Wintertime in Finland

[Rosamunda]

Gypsies are not a homogenous group. They are entirely different in different parts of the world. See them you understand

We've had this discussion on the board before. Romany people are an ethnic group that have their roots in India. Roumanians are latin/Mediterranean people. Romany people have no specific ties to Roumania. There are Romany people in Roumania just as there are Romany people in Hungary and Romany people in France.

Gypsy is a word that is commonly used (at least in the UK) to people who live from travelling around in mobile homes, selling stuff and not paying taxes. Not all gypsies are Romany people and not all Romany people are gypsies.

[haahatus]

whatever I tought ROMANIA meant gypsy when I was like ten years old I find even an allegation of not knowing the difference between Romania and Roma insulting.... Everyone knows Roma come originally from India I think that this issue is also commonly known . I am not going to let myself stamped as an idiot like that after all this education i have got.I was asking if she was from Romania the country or Finland the country. Both of these have gypsies/Roma.

The point was I didn't know what Kaale means prolly some subcategory of that group. I now looked it is a group belonging to Roma also in Finland . Looking up what Kale with only one "a" solved this issue . Kaale must be the finnification then.

Gypsy? To me they are the descendant of the group who once came from India. As for the other groups? Jensisches however that is spellt. No I don't think most people in Finland even know they exist because there are none here.

Why is it not right to call Roma gypsies? They were the first to get this name. The term should be dumped because it become to applied to everyone leading a nomadic lifestyle? Mostly they are Roma with some exceptions. Because it is not invented by them? yes on Finland forum . It seems this word has been longer to describe those groups than it has been corrupted. So they want to change it , many groups want different names to be used. But the word had been invented for an ethnic group like is clear with origin in the idea from coming from egypt .

And Roma (means gypsies for 99% of the people in Finland atleast) are not homogenous which can be seen in the many underategories of people.

[RA]

I had a Finnish Romany penpal (girl) from Lahti when I was 14. She was quite nice. I met her during one of our trips here from Kenya. Then as with most penpals we drifted off into our own worlds and I haven't heard from her in years. Since then I've had exactly 2 encounters with Finnish Romany. Once in Varkaus when I just moved there. In the Prisma parking lot, an entire family (father, mother and 3 or 4 kids) came towards me and asked me hei tyttö ootko sii meikäläisii? (hey, girl are you one of us). I was a bit thrown and I mumbled something like noooo and sped off. . Later when I thought about it I was and still am ashamed because I could have said hello and instead I acted xenophobically. When I told one of my friends about it, they told me to steer clear away of the Romany.

The second encounter I had was when I worked as a cashier in Alko in Mikkeli during christmas sales. Two Romany men came in and as I was jsut telling them how much they owed, they put the money all in coins on the counter (or what do we call the moving part of the counter where we put our shopping?). Needless to say, since it was still moving all the coins splattered into different directions and then they began to take off saying, 'Yes, we gave you the right amount of money. You know we're telling the truth. We're of the same blood.' They were stopped by the security guy, but they kept chanting and pointing at me 'we're of the same blood, you and us'. Now that was just evil, wasn't it? Or really clever of them...

[EP]

I actually have some fun memories of Finnish gypsies (yes, I keep on calling them gypsies). I am quite old, and when I was little gypsies were still on the move, at least in summers. There was an empty lot next to my home, and every summer the horse caravan came down the village road, and some 10-20 families camped on that field. It was strictly forbidden to go to the camp, but one day on the other side of a ditch was this little girl with a yellow dress that had all kinds of frills and bows. Her name was Miranda, and after that day I and my sister played with her every day. Also in the camp.

Later my mother decided to behave civilized and invited the elders for coffee. Still 20 years later my home was a "valkolainen" house were gypsies can visit and have coffee and children´s old clothes.

It was hilarious when my newly-wed husband woke up one Sunday morning at six. He had heard some noise from my mother´s kitchen and went to check what it was about. He rushed back to the bedroom with his eyes rolling out of his head: "Wake up, there is some old gypsy man in the kitchen!" I asked what does the man want, and he had wanted coffee and had been very disapproving because "only in a sinful house people sleep at six in the morning". I sent my husband back to the kitchen to make coffee and conversation with the old fellow.

[Rahela-Hanna]

Ah, neat-o. I like that story. Such things have happened to me here before in the US, as well.

[Lyra]

You've talked a lot about gypsies/romanies around here. There's something I'd like to add.

"Normal" (white) Finns don't like them a lot, that's true. There's lots of prejudices against them. I try not to treat them any differently than other people but I have to admit that I don't feel very comfortable around them... Anyway, did you know that Finland is the only country in Europe where romanies dress up in their traditional costume every day? I think they (especially women) look very beautiful. Here's some pics:




I think that's cool. There's 9 metres of velvet in that dress!

[Rahela-Hanna]

That's a really good picture you've posted there, that one of the Kaale woman standing up, holding out her skirt. I like the older gypsy women in Finland best, I guess. Because I strongly feel that if I ever met another Kaale girl of my own age in Europe, she would choose to scorn me somehow, for some reason.

However, I would like to make friends with a few Finnish gypsies if I could, all the same. I don't think they'd like me much, though.

[Jimbo]

I only noticed the Romanies this Summer on a bus, asked my girlfriend if they were in fancy dress, and she told me about them. Trying to keep an open mind, but after seeing two of their women brazenly shoplifting over Christmas I dunno. Some Finnish friends told me it's their right to do that.

Hey ho.

[Rahela-Hanna]

Well, let me tell you here, that there are at least two good tricks to brazenly shoplifting like that:

1.) If you're in a relatively small to middle-sized store, then get up with ten or twelve of your other Kaale friends, mostly women preferably, and have them spread out through the store at random intervals. That way, if almost everyone's shoplifting something kind of simultaneously, then the shopkeeper can't possibly keep an eye on all of you to convict the lot of you for anything!!

2.) The reason why I said that you should mostly get the women and girls to shoplift, is because of their long skirts and such, and other loose clothing. A lot of people don't know is that some Kaale women put strong metal hooks--yes, hooks--up underneath their dresses, in that sort of "wide" part, and they get behind all these counters and hitch up their skirts...and that way, they're all able to steal even whole hams, and other things like that.

Does that make any sense, ya'll? Trust me, I speak from experience dating back from way back in my youth.

[Hank W.]

Heh, I used to work as a rent-a-cop/mall security in the 80's. If I told some "war stories" with things like that I'd be dismissed as a racist white pig. Tut tut.

But the *amount* of stuff that fits... errr... where was I now. Stereotyping again you old coot...

[Rahela-Hanna]