Woe to the Gypsy Woman - A special blog article, August 24, 2016

Margaret (14), Carla (24)

When we were in Maramures region of northern Romania, we had a unique opportunity to meet and talk with two young Gypsy women, Carla (24) and Margaret. (14), in their home. Carla and Margaret have a younger brother (7) who was outside sitting on the stairstep and  his 4 year old nephew (Carla's son) was sitting on his scooter.  Both boys were intently interacting with whatever was on their cell phones.

The family lives in a village where they "settled" 20 years ago. Their father of the metal worker class has an auto body repair business and is also a local policeman.

The family cast is that of metal workers, and they are in the middle class of their cast. The lighter the skin, the higher the cast. The ethnic ancestry of Gypsies are from India which accounts for their darker skin. They have carried with them their cast and patriarchal traditions wherever they roam. Their mother is the traditional stay at home mom and grandma. The parents are in their early 40's. Marrying young is the expectation.

At first glance, the house looks like a typical home in the Romanian mountains.

There are several dented cars in the front yard (part of the auto body business..although some of them may have been family autos as well). A fence encloses the car and living quarters.

As we approach, Carla, wearing a scarf around here head - indicating she is a married woman, is working outside on a covered porch having just completing a pleated skirt she is making.

She is a self-taught seamstress and makes her mother's and sister's clothing. She also makes skirts for other women and is on Facebook. The fabric is a beautiful light weight translucent floral print. Each pleat is less than a centimeter and tightly pleated. Gypsy beauty is measured by a woman's girth not her face, consequently, her skirts use a lot of fabric and have many pleats.  She pulls the pins from the board that the skirt is laying on with dental pliers and rolls up the fabric.

We are invited inside the home and enter through the kitchen. On the left, there is a large china cabinet loaded with china and dishes. Carla says these were a part of her mother's dowery.

In front of us, is a table spread with a white cloth with covered glasses of beverage and platters of small cakes.

 The walls have all sorts of regalia and there are sofas and chairs along the walls for our seating. Carla says that Gypsy women love sparkles and attributes this to their ethnic origin of India, bangles, and coins.

Carla takes a seat across the table from us and her younger sister stands looking at her cell phone and texting. We have been told that it is permissible to take photos and to ask any question we want. Nothing will be offensive. Carla's mother is in the next room. She does not speak any English, but she understands some, but she is not a part of the conversation.

Carla confides that she and her sister speak English (both very well) so that they can talk about whatever they want in front of their parents without their parents knowing what they are saying. As their parents have achieved a basic English vocabulary and are understanding more and more, the girls laugh and say they just speak real fast now in English.

Carla speaks four languages: Romanian, Gypsy, English, and Hungarian. She learned her English from TV cartoons and soap operas. Carla has an eighth grade education. Her fourteen year old sister Margaret was pulled out of school after fifth grade. It is considered a SHAME for Gypsy girls to be educated. The girls would have liked to continue their education, but Gypsy tradition does not change and it always trumps desire or apparently century.

Margaret is engaged and will soon be married. She is a beautiful girl with an uncovered head and long braids with ribbons that extend down her back.

She seems quite feisty and assertive, but also resigned that she will soon be married off. Pulling girls out of school and marrying them off is a father's way of maintaining a patriarchal hierarchy and controlling women which is the Gypsy tradition. Girls are to be submissive and boys are to be dominant. Domestic violence is a means of keeping women in their place and is an expected practice. Carla's husbands tried to beat her, but she says she beat them off with her high heels.

Margaret's marriage as well as Carla's first marriage were both arranged with young men/boys from their cast. One always marries in their cast. Margaret seems quite unhappy about her impending marriage to a 16 year old boy and is reluctant to talk about it. She doesn't even want to think about their "alone" time.

Carla at 24, has been married and divorced twice, and has a 4 year old son and a 2 year old daughter, each by a different father. Her first husband was convicted of some crime and is in prison. Marriage and divorce for these Gypsies is very uncomplicated. We are married. The woman moves to the husband's family home where the girl is supervised by the mother-in-law. We are divorced....the woman moves back home with her parents. When a child is involved in the divorce, boys stay with their father, girls go with their mother so that gender traditions and roles can be passed to the next generation.

Since Carla's husband was in prison, the paternal grandparents kept the child and gave Carla visiting rights, but cut off access after a couple of months. Brides in a household have no say. One must wait to express opinion until, she herself becomes a mother-in-law.

