Gypsy Oral History in Serbia

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Gypsy Oral History in Serbia: From Poverty to CultureAuthor(s): Jelena voroviSource: Oral History, Vol. 33, No. 1, Re-presenting the Past (Spring, 2005), pp. 57-67Published by: Oral History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40179821.Accessed: 01/04/2014 03:53

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by unemployment:hegreatmajorityive n totalpoverty, hey ackeducationandskills,and haveno prospect or a better ife in the near future.BACKGROUNDThevillageof MacvanskiPricinovici s medium-size, relatively rich and typical of Maava'speasant ettlements.Themajority fvillagers reSerbs, whose main occupation is agriculture.Thevillagehas 750 houses,of which110belongto the GurbetiGypsy population. Gurbet s aTurkishword,and meansa 'beggar wanderer'.Before he fall of Yugoslavia,mostGypsiesweretraders: hey used to travel to Bosnia, Croatiaand Sloveniaand sell cattle. Legal and illegaltradeandthesmuggling f pigs,cows and chick-ens was a successfuloccupationat the time.Inthe 1970s, during he 'Gypsygolden age',many Gypsy villagersleft for Austria,only toreturn to the village for holidays and specialoccasions.MostGypsyhouses areemptytoday- out of 110, only around twenty to thirtyhouses areoccupied.The estimatednumberofGypsy nhabitantswho live more orlessperma-nently n thevillage s approximately 20adults,andfiftyto seventychildrenagedone to ten. Inthissense,thevillage s anatypicalGypsysettle-ment, and at the same time, a typical gastar-beitervillage:many Gypsieswith stablejobs inAustriamanaged o obtain oansfrom Austrianofficial nstitutions,andreturnedhometo buildtwoand threestoryhouses with excessivedeco-rationsandmodern architecture.These housesserve as a status symbol:manycompete witheach other over who will build the bigger orbetterequippedhouse and fence. Some fencesgo up to ten metresin height.MostGypsies nAustriawork in low-paid/lowstatus jobs, forexampleasgravediggers,actoryorflower-shopworkers,andstreet cleaners.As a paradox,dueto the poor economic situation and politicalunrest in Serbia, Gypsy foreign salaries andloanshavemadeGypsies ookverysuccessful nthe area.Recently,heGypsies oundeda 'Gypsyclub' in one garage,where males gatheron adailybasis to talk, have drinksand playcards.Most of them arenot employedwithinSerbia;during the summerseason some work occa-sionallyas fieldworkers,or do a black-markettrade.Duringthe wintertime,most of themdonot work at all;they playcardsandgambleforlittle sumsof money.The GurbetiGypsies n thisvillagecall them-selves 'SerbianGypsies'and theyarebilingual.All Gypsies in the village use the Romanylanguageas their mother tongue. All of themalso speakfluent Serbian,which littlechildrenlearnalongwith theRomany nearlychildhood.TheirRomany anguage s a mixtureof Romanyand Serbianwords;it belongs to the Old Vlax

dialect.Theyoungergenerations,whoseparentshave left for work in Austria, also use theGerman anguage,and for the youngthat werebornabroad,German s now the first anguage.In the past, the Gurbeti from MacvanskiPricinovicimaintainedendogamyby marryingonly GurbetiGypsies from their own or fromnearby villages. Today,the villagers say thattraditionalendogamy s not so strictly obeyedanymore, even though it appears that mostmarriagesfit the old norms. Interestingly, ntheirGypsy anguage, here s no word marimewhich means being polluted.8The so-calledGypsy 'ritual cleanness', connected with thenotion of marime appearednever to playa bigrole among the villagers. Accordingto infor-mants,even the ones from an oldergeneration,contact with andmarriage o a non-Gypsywassometimes tolerated, even encouraged, andthere was never an expulsion from the groupdue to the 'breaking f Gypsy radition'.On thecontrary,with respectto other Gypsies,allow-able marriagechoices were largelyrestricted.Femalesin particularwere expected to marrysomeonewithin theirparticular ribe andmostobeyedthe rule. Most informants implystatedthat they never followed any specific rules ofbehaviour, ther hanthe onesthey earned romtheirparentsat home.Dragoslav Jovanovic, he mainprotagonistof thisstory, s a good-looking lderlyman nhislate sixties; he used to be a musician and atrader.He is a very specialperson n hisvillage,not onlyfor his advancedage but becausehe isa presidentof the local Gypsy politicalparty.first came to hisvillage n the springof 2002 towork on the project 'Traditional children'sgamesandstories', ponsoredbythe Institute fEthnography at the Serbian Academy ofSciencesandArts.Dragoslavwas one of thefirstpeople to greetme and show me around.Andwhile most of his fellow-villagers laimed thattheir ancestors left us no stories, ust painandpoverty',Dragoslav urnedout to be a truetrea-surerof traditionalGypsy toriesandpoems.Westartedto work on the storiesand their mean-ings, and Dragoslavwould often switch to theevents fromhis own life, tryingto find in hisown life and behavioura connectionandappli-cation of the traditionalnarrative.This is howmost of the sequences of his life historywerecollectedand s the reasonwhyIdidnot includemy own, additional questions. The interviewtook place during the spring and summermonths of 2002, in Dragoslav'shouse; some-timeshis wife was present,or some other rela-tive. Dragoslavdislikedbeinginterrupted, ndthe audience respected his wish. He wouldsometimesdismissmy questionsas beingnon-importantto his life or to Gypsyculture, and

