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    Dictionary of Gypsy Mythology: Charms, Rites, and Magical Traditions of the Roma
    Dictionary of Gypsy Mythology: Charms, Rites, and Magical Traditions of the Roma
    Dictionary of Gypsy Mythology: Charms, Rites, and Magical Traditions of the Roma
    Ebook250 pages2 hours

    Dictionary of Gypsy Mythology: Charms, Rites, and Magical Traditions of the Roma

    By Claude Lecouteux

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    About this ebook

    A comprehensive A-to-Z reconstruction of the oral tradition of the Rom--gypsies--based on sources never before available in English

    • Presents the origin myths and magical traditions of the gypsies, including their legendary ties to Egypt, animal ancestors, and tree spirits

    • Examines the three major settings of gypsy folktales--the forest, the waters, and the mountain--and shows how their world is full of spirits

    • Shows how the religious concepts of the Rom testify to a profound syncretism of the pagan traditions and Christianity

    Although their own myths and their common name point to Egyptian origins for the gypsies, the Rom, as they call themselves, originated in India, as evidenced by studies of their language. They arrived in Europe in the ninth century and spread across the continent from East to West, reaching England in the 15th century and Scandinavia by the end of the 16th century. A nomadic people, these wanderers were reviled by local populaces wherever they went and regarded as misfits, intruders, foreigners, and thieves.

    Drawing on a number of sources never before available outside of Eastern Europe, Claude Lecouteux reconstructs the gypsy oral tradition to provide a comprehensive A-to-Z look at gypsy mythology, including their folktales, rites, songs, nursery rhymes, jokes, and magical traditions. His main source is material collected by Heinrich Adalbert von Wlislocki (1856-1907), an ethnologist who lived with gypsies in Romania, Transylvania, and Hungary in the latter half of the 19th century. He presents the origin myths of the gypsies, legends which form the ancestral memory of the gypsy tribes and often closely touch on their daily life.

    Lecouteux explores the full range of supernatural beings that inhabit the gypsy world, including fairies, undines, ogres, giants, dog-people, and demons, and he examines the three major settings of gypsy folktales--the forest, the waters, and the mountain, which they worshiped as a sacred being in its own right. He also reveals how coexisting with peoples of different religions led the gypsies to adapt or borrow stories and figures from these groups, and he shows how the religious concepts and sacred stories of the Rom testify to a profound syncretism of pagan traditions and Christianity.

    Complete with rare illustrations and information from obscure sources appearing for the first time in English, this detailed reference work represents an excellent resource for scholars and those seeking to reconnect to their forgotten gypsy heritage.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInner Traditions
    Release dateJul 10, 2018
    ISBN9781620556689
    Dictionary of Gypsy Mythology: Charms, Rites, and Magical Traditions of the Roma
    Author

    Claude Lecouteux

    Claude Lecouteux is a former professor of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne. He is the author of numerous books on medieval and pagan afterlife beliefs and magic, including The Book of Grimoires, Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells, and The Tradition of Household Spirits. He lives in Paris.

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    • 5/5
      informative. learned something i can apply to my own experience with the Romany people.

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    Dictionary of Gypsy Mythology - Claude Lecouteux

    ADAM and EVE (Damo and Yehwah):   Anthropogeny, Gypsy, Rom.

    ALAKO: This myth is only known among the Norwegian Gypsies. At the time the Gypsies came to Assas, in their land of Assaria, the great God (baro devel) sent his son Dundra to the Earth in the form of a man so that he could reveal the secret law to them and they could write it down in a book. Once this had been done, Dundra left the Earth and returned to his kingdom, the moon, which has since then been called Alako (a name that is reminiscent of the Finnish word alakku, waning moon). His enemies, the Christians and the Turks, attempt ceaselessly to drive him away from the moon, and it is at these times that the moon wanes. But when Dundra strikes with his sword and spear the horns of the new moon appear and grow until they become the full moon. It is at this time that the Gypsies kneel down between the trees of the forest and give praise to the victorious god who will one day help them to defeat the Turks and regain the land from which this people have chased them.

    Dundra brings the souls of the dead to his kingdom. His enemies are the Christians, the Turks, the devil (Beńg), and the Christ (Gern). He is depicted as a man standing upright holding a feather in his right hand and a sword in his left, and this image is in the safekeeping of the chieftain of the tribe. The weddings of new couples are consecrated in the presence of this image.