Carla would not stand for this so she accused the grandparents of abuse, sexual molestation of her child that gave her the right to take back her son. Her second husband suffered in an accident with brain injury and caused him to be "schizophrenic", and she could not tolerate living with him anymore. So she divorced him and moved back home.

Her parents would like her to get married again because as she puts it, "I have always been problematic for them." Carla is intelligent, assertive, and does not take direction very well. She enjoys working for herself and does not want to work for a boss.

Carla and Margaret seem to have a typical sister relationship. Carla tells her sister what to do, and Margaret talks back or pouts about it. She passes out something to drink and eat to all of us at Carla's instruction. A typical day for Margaret, so she says, is to wake up by noon and play on Facebook most of the day, and eat candy. Carla snorts and says Margaret is lucky to be up by 2:00 pm.

There is no Gypsy religion, and they are not practicing Hindus, as one might expect having cultural heritage to India.   As "settled" Gypsies, they join the local religions which in this particular village are Seventh Day Adventist, Pentecostal, or Jehovah Witnesses. Carla's mother is Jehovah Witness and is trying to convert the girls to this religion. Neither one of them is excited about this prospect.

When asked about Gypsy women who beg, Carla said often they are usually the lowest cast women who are placed by their husband somewhere to do the begging and they may have children around them or holding a baby that is not their own. She tries to counsel these women about social services available to them. In many cases the women are already receiving services, but still are sent out to beg.

Both Carla and Margaret are deeply invested in their Gypsy heritage and are resigned with whatever life brings them. It is hard to reconcile feisty, intelligent, and assertive women with the submissiveness and obedience that is expected of them. When asked what Carla's expectations were for her daughter and her own future, i.e. "Would she want more education for herself, for her daughter", she got a little flustered and said she can barely think about one month in advance. Right now she is thinking about school for her son.

There is undoubtedly laughter and joy in families, but this we did not talk about today. Today, it was about acceptance and resignation to what is and what will undoubtedly continue to be.

Sibling Relationship

Woe to the Gypsy Woman.

We took a group photo as we left, wishing the young women our best for their health and happiness, but all of us feeling quite saddened by their lack of free will and opportunity.  We were appreciative and grateful for this insight into one family's settled "Gyspy" life.

Sighisoara - Birth Place of "Dracula", Vlad Draculea, Tour Day 6, WTRD 15, Aug 24, 2016

Sighisoara - Birth Place of "Dracula"

We awoke to bird's chirping and church bells ring this morning as we awoke in Sighisoara, birthplace of Vlad Draculea, the ruler of Valachea in Transylvania.

Our Accommodations were in the House of the Antler

Sighisoara is one of a kind. It was developed by the German settlers as of late 12th century. It stands on a network of tunnels and catacombs and, according to one version of the myth; this is where the Pied Piper brought the children of Hamelin after their ungrateful parents refused to pay him his due.

Brief History of Vlad the Impaler Dracula. (See Historical Documentary)

To set the stage, Romania was not yet a country, but contiguous regions of Valachia, Moldovia, and Transylvania. All became principalities in the 11th century.  By the early 14th century, the three principalities were under the the influence and power of the Hungarian Empire.  By the end of the 13th century, Transylvania and Moldvoia were ruled by Hungary.  Valachia had gained its tenuous independence.    However, Vlad I fled from Valachia, served under Sigmund of Luxemburg in Transylvania, and his loyalty and merits won him an appointment as a knight in the Dragon Order, comprised of the nobles of highest rank in the Hungarian Empire.  He was promised the throne in Valachia by Sigmund but he had to wait to take Valachia back.

In 1431-1435, Vlad 1 now nicknamed Vlad Dracul (dragon/devil), was in Sighisoara, marking time and having two sons Vlad II (Draculea - son of Dracul) and Mircea.

The Silver Dragon Represents the Order of the Dragon which Vlad 1 was a Member

The conquering Ottoman Empire was a new threat to the region. They demanded revenue from Sighisoara in exchange for relative independence and loyalty to the Ottoman Sultan which Vlad 1 complied.

The two boys lived in Sighisoara for 4 years before their father became the ruler.  During Vlad's first reign 1436-1441, the young boys accompanied their father on campaigns learning the art of knighthood. Two additional sons, Radu and Vlad the Monk were born.  Vlad Draculea and his brother  Radu in 1443 joined his father to an official trip to Constantinople where he and his sons were taken prisoner, and Vlad Dracul was accused of disloyalty.  In order to prove his loyalty, he had to leave his imprisoned sons with the Sultan, and was set free by the Turks to do as they bid and to prove his obedience.