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continue o tell the storyat his own pace.Moreoften thannot, my questionswere not partofthestory. t was as if he knewwhat he wanted orememberand tell. At other times, we wouldlaugh ogether,nspiredbysome eventfrom hislife, or his usageof the characteristically lackhumour 'Gypsieseat,drink,havefun,and shiton life'), and it was actually the humour wesharedthat createda bond between us. At theend, we both came out with storiesto remem-ber andtell.This is Dragoslav's tory:SAS TAJ S ASSasTajSas:andtherewereand therewere... thisis how we begina story n our language.I wasborn nBukor, ear hemountainCer.And thereit was a realjungle, reallyharshenvironmentandclimate.Mywhole family ivedin the samepoor village. I don't know exactly where myancestorscamefrom.Myfather old me a storyofhow ourgrandfathersnhabitedBukor. don'tknowif it'strue or not. Supposedly, ur ances-torscamefromRussia,but I wonder f my dadgot this one right.Anyway, he storygoes likethis.Threebrothers,Marko,Jovanja ndJoksimwere blacksmiths; they were travelling andmovingaround he earthand ooking or a placeto builda home. Theycarriedtheir tools withthem,andstayed nplaceswherepeopleneededblacksmithing.However, they didn't like anyplace they saw - it was too sunny, oo cold ortoo poor.Finally,heyreachedBukor,abovetheCermountain,and immediately iked its greatwoods and rivers. Gypsies like woods verymuch.Becauseof fire,that'swhy.Giveme somewood,andthere's hefire,andwe areallwarm,that's heonlythingwe need.Therewere around300 Serbianhouses,andthe brothers iked thatverymuch.So, theydecided o stay.And so theystayed n Bukor, ndbuilta littlehousemadeofwood. Theydevelopedthe blacksmithing verthere,andstartedourlineage.Fromone brotherMarko, the Markovic family began; fromJovanja,he Jovanovicamily,andfromJoksim,the Joksimovic family.We are all Markovic,Jovanovicor Joksimovic n this village. That'showwe knowwho is fromBukor;we areallkin,descended romone of the brothers.Bythe lastname, we know who is a native here in thevillage, and who came later. We used to beblacksmiths, utnotanymore. tdoesn'tpayoff,so we switched o trade.

Mygrandfather roughthisbride,my grand-mother, romValjevo.She was also a GurbetiGypsy,and she bore him one son. They hadbeen livingtogether or somefifteento sixteenyears, when the FirstWorldWar came. Theytook my grandfatheras a prisoner of war, toGermany.For a long time, she [grandmother]

didn'thaveanynews,untilone daythetelegramcame, sayingthat her man died in a prisoner'scamp. My family gave him a daca [a funeralceremony],and that's how it ended. Six yearspassed.And after sixyears,mygrandfather,heone that supposedly died, appeared in ourhouse alive and well! Well, at that time, mygrandmotherwas marriedto a differentman.She remarried fter two yearsof the daca. Mytrue grandfather's ame was DuSan.He camehome from the war and found his wife to bemarried o anotherman- as it turnedout, hisbest friend.My grandfather ame to this man,andtheykissed,and talkedpeacefully or a longtime. Thenmy grandfather,DuSan,asked: Mybuddy, we were best friends. Why did youmarrymywife?' The othersays: Comrade,wegot a telegramthat said you've died, we gaveyou the daca, and aftertwo years,afterevery-thing was over, I marriedyourwoman. I tookher and now I have a child with her.' Thengrandpa said: 'Well, I have a child with her,too.' You see, one child was from my truegrandpa, born before he went to war, andanotherchildwas from that otherman,namedMilan. Then my grandfather said: 'OK, myfriend,sinceyouhave a childtoo withmywife,give me back my wife and I will take care ofyourchild too. I will take careof him as he ismyown,if yougiveme backmywoman.'That'swhat he suggested, and that'swhat they did.Thatyoungerchildwas myfather,people usedto call him 'Mihailothe Bastard'.Theycalledhim a bastardbecausehe hadtwo fathers.

Myfather mpregnated girl,andthey[bothfamilies]marriedhim to a pregnantgirl; thatfemale was my mother. Then, both of hisfathers,his trueone, andthe otherone, decidedto helpthemarried ouple,andgavethem somelandand a blacksmithingbusiness.Theymadea little house. In that house both my brotherand I were born. When I was around two orthreeyearsof age, mymotherdied.Tuberculo-sis. At that time, tuberculosis was a deadlydisease. I rememberher lyingdown on a hugepillow,with herhair aroundand shehada verynice hair, she was actually a very beautifulwoman. She was cryinga lot, she wanted mebeside her bed, but I wasn't allowed to comenearher,since she had an infectiousdisease. Istill remember he painI felt:some old womenholding me down, and preventing me fromcrawling nto mymother'sbed.When she died, my brother and I werealone - because my father was a bum and alow-life. At the same time, people respectedhim greatly- he had 'a name', as we sayhere.That s becausehe was a verygood trader,veryhonest and a man 'of word'. Wherever hewould go he was met with respect for he was

