History and Cultural Relations Quechan traditiondescribes theircreation,alongwiththat of other lower Colorado River tribes, by their culture hero, Kukumat.. Therehegavethem bows and arro
Trang 1300 Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw (Kwapa, Akansa, Arkansas) livedat ornear the
mouth of theArkansas River where it meets the Mississippi
Riverinsoutheastern Arkansas They now liveon afederal
trust area innortheasternOklahoma They speak a Dhegiha
Siouan language and numberedovertwelve hundred inthe
1980s
Bibliography Baird,W David (1979) The Quapaw Indians: AHistory of
the Downstream People Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press
Thompson, V H (1955) "A History of the Quapaw."
Chronicles of Oklahoma 33:360-383
Quechan
ETHNONYMS: Cuchano,Cuchan, Cushan, Yum, Yuma
Orientation Identification The Quechan are an American Indian
group located in western Arizona and eastern California
"Quechan,"meaning"those whodescended,"is ashortening
ofthenamethattheQuechan believewas given tothemand
toother lower Coloradopeoples atthetime ofcreation on
the sacred mountain Avikwame: "Xim Kwacin," meaning
"those who descended byadifferentway"or"those who de
scended byway of the water."
Location AboriginallytheQuechanlivedalong the lower
ColoradoRiver,north and south ofits junctionwiththe Gila
River.Thisarealies primarilywithin thepresent statesof
Cal-iforniaandArizona.Theirreservationtodayis asmallportion
of their aboriginalterritory.
Demography Thepopulationmayhave been aboutfour
thousand prior to contactwith Spaniards in 1540 By the
early 1900s therewere fewer thanathousand In 1988 the
Quechanpopulationwasestimated at two thousand, about
two-thirdsofwhomlivedon oradjacenttothereservation.
UnguisticAffiliation QuechanisclassifiedintheYuman
subfamily of the Hokanlanguage family.Thoseliving inthe
extremesouthernportionsoftheirterritory mayhavespoken
a distinct dialectofQuechan
History and Cultural Relations
Quechan traditiondescribes theircreation,alongwiththat of
other lower Colorado River tribes, by their culture hero,
Kukumat After Kukumat died, his son Kumastamxo took
thepeopletothe sacredmountainAvikwame,nearthe pres-entcity ofNeedles, California Therehegavethem bows and arrows and taught them how to cureillness and then sent them down from themountain invariousdirections.The an-cestors ofthe Quechan settledalong the Colorado Riverto the south of the Mohave Little archaeological evidence of theQuechanpasthas survived theColorado's flooding The Quechan andsome of the other lower Colorado tribesmay havebegun as rather small patrilineal bands that gradually grew intolarger"tribal" groupings What caused the forma-tion ofthese tribes is not altogether clear; the interrelated fac-torsprobably included populationincrease froma generally reliableandabundantriverbottom horticulture; competition withneighboring riverine groups for control of lucrative trade routesbetween the Pacific Coast and cultures to the east of the Colorado (including, foratime, thegreat Hohokam cul-ture between about A.D 1050 and 1200); and increasingly strongsocialbonds between small groups living next to one anotheralong the river's banks
In 1540 a Spanish expedition under Hernando de Alarc6n was the first groupofEuropeans to reachQuechan territory For the next three and a half centuries the Que-chans were in intermittent contact with various Spanish, Mexican, and Americanexpeditionsintent ondeveloping the land route between southern California and the interior to the east of theColorado River The Quechan controlled the best crossing point along the lower Colorado, just to the southofwhere it is joined by the Gila During this time, too, warfare wasendemic between the Quechan and other tribes living along the Colorado and Gila rivers No permanent Whitesettlements were attempted at the crossing until 1779, whenSpanishsettlers and soldiers arrived In 1781, after two years ofSpanish depredations, the Quechans attacked them, killing some and driving the others away The tribe retained control of the areauntil the early 1850s, when the U.S Army defeated them andestablished Fort Yuma at the crossing Just across theriver fromthe fort a small White Americantown soon sprang upto cashin onthe increasing overland traffic between California and the East, and to the north and south along the Colorado itself