During the 4 years that Vlad Draculea was imprisoned, he lived in fear and with cruelty, knowing he could be decapitated if his father was disobedient.  He also learned the Turkish art of torture which he used in later years and which gave him the infamous title of Vlad the Impaler.  In 1948, Vlad Draculea at 17, escaped from the prison when he learned that his father and brother Mircea had been killed by a rival family seeking to gain the Valachia rulership.  

Draculea set off to avenge his brother and father's death and to regain control of the throne.  Eventually, Draculea became the ruler, but after much torture and killing.  One of the tortures was to vertically impale the enemy, by laying them flat on their backs, shoving a pole with a blade edge up one of their lower orifices.  Righting the pole vertically and letting gravity and the weight of the body sink, forcing the pole upward towards the brain with unspeakable agony until death ensued many hours later.  This was done not only to kill the enemy, but even as sacrifice of innocents to terrify the enemy.  Vlad Draculea outside of Braslov when trying to recatpure his throne, impaled 20,000 people who were outside of the walls.  He did this to terrify the people inside the walls.  He became known as Vlad Draculea the Impaler.

There is a story, that during the impaling he is remembered as sitting amongst the impaled eating his lunch and drinking wine...much like the "flesh and blood" of Christ.  This image (real or fabricated) may have been part of the fiction by author Bram Stoker in his tale of Dracula, the blood thirsty, vampire.

The reality and the fiction before Bram Stoker are hard to separate as much has been orally told and embellished.  The fiction from Bram Stoker is based on the name of Vlad Draculea the Impaler, but Vlad was not a count, not from Transylvania, and not a vampire.  Nevertheless, we all love the story and it has been a boon to Romanian tourism....aaahhh, that is certainly one of the reasons we are here.

The walking tour of Sighisoara included the two squares of the Citadel (Upper Town), the House with Antler, the Tower with Clock (climb up for a great view),

 the Torture Chamber and the Weapon Museum. We visited the Spoonman Exhibition of Transylvanian Arts & Crafts.

From Sighasora, we journeyed  south through the picturesque Transylvanian Plateau. We stopped for an exclusive tasting of organic Transylvanian "like Grandma used to make" recipes of sweet and savory jams, spreads, cand cordials.

Russ and I enjoyed the raspberry jam, apple cinnamon jam, and a garlic chutney the best.  I would have liked to have gotten the Elder flower cordial, but shipping it home may have been a problem.

Originally the plan was to tour of Bran Castle also known as Dracula Castle, but our guide suggested it might be better to do that the following day.  Our Friendship Force group had arrangements in Brasov to meet Corina from the Brasov Friendship Force at 6:00 pm. In order to do this without rush, Geroge our guide got us to Brasov early for a walking tour, so that we would have time to visit with Corina in the early evening.

The walking tour revealed the Old Town with the late Gothic Black Church featuring a collection of precious Anatolian rugs,

Bottom Level is Gothic, Top Level Rebuilt as Baroque

Council Square, Catherine's Gate,

 the narrow Rope Street

as well as a view of the impressive 1901 synagogue.

Our FF group met for wine and appetizers to meet up with Corina in our accommodations at Hotel Casa Wagner on the main square of Brasov.

We had a short and sweet visit with Corina.  Friendship Force people are the best.  Immediately, strangers become friends.

Top Row, L to R, Chris, Kathy, Nancy, Helen, Kathy, Rus, Bottom Row L to R, George, Corina, Elizabeth and Lynn

Tonight is our last night in Romania.  Tomorrow, we make a few visitation stops on our way to the train station in Bucharest, and then we say goodbye to our excellent guide George and our terrific driver Sandu, before we are board the train to Chisineau, Moldova.

We have had a wonderful time in Romania.  It is hard to believe that our week here is coming to an end.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Brasov, Romania.

Maramures: Iza Village Walking Tour – Iza Valley – Gypsy Home Visit - Sighisoara, Tour Day 5, WTRD 14

Maramures: Iza Village Walking Tour – Iza Valley – Gypsy Home Visit - Sighisoara

Last night, we stayed in the home of our folklore host.  We had an upstairs bedroom with sear sucker, textured sheets.  This was a first.  The double room was very peaceful, until 5;00 am when we were awakened by the rooster and his hens outside our bedroom window.  Between the crows, diesel farm tractors rumbling down the road towards their fields, and the near by church bells that rang continuously from 7:20-:30, calling people to morning mass, this would be a village that no one could ever sleep late.