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Dragoslav at theplace where hisfirst house stood.

a good trader. Even today in many places,when you refer to a kinship with him, you getto eat and drink for free.After a while, our father left us, and wentafter his affairs - drinking and chasing women.There wasn't anybody to look after us. We werealone and scared. We didn't even have a bed to

sleep on, just some dirty cloth on the floor. Thenmy aunt, my mother's sister came from Valjevo,saw the conditions and neglect we were in, anddecided to take care of two small children. Wewere her sister's children, after all; she left,divorced her husband, and came to live with us.Her name was Rosa, we used to call her grand-mother, for she was old. But she was really goodto us. The first thing she did was to make a bedfor us: she went to a nearby wood, and cut somebranches, and formed a little frame, which wefilled with straw. We got the straw from apeasant [a Serb]. We all slept on that straw bed.We had a brick stove, and she made us corn-bread. That's what we ate most of the time;when there was no cornflower, we ate plums,and that's how we survived.

Later,my father returned with a new, youngwife to look after us. She couldn't have any chil-dren so my father made her take care of us - andshe was a good woman. Our little family lasteduntil 1953. That year, my brother got married -he was seventeen years old at that time, and myfather got deadly ill. I took good care of him,even if he didn't deserve it. He was in his bed,dying for the next three years. Our Rosa died inthe meantime. We had to sell everything fromour house, to buy medications for my father:onlythe walls remained. But he was beyond help - itwas his destiny to die. After he passed away, mystepmother, still a young woman, went to search

for men, and both my brother and I couldn't putup with her behaviour. We told her that shecouldn't behave like that in our house; she is freeto go wherever she pleases. And she did - she gotmarried to some fellow, and went away. I neversaw her again. Soon, my brotherand his wife leftto search for a better life. For life in Bukor wasreally harsh. There was nothing there, just plainwoods and snow, and poverty.MARRIAGEAND CHILDRENI became a musician when I was twelve yearsold. Females love musicians - I've had fourmarriages so far! I married a singer, the firsttime, when I was sixteen years old. Oh, howlovely she was! I married her so we could be[sleep] together. However, she was a roadhousesinger, and you know how these women have toact. I couldn't stand other men touching her,when she was performing, so I chased her out.That marriage lasted for about a year. Then, Ibrought another wife; we lived together for fouryears but she couldn't have children. So Ichased out that one too. My third wife had veryfragile health, and we didn't have children, sowe parted after some time. Finally,I married forthe fourth time, she was seven years youngerthan I was - she was thirteen at the time, and Iwas twenty years old. We'd been together foronly three months, when I had to go to serve inthe Army. After several months I heard that shewas pregnant. This fourth marriage was a 'real'one - registered with the authorities and every-thing. We have been married now for someforty years. We have two sons together; my firstone was born in 1963, and the other one in1965. 1am very proud of my children - they aregrown-up men today, my oldest son already has




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grandchildren! o, fromhim,I have two great-granddaughters, onderful ittlegirls. Theyaremy grandson's daughters; my grandson gotmarriedwhen he was fourteenyearsold; in thebeginning, his wife, a nice and mellow girl,couldn'thavechildren,so we went to seekhelpfrom various medical doctors and medicinewomen. They helped us, so now they [thegrandsonand his wife] have my great-grand-daughters. Myyoungerson has two sons, theolderwillget marriedany day,and theyoungeris twelveyearsold.MIGRATIONSMychildren were born in Bukor, n our little,poor house. They lived in poverty there foralmostten years.One day,an officialcall camefor my oldest son, to startelementaryschool.He didn'tstart school on time, for the nearestschoolwas approximately ix kilometersaway,andhe wouldhave to crosswoods and rivers oget there, and that was impossibleespeciallyduringthe wintermonths. So, after that lettercame,I satdown,andIstarted o think.Icould-n't sleep thatnight. I thought- if we, me andmybrotherhad to stayilliteratebecauseof theneglect of our parents, my children will nothave the samedestiny!I'vestayed blindbeforethe eyes' because of my parents,but my chil-dren will go to school. I was determined tochangesomethingabout that,and I decided tomove my family to Macvanski Pricinovic,where my brother was already. I knew thatMacvawas a rich county,and I heard that mybrother s doing well over there. So I sold ourlittlehouse, and came to thisvillage.Thatwasthirty-twoyearsago.When I first came here, I came with 'myhands nmypockets', hat s, Ihadnothing.Yes,I'd soldthat ittlehouse of mine,but thatmoneywas enoughonly to make somewinterstores-like amandcucumbers.Fortunately, ybrotherhelped, he gave me his house to live in. ThesamedayImoved nto hishouse,thatsamedayhe went to work in Austria. I lived for threeyears nmybrother's ouse.Iplayeda little,andtried o makemykids to go to school.Imanagedto builda reallysmallhouse, but it was ours. Ididn'tsucceedwithmy kids'schoolingthough,they were just not made for school, I guess.Soon, they left school for good. I didn'tknowwhat to do - we needed money.So I made usdrivinglicenses, and bought a truck. And westarted o work: o tradepigs,smugglewithanygoods thatbringprofit,and we succeeded;wefinally had the money to build a new, biggerhouse.Itwas a two-storeyhouse: his onewhereI live today.That'show we lived until 1989 -some playing, rading, mugglingwith moreorless success. I also started a business selling

