But marrying a cousin is commonplace among traveller communities and Chantelle and Jim wanted to celebrate with a ceremony that the town would never forget. Chantelle wore a dress designed by traveller favourite Thelma Madine adorned with no less than 20,000 crystals.
Marriages are customarily arranged by the parents, with the matchmaking usually initiated by the parents of the groom. Many couples marry in their mid-teens. Unmarried young men and women are not allowed to socialize alone together, as great value is placed on female chastity.
Consanguinity, or the marriage of first or second cousins, is quite common among Travellers because they have traditionally married within their own 31,000- strong community.
Both sexes are expected to marry someone within their tribe and most Gypsies conform by marrying someone within their group. If a Gypsy male marries a non-gypsy female, his community may eventually accept her, provided that she adopts the Gypsy way of life.
At the same time both qualitative and quantitative studies show a steady trend of gradual increase in the marriageable age and age at first child birth among Roma, and today most of the Romani females get married after reaching the lawful age of 18.
Unmarried young men and women are not allowed to socialize alone together because of the emphasis on female chastity. Couples marry young - girls at around 16 or 17, and boys between 18 and 19. They're not supposed to marry non-travellers but marriage to