The Passing of the Gipsy

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 32, 30 April 1927, Page 17 (Supplement)

The Passing of the Gipsy

Seldom now do we see the tribes of wandering gipsies that lent romance to the days of our youth. It is doubtful if there is a single tribe left in New Zealand, or in Australia, either. Immigration laws, enacted many years past, barred the landing from overseas of bands of vagrant foreign folk, and other laws, discouraging to those of thriftless, nomadic habits, drove out most of the gipsies already here. The few remainder became “assimilated." With their swarthy faces, black eyes and flashing white teeth, their gailycoloured shawls and handkerchiefs, the gipsies appealed greatly to our vouthful imaginations. Terrible tales were told of the gipsies—of how they stole little boys and girls and "made away” with them, or kidnapped them to hold for reward. If you were the son or daughter of an Earl or a Duke you ran an awful risk of being stolen by the gipsies. But a truer picture of the gipsies’ life was drawn by George Borrow—himself of gipsy origin—in

Romany Rye” and “Lavengro." The name "gipsy” is a misnomer, given in the erroneous supposition that these people came from Egypt, whereas they originally wandered out of India. They call themselves Romany’s —never gipsies. They were in Greece in the 14th century, but it was not until the 15th century that they began to wander in bands over Western Europe. One peculiar story told about these people was that they had refused hospitality to Mary and the Infant Jesus when they went down to Egypt, and hat to atone for this they were forever compelled o wander the earth. Another story was that they were compelled to wander because a gipsy had made the nails for the Cross. The gipsies were often great hieves. the women being particularly adept in quickly securing and secretng articles. The men were poachers always, and in the old days of England were hanged for this offence, or for theft —or suspected theft. The

women as fortune-tellers, and they had a great reputation from this and often made a good deal of money by having their hands “crossed with silver” by the credulous. A famous gipsy w*oman, Britannia Lovell, “to*d the fortune” of George IV. on Newmarket Heath when he was Prince Regent. It must have been flattering, for George rewarded her with £5, accompanied by a kiss. Some of these fortune-tellers obtained money by means less creditable even than fortune-telling. One of their tricks was to tell a lady that if she placed a purse of gold in the gipsy’s hand and then hid it in her mattress for 12 months, without looking at it until the expiration of that period, the money would double itself. When the fatuous woman went to look at her purse after the elapsing of 12 months, she would find that the quick-fingered gipsy had changed her gold for copper. The gipsy’s religion is that which pays him best —a Christian in a Christian country, and a Mahomedan where Mahomedanism prevails. Generally speaking they are handsome in a bold way, but the women age early. There are believed to be threequarters of a million gipsies on the Continent of Europe, the largest number being in Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria; and there are vast numbers of them in Armenia, Persia and Syria, and in Egypt and Algeria. They are all over America, particularly in the United States. They are famous as musicians, particularly with the violin. The gipsies have endured awful persecutions. but this was largely due to their thieving, which led them to be accused of all kinds of other crimes, of which they might be innocent. In some places they were branded with hot irons, had their ears or hands lopped off, or put to death without trial. They do not now wander as much as formerly; in fact, they have settled down in whole communities in many parts, and the day seems not far distant when the wandering gipsy will be no more.