coffee, and that workedout well. Thenmykidswent to work in Austria, and left me, my oldwoman and one grandsonhere. Littleby little,with the money they earned,we bought someland, and I made a three-storeyhouse for myson. I managed o decoratemy own house too,nowIhaveeverythingworking on buttons'.Thehouse is hugeand has everything,you nameit,several TVs, kitchen appliances, radio, videorecorder, eating,carpets,wood floors and tiles.I thankGod for this. I'mverysatisfiedwithmylife. I havegrandchildren, reat-grandchildren,two sons and two daughters-in-law. heyare allhealthy. thinkI had a good life. I don'tdrink,andmy kidsrespectme. Theyare not afraidofme, they ask for my advice all the time, for Ihave seen the world. I help everybodyn need.Although...I have to say ...I miss my children.Theyare all abroadnow,andonlycome onceina while. I've never seen my great-granddaugh-ters. I long for my grandchildrenoo. Mykidsareverygood kids- theysendmemoneyall thetime, I have everything need, thanksto theirhelp. Sometimes I miss that little house whenwe were stilltogether,poor,but a family. can'tworknow,I've had a heartattack,but my kidshelpme.WhenIfirst came to MacvanskiPrici-novic, I was the least of all Roma.Now I'mtheleaderof all 110 houses.It is not becauseI haveeverything,but becauseI have suchgood kids,and I'm respected for my age and what I am.When I started,I had nothingto eat, I livedintruepovertyandmisery. camea longway, rompoverty to culture, to what I have today:twohouses,land andeverything n 'buttons'.That'sa longwayfrommy Bukorandplums.WOMENWhen I was a young musician, I went fromfemale to female. I had Hungarian,Croatianand Muslimwomen, and Gypsyones. Thereisa story that Gypsies have a hot blood - butthat'snot really rue. Bloodis blood.We are allthe same, we just act differently. Before, weused to marryonly our Gypsies [Gurbeti]. Iknowwhy we did that:a girlwho is taughttomake baskets s no good for a manwho makesspoons, or if she is from a Cergarigroup, shedoesn'tknowanything, ndcan'tmarrya black-smith, she would be no good to him. It's thesameforpeasants Serbs]: heirgirlsknow howto attendthe cattleand theyknow agriculture,what would they be doing married o a Gypsywho doesn't have anything? Besides, they[Serbian women] never wanted a Gypsyhusbandanyway.Onlyif she was the last one,otherwise t is a shamefor them.

Gypsies do marry young, too young. Myfather'sbrothermarriedwhen he was twelveyears of age. My wife was thirteen years old




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when I marriedher. Girls used to be marriedatthirteenyearsof age.Fourteenyearsof age wasconsidered oo old - for it was assumed hat shehad sinned [engagedin sexual intercourse]bythatage. If she is a female,she musthave sinnedbythatage.WhenI marriedmywife, she was avirgin; or if shewasn't,she would be senthome,back to her parents.That was reallya disgracefor the whole family.It was a greatlaw amongGypsies,andthat'swhywe getmarried o young.So thatgirlsdon't fallalongthe road.That'swhy we can'tregisterour marriages,and our childrenwith the officials. We have towaituntil both areeighteenyearsof age,andbythat time, many things could happen. AmongGypsies,if we don'tmarry he girl and get thepropermarriage egistration, he is not consid-ereda true wife. Wehave a lot of these unions-a young couple would get together,even bearkids,butif theyarenotofficiallymarried, o oneconsiders the girl as a 'true wife'. That'swhymanymales behave the way thatpleases them:theycheat on theirwomen,beatthem,or chasethem off. If,however, heyareproperlymarried,that'sa different tory.If a woman cannot have children she ischasedoff. We don'tbuyfemales ike Albaniansand CergariGypsies; they pay up to 20,000Euros for a virgin, sometimes.We do make adowry likefurniture, heets,orsomething,butnevermoneyliketheydo. Also,we don'tmarrythem the ones who buywomen;we marry nlyfrom our own tribe. That's how we know if agirl is froma good family.In the past, all non-Gypsiesweregadje, ikestrangers o us, andwedidn't marrythem either. There was a sharpdivision neverythingwithnon-Gypsies, lothes,life,marriage, ood, cleaning,washing...Today,most of it is lost. The fact that we marrywithinour own kind s stillpracticed oday,but less so.Only good heads of the household [good fami-lies] still maintain that custom. All in all, wedon'tbuywomen but women can'tmarry f theyare not virgins.Inthepast, f a womancouldn'thavechildrenshe was divorced.Actually,women were like amartyrbefore. Their status was reallyterrible.First heyhad to obeytheirfather, ateron whenthey married - in-laws and a husband. Andhusbands... they are males, and males aremales...Marriageswerearranged n the past, itwas the parents who decided where and towhom a girlwouldmarry, venif she didn't ike,or know the man. I never liked that custom. Ifshe is good enough for my son, she is goodenough for me. But the custom that parentsinterferewith kids' lives- that still exists withus.When my grandfatherswere alive, all girlsused to be married,not one stayedalone. Even

theones whowere,let'ssaya littleblind,orwitha shorter eg,they gotmarried oo. Womenwerewatched over in the past. If it happened hatawomanhad a bastard, hestayedunmarried,orwho would wanta womanwith a bastard?Thenshe had to obey her parentsfor the rest of herlife,or a brother, r a daughter-in-law.he neverhad her own life; she raised her child as abastard, and nobody wanted to marry her.Today, f it happens hat a girlhasa child out ofwedlock, she dragsthat bastardwith her,intomarriage. When I was a child, a womandepended totally on her man;a man behavedlike a guest inhis own house- he didn'tdo verymuch,but he was supposedto be respected,nomatter what. He was a master. Our peopledidn't value women at all, except for bearingchildren and their housework. A woman wasjust a woman. I think that'schanged today, orthe worse.

