Mystery Caravan

An Ouled Nail woman featured on an Algerian postal stamp. From a postal promotion block in 1986 titled "Celebration of indigenous North African tribal dance."

\

Sheep shears. "God wouldnt have made sheep if he didn't want them to be shorn!" is a self-serving old kernel of biblical wisdom from the kitbag of a picaresque Gypsy paramitshari.

Gypsy bear-leader. USAri? Saturday Evening Post cover by Clark Fay, dated January 13, 1918.

A model useful for describing (G)ypsy identities.

Romany Life, Experienced and Observed During Many Years of Friendly Intercourse With the Gypsies by Frank Cuttriss (New York, James Pott, 1915). The straight scoop on English Gypsy life and culture.

Princess Yasmin Aga Khan. The philanthropist daughter of Prince Aly Aga Khan and the American actress Rita (Margarita) Hayworth (of Gitano?-Irish descent). Margarita's father was a famous Sevillano, a flamenco dancer.

A Machwanka in a full diklo. Red is a prophylactic color for these Vlach Roma in California (circa 1980) and worn here to protect the child from the Evil Eye until baptism. Photo by Lyn Smith.

"In a perfect world ..." Magazine cover artwork by Robert Robinson.

Family comes first for these Belgian Gypsies.

Romnichel winter double-bender. This large tent has a yurt-like chimney. Circa 1910. Note the archaic no-rope construction. It is secure against the elements. See Romany Life by Frank Cuttriss (1915) for details. His is probably the best book on bender tents and many other topics related to Romany Life in England . A must read

The Tarot begins with The Fool. This is because there are only two human stories worth retelling 1) a Stranger comes to town and 2) the Quest. They combine as really one story because a stranger is always on a quest. The Gypsies (whose wisdom is always underestimated by their enemies) are always on a Quest among Humankind, bearing the Secret Wisdom of the Tarot, which is the I Ching of Western Civilization.

"The Gipsies Camp" ( USA ). Lovely Currier and Ives engraving that evokes the "Story of the Gypsy Discovery of the New World as a Land of Opportunity."

Noted Professor Ian Hancock, O Yanko le Redjosko in a University of Texas, Austin, faculty photo

The iron caltrop. Circa 14thcentury. Manufactured by Romanies and proto-Romanies throughout Eurasia as a defensive weapon. If the old Henri van Elven hypothesis about the origins of blacksmiths in Europe is correct, Gypsy ironworkers had a major role in slowing the advance of the Mongols into medieval Europe; thus helping to save Western Civilization. Caltrops may also be useful to defend yourself against trick-or-treaters on Halloween!