Areservation was set aside for the Quechan on the west (California) side oftheriver in1884, but most of its acreage, includingsomeofitsbest farmland, was lost to the tribe by the fraudulent 1893 agreementwith the U.S government The government restoredtwenty-five thousand acres ofthe originalreservation in 1978, minus most of the best farmland takenearlier.Formost of the twentieth century the tribe has beenattemptingto create asecure economic base for the res-ervation, one to replace the relative abundance of the tradi-tional riverbottomfarming that gave out in the early 1900s
Settlements The Quechan lived in settlements or rancherias scattered along the Colorado to the north of the Gila confluence for about sixty miles and to the southwest for about ten miles, and forabout twenty-six miles eastward along the Gila itself But the number and precise locations of these rancherias shifted fromtime totime,perhapspartlyinresponseto war-fare with other groups Inthe nineteenthcentury there were six Quechan rancherias, each located on anelevated area above the river floodplain, safe from the spring floods For
Trang 2Quechan 301
much of theagriculturalseasonfrom springtofall, the people
of therancheriadispersedtofamilyfarmplots alongthe
river-bottoms, where they lived indome-shapedarrowweed
shel-ters.The rancheriasweregradually abandoned after the
reser-vation wascreated in 1887, and families moved within the
reservationboundariestoreceiveindividualten-acreplots of
farmland allottedtothembythe federal government.Today
householdsarescatteredprimarily along themainroads
link-ingthe reservation with thenearbycity ofYuma, Arizona, and
the smaller townofWinterhaven, California
Economy
Subsistence and Commercial Activities Traditionally
the Quechan farmed the rich riverbottom lands, growing
mainly maize, squash, and beans The cultivated crops
proba-bly accounted for about 50 percent of the Quechan diet The
remainder came from gathered wild foods such as mesquite
and screwbean pods and from river fish Hunting was not very
productive Occasional irregularities in the river floods lent
some uncertainty to the supply of cultivated foods After
White Americansdeveloped the crossing into a
transporta-tioncenter, Quechansworkedas unskilled wage laborersin
the town or on river steamers Bythe 1950s there were
virtu-ally no Quechans stillfarming;they worked as wage laborers
and/or received income from leasing their land allotments to
non-Indian farmers Presently the tribe leases farm acreage
and operates abingo hall and two modem trailer parks
Industrial Arts In the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuriesQuechan women made pottery utensils, distinctive
clay dolls, and beaded shawls; only the shawls are still made
Menmade tools, weapons, and gourd rattles and other ritual
paraphernalia In general the Quechans were little concerned
with embellishment of material culture beyond utilitarian
needs
Trade The Colorado River crossing in Quechan territory
was along one of the main precontact trade routes linking
coastal California tribes with the center of the great
Hohokam cultureinsouthern Arizona (A.D 1000-1200), and
later with Pima, Pagago, and others after the Hohokam
de-clined The Quechan likely acted as middlemen and/or
ex-tracted a portion of the trade goodsinexchange for safe
pas-sage acrossthe crossing.Inlean years foodstuffsweretraded
It islikely that control of this traderoute was oneof theissues
in persistent intertribal warfare until the 1860s
Division of Labor Both men and women worked the
riverbottom fields, themendoing the heavier work of clearing
brush,andboth sexeshelpedwith the harvest Several related
extendedfamilyhouseholds joined forces atclearingor
har-vest times Mendid most of the fishing, women the gathering
Males waged war, although there were typically
warrior-women accompanying each major war party The elderly are
still important economic and teaching assets in households
where both parents work
Land Tenure Traditionally, farm plots were considered
the property of the household The household's landswere
abandoned at the death of one of its adult members, and they
soughtunoccupied land elsewhere in the vicinity Ownership
rules were notelaborately developed, and there was no
inheri-tance.This changed radically after the reservationwas
cre-ated andthe individual members of the tribe were each
as-signed aten-acre allotment As the original and successive ownersdied, the plots were divided, and then repeatedly redi-vided, creating a major heirship crisis in some cases.The res-ervationlandisstill heldin trustandcannotbesold.Mostof theplots are presently leased to non-Indianfarmers