Forexample,before, t was unthinkableor awife to be unfaithfulto her husband.If some-thinglike thathappened, he would be expelledfrom the tribe.We don't have any special lawconcerning his matter, he is just sentout, andthat'sa goodbyeforgood.When I was young, we used to have these'dancing'parties n thevillage.But,boyson oneside, and girls on the other. No touching orfondling at all. Our parentswere present too,watching over our behaviour. These danceswere heldoutside, in theopen sky,atnight.Weused to have these big firesburning,and danceallnight long.WhenyouhaveGypsies,youalsohave music. All the girlswereaccompaniedbytheirparents,at leastone of them,or a brother.When the dance starts, they watch over hervery carefully: she is to behave in a decentmanner,no other way. If, for example, a boysqueezes a girl too tight,or tries to hold her,agossipwould spreadaround the village for thenext seven days: how he is rude and misbe-haved, and a girl is even worse for lettinghimdo things to her. And that was considered adisgrace or a girl.You couldn'tmess with girlsjust like thatin thepast,no chance.It was actu-ally up to a girl to keep her moralityhigh. If aman takes a girl,he'snot goingto get pregnant,but she is, and then what? Everybody an seethat she is pregnant. That'swhy girls had totake care much more than men. And everyfather used to watch over female children somuch. Womenuse to make sweaters, and sellthemin nearbyvillages,buthad to returnhomebefore the nightfall. Not one stayed to spendthe night,or she would be seriouslybeaten.It'snot like it is today, everything has changedtoday.They [girls]come homefromnightlifeatthree or four am, and that's too early even.Nobody asks them where they were, or what




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Dragoslav with hiswife and cousin.theydid. Itdoesn't matternow if she is good orhonest. No more.Thingsstarted to changeherein the villagesome years ago, maybe twenty or so, whenpeoplestartedto emigrate o Austriaand Italy.Before hat,we were a very compact,homoge-nouscommunity, fter all we are all immigrantsfrom Bukor. We had the most honourable

village,the best interrelationsamong Gypsies.All relatives,one-wayor the other. Then somepeople came to live here from Pocerina: ourpeople started to emigrateabroad,and thingsstarted o changegradually.We have women here in the village whosehusbandswork nAustria; nd some menstayedhome, while theirwives are abroad,working.Theydon'thavegoodmarriages t all. Therearea lot of opportunities today [for sexual inter-course], f so desire.Womendon'trespecttheirmen anymore; and children, they do and gowhatever and wherever they please, no-onewatchesover themanymore.Also,manyGypsiesdon't ook after heirkids theproperway- 1say,if you don't have enough money, you don't letyourkids suffer.But many Gypsies today arenegligentabout this matter.HIERARCHYWhen I was a youngchild,I couldn'twalkpastanyelderlymanwithouthand-kissing, rcallinga 'good day'. In those days, everyone knewwherehe stood. Forexample, amilieswereverybig,up to eighteenor twenty-fourmembers,allliving ogetherunderone roof. Insuch a family,

a headof a householdwas the oldestman.Whenthe familygatheredaroundthe table formeals,no-one was allowed to take any food until thehost allowed t. Actually, oungermembers,kidsanddaughters-in-law, ere not even allowed tosit on the sametable- theywould eat standingup. Inthosedays,a greatrespectwas shown andfelt towards old and wise peoplewho had seenthe world. Everybodywas subordinate,but noforcewasused at all. It was becausewe feltgreatveneration,we were taughtto do so. I have thesame in my family today; thirteen members Ihave, and they all ask for my advice andapproval, ndInever aidmyhandon anyoneofthem,or raisedmy voice. Theyrespectme, andthat'swhy theylisten to me.It'snot like thatwitheverybody. orexample,theotherdayIwas riding n a publicbus. It wasas usualcrowded,noplaceto sit down.I'msixty-two yearsold, an old man. Nobody got up forme. Finally, saw a littlegirlfrommy village,aSerb, she was sitting down peacefully.I askedher to get up and let me have her seat, my legsare killing me, and she replied: 'Grandpa,didyou get up for older people, when you wereyoung?' And I replied, that of course I did,always.And she told me: 'That'swhy your legshurt today.' She didn'tget up; I knew exactlyfrom which house she is, her father is a goodhost. Kidstodayareunmanageable.ETHNIC RELATIONSI've livedin the samevillagefor the past thirty-two years. I've never had a conflict with any




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Dragoslav'srelatives: hisnephew with hisdaughter andgranddaughter.

