The Magic of Gypsies

Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by Gypsies. Maybe because my Italian Grandmother came from Sicily and would read my tea leaves when I visited. Josephina had been raised with superstitious beliefs but was born with the gift of being intuitive and psychic. Her world opened me to another dimension of living life and protecting it. My father taught me not to trust everything I heard but to listen with an open mind, for in the stories of others are the gifts of experience and knowledge.  

During the summer of 1965, while traveling with my parents and sister, Linda, throughout Europe, I was introduced to the gypsies of Budapest, Hungary. They were called Romani or “Travelers.” For 1,500 years, the Romani have roamed the world after leaving their homeland in northwestern India. They faced persecution almost everywhere they traveled. They are a colorful ethnic group with a rich culture, beautiful jewelry, bright-colored clothes, and an itinerant lifestyle of traveling in a wagon called a vardo. Many Romani are good at acrobatics, metalwork, and farm labor, but they are gifted when it comes to horses and fortune-telling. They were also good at thievery, sorcery, and witchcraft, creating wonderful characters for books and movies. The Romani are considered a low-caste people and suffered mistreatment from being social outcasts, enslaved, branded, flogged, tortured, imprisoned, evicted, deported, and denied the right to pursue certain occupations, citizenship, and civil rights. As darkness filled the countryside outside of Budapest, I still remember as vividly as if it were yesterday, the sight of their campfires burning and their covered wagons encircling their warm glow. As we passed their camp, I could hear their music from the distance, and see the colorful swirling skirts of the young girls dancing. It didn’t matter what restrictions society placed on them. They were free when lost in the rhythmic sound of their music. 

Later in life, when I traveled with my sister, Linda, to Budapest, to research a book we were writing, I would once again be exposed to the spirit of these gypsies as they danced unrestrained in a park by the Danube River, and later in a restaurant where Linda and I listened to the heart-wrenching strings of the viola. I am grateful for the amazing moments life has given me. They hold no harshness or judgment, just special energy that connects us all.

May this Easter fill your lives with hope, healing, God’s endless blessings, and abundant love and joy.