Kinship
Kin Groups and Descent The Quechan recognize a se-ries of exogamous patrilineal clans Clan functions besides regulating marriage are no longer clearly known Each has one or morenamesakes (totemic animals or plants) associ-ated withit (such as frog, maize, snake, red ant).Someclan names areconsideredforeign to the Quechan, indicating per-haps some earlier incorporation of alien groups into the tribal structure Presently younger tribal members are only vaguely aware of the clan names and do notfollow the rule of ex-ogamy
Kinship Terminology Thetraditionalkinship terms fol-lowed the bifurcate collateral avuncular and Iroquois cousin patterns, with majorterminological emphasis on age and gen-der distinctions
Marriage and Family
Marriage Sometimes parents arranged betrothals fol-lowed by periods of gift giving and feasting But there was ap-parently considerable flexibility in betrothal and marriage patterns A man often courted a woman by playing a wooden flute outside her shelter at night, and she might invite him in
to sleep with her (without having intercourse) After four nights of sleeping together, the couple was considered mar-ried Ideally, postmarital residence was patrilocal The typical marriage was monogamous,but polygyny was permitted Mar-riages could be dissolved by either partner
Domestic Unit Despitethe patrilocal preference, the am-bilocalextendedfamilywasthe predominant household unit until the 1920s, when the effects of land allotment and wage-based subsistence undermined the extendedfamily's impor-tance Nuclear family households then became numerous Yet the extended household has remained a popular option for families who have elderly relatives to care for or who want
to try to ease the burden of poverty by pooling the resources
of the larger household group And even nuclear family households are frequently but a few acres away from those of close kin
Inheritance Until recently there was no inheritance of de-ceased's property; it was either destroyed (goods) or aban-doned (land), lest the survivors be constantly reminded of their loss The allotment of land andthe construction of sub-stantial housing has changed this pattern somewhat, but thereis still the feeling that a deceased's personal property should be destroyed after death
Socialization Theeldersintheextendedfamilyhousehold traditionally played amajor part inthe socialization of the young Children were and are raised permissively During their first menstruation, girls were lectured by older women about the proper adult female role; boys went through an ini-tiation ritualinwhich theywere madeto runlong distances after having their nasal septa pierced and were lectured on the ideal traits of adult Quechan males
Trang 3302 Quechan
Sociopolitical Organization
SocialOrganization. There may have beengradations of
status inQuechanfamilies,but the basis for them is not clear
Individual ritualists and leaders possessing dreampower had
high prestige, as did warriors ofexceptional bravery.The
sev-eralrancherias werelargelyautonomoussocial units for much
of the year.Quechantribal structure became apparentduring
large war expeditions, harvest festivals, and major rituals
mourning the death of prominent people On the modem
reservationthe tribalidentityhasreplacedmost ofthe older
rancheriaidentity.Theelderlyas agroup arepubliclytreated
with respect
Political Organization Most of the time the rancherias
operated as autonomous political entities, each with a
headman noted for his wisdom and speaking ability He
served at the will of his rancheria and wasexpectedtobe
gen-erous with his time and property Thekey to leaders'
effec-tiveness was the special power derived from dreams; this
power was manifest in theirperformance There were both
civil leaders and war leaders Traditionally these leadership
positions were heldbymales Since 1938 the tribe has been
governedby an elected seven-member tribal council Women
have often been elected to thecouncil, and the firstwoman
tribal presidentwas elected in 1987
Social Control Gossip was probably a frequently used
mechanism of social control in the past; it continues to be the
most popular means Sorcery and occasionally murder were
used against repeated and flagrant social deviance Late in
the 1800s a Quechan leaderreportedlyorderedpublic
flog-gings for drunkards, but such punishment of misbehavior
may not be traditional Children were and are scolded for
misbehavior, but seldom spanked In the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries government superintendents, with