man, Gypsyor a Serb. The Serbs here are thesame as we are - equally uneducated, in thesameposition. ManySerbs left for Austria oo,theygo wherever heywant. The Serbsgossipalot though.Andtheyarepeasants, heyown andwork on their and. We don't do that. That's heonlydifferencebetweenus. And the fact thatwemarryyoung, and we have more children. Wedo have more children han the Serbshere,butnot so manyas we used too. Before,we used tohave like six or seven per family,now it's less.Women now know how not to get pregnant ftheydon'twant to. Thereare no real differencesbetween the Serbs and us; the way they cele-brateslava,the sameway we do it, it'sjust thedifferentone. We celebrateDjurdjevdan,whichis Gypsy's lava,and Serbs have theirown, likeSaint Nicolas, or Luka,or whatever.We buryour dead the sameway theydo. That s whyweare Serbian Gypsies. We speak Romany,butthat'shalfRomany,half Serbian.A few years ago, there was a good-for-nothingGypsy;he did someevil thingsto Serbshere,harmed hem nmanyways.He talked oomuch, said evil things to the peasants. Thenconflicts arose. We were afraidto go to a shopfor cigarettes,afraidto go out. Then I called afew seriousGypsymen, and we decided to dosomethingaboutit, so we chased this bad manout of thevillage.Weboughtoff his house,andhe was expelledfrom ourvillage.I don't knowwhere he went. Well, he wasn't from Bukor

anyway; he was a newcomer, belonging toanotherGypsytribe.We call themNjamci,nota verygood people.I think hatthepeasants allthem Germans,don't know. Afterthat, every-thingsettleddown with the Serbs.We aregoodneighbours now. We have 110 Gypsy houseshere;and we have two Romapolitical parties.I'mthe presidentof one of them, 'TheSocietyof MacvanskiRomi'.Onevillageandtwoparties- we don'tget along well these days anymore.It's our people fromBukor hat came here andbuilt thisvillage, gaveit its presenthonourandrespect. We made payments,and streetlights,and broughtrunningwater. Not to all houses,but for the most. The next thing to do is asewage system. After we finish that, we arethrough we don'tneed anything lse.Wejustgot a statusof nationalminority rom the offi-cials. Some askedforit,andgot it. Ihaven't.WewereGypsiesbefore,now we are Roma.I don'tcare. I'm a SerbianGypsyand I'll stay Gypsyforever.But now we have the title.These Romaunitsnow createvariousparties,buttheyarenotunited. Everybody oves to be a president, tohave some function,to be somebody.We havetwo presidents in this village, because peoplecan'tget alongwith each other.SinceI becamea president, feel a lot betteraboutmyself.This functiongivesme somethingto do. It'snogoodwhenyouare onely, ourkidsaway fromyou. It's difficult now to get alongwithyourneighbour;f Icome outsideto sit on




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the bench,he won'talwaysbe company. nmysociety,now we havemeetingsall the time,andthat'swhy I canbear ife.MUSICI started o playviolinwhenIwas around welveyearsof age;nobodytaughtme, Ijust learned tmyself.Soon, I started o playatweddings; hiswas good money,but also a dangerousunder-taking. People were dangerous. Especiallyinothervillages ours wasOK,Ikneweverybodyand they knew my father. But, I went fromvillage ovillage,whenever herewas a wedding,and never knew what kind of people I wouldcomeacross.Sometimes,t was so difficult hatI 'remembered my mother's milk', it was sohard. Manytimes they [the people we playedfor] did with us whatever they wanted to do,theydraggedus around,made us kneel on cornandplay,put honeyinto ourhair.I don't knowwhy they harassed us, but it was kind of anacceptedbehaviour, ince we were musicians,andplusGypsies.They ll-treatedGypsies, heyhad the rightto do everythingwith us.Although some would pay us very well, inspite of the harassment, ome didn'tpayus atall. Once,we boys fromthe band had to chasea Serbian ellowbecause he caughtour femalesinger,andwouldn't et go of her. He took her,and turned her upside down, with her headdownandlegs up, andmade hersing.Well. Wewent after him with guns, shot near him andchased him around this restaurant,and threwhim outside.Toomuch s toomuch,evenfor us.His behaviourwas withoutanyculture:peoplewith culturedon'tbehave ike that. The groomwasreally mbarrassed, ut hedidn't aya word- it was a 500 people wedding.Actually,a lifeof a musicianwas reallyexciting. Today,musi-cianshavemuch betterconditions orwork,butmusic was better before. I think that life wasbetter, uller n the past. I neverbeen richer nmylife thantoday,butI still missmyformerife.WhateverI do now, it's not enough. Before, Iwas satisfiedwith a pieceof a cornbread, nditwas enough. I didn'tchase aroundfor more. Iknewmyplaceexactly.I travelleda lot in those days. I've been toWestGermanyorexample.OneGerman ellowarranged hat we come and playin his restau-rant.The nameof mybandwas 'SabackiRomi',and we were famous.Whenwe got to Germany,we found out that he wasn't German, but aTurk,whichIdidn't ike. Buthe toldus he'dpayus well,evenif it was a Turkishplace.He hadarestaurant n a city called Bremen, some 365kilometers from Berlin; this was 1978, we'dneverbeenout of Yugoslaviabefore,anddidn'tknowabouttheirmoney.It was difficult or usin the beginning, because the audience was

