Romani People in Glasgow/Scotland

[Bridie]

I would have thought that the groups of travellers would have wanted to be known by their origin or cultural background - if they have one. Roma/ Irish Travellers/etc

[The Egg Man]

I would have thought that the groups of travellers would have wanted to be known by their origin or cultural background - if they have one. Roma/ Irish Travellers/etc

Maybe they just seem themselves as part of an international family or brotherhood.

[Lucky Poet]

I only knew one gypsy family growing up, and tangentially at that, but they had settled into a permanent house near where I lived. The thing that sticks in my memory is that when a family member of theirs died, they turned all the mirrors in the house inwards to face the wall, for a certain period of time. Strikes me as being of some very old tradition, but who knows.

[Doorstop]

I know the answer to this one actually .. it comes from an ancient custom from old Romania. The mirror was turned to the wall to prevent it from capturing the soul of the departed and thus allowing it to return after dark and reoccupy the body of the deceased. The body was seen as a corrupt vessel and thus the resulting union of soul and corpse would present a creature of the night which was invariably evil.

[Bridie]

My granny used to put a sheet over the mirrors in the house when someone died. One slightly batty old relative used to see the reflection of her departed brother in the window at the sink as she was washing the dishes. Think it was a regular occurrence

Superstitions, battiness and something to do with the reflection of death?

[Dexter St. Clair]

The great thing about being racist towards Travellers, Gypsies , Tinkers etc is that you are really abusing Catholics without impunity. Although Catholics share covering mirrors during morning with the Jews.

[Bridie]

.. covering mirrors during morning ...

your not the only one Dex - none of us like the view first thing

[floweredpig]

There is a guy at Strathclyde University Dr Colin Clark who has written several books about Romani migration and Social Anthropology,a lot of it is available on the internet and is seen as the foremost expert these days,not least by himself.

[banjo]

the story of scotlands travelling people,primarily the north east of the country is told first hand by betsy white in her novel,the yellow on the broom.adam mcnaughton has a song by the same name based on the novel.very good it is too.so is the novel.

[Pointyears]

I know the answer to this one actually .. it comes from an ancient custom from old Romania. The mirror was turned to the wall to prevent it from capturing the soul of the departed and thus allowing it to return after dark and reoccupy the body of the deceased. The body was seen as a corrupt vessel and thus the resulting union of soul and corpse would present a creature of the night which was invariably evil.

But never smashed as recent horror movie 'The Unborn' mooted. Brilliantly chilling little piece of prose there, incidentally, Mr. Doorstop! One might imagine Peter Cushing uttering that in a movie!

[Doorstop]

Mwahahahahahahaha! .. Oops, sorry!

[The Egg Man]

There's a documentary on Scotland's travelling people, called Travellers, coming up on BBC2 Scotland - possibly next Monday depending on where you live.

It might rekindle some memories.

The programme I mentioned above starts tonight, Monday 11th April at 9.00pm on BBC2.

It's still called Travellers. You can call it whatever suits you.

[Pointyears]

Talking to my mate about this topic and what could be added he reminded me of one thing and told me about another:

1) As you come into East Kilbride from the Rutherglen/Kingsgate end, across the dual carriageway from PC world there is now a mini village of fast food and gastropubs (the Lee Burn, Frankie and Benny's, McDonalds) This used to be a fenced round "reservation" for Romani and Irish travelling folk, one of whose families supplied the shows/fairground attractions at the annual Calderglen Country Park.

2) At Rosslyn Chapel, eerie enough with all its concommitant spooky legends and 'Da Vinci Code' style theories, has an exhibition above its gift shop. This is a small attic room with glass cabinets around the walls and a glass cabinet in the centre. On one side is an exhibit of police regalia - possibly the Masonic side of police regalia given Rosslyn's association with Freemasonry - and on the other are exhibits of Romani and gypsy regalia/ newspaper cuttings. There is no real explanation given of why these two subjects (usually on opposite sides in news stories) are given a shared exhibition - and why the exhibition seems to have very little to do with Rosslyn itself...

[fatweegee]

Of Irish background I would always use the the terms - tinker or tink, where this use of the word pikey comes from I don't know.

[BrigitDoon]

I'd never heard the term "pikey" until Guy Ritchie's film "Snatch" started doing the rounds. Then Martin Brundle got himself in trouble for using the term on a live Formula One broadcast and there were loads of complaints about it being offensive.


With added Dutch sweary words...