Scottish Romani and Traveller groups

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Scottish Travellers (

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, histories, and traditions.[1]

The distinct communities that identify themselves as Roma/Travellers in Scotland include the following: Indigenous Highland Travellers, Romani Lowland Travellers, Scottish Border Romanichal Travellers (Border Gypsies) and Showmen (Funfair Travellers). Scottish Romanis and Traveller groups are considered part of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community.[2]

General terminology

The most common overarching modern terms in English for these groups are Scottish Travellers or Travelling Folk, though various specific groups have more particular names in English and otherwise (see below). The

Scottish Gaelic: Luchd-siubhail Alba
nnach ('Scottish Traveling Folk').

The settled British (and Irish) population have often referred to all such populations in the British Isles as Tinkers (originally meaning an

Pikeys (also Pikies, Pykies; popularized widely even beyond the UK by the 2000 film Snatch). The also-pejorative Knackers (a reference to livestock rendering
, a low-desire form of work often foisted on Travellers) has become uncommon. Over the last few generations, the common generic term Gypsies (derived from an old folk belief that the Romani originated in Egypt) is also sometimes seen as pejorative.

Lowland Travellers and Border Romanichal Travellers (Romani groups)

Lowland Scottish Gypsies/Travellers

Romani people in Scotland
Ròmanaich
Total population
≈ 20,000[4]
Languages
Scottish Cant

The ethnic origins of Scottish Lowland Travellers are not clear, but can be categorised into two main theories:

Regardless of the origin theories, Lowland Gypsies are still viewed as a Romani group, with Romani culture being a part of Scottish Lowland Gypsy culture.

Lowland Scottish Romani Travellers share many cultural features with

Romanipen
— and a strong commitment to an itinerant lifestyle.

They are closely related to the Romani groups of England, Wales, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. They speak

Scandoromani.[6]

History

There is written evidence for the presence of Roma travellers in the Scottish Lowlands as early as 1505, when – during the reign of

The Finnish Kale, a Romani group in Finland, maintain that their ancestors were originally a Romani group who travelled to Finland from Scotland;[13] this is because Finnish Kale and Norwegian and Swedish Romanisæl Travellers are distantly related to present-day Scottish Lowland Romani Travellers, English Romanichal Travellers, and Welsh Kale, with all of these groups having common ancestry, being descended from the Romani who arrived in Britain in the sixteenth century.

Romani people in the south of Scotland enjoyed the protection of the Roslyn family and made an encampment within the Roslyn castle grounds. However, as with its neighbour England, the Scottish parliament passed an act in 1609 against Romani groups known as the “Act against the Egyptians”;[10] which made it lawful to condemn, detain and execute Gypsies if they were known or reputed to be ethnically Romani.[9]

Scotland has had a

Welsh Kale. They enjoyed a privileged place in Scottish society until the Reformation
, when their wandering lifestyle and exotic culture brought severe persecution upon them.

Travelling groups from other parts of Britain often travel in Scotland. These include English Romanichal Travellers, and Irish Travellers as well as Scottish showpeople or showmen (a group of multigenerational fair/circus occupational families not an ethnic group). English Romanichal Gypsies/Travellers from the north of England mainly in

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Cumbria commonly travel into the Scottish Borders. The annual gathering at Appleby Horse Fair
could be considered part of the common culture that Lowland Scottish Travellers living in the Lowlands and Romanichal Border Gypsies living in the Scottish Borders share with the UK's other Travelling groups.

Scottish Romanichal Travellers (Scottish Border Gypsies)

Romanichal Traveller communities known as Border Gypsies exist in the Scottish borders. Speaking Northern Angloromani and following Romanichal traditions and customs, they are linguistically and culturally identical to the Romanichal Traveller communities in Northern England. They live in separate and distinct communities from Scottish Lowland Travellers.