Turkish,and they didn't get our music at all.Onlywhen we playedUna PalomaBlanca, heyapplaudedus, and thatwas the only tipwe got.Applause. We got into an argumentwith theowner,too. Then we put some postersaroundtherestaurant, ndYugoslavs ame. Ourpeople,our immigrants romYugoslavia ame to listento our music, and we got paidwell. I thoughtthat theircurrencywas funny- in all sorts ofcolours.We didn'tknow the value of it so everynightwe wouldsplitthe earnedmoney ike 'oneof these for you, one for me, etc'. We didn'tknow what to do with their Germanmoney;wewerehungry,or the restaurant aveus onlyonesmallpotatoandsoupeachday.We didn'tknowifwe havethemoney o getbackhome. But thenone night a group of Serbs came; and theyenjoyedour musicverymuch.Theygaveus a lotof tips, and some extramoneyto go home. Wewere so desperate o go home that we triedtosellourinstruments,o get themoney.We didn'tknow the language,or which bus to take. Butnow we had the money for the trip,and tookhome a lot of extras.I didn't ike WestGermanyat all.On the otherhand,I loved Luxemburg erymuch. Weplayed here ortwo months n 1981in Tito's ime.Luxemburgs one smallcountry,like a town,butveryneat and rich.Iwould eavemy two houses here and go back there anyminute, f onlyI could.That'show muchI likedit. Their treetsare so clean, ike ourpharmacies,or somebody'sroom. What impressedme themost, is that there is no crime,or danger:youcould sendyourwife,or a daughter, r a daugh-ter-in-lawnto the streetatmidnight, ndnothingwouldhappen o them.That'sbecause heyhaveculture.Theyare nice people with culture,forone thing. Next, I loved theircigarettes onlyten, or twelve in the box, but all in differentcolours,andtheyall cost the same.Weplayed na lot of places,sixteenorso, in Luxemburg, ndmadeapproximately 500 frankseachevening,permusician.That'sa lot of money,andwe spliteverything n four,like brotherswould do. Wewent to shopfor food andmeat nparticular, utcouldn'tbuy ustany.Theyhaveaweird asteformeat. I wantedto eat some lamb,but couldn'tfindany, ustsome chickenandfrog legs.I rememberhosedaysasmybest. It wasstillTito's time. [The former] Yugoslavia is goneforever,and it will never be a country ike that.Ever.While Titowas alive,andsome time afterhis death, I could traveleverywhere freely. Icouldhaveslept nanycanal,andsmugglewhat-ever I wanted, coffee, or pigs, and have fullpocketsall the time.No one dared o touchme,ordo badthingsto me, I could movearound nSlovenia, Croatia,or among the MuslimsandHungarians, ndeveryonewas nice at that time.




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DuringTito'sregime,I travelled hroughallthe neighbouring countries of the formerYugoslavia. like it the best in Luxemburg.But[former]Yugoslavias the one andonly countryof gourmands... nothercountries, f you don'twork, you don't have anything to eat, but inYugoslavia, you can eat and drink and don'thave to work at all! Here, we enjoy beautifulwomen, have culture and intelligent people -who workvery little and still have verymuch.That'swhy Yugoslavias onerich,greatcountry,wherepeopleenjoy ife.Inanyothercountry nthe world, if people would steal like they dohere, that countrywould flunk, but here, youdon't even feel it... he moreyou stealhere, themore there s to steal.I would never live some-whereelse. I accomplisheda lot. I was borninpoverty, ndtodayI livein a culture.CONCLUSIONThroughoral historywe learn about expecta-tions,feelings,disappointments,amilyhistories,and individualexperiences.Oralhistoryoffersactorsanopportunityo telltheirown stories ntheirown words: ntervieweeshave a chance toparticipatenthecreationof theretelling f theirlives.Through his approach,actorscan enrichour understandingof the past, by telling theirversionof eventsand their nterpretationsboutthepast.Dragoslav's ralhistory nitially ells usabout his personalexperience- and it is herethatwe come to grasp a native'spointof view,his relationto life, to realize his vision of hisworld'.9His testimony is not primarilyaboutwhathappenedor how thingswere, but abouthowthepasthasbeen remembered.Dragoslav'saccountis colouredby his reminiscenceof thepast. He sees the old days as better becauseGypsies,amongotherthings,were ableto enjoythefruitofTito's ommunismnfull:guaranteedincomein spiteof therebeinglittle or no workatall,andthegeneralatmosphere f acceptancefor all ethnic groups. These are, it turns out,typicalGypsysentiments n Serbiatoday.10 nthe other hand, his life storycould be seen asconfirmationof the hardshipof Gypsyreality,wherean exceptionconfirms he rule:his storyrepresentsthe voice of a Gypsywho not onlymanaged o survivebut to succeed n lifedespitemanyobstacles such as initial povertyand hisGypsy background. Dragoslav managed tocreate a good life for himself and his family.Coming romextremepoverty,wherecorn mealandplumswere thebasicfood mostof thetime,Dragoslav finds himself today living 'in aculture'.He is proudof his 'house on buttons'and multipleelectricalappliances- he is wellaware that the majorityof Gypsies in Serbiacannotaffordwhat he hasin hislivingroom.Ontheotherhand,andunlikemanyotherGypsies,

