Professional paper
The Origins, Mythology and Beliefs of Gypsies
Maja DRAGUN
Abstract
This text deals with issues of Gypsy origin, and analysis of
their well-known myths and religious beliefs. The problems of
this study are manifold: the Gypsy culture is based mostly on
legends spread by word of mouth, meaning that their
historical events are difficult to define, both in terms of time
and content. Furthermore, Gypsies have in their thousands of
years of travel come into contact with practically all Indo-
European cultures, mythologies and religions. It is therefore
hard to determine to what extent some of the phenomena of
their culture are original or inherited. There is also the
question of their influence on other cultures. The legends of
their origins have been analysed as well as theories of
experts on the same problem, including the influence of
Hinduism, Zoroastrism, Judeo-Christianity, Egyptian and
Gnostic traditions on Gypsy myths and religious beliefs. A
deep incorporation of the cult of female deity and fertility
into the philosophy of life and customs of Gypsies was also
identified. This indicates they were the inheritors of the
matriarchal world leading to the conclusion that once long
ago at least part of the Gypsy tribes were sedentary. In the
interpretation of archetypes from Gypsy myths and legends
the classification of symbolic schemes and archetypes of G.
Durand was used first and foremost, and to a lesser degree
Jung’s archetypology.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
20276
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2000.
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