_On their Marriages and Education_.
THERE are not, perhaps, any other people among whom marriages are
contracted with so little consideration, or solemnised with so little
ceremony, as among the Gipseys. No sooner has a boy attained the age of
fourteen or fifteen years, than he begins to perceive that something more
than mere eating and drinking is necessary to him. Having no fear of
consequences, nor being under any restraint from his parents, he forms a
connection with the girl he most fancies, of twelve, or at most thirteen,
years old, without any scruple of conscience, whether she be his nearest
relation, or an entire stranger; but it is to be observed, that a Gipsey
never marries a person who is not of the true Gipsey breed. God’s
commandments are unknown to him; and human laws cannot have much
influence over one who lives in a desert, remote from the observation of
any ruling power. The term of courtship is very short, often only long
enough for the parties to communicate their mutual inclination. They do
not wait for any marriage ceremony, as it is a matter of no consequence
to them, whether it be performed afterwards, or not at all. Yet they do
not seem to be entirely indifferent about matrimony, not on account of
conforming to any institution, but from a pride they have in imitating
what is done by other people, lest they should appear to be inferior to
them. As the very early age of the parties, or some other irregularity,
might meet with objections from a regular clergyman, they frequently get
one of their own people to act the priest, and tack the decent couple
together. A marriage being thus accomplished, the man provides a stone
for an anvil, a pair of pincers, a file, and hammers away as a smith; or
works at some other trade, he may have just learned from his father: then
begins his peregrination. Should his wife commit a fault at a future
time, he gives her half a dozen boxes on the ear; or very likely, for
some trifling cause, turns her off entirely. Her conduct must, in
general, be very much regulated by his will; and she is obliged to be
more attentive to him than to herself. When the woman lies-in, which
happens frequently, these people being remarkably prolific, the child is
brought forth, either in their miserable hut, or, according to
circumstances, it may be in the open air, but always easily and
fortunately: a woman of the same kind performs the office of midwife.
True Gipsey like, for want of some vessel, they dig a hole in the ground,
which is filled up with cold water, and the new-born child washed in it.
This being done, it is wrapped up in some old rags, which the motherly
foresight has taken care to provide. Next comes the christening, at
which ceremony they prefer strangers, for witnesses, rather than their
own caste: but what kind of folks their guests are, may be collected from
the mode of entertaining them. When the christening is over, the father
takes the sponsors to an alehouse, or if none be near, to some other
house, where he treats them with cakes and brandy. If he is a little
above the lowest state of misery, and has a mind to be generous, other
things are provided; but he does not join the company, being employed in
serving his guests. Thus the affair ends. The lying-in woman passes her
short time of confinement, seldom exceeding eight days, with her child,
in the hut, or under a tent, in the smoke by the fire. Refreshments are
often sent from the godfathers and godmothers; yet they are sometimes so
uncivil, that they do not hesitate to quarrel with them or even to
discharge them from the trust, if they think the present too small, or do
not like the provisions. When this happens, they have another
christening, in some other place; nay, sometimes even a third.
Gipsey women, as already mentioned, frequently smear their children over
with a particular kind of ointment, and then lay them in the sun, or
before the fire, in order that the skin may be more completely parched,
and their black beauty thereby increased. They never use a cradle, nor
even possess such a piece of furniture; the child sleeps in its mother’s
arms, or on the ground. When the lying-in is over, the Gipsey woman goes
to church, and thence, immediately, either to begging or stealing. While
the child remains in her arms, perhaps imagining that people will be less
severe in their chastisements, she is more rapacious than at other times,
and takes whatever she can lay her hands on. If she cannot escape
without a beating, she endeavours to screen herself by holding up the
child to receive the blows, till she finds an opportunity of retiring
imperceptibly, and running away.
When the child gets a little stronger, and has attained the age of three
or four months, the mother seldom carries it on the arm, but at her back;
there it sits, winter and summer, in a linen rag, with its head over her
shoulder. If she have more children, in course of time, which is
generally the case, as this race of beings is so prolifick, she leads one
or two by the hand, while such as are older run by her side; and thus
attended, she strolls through the villages and into houses.
Notwithstanding their dark complexion, and bad nursing, writers are
unanimous in stating, that these children are good-looking, well shaped,
lively, clever, and have fine eyes. The mother plaits their black hair
on the crown of the head, partly to keep it out of their face, and partly
for ornament. This is all she ever does towards decorating her
offspring; for in summer the children wear no clothes till ten years of
age, and in winter they are forced to be content with a few old rags hung
about them.
No sooner is the child, whether boy or girl, capable of running about,
than it is taught to dance; which talent consists in jumping on one foot,
and constantly striking behind with the other. As the young Gipsey grows
up, all kinds of postures are added, in hopes of diverting, and thereby
to obtain a reward from persons who happen to pass the parents’
habitation. What the children are further taught, especially by their
mothers, is the art of stealing, which they often put in practice, as
before related. Instruction or school is never thought of; nor do they
learn any business, except perhaps to blow the fire when the father
forges, or to assist in goldwashing.
By the twelfth or thirteenth year, a boy acquires some knowledge of his
father’s trade; and then becomes emancipated from parental authority; as
he now begins to think of forming his own separate connections. The
Gipseys, in common with uncivilised people, entertain unbounded love for
their children: this is a source of the most unpardonable neglect.
Gipsey children never feel the rod; they fly into the most violent
passion, and at the same time hear nothing from their parents but
flattery and coaxing. In return, they act, as is commonly the
consequence of such education, with the greatest ingratitude. This
excessive fondness for their children is, however, attended with one
advantage:—when they are indebted to any person, which is frequently the
case in Hungary and Transylvania, the creditor seizes a child, and by
that means obtains a settlement of his demand; as the Gipsey will
immediately exert every method to discharge the debt, and procure the
release of his darling offspring.
To the beforegoing account of Gipsey marriages, and education, there are
but few exceptions; comprised in a small proportion of them who have
fixed habitations. The character of people being formed by the
instruction they receive in their early years, can it then be thought
surprising that Gipseys should be idlers, thieves, murderers, and
incendiaries? Is it probable, _that_ man should become diligent, who has
been educated in laziness? Can it be expected those should leave every
person in possession of his own property, whose father and mother have
taught them to steal, from their earliest infancy? Who can have a
general idea of fair dealing, that knows not right from wrong, nor has
ever learned the distinction between good and evil, virtue and vice?
Punishments inflicted on others, for their crimes, have no effect upon
one who is not sufficiently attentive to take warning by the examples of
strangers: and when, by his own experience, he is taught not to lay hands
on the property of others, he is become so hardened, that the milder
punishments leave no lasting impression; while the more severe ones,
which reach the life, cannot have any effect on him, and are, as before
observed, totally disregarded by his fellows. So long therefore as the
education of the Gipseys continues to be what it is, we cannot hope that
they should leave off their vile practices and filthy habits.