Despite this culture being highly sexist and a rather strange mixture of old and new traditions, I really cannot get enough of this documentary series.
Well it was all around the male gypsies last night and we saw a glimpse into the darker side of the culture. The guys don't believe in saying no. Thats a sign of weakness. So instead everything is settled by fighting. A fight can last 5 minutes to up to 2 hours. Only the men are allowed to watch. They do normally have somebody there who acts to make sure its fair but from the looks of what we did see, anything pretty much goes. They fight until one of them drops and acknowledges their defeat.This and lack of good healthcare also means that the average life expectancy amongst Gypsies is a shocking 50 years old.
Again there issue of money, where it comes from, how much things cost was kept quiet. Gypsies do not talk about what they pay and their haggling skills. We did however learn that they do haggle. We also learnt that they tend to have the same style when decorating and reffered to it as the "versace effect" - meaning things should be shiny and marble.
Finally to be asked to be a godfather is a huge honor. The chap last night had 70 godchildren. It showed him at a christening but refusing to push the baby in the pram as "You just don't see it, its not a mans role." He explained that other men would laugh at him.
There was another wedding, this time a lass who was 22 - quite old in gypsy terms and she had worked for 5 years as a hotel receptionist. So strangly she was used to being independent. She gave all that up to move 100 miles away in a cavaran and cook and clean all day. At the end of the programme I felt for her as she said in the cavaran, "This is where I spend most of the day. It's like a prison. I don't like it." Poor girl missed her parents dreadfully and advised other gypsy women not to get married at 16 and live a little before becoming a wife.
No comments:
Post a Comment