    Beńg, Dundra

     Etzel, Vagabondenthum und Wanderleben in Norwegen, 40–43; Berger, Mythologie der Zigeuner, 787.

    ANA: This is the queen of the fairies (kešalyia). She takes her name from the way she acts: she will indeed shout Ana! (Bring it!) to every man she sees who has gotten lost on the mountain. The person who hears this command must quickly hunt for a frog or an insect and cast it into the nearest bush, or else he should flee because Ana will smash his head with a rock. But whoever heeds her call and obeys it will receive a small flask from her filled with a certain kind of water that imparts enormous strength. She dwells alone in her black palace high up in the mountains. She leaves it from time to time in the form of a frog.

    She married the king of the loçolicos. To sleep with her he had to put her to sleep by making her eat a magpie brain. From him she gave birth to the demons of illnesses. When the ninth one was born, her husband, horrified at how hideous it looked, agreed to leave his wife on condition that she would abandon to his subjects each kešalyi that was ninety-nine years old.

    The staff of the Gypsies is triangular in shape and has one word on each of its three faces. Together they form the phrase Help us, Ana.

    Kešalyia, Loçolico, Magpie

     Wlislocki, Aus dem inneren Leben, 3–4, 178; Wlislocki, Volksglaube, 22.

    ANT (handja, kirja): There is a Gypsy folktale that tells how an ant saved from drowning by a young man gave his rescuer one of his eggs and recommended to break it whenever he needed help. When the boy followed this advice, an army of ants emerged and accomplished the task that he had been ordered to complete. In another tale the King of the Ants, a hybrid being that is half man and half insect, gives one hair from his head to a young man who had removed a bee stinger stuck in his jaw and tells him to burn it when he finds himself in danger.

     Wlislocki, Volksdichtungen, no. 44; Mӓrchen und Sagen, no. 47.

    Ana, queen of the fairies, gave birth to the demons of illnesses.

    ANTHROPOGENY: When God planted his staff in the primordial ocean, a large tree sprouted up and the first human beings fell from its branches or leaves.

    Another tradition says that at the command of God, the devil crafted two statuettes (popusha) of a man and a woman from soil he brought up from the bottom of the sea, but he was unable to make them speak. God, the Pouro Del (pouro meaning old and del meaning "God), laid his hands upon the statuettes. Two trees immediately sprang forth from the ground, one behind the man and the other behind the woman, surrounding them with their branches and transforming them into flesh and giving them life. This is how Damo (Adam) and Yehwah (Eve) were born. Then God commanded one of the trees to bear apples and the other to bear pears and told Yehwah to eat apples and Damo to eat pears.

    When God went forth to see what had become of the human beings, he encountered three at the side of the road, who were waiting to be given names. He named the first one Gorgio, and that individual became rich. It should be noted that this name designates those who are not Gypsies, the Gadje (sg. Gadjo). Because the second one was black, God gave him the name of Negro, and he was too lazy to work unless he was forced to. The third was brown and peacefully smoked his pipe. When God dubbed him with the name Rom, this individual stood up and thanked him. Charles G. Leland notes that the word Rom is related to the Sanskrit remna, a verb meaning to wander, to lurk. Therefore, according to this etiological legend, the Roma are wanderers.

    According to another tradition, God took some flour and water, shaped some small humans from it, and placed them in the oven. His first attempt created black men, because the dough was overcooked; his second attempt resulted in the white people, because he did not leave them in long enough. The third time was the charm, and the perfectly cooked dough produced the Roma with their pretty tan color.

    Other legends inform us that in very ancient times God would resurrect those who died one year after their death. But on seeing how two sisters would only kiss their brother, just restored to life, through a handkerchief because of their disgust, he became irritated and stopped reviving the dead.

     Ros’, Voyage maison, 77–78; Leland, The English Gypsies, 319; Kabakova, Contes et Légendes tsiganes, 21; Rehfisch, Gypsies, Tinkers and Other Travellers, 145.

    APPLE (pchabaj, phabay, phabuyépia, pomya): Apples, often golden apples, play a very important role in the traditions of the Gypsies. They can provide immortality, fertility, and restore life.

    In some narratives the tree that bears this fruit has become sterile because a serpent is gnawing on its roots. The tree is guarded by nine dogs, and a white blanket that grants invisibility hangs from one of its branches; a person who drapes this blanket over himself will therefore be able to pick its apples. Sometimes there is a fairy who changes anyone who steals the fruit of this tree into a dog. The spirits of the water (nivaši) often demand apples that people offer them so as to gain their good

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