their appointedagency police force, upheld federal law on the
reservation Responsibility for both civil and criminal cases
nowlieswith the Imperial County, California,sheriff's office;
the federal government remains the law enforcement
author-ity for major crimes on the reservation
Conflict The natural lines of conflict traditionally were
betweenrancherias,and afterEuropean contact the most
ser-ious conflictserupted over how best to deal with Whites
De-spitechanges inspecificissues, this haspersistedas a
funda-mental source of political factionalism Another is the
performance of elected tribal officials Now factions consist
of clusters ofclose relatives
Religion and Expressive Culture
ReligiousBeliefs The elementalQuechan beliefs involve
aspiritual power derived fromspecialdreams anda
continu-ing interaction with the souls of the dead The dream power is
bestowedby the first men, createdby Kukumat but imbued
with spiritual power and culture by Kukumat's son
Kuma-stamxo Dream power was essential for successful leaders,
curers, warriors, and the various ritualspecialists There was
as well a collective tribal spiritual power that was renewed and
increasedthrough war with enemy tribes Instead of prayers
or sacrifices, there were formulas and purification through
smoking and abstinence that produced more or less
auto-matic results Protestant and Catholic doctrine has become
popular, but there is still an active core of men who preserve
the traditional beliefs and an evenlarger group who combine elements of both traditional and Christian belief.Many peo-plehad guardianspirits manifest as special voices that spoke
tothem fromtime to time These spirits, and those of the first people,livedeitheronthe sacred mountain Avikwame or on one of the other sacredheights in the region
Religious Practitioners Men with unusually potent dream power were given a special title: k-ax6tt There were also individual speakers and singers who collectively pos-sessed theknowledge of rituals
Ceremonies The major tribal ceremony was the kar'ik, held to honor thememory of deceased tribalmembers It was conceived as a reenactment of the original mourning cere-mony following creator Kukumat's death In the late nine-teenth and early twentieth centuries it featured carved wooden images ofthe deceased along withdisplays of new clothing laid out as offerings to the spirits of the dead A major portion ofthe ritual scenario involved a battle reenact-ment; its climax was a large fire that consumed theritual shel-terand theofferings Other'religious"ceremonieswere more likelarge-scale feasts Even abbreviated kar'6krituals are now rarely held
Medicine Quechans traditionally believed disease could
be caused byinadvertently ingesting a poisonous substance or
by soul loss Hostile sorcerers could cause either malady, as could the violation of a mouming, warfare, or menstrual taboo Dream power was the source of a curer's abilities Techniquesincludedblowing smoke upon andmassagingthe patient, andsucking out the intrusive substance
DeathandAfterlife The souls of the deadpass through four layers, each more distant from the living world The fourth is the land of the dead, far to the south, a land of plenty andhappiness,with the best times enjoyed by those killed in battle The body is cremated along withpersonal ef-fects, and otherswishing to commemorate deceased relatives
at the time maybum offerings of clothing as well Spiritsof some of the dead also return to receive theofferings to them burned during thekar'tk ritual The traditional funeral ritual still predominates
Bibliography Bee, Robert L (1981) Crosscurrents along the Colorado: The Impact ofGovernment Policy on the Quechan Indians Tucson: University ofArizona Press
Bee, Robert L (1983) "Quechan." In Handbook of North American Indians Vol.10,Southwest, edited byAlfonso Ortiz 86-98 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Forbes,JackD (1965) Warriors of the Colorado: The Yumas
of the Quechan Nation and Their Neighbors Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press
Forde, C Daryll (1931) "Ethnography of the Yuma Indi-ans." Universityof California Publications in American
ROBERT L BEE
Trang 4Rom 303
Rom
Quileute
The Quileute (Quillayute), including the Hoh, live on the
west coastof theOlympicPeninsulainnorthwestern
Wash-ington tothesouth ofCape Flattery Today theylivemainly
ontheQuileuteandHoh Indianreservations inWashington