This morning we needed to be ready for breakfast by 8:00 so we didn't mind the natural village alarms...well maybe the rooster could have held off a bit.

After our breakfast of bread, butter, apricot and plum jams, ham, cheese, fried eggs, coffee and tea, we took a walk in the morning mist through  the village of Iza.  We visited a place where dowery trees are refined,

the local, traditional plum brandy is distilled,

and a typical whirlpool is still used by the local women to wash heavy woolen blankets and hung on sturdy beams to dry.

On our way into the village I took some photos of some flowers in a garden.

There was a lady in the shadows of the garden who smiled at me when I looked up.  When we returned from the village she was waiting on her front porch dressed up with white cap sitting on her porch waiting for our return.

Our guide George struck up a lively conversation with her, and translated for us.  She had a great sense of humor telling us she was 57 or was it the reverse, she had number reversal problem, but she retired when she was 65.  She told us her teeth were bad, but she didn't want false teeth because she was afraid shouldn't couldn't remember where she would put them if she took them out.  Apparently, this is a common problem in the village.

We chatted with her for about 10 minutes. Eventually she went into her tiny cottage and brought out some photos of her family. Moriana was delighted to have some visitors to talk with as she lives alone and most of the villagers all know each other's stories so well they are no fun to tell again.

Our next stop was in the village of Rozavlea to a famous master carver in his own workshop.

 He represented Romania at the 1999 Smithsonian World Folk Festival in Washington, DC., and claims to have invented the wooden chain link.

He was quite a humorous character as well.  One of our members, Helen,  mentioned that she thought she had seen the wood carving at the Festival in 1999.  Without missing a beat, he walked over to her, gave her a hug and wink and said he remembered the night very well.  We all laughed, Helen blushed, and signed the guest book with, "So nice to see you again."

The woodcarver showed us a cradle and traditional child's seat.  Where baby was placed to sit bare bottomed so that diapers were not needed.  Later as the baby grew, the seat was enhanced with new tools for the growing child, an ashtray and a brandy glass.

The woodcarver's son has followed in his father's footsteps and has quite a business doing large scale carvings of gates, doors, beams, and shrines.

Next stop was the exquisite Barsana Nunnery, a superb example of Maramures wooden church architecture. Beyond the new church there were many church related outbuildings and gardens.  It was a beautiful setting in the Maramures mountains.  Gardens and hanging geraniums on the buildings decorated the grounds.

Instead of visiting a mask maker in the village of Sacel because he was out of town, we visited a museum of Peasant Women.

There was a display of these masks made from textiles.  The masks are traditional from ancient times to scare away evil spirits.

In addition to the masks, there were home art tools (looms, ceramic pots, wooden spoons, traditional baked breads, textiles, and furniture). Peasant women were expected to take care of everything in the home while the peasant men worked in the fields.  Children learned at an early age that their duty was to work along side their parents.

The Maramures has been a pleasure not only because of how picturesque it is but because of the good natured people we have met here.  We learned from our guide as we were leaving the area, that we were only 400 kilometers at this point from Chernobyl.

We crossed the Carpathian Mountains back to Transylvania passing though an area inhabited mostly by the Hungarian Szeklers community, which actively maintains its peculiar culture and even script. 

Our favorite stop of the day was a Gypsy home visit.  We visited the family home of Carla (24) and her sister Margaret (14).

Their father is a policeman and owner of car mechanics shop.  They have been settled in the village for twenty years.  It was a unique an intriguing opportunity to learn about this less known yet controversial ethnic group, about its culture, identity and lifestyle. I plan to write about this in more detail tomorrow.  We learned so much!  Woe to the Gypsy Woman.

We arrived in Sighisoara - World Heritage Site and the only still inhabited medieval citadel in Europe, around 7:30. Our tourist bus is not allowed up the hill to the citadel, so we transferred the necessities to a hotel car and walked up the steep hill to the the citadel.  We are staying in the same hotel (The house of the Antler) that Prince Charles used in his early travels to Transylvania.  By the time we reached the hotel, caught up with some necessary hand laundry, went out to dinner, and returned it is well passed 11:00 pm.

Tomorrow we will take  a walking tour of this medieval town, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler and symbolic model for the Count Dracula Fiction.

Our necks are covered as we try to sleep in "Dracula's Hometown",

All is Well....so far with the Worrall Travel R'sin Sighisoara, Translyvania.