he is proudof his heritage:he never tradedhis'gypsyness' or successin life. His strongethnicattitude,when he says I'ma SerbianGypsyandI'llstay Gypsy orever', mpliesa sense ofaccep-tance of thereality,no matterhow bitter t maybe. In contrast,he dislikes the presentstate ofGypsyaffairs theirfadingtradition, he loos-eningof villagemoralityand the inabilityof hisfellowvillagersto unite. He is troubledby thelack of hierarchy:because the old people nolonger restrain the young, and the young nolonger respect the old, as they used to. Now,being old himself, Dragoslav misses the olddays,when the deferenceof youngfor old wasgreater.Moregenerallyhis oralhistorydemonstratesthatGypsybehaviour an be betterunderstoodby bringing ogetherthe narrativesof the localpeople with the objective data produced byanthropology.Namely,what people say aboutthemselves are data to be interpreted, not asimple, actual ruth."Lookingat the behaviourof the protagonist n this story,his life courseand motifsareeasily recognisable.Dragoslav'sstory tells us as much about Gypsy presenttraditions as about their past, and many ofGypsytraditionalbehavioursare better under-stood. Forexample,Gypsy earlyendogamousmarriages ncouraged ertility, nd thepartiallyimposed social segregation, surelymust haveenabled hem to survive, eave descendantsandretaintheirethnicidentityduring he centuriesof discrimination nd poverty.Dragoslav's ifeand his social environmentmake more sensewhen looked at from this perspective. Forexample, when Dragoslav talks about thepreferred ndogamyandGypsyoccupations, tbecomesclearwhyendogamousmarriageswereencouraged and maintained for so long.Amongst heseGypsies,socialstratification ndlimited marriagechoices preserved the localvillage raditions,bothintermsof marriage ndoccupations. This behaviour found its mainmanifestationandmost elaborateorganisationthrough hematch n marriage.The functionofthis behaviour, in its own settings, was topreserve ocal/villagetraditionanddistinctive-ness. AsArensberg ecognised or rural reland:'tradition works locally'.12Therefore, mostlikely some individual Gypsy families choseparticular ccupationsbasedon theircontactswith peasants and transmittedthose occupa-tionsto theirdescendants,whichultimately adthe effectof creating helocalkingroup/villageindividuality.Gypsies became more acceptedand toleratedin places where their particularoccupation was valued. It was perhaps theintentionsof localGypsy ndividualso preserveand transmittheir particularoccupations, bynot mixingandnot creatingwiderkinshipand




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marriageties with Gypsies in other villages,especially f they were from a differentgroup.Their ribal ndogamy lsopromoted hepersis-tence of particular raditions.Gypsies'successin retaining heirtribe/group dentityhas beendue, to a great extent, to endogamy. Theirendogamypreservedand maintained he adap-tive traits, like their reproductiveand subsis-tence strategies, access to resources, and

child-rearing practice. Gypsy endogamy hashelpedtheirsonsgetwives,andtherebypassontheir traditions.Deep economic and social changes areneeded for Gypsies to become integrated ntomodern Europeansociety.Gypsyculturalandeconomic development,and the preventionofdiscriminationgainst hem,willonlybe success-ful if theirtraditions re betterunderstood.

NOTES1. Rajko Djuric,Seobe Roma, Beograd: BIGZ,1987, p 253.2. JulieCruikshank, Life ived like a story. Lifestories of Three YukonNative Elders,the Universityof Nebraska: FirstBison Books, 1992, pi .3. RobertWright, The Moral Animal:Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life,New York: Pantheon Books, 1994, p 14.4. Ian Hancock, The Pariah Syndrome: anaccount of Gypsy slavery, Ann Arbor, Ml:Karoma Publishers, 1987, Acton Thomas (ed),Gypsy Politics and TravellerIdentity,London:HertfordshirePress, 1997, Crowe, A History of

the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, NewYork: St. Martin'sGriffin, 1996. Donald Kenrickand Grattan Puxon, Gypsies under theSwastika, London: HertfordshirePress, 1995.5. TihomirDjordjevic, Nas narodni zivot iobicaji, vol VI, Beograd: Knjilevna Zadruga,1932, p 24.6. Aleksandra Mitrovic, Na dnu. Romi nagranicama siromastva, Beograd: NaucnaKnjiga,1990, p 14.7.Jelena Cvorovic, Gypsy Narratives: Frompoverty to Culture, Belgrade: the Institute fEthnography, Serbian Academy of Sciences andArts, 2004, p 67.

8. Angus Fraser,TheGypsies, 2nd ed.Cambridge, AAA:Blackwell, 1992/1995, p 246.9. Bronislav Malinowski, Argonauts of theWestern Pacific, New York:Waveland Press,1961, p 25.10. Cvorovic, 2004, p92.1 1 .Jay Ruby, 'Speaking for, speaking about,speaking with, or speaking alongside. AnAnthropological and documentary dilemma',VisualAnthropology Review vol 7, no 2, 199 1pp 50-67.1 2. Conrad M Arensberg, The IrishCountryman, Prospect Heights, IL:WavelandPress, 1988, p 105.

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Gypsy Oral History in Serbia