TheQuileute makea strongeffortto preservethe culture,
re-quiring,forexample,that tribalmembershipbegivenonlyto
thosewith50percentQuileuteancestryandbirthonthe
res-ervation.Theyspoke Quileute,alanguage of theChimakuan
family andnumberedabout fourhundredinthemid- 1980s
Bibliography
Pettit, George Albert (1950) "The Quileute of La Push,
1775-1945." University of CaliforniaAnthropological Records
14:1-120
Powell,Jay,and VickieJenson(1976) Quileute:An
Introduc-tion totheIndians ofLaPush.Seattle: Universityof
Washing-ton Press
Quinault
The Quinault (Quinaelt, Quinaielt), including the Queets
(Quaitso),liveonthewest coastoftheOlympicPeninsulain
northwestern Washingtontothesouth of the Quileute and
Hoh They spoke Coast Salish languages and numbered
aboutsixteenhundredin1984.Theynowlive with the
Che-halis,Chinook,andCowlitzontheQuinault Indian
Reserva-tion inWashington
Bibliography Barsh,RussellLawrence(1982) "TheEconomicsofa
Tradi-tionalCoastal IndianFishery."HumanOrganization
41:170-176
Olson,RonaldL (1936) "The QuinaultIndians." University
of Washington Publications inAnthropology 6:1-190
ETHNONYMS: Gypsy, or subgroup appellations: Kalderash, Machwaya
Orientation Identification The Rom speaking aVlach (Viax) Gypsy dialect have representativesovermostof theworldincluding the United States, Canada, Mexico, and much of Central and South America Rommeans"human being," "man,"and
"husband," thus paralleling the use of the word 'man" in English "Rom" and "Gypsy" are used interchangeably be-causefortheRomtheEnglishtermcarries noneof the nega-tive connotations it has for manynon-Gypsies
Location TheRomarefound in every state, andalthough somecontinuetobeseminomadic, travelingthroughoutthe countryandintoCanada,Mexico,theCaribbean,and occa-sionallytoEurope,mostfamiliesstrivetocontrolaterritory focusedon apooloffortune-tellingclientele.Most Romare urban dwellers, found primarily in the larger metropolitan centers; fewer live in small towns and on busy mainroads throughout rural America
Demography Myenumeration of the Rompopulation in several states and large cities, and interviews with the Rom about their knowledge of where different families live, re-sulted in afigureof less than twenty thousand The New York metropolitan area hasthe largest concentration, with perhaps
asmany asfour hundred to five hundred families Los Ange-les, Chicago, and other cities have lesser concentrations cor-responding primarily to their population size
linguistic Affiliation The Rom speak a dialect of a lan-guage belonging to the Indic branch ofthe Indo-European language family They refer to it adverbially as speaking ro-manes, "inthe Gypsyway";inEnglishthelanguageiscalled
"Gypsy."Linguistsreferto itand other related but not always mutuallyintelligible dialects as"Romani."Thedialect spoken
by the Rom falls into a category of Vlach, or Romanian-influenced Gypsy dialects
History and Cultural Relations
On the basis oflinguisticevidence, the ancestors of the Rom and otherGypsy groups are thought to have leftIndia
some-timebeforeA.D. 1000 LoanwordsintheGypsy language indi-catetheypassedthroughPersian-andGreek-speakingareas The firstrecords that can reasonably bethought to apply to Gypsies come from early-fourteenth-century Greece After the arrival of GypsiesinEurope, somegroupsspreadwestand north, whereas the ancestors of the Rom appear to have stayed in the Balkans, especially in the Serbian and Romanian-speaking areas, until the middle of the nineteenth century, atwhich time they begananother series of migra-tions, culminatinginthe distribution of Rom families all over the world.Thismajorsplit, oftenreferred to as the first and second waves ofmigrations, is also reflectedin the Vlach-non-Vlach dialect division Before coming to North America, most of thefamilies had traveledwidely; group designations reflect the countries with which they were associated, such as Rusuya, Grekuya, Arxentinuya, Meksikaya, and so on The
Trang 5304 Rom
tribal name of Machwaya derives from the Serbianareafrom
whichthey emigrated
Myresearchplacesthe firstarrivalofRom inthe United
States in 1881,but the real influx didnotbegin until about
1895 It wasduring this period, from1895until immigration
was slowed downby WorldWar Iand haltedbytheliteracy
requirement of 1918, thatthe ancestors ofmostof theRom
familiescurrently in the United States and Canada arrived
here Themorerecent LovaraRom, who first arrived from Eu
ropein 1973, arenot discussed here, as they have not been
here longenough yet to be considered "American Rom."