Scottish Romanichal traders were upwardly mobile. By 1830, they travelled to the potteries in Staffordshire, buying china and other goods and selling the items chiefly in Northumberland while based in Kirk Yetholm in Roxburghshire.[14]

By 1874, these Gypsies were commented on as "Having physical markers in their dusky complexion that is characteristically Gypsy ... and ... a language that is clearly Romani".[15]

Some Scottish Romanichal Travellers from the Scottish Borders are members of Romani organisations based in England.[5] Scottish Romanichal Travellers are known locally as Border Gypsies.[5][16][17]

Scottish Cant, Scots-Romani, or Scotch-Romani

The Lowland Gypsies speak a mixed language of

Angloromani origin words.[19]

Non-Romani groups

Indigenous Highland Travellers

Highland Travellers are a distinct ethnic group, and not ancestrally related to the Romani groups in Scotland, though these subcultures do interact at various events and through other means. A poetic English name for them is the Summer Travellers. In

Scottish Gaelic, they may be called the Ceàrdannan ('Craftsmen'), related to the Tinkers usage.[20] Any of the overarching terms for Scottish Travelling Folk in English, Gaelic, or Scots are sometimes also applied to them, along with the rather pejorative term Black Tinkers.[20]

Adam Smith, the economist and philosopher, was reportedly kidnapped by Highland Travellers at a young age before quickly being freed.[21][22]

Language

The Highland Travellers' speech includes a dialect called Beurla Reagaird or Beurla-reagaird. It is related to the Irish Traveller Shelta as a creole of the Gaelic language group. It has been used as a cultural identifier, just as Romani groups used the Romani language. Like the Highland Travellers themselves, the language is not related to Romani.[23]

Origins and customs

The Highland Traveller community has a long history in Scotland going back, at least in record, to the 12th century as a form of employment and one of the first records of that name states a "James the Tinker" held land in the town of Perth from 1165 to 1214.

Woonwagenbewoners in the Netherlands (who may be related to the Yeniche), indigenous Norwegian Travellers, and Landfahrer
in Germany. As with indigenous Norwegian Travellers, Highland Travellers' origins may be more complex and difficult to ascertain, as they left no early written records of their own.

As an indigenous group, Highland Travellers have played an essential role in the preservation of traditional Gaelic culture.[25] It is estimated that as few as 2,000 Highland Travellers continue to lead their traditional lifestyle on the roads.

Notable Highland travellers

  • Andy M. Stewart, Scottish folk-singer and songwriter. Lead singer of the band Silly Wizard
  • Lizzie Higgins, Scottish folk singer (daughter of Jeannie Robertson).
  • Jeannie Robertson, Scottish folk singer.
  • Belle Stewart, Scottish traditional singer.
  • Sheila Stewart, daughter of Belle Stewart, who was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to her country's cultural oral tradition in Scots and Gaelic.
  • Duncan Williamson, author / storyteller who wrote down the oral history, stories and ancient tales of the Highland Traveller. He recorded over 3,000 stories over his lifetime.[26]
  • Stanley Robertson, master storyteller, ballad singer and author of several books of Lowland Traveller tales. (Nephew of Jeannie Robertson)
  • Jamie Macpherson, 17th century Highland outlaw, fiddler and composer of 'Macpherson's Lament'

Fairground travellers

Travelling

showmen (sometimes referred to as carnies) are a community of occupational travellers, who do not form an ethnic group but an occupational and organisational subculture, which can be categorised broadly as a business community of travelling shows, circus and carnival communities, and fairground families. Occupational travellers travel for work across Scotland, the rest of the UK, and into continental Europe. The show/fairground community is close knit, with ties often existing between them and the older Romanichal families, although showmen families are a distinct, multi-ethnic group and have a vibrant social scene organised around both the summer fairs and the various sites and yards used as winter quarters. Many Scottish show and fairground families live in winter communities based mainly in the east end of Glasgow. Housing an estimated 80% of all British show families, Glasgow is believed to have the largest concentration of showmen quarters in Europe, mostly in Shettleston, Whiteinch, and Carntyne.[27]

Showmen families have a strong cultural identity as British showmen, dating back to 1889 and the formation of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain and Ireland. Those in Scotland are known within the broader showmen tradition in the UK as the "Scottish section".[28] As with other showmen communities, they call non-travellers (but not other distinct travelling groups including Romanichal, Roma, Scottish Lowland Travellers, Highland Travellers, or Irish Travellers) as flatties in their own Polari language.[29] The label of flattie-traveller can include showmen who have left the community to settle down and lead a sedentary lifestyle.

