The Norwegian and Swedish Romanisæl Travellers ( no, romanifolket, tatere, sigøynere; sv, resande, zigenare, tattare; rmu, romanisæl, romanoar, rom(m)ani, tavringer/ar, tattare) are a group or branch of the
Romani people
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...
who have been resident in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
for some 500 years.
The estimated number of Romanisael Travellers in Sweden is 65,000, while in Norway, the number is probably about 10,000.
Origins
By history and culture, they are related to British Romani Groups, such as English
Romanichal
Romanichal Travellers ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom; ...
s,
Welsh Kale
The Kale (also Kalá, Valshanange; cy, Roma yng Nghymru, Sipsiwn Cymreig, Cale) are a group of Romani people in Wales. Many claim to be descendants of Abram Wood, who was the first Rom to reside permanently and exclusively in Wales in the early ...
and
Scottish Gypsy and Traveller groups
Scottish Travellers, or the people in Scotland loosely termed Romani persons or travellers, consist of a number of diverse, unrelated communities that speak a variety of different languages and dialects that pertain to distinct customs, historie ...
.
Modern-day Romanisael (Tater) Travellers are the descendants of the first Romanies who arrived in Scandinavia during the 16th century. Most were deportees from
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
to
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
but small numbers came via
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. Norwegian and Swedish Romani identify as Romanisæl, this word has origins in the Angloromani word Romanichal, Romanichal is the word English Romani and Scottish Border Romani and Southern Welsh Romani use to identify themselves with.
A related group are the
Finnish Kale
The Finnish Kale ( rom, Kàlo; sv, Kalé; fi, Kaale, also ''Suomen romanit'' — "Finnish Romani") are a group of the Romani people who live primarily in Finland and Sweden. Their main languages are Finnish, Swedish and Finnish Romani.
Histo ...
, descendants of early Scandinavian Romanies who were deported in the 17th century from Sweden proper to Finland. The Finnish Kale, however, maintain that their ancestors had originally come from
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, They and other Scandinavian Romanisæl Travellers are related to present-day Romanichal Travellers of England and Scotland.
Romanisæl Travellers in Norway at times have been confused with the
indigenous Norwegian Travellers
Indigenous Norwegian Travellers (better known as Fantefolk or Skøyere) are an ethnic minority group in Norway. They are a wandering people who once travelled by foot, with horse-drawn carts and with boats along the southern and southwestern coas ...
, although they perceive the latter group to be non-Romanies by culture and origins.
Names for the group
By the settled majority population, the Norwegian Travellers are known as Romanifolk or the exonym ''tatere'', and in Sweden they used to be called the similar exonym ''tattare'', but are named officially under the term Roma today, while the endonyms in use are "dinglare" or " resande". Norwegian travellers most often use the endonyms "reisendes" or "vandriar". Both exonymous terms hint to the original misconception that these people were
Tatars
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different . Before the turn of the 20th century, the majority population made little distinction between ''tatere''/''tattare'' and "Gypsies" ( no, sigøynere; sv, zigenare); this situation changed mainly due to the arrival of
Kalderash
The Kalderash are a subgroup of the Romani people. They were traditionally coppersmiths and metal workers and speak a number of Romani dialects grouped together under the term Kalderash Romani, a sub-group of Vlax Romani.
The Kalderash of the ...
Roma from Russia and Central Europe in the last decades of the 19th century, to whom the latter term came to be applied almost exclusively.
''Skojare'' was a former name for Travellers in Sweden; in Norway ''skøyere'' was associated with indigenous Travellers. ''Fant'' or ''Fanter'' was another term formerly applied to both Romani and non-Romani Travellers in southern Norway. A lot of these terms nowadays are considered pejorative due to their connotation of
vagabondage
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
and
vagrancy
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
.