Settlements Owing to economic competition over fortune-telling
terri-tory, Rom inthe United States and Canada have evolved a
scattered distribution roughly correlated with the density of
the non-Gypsy population, especially that portion ofit
per-ceived by the Romtocomprise the best clientele Largercities
are dividedintoareas ofinfluence inwhichcertainfamilies
hold sway, sometimes fordecades oruntildisplaced by
an-otherfamily Some smaller towns are saidtobe"owned" bya
single family, and extended families often lay claimto a
por-tionof a state with ruralareasandanumber of smalltowns
This is especially true inthe southern states 'Ownership"
may consistof informal arrangements with local law
enforce-mentofficials, possession ofa fortune-tellinglicense,
influ-encewith welfare authorities, orapatronagerelationship with
some influential local person
Economy
Subsistence and Commercial Activities The economic
organization of the Rom, like that ofmostGypsies, has been
characterizedbywhatin recentyearshascome tobe calleda
"peripateticadaptation," or sometimes "commercial
nomad-ism." Although much less nomadic and more urbanized
today, the adaptation of the Rom remains an ethnically
or-ganized, opportunistic exploitation of the human resource
base by means of a wide variety of strategies Non-Gypsies
formthe clientele;nosimilareconomic relationshipis
sanc-tioned among the Rom.This adaptation is unusually stablein
its overall relationship to non-Gypsy society, although the
specific strategies utilized are readily accommodated to
re-gionaldifferences andchangingtimes.This veryflexibilityis
highly valued by theRom.Theprincipaltrades theRomhave
engaged in overthe years have alternated between women's
fortune-telling and the men's sales and service activities
Today fortune-tellingisthe primary subsistence activity and
influences population distribution and social relations
Whenever possible, the Rom try to operate as independent
entrepreneurs, thus avoiding the proletarianization of their
labor
Industrial Arts As independent traveling traders and
service providers the Romengaged little inprimary
produc-tive activitiesormanufacturing They were everywhere
depen-dent onthe surrounding population for their subsistence In
spite ofincreased sedentism, the only relationship the Rom
have toindustry is by means ofsemiskilledrepairtrades,
for-merly as copper- and tinsmiths, todayasauto-body workers,
electroplaters, metalburnishers, and soon
Trade Romhave always been alert toopportunities to en-gageinbuying,selling, or trading whatever goods seem to be
indemand atanyparticular time Shrewdtradesmanship is part of theself-definition of aGypsy Mengenerally dealin larger merchandise, formerly horses, today cars and trailers; womentell fortunes or sell smaller items, such as decorative objects; and children engage in occasionalproductive activi-tiessuchasshiningshoes orhawkingflowers on the streets DivisionofLabor Sexual dichotomy among the Rom ex-tends to types of work that are considered proper for men and women Fortune-telling is women's work par excellence, al-though it's the men who control and protect the territory Men'swork is more variable, but at any particular time and place there is a range of pursuits that are considered properly
"Gypsy."Bythe same token there are jobs, such as plumbing, that contravene the group's pollution taboos and that a Rom shouldnotperform
Land Tenure There is no traditionalform of land tenure because there is no traditional attachment to land Fortune-telling locationsand the rights to the local clientele are often bought and sold as businesses, however Today, real estate also may bepurchased either as an investment or as a base for service operations
Kinship
KinGroupsand Descent The Rompopulation in North America isorganized almost entirely on basis of kinship Stu-dents of American Rom disagree in their interpretations of kinship Gropper and Sutherland describe descent as cog-natic or bilateral; Gropper, however, recognizes the patri-linealemphasis in rules of residence In my view, descent ide-ology is patrilineal, as expressed frequentlyby the statement:
"We always go by the father." In practice, rare exceptions occur Thepatrilineally extended family is generally the larg-estfunctioning unit inthe society Patrilineally related males work together, pool their money forbride-price, defend com-mon fortune-telling territories against outside threats, and exhibit solidarity at public gatherings Women's lineages are considered not to matter, as expressed by the statement refer-ring to marriage:"Thegirls are thrownaway."Above the fam-ily are the lineage and the clan, which generally give the group its name; sometimesthe names of lineage founders are used
inaddition to the clan name Thus an individual may identify himself as being aRomofthe Kalderash tribe, Mineshti clan, Demitro lineage, the son of Zurka, known by the name of Wasso Both the clan and the lineage are referred to by the term vitsa, whichoriginates in the Romanian word meaning a
"stem.'
Kinship Terminology Eskimo-type kinship terms are used Most of the terminology derives from Indic roots, al-though some hasbeen borrowed from Romanian and possibly from otherEuropeanlanguages Itdiffers fromcommon Eu-ropean kinship terms primarily by equating grandchildren with nieces andnephews andinemphasizingterms defining relationships among affines, the parties to marriage con-tracts
Marriage and Family
Marriage Within living memory, most marriages have been arranged by the families of theboyand thegirl,the
Trang 6initi-Rom 305
ativebeingwith theboy'sparents.Formerlythe youngpeople
wererarely consultedinthematter,todaytheir wishesmaybe
takeninto consideration, especially ifthey are strongly
op-posed tothe proposed match Elopement,which may have
beenanearlier form ofmarriage, isoccasionallyresorted to as
analternative form.Marriageisviewedas a contractbetween
thetwofamilies withbride-priceas the cement tosolidifythe
agreement. Atthewedding, formerlyan elaboratethree-day
seriesofceremonies nowcollapsedto one,the brideis
trans-ferredtothegroom's family,andmoney iscollectedfromthe
guests todefray the costsborne by them Over the
genera-tions, patterns of bride exchange have developed between
certainpatrilineages amounting to aloose form of alliance
The members of suchlineagepairsoftensaythat thefrequent
intermarriages practically make them into one vitsa.
