Family of Crimean Roma in the Stavropol Governorate. Pre-Russian Revolution.
| |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 20,000 - 25,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Ukraine, Russia | |
| Languages | |
| Crimean Romani, Crimean Tatar, Russian | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ursari • Ruska Roma • Gurbeti • Crimean Tatars |
The Crimean Roma (also known as Crimean gypsies, Tatar gypsies, Ayuji (Crimean Tatar for 'bear cub'), Krymy, or Çingene,[a] TajfaorDajfa) are a sub-ethnic group of the Muslim Roma heavily assimilated among Crimean Tatars[1] to the point that they are often considered to be the fourth subgroup of Crimean Tatars.[2][3] Currently, they live in many countries of the former Soviet Union, including Russia. They speak the Crimean Tatar language and their own Crimean Romani dialect.[4] Crimean Roma traditionally practice Islam.
Gypsies arrived on the territory of Crimea with the Golden Horde. In the Crimean Khanate, the Roma, like people of other nations, were not harassed; the authorities did not persecute them and they were not treated with contempt.[5] In Crimea, they led a sedentary and semi-sedentary lifestyle, engage in productive labor and music.[5] In the 18th century, Islam became the traditional religion of the Crimean gypsies. Roma researcher Nikolai Stieber wrote in his essay on Roma in Crimea:
Все крымские цыгане исповедуют мусульманскую веру, многие из них выполняют даже заповеди Корана не менее строго, чем другие мусульмане. Крымские цыгане живут постоянно среди татарского населения, носят обыкновенно татарские имена, говорят свободно на татарском языке. В отношении одежды цыгане стараются подражать татарам: мужчины одеваются в халаты, покрывают голову татарской шапкой: цыганки на голове татарскую шапочку. Чингене в качестве ремесленников пользуются среди местного населения большим успехом и влиянием, к ним относятся как к честным труженикам. Некоторые из крымских цыган служат носильщиками на судах при нагрузке зернового хлеба; ведут разносную торговлю. Крымские цыгане играют на дауле, скрипке и зурне; они играют всюду, где только их приглашают; в городских кофейнях и гостиницах, на татарских свадьбах и вечерах.
All Crimean gypsies profess the Muslim faith, many of them even fulfill the commandments of the Koran no less strictly than other Muslims. Crimean gypsies live permanently among the Tatar population, usually have Tatar names, speak fluently in the Crimean Tatar language. With regard to clothing, the gypsies try to imitate the Tatars: men dress in bathrobes, cover their heads with a Tatar hat: gypsies wear a Tatar hat on their heads. Chingene as artisans enjoy great success and influence among the local population, they are treated as honest workers. Some of the Crimean gypsies serve as porters on ships when loading grain bread; carry on a peddling trade. Crimean gypsies play the daul, violin and zurna; they play wherever they are invited; in city coffee houses and hotels, at Tatar weddings, sünnet toy (circumcision evenings).
—Nikolai Stieber[5]
Crimean Roma lived in Crimea and in the Kuban steppe, which was part of the Crimean Khanate. The Crimean Roma were the first Roma to appear in the Kuban steppe. Today, the descendants of the first Roma who settled in the Kuban do not call themselves Crimean gypsies, but Kuban gypsies, while they retain the Crimean dialect of the Romani language and follow Islam and boys are circumcised.
From 1854 to 1862, Tatar Roma together with the Crimean Tatars were expelled to the Ottoman Empire. Most settled in Northern Bulgaria, especially in Dobruja, near the Danube, and in the Vidin region.
Crimean Tatar intervention saved the lives of many Crimean Roma from the Nazis; the estimates of what percent of Crimean Roma survived the Holocaust vary, with some estimates 30%,[6] but there is widespread disagreement on how many survived due to the fluid identity of Crimean Roma who often self-designated themselves as Crimean Tatars.[7][8] In 1944, the Crimean Roma were deported to Central Asia alongside their Crimean Tatar brethren, partially because many of the surviving Crimean Roma were registered as Crimean Tatars in their Soviet passports.[7]
In 1948–1949, some of the Crimean Roma began to return to Crimea, although many remained in exile with Crimean Tatars and further assimilated into the Crimean Tatar people.
Currently, the majority of Crimean Roma live outside of Crimea in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. There are also families living in Ukraine, namely in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, and Kherson.
According to the 2014 Crimean census, the Roma were the youngest ethnic group in Crimea with an average age of 28.3 years, while the average age of the entire republic was 40.9 years.[9]
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Muslims in Europe
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