In Sweden, ''tattare'' is now considered a disparaging term and has been completely abandoned in official use. Since 2000 Swedish Travellers are officially referred to as ''resande'' (Travellers), and counted as one of several groups within the "Roma"
national minority
The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
. They often refer to themselves as ''resandefolket'' (Travelling people), or ''dinglare''. Less common is the term ''tavringar''. In recent years there has been an attempt to term Swedish Travellers as ''tschiwi'', but this usage is contested.
For Norwegian Travellers, however, the name ''tatere'' is severely disputed. For one part it does not carry the same stigma as in Sweden, the counterpart has for many years fought for the same rights as Swedish Romani; some Traveller organizations maintain this term in their official names. In Norway the Travellers are categorized as a national minority group, officially referred to as ''romanifolk'' or ''tatere'', ''reisende'' (Travellers). Norwegian Travellers refer to themselves by various names, such as ''romany'', ''romanoar'', ''romanisæl'', ''vandriar'' (Wanderers), etc. In contrast to Sweden, in Norway a distinction is made between ''romanifolket'' and ''rom'' (i.e., Roma groups that arrived since the 19th century) in the official legislation on national minorities.
Language
The Travellers in Sweden and Norway speak a form of
Para-Romani
Para-Romani are various mixed languages of non- Indo-Aryan linguistic classification containing considerable admixture from the Romani language. They are spoken as the traditional vernacular of Romani communities, Matras, Y. ''Romani: A Linguist ...
referred to as
Scandoromani
Scandoromani is a North Germanic based Para-Romani. It is spoken by the Scandinavian Romanisæl Travellers, a Romani minority community, in Norway (c. 100–150 elderly speakers), and formerly in Sweden.
Subforms are referred to as:
* Travelle ...
. Many words of the Nordic Romani origin have survived in the Scandinavian languages, both in common speech and slang. Examples from Swedish:
* ''tjej'', meaning 'girl' (originally slang, but now a more common alternative to the older ''flicka'')
* ''puffra'', meaning 'gun' (used to be common slang)
* ''hak'', meaning 'place' 'joint' or 'establishment' (used to be common slang)
* ''vischan'', meaning 'the countryside', 'boondocks' or 'rural areas' (used to be common slang)
Organisations
Romani Travellers in Sweden and Norway have founded organisations for preserving their culture and lobbying for their collective rights. One example is Föreningen Resandefolkets Riksorganisation, based in
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
, Sweden.
Media
''Romani Posten'' (also ''Romaniposten'', The Romani Post; ) was a news magazine for the Romani Traveller community in Norway. It had no political or religious affiliation, and published articles in
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
. At its most frequent, it came out eight times per year. On 6 September 2003, it was founded as an on-line publication; the first print edition was published in October 2006. Jone Pedersen was the founding publisher and editor-in-chief. As of 2007, it had ceased publication.
File:Vandringsfolk i Bohuslän.jpg, Traveller family in Bohuslän
Bohuslän (; da, Bohuslen; no, Båhuslen) is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea ...
, 1919
File:UMFA53710_0010_En_romsk_familj_passerar_på_Kålgårdsbergsgatan,_Uddevalla.jpg, Travellers in Uddevalla
Uddevalla (old no, Oddevold) is a town and the seat of Uddevalla Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. In 2015, it had a population of 34 781.
It is located at a bay of the south-eastern part of Skagerrak. The beaches of Uddevalla are ...
, 1925-35
File:Romer, Södra folkparken-Västberga folkpark, södra Stockholm, NMA.0080536.jpg, Travellers in Stockholm, 1931
File:NMA.0080538 Romsk boplats Södra folkparken Västberga-folkpark--exteriör.jpg, Travellers in Stockholm, 1931
References
Sources, further reading
*
*
* Andrej Kotljarchuk (2019
STATE, EXPERTS, AND ROMA: Historian Allan Etzler and pseudo-scientific racism in Sweden Scandinavian Journal of History.
External links
*
*
{{Europe topic , Romani people in
Ethnic groups in Norway
Ethnic groups in Sweden
Romani in Norway
Romani in Sweden
Romanichal