Mar-riagesbetweencousins onceremoved are common,butmay
also occur between first cousins, especially cross cousins.
After marriage the couple traditionally resides patrilocally
untilother brothersinthefamilygetmarried, atwhichtime
the firstone may move out tobeginanindependent nuclear
household The relationship to the husband's paternal
householdremains strong,however, mealsmaystill be taken
there and often the households are in close proximity by
choice Divorcerequiresthereturnofa portionof the
bride-price,theamountdependingonthelength oftimethe couple
stayed together
Domestic Unit Theprimarysocialunit amongtheRomis
thepatrilineally extended family Formerly this constituteda
camping unit,buttodayit isdifficult for suchalarge number
of peopletoobtain single oradjacent housing As muchas
possible, however, the extended familyattempts tofunction
as a domestic unit-for example, by visiting daily, sharing
meals, and otherwise consideringoneanother's homesas
ex-tensions of one'sownhousehold
Inheritance Typicallyatthetimeof death there usedto
beverylittletoinheritanda greatreluctanceto possess items
belonging tothe deceased; mostpersonal belongings would
have been burned, broken,ordiscardedtoavoid possible
vis-itsby thespiritof the deceased Today,increasingownership
of realestateand bankaccounts isbringingmore mainstream
inheritance rules tobearondisposal ofproperty.
Socialization Children are raised in an extended family
settingwith all older females sharinginchild-caringactivities.
Childrenare indulged, protected, and treasured Theygrow
upfeeling secure in,but dependent on, theprotectionthey
receive from the extended family Butthey often seem at a
loss in new situationswithout the supportof the relatives
Even adults consider long separation from the familytobe
theworstkind of deprivation that could occur.
Sociopolitical Organization
SocialOrganization The Romfunction on aband level
withfamilyelders and influential'bigmen" asthe onlytype
of leadership Rom society is organized primarily on the
basis of kinship, with sex, age, ability, wealth, and family
membership usedtorank individuals.It ispatrifocalinthat
all important decisions are ultimately made by the adult
males, although the advice ofwomen may be considered
Age isgenerally accorded highrespect,but abilitymay
some-times countformore.Womendefertotheirmen.Wealthis
seen as proof of ability and luck and is highly esteemed Prestige is based on a combination ofwealth, ability, and goodconduct
Political Organization Lacking formal leadership, Rom political organization consistsof loosefederations, or shifting alliances betweenlineages,whichgenerallyareunitedby mar-riage ties Charismatic individuals, those who have become wealthyorwho have influential friends among non-Gypsies, may for a while possess certain power to influence others; however, their power is generally nontransferable At the death ofa'bigman,"his sons do notnecessarily inherit his status Each hasto earn his ownstatus
Social Control Social controlisultimatelyinthe hands of one's peers and elders whohappentobein apositionto com-mand respectattheparticular time Most of the time, social control consists of discussion and evaluation, gossip, ridicule, and similar informalpressure tactics In more serious cases a divano, agatheringoffriends, relatives, and available local elders, maybe called first to discuss and attempt to solve the probleminorder to avoid the expense and trouble of resort-ing to a Gypsy court Ifthis fails, the Kris, an ad hoc court of arbitration, is convened, generally by the party that feels it has beenwronged The judges are chosen from among avail-ablerespected elders, who are felt to be objective and are ex-pected not to favor one side over another Sanctions may consistof monetary fines or, more rarely, formal ostracism Charges of contravention of pollution taboos, more fre-quently used in the past, are among the strongest forms of so-cial control A person or family labeled unclean, marime, is ef-fectively banned from further contact with other Rom until clearedby the Kris Non-Gypsy law enforcement is also called upon as anadjunct to internal forms of conflict resolution, al-beitmostly for the harassment of enemies
Conflict Conflicts-which may begin with individual dis-agreements over division of earnings, disputes over bride-price ordaughters-in-law, or competition over fortune-telling territory-are often expressed on another level as disagree-ments between families or lineages Patrilineally related individuals areexpected to band together to defend the fam-ily against outsiders Women whose natal lineages are in con-flict with those of their husbands are sometimes put in an awkward positionof having to choose between them