History

Fairs in Scotland have been held from the early Middle Ages, and traditionally brought together the important elements of medieval trade and a festival. Many of the common markets and fairs are rooted in ancient times, from the medieval period or earlier, and are said to be "prescriptive fairs". Other fairs will have been granted a royal charter to cement their importance and secure their future, and these are known as charter fairs. In the middle ages, the royal charters gave the fairs legal status and developed their economic importance. The majority of fairs held in Scotland and the rest of the British Isles can trace their origins to charters granted in the medieval period. Traders would travel long distances to sell their goods, as did travelling musicians and entertainers who kept both the traders and customers entertained. In the thirteenth century, the creation of fairs by royal charter was widespread. Between 1199 and 1350, charters were issued granting the rights to hold markets or fairs. Kirkcaldy links market remains the longest-running funfair in Scotland, from a charter granted by Edward I in 1304. By the early 18th century, the livestock-market aspect of these Scottish charter fairs had diminished, with the focus shifting to amusement, and they evolved into the modern-day travelling fairs.[30]

The modern travelling showmen have as strong a family history and heritage as do their counterparts in Wales, England and Ireland. Fairs in Scotland are presented around the same time as they are in the rest of

World's Fair is in circulation and available to showmen and non showmen alike.[31]

Language

The use of slang used by Showmen or Parlyaree, is based on a

backslang
.

See also

References

  1. . Retrieved 18 February 2024 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Acton, Thomas; Acton, Jennifer; Cemlyn, Sara; Ryder, Andrew (2016). "Why we need to up our Numbers Game: A non-parametric approach to the methodology and politics of the demography of Roma, Gypsy, Traveller and other ethnic populations" (PDF). Radical Statistics (114). Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  3. ^ Robinson, Mairi, ed. (1985). The Concise Scots Dictionary. p. 723.
  4. ^ "Gypsies and Travellers in Scotland". Scottish Traveller Education Programme. 5 February 2007. Archived from the original on 11 August 2004. Retrieved 26 August 2007.
  5. ^ .
  6. . Retrieved 18 February 2024 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ "Gypsies in Scotland, The Gypsies". Scottishgypsies.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  8. ^ .
  9. ^ .
  10. ^
    OCLC 14408598. cited in: Weyrauch (2001).[9]
  11. – via Internet Archive (archive.org).
  12. ^ Macritchie. Scottish Gypsies. cited in Weyrauch (2001)[9]
  13. ^ "Romani, Kalo Finnish". Ethnologue.
  14. .
  15. ^ a b "Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts". Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. 2. Gypsy Lore Society. Ch 6, p 175.
  16. .
  17. .
  18. .
  19. ^ Wilde (1889) cited in Clark (2002).[18]
  20. ^ a b Douglas, Shelia (2006). The Last of the Tinsmiths: The Life of Willy MacPhee.
  21. ^ "What you should know about Adam Smith". BBC News. 13 March 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  22. ^ Grey Graham, Henry (1901). Scottish men of letters in the eighteenth century. A. and C. Black. p. 148. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  23. ^ "Introduction – The Language of the Scottish Traveller: A Dictionary". Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  24. ^
    JSTOR 454664
    .
  25. ^ "Travelling people — Highland Travellers". ambaile.org.uk.
  26. ^ "Betsy from Fife and other stories by Duncan Williamson". Travellers’ Times. 6 January 2022.
  27. ^ Scottish travellers bemis.org.uk
  28. ^ "Research and Articles - History of Fairs - Showmen's Guild - Sections :: National Fairground Archive". Nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  29. ^ "Voices - The Voices Recordings - Travelling showmen and women". BBC. 24 January 2005. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  30. .
  31. ^ a b Worlds Fair.
  32. ^ Partridge, Eric (1937) Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

Further reading

  • Yates, Mike (ed.). Traveller's Joy: Songs of English and Scottish Travellers and Gypsies 1965–2005. .