, and Spain have between 200,000 and 800,000 Romani residents each. The Romani make up Europe’s largest ethnic minority, totaling about ten million.

In the 19th century, Romani also migrated to North and South America in sizable numbers. In the U.S., the Englishspeaking Romanichal came first, followed by Eastern European Roma, many newly liberated from slavery. Today, the U.S. Romani population is estimated at one million. Brazil also welcomed an influx of Roma, and about 600,000 Romani now live there. Argentina is home to more than 300,000, with another 100,000 in Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, and Uruguay combined.

Romani can be found in Russia, Canada, and Australia as well as various Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Officially, Turkey reports about half a million Romani, although some place the figure at twice that. Estimates of local Romani populations are often unreliable. Many Romani do not declare their ethnicity on official documents, and some countries do not collect ethnic data. Despite the distances between them, the Romani have never lost their identity.

A proud shared identity

They may speak a mix of Romani and the local language. They may practice the majority religion. They may live in longstanding settled communities. But no matter where the Romani find themselves in the world—generation after generation—they uphold Romanipen.

Romanipen embodies the laws, behaviors, practices, and spirit of what it means to be a Romani. A complex cultural concept reflecting the Romani’s Indian roots, it is grounded in maintaining karmic spiritual balance. For the Romani, all of life and the world exist in one of two conditions at all times: “pure (wuzho)” or “polluted (marime).” Breaking a cultural taboo defiles a person, and his “cleanliness” must be restored. Otherwise, he risks bad luck or ill health.

For some Romani groups, strict rules govern every aspect of everyday life. Men’s and women’s clothes must be washed separately. A person must shower rather than take a bath to prevent contamination from water touching the lower body. Petting dogs is prohibited because of their habit of licking themselves. Depending on the violation’s seriousness, a Kris (tribunal of elders) may convene to determine guilt or innocence and mete out punishment, usually a period of isolation.

Because gadže do not observe these purity laws, the Romani consider them “unclean.” As a result, they may limit contact with them, further widening the gap between the two cultures. However, gadže who adopt Romani customs—as many have in the case of intermarriage—become pure and are embraced by the community.

Gadže who do marry a Romani immediately find themselves plunged into one of the most joyous traditions of Romanipen—the three-day wedding celebration. Though wedding rituals vary from group to group and often incorporate local religious ceremonies and contemporary mores, many customs abide in some form—even if only symbolic.

Typically, on the first of the three days, the bride’s female friends and relatives prepare her for the wedding by helping her bathe and braid her hair. On the second day, the groom and his family present gifts to the bride and her family, and the families dine together to affirm the marriage. On the third day, the groom’s family escorts the bride to the high-spirited abiav, or wedding feast, where guests fill a hollowed out loaf of bread with money for the couple. At the celebration’s end, the bride’s mother unbraids her hair, and her mother-in-law helps her knot her diklo (head scarf), which she will wear from then on to signify she is a married woman.

Abiav, diklo, gadže, kumpania—the essence of Romanipen also lives in the enduring Romani language.

A deeply rooted language

The mystery of the origins of the Romani first became unraveled through their language. An 18th-century Hungarian scholar and landowner, Stefan Valyi, recognized similarities between the Romani spoken by his Gypsy laborers and Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language of Vedic literature. Later research confirmed its linguistic roots in northern India.

Today, linguists classify Romani as an Indo-Aryan language, with a strong Greek influence absorbed during the Romani’s 250 years in the Byzantine Empire. The four main dialect groupings are Southern or Balkan, Vlax or Danubian, Central, and Northern. The Romani diaspora has spawned more than 60 sub-dialects and created creoles, the mixing of Romani with other languages, for example Anglo-Romani (England) and Scando-Romani (Scandinavia). However, in Spain and Hungary, where it was banned for long periods, some no longer speak any form of the language.

Although it is said proudly that “Amara čhibasa, varekajgodi šaj tradas and’e ljumja” (With our language, we can travel anywhere in the world), many support the adoption of Vlax Romani as the standard for public discourse and the classroom. Vlax, derived from the language used by the Wallachian and Moldavian slaves, has the greatest number of speakers worldwide.

Making their way

Resourceful and resilient, the Romani became highly skilled at portable trades, such as woodworking, horse-trading and basket-weaving. They would move on when demand was satisfied or when forced. Over time, the chosen work evolved into family professions. Various Romani clan names match their traditional trades, including argintari (silversmiths and jewelers), lingurari (spoon-makers), or fierari (blacksmiths).

The Romani have also sustained themselves by employing their musical skills, contributing an artistic legacy to the world. In Romania and Bulgaria, the lăutari (musicians) performed—and still do today—at almost all weddings. In Spain, flamenco and bolero grew out of Caló musical strains. The famed guitarist, Django Reinhardt, a Manouche born outside Paris, is considered the first outstanding European jazz musician. The classical composers Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and Joseph Hadyn all wove Romani melodies into their works.

For many, the image of a fortune-teller (drabarni) comes to mind when thinking of Gypsies. Fortune-telling harks back to the Romani’s ancestral homeland and has served two purposes for them. First, it provides regular income most anywhere in the world. Second, because many gadže ascribed fearful, magical powers to the Gypsies, to some degree it has protected the Romani. Romani, however, never give readings to other Romani, restricting it to gadže only.

Though widely accepted in India, divination is deemed somewhat disreputable in the West. This practice, along with Romani violation of discriminatory laws meant to drive them out of town—if not out of existence—such as the prohibition of horse grazing, campfire bans, trespassing ordinances, and mandatory work permits, may have contributed to a reputation for crime. Robbed of legal means to live and work, some were forced at times to resort to petty thievery to feed themselves and their families, according to Romani academic Hancock.

Today, Romani work in all professions and the majority live in stable communities. However, this Romani saying may best articulate the frustration of being stereotyped for so long: Kana jekh Rrom si došalo, sa’l Rrom si došale (When one Romani is guilty, all Romani are guilty).

The Decade of Roma Inclusion

In 2005, twelve European countries in partnership with a host of international organizations launched the Decade of Roma Inclusion. This ambitious political initiative has aimed “to eliminate discrimination and close the unacceptable gaps between Roma and the rest of society” (romadecade.org). The Decade focuses on improving Romani access to employment, education, housing, and health care in each member country.

The nations include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Spain. The United States, Slovenia and Norway participate as observers. Some of the partner organizations are the World Bank, Council of Europe, European Commission, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Health Organization, International Romani Union, European Roma Rights Centre, and European Roma and Travellers Forum.

Romani organizations in Europe and around the world work to promote the identity and rights of the Romani people. Through the centuries, attempts to thoroughly assimilate the Romani—to make them like us—have not succeeded, and this rich, robust culture and its people have survived. Perhaps, if instead, we work to integrate the Romani—to make them part of us—we will enrich ourselves as well.