Religious Beliefs Inaddition to traditions that may have earlier roots, the religion of the Rom incorporates elements from Eastern European folk religions, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism Today, although most consider themselves Catholic, large numbers have turned toward evangelical Protestant sects such as Pentecostalism Beliefs arederivedpartly from indigenous traditions and partly from the official and folkreligions of the countries among which the Rom have lived God, 0Del, and saints are venerated, and numerous spirits,some associated with natural elements such as wind or water, are recognized Some are anthropo-morphized; others more manalike in their expression Luck, Bax, especially is considered an active supernatural force, closely bound with thenotion of fate Symbolic uncleanness
is sometimes also reified as an incarnation of evil Pollution,
or marime taboos based on the symbolic impurity of the lower
Trang 7306 Rom
body, especiallyof women, dictates proper behavior between
the sexes,olderandyoungerpeople, food andlaundry
han-dling, and the arrangement of household furnishings The
sameseparation ofclean from unclean also dictates the kinds
of social and economic relations permissible between the
Rom andnon-Gypsies
Religious Practitioners No formal priests, shamans, or
otherreligious specialists exist among theRom Afew women
arenoted as interpreters ofdreams; others may be feared as
witches because of their age orabilityto castcurses
Ceremonies Major ceremonies with religious
compo-nentsinclude saint's day feasts, baptisms, funerals, feasts of
honor,weddings, and Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas
celebrations All celebrate the Rom as a people; by the giving
offeasts, respect isdemonstrated toboth thesupernaturals
and other Rom
Arts Arts consistof music, including recent musical
com-positions and adaptations, dance, folk songs, legends, and
familyhistory Oratory,especiallyat aKris, mayalso be
con-sidered among the artistic expressions of theRom Folklore
serveseducational, evaluative, and prescriptive roles of major
importance in the absence of writing and more formal
educa-tion
Medicine There issomeevidence that the Rom once
pos-sessed a rich body of folk medicines, remedies, and cures,
mostof which bynowhave fallenintodisuse There do not
appear to have been any internally recognized medical
spe-cialists, although the older women served as multipurpose
ethnopsychiatrists, herbalists, and curers for outside clients
Modem medicine is accepted, and in cases of serious illness
thebest physicians and hospitals are sought regardless of the
cost ordistance
Death andAfterlife Spirits of the dead are believed to
survivedeath The deceasedareprovided with money, a new
suitof clothes, and travel necessities Their spirits roam the
earth for one year after death, retracing the steps traveled
dur-inglife The year after death is punctuated by a series of
me-morial feasts, with the last one after a year formally
conclud-ing the journey with a ceremony of 'Opening the Road,"
presumably to heaven, raio, and the liberation of the spirit
from anyfurther earthly obligations Anniversariesof death
are alsocommemorated with food offerings, generallyby an
extraplace setting at atable Thereisnocorresponding belief
inhell Deathisconsideredaspolluting, and the appearance
of spirits of the dead isgenerallyfeared unless the one
per-ceivingthe ghost had an especially close and good
relation-ship with the person while alive Nevertheless, one's
ances-tors may beinvokedtointercedeonone's behalfat atimeof
greatneed Those Rom who have recently become
Pentecos-tals have renounced most of these beliefs and practices as
pagan."
Bibliography Gropper, Rena C (1975) Gypsies in the City: Culture
Pat-terns and Survival Princeton: Darwin Press
Miller, CarolJ. (1968) "MacvajaGypsy Marime."M.A
the-*sis, University ofWashington, Seattle
Pickett, David (1970)."TheGypsies:AnInternational Com-munity ofWanderingThieves." Ph.D diss., Syracuse Univer-sity
Salo,MattT., andSheila Salo (1977) The Kalderasin East-ern Canada Folk Culture Studies, no 21.Ottawa: National Museumsof Canada
Silverman, CarolT (1979) "Expressive Behavioras Adap-tiveStrategy amongAmericanGypsies." Ph.D diss.,
Univer-sityofPennsylvania
Sutherland, Anne (1975) Gypsies: The Hidden Americans NewYork: Free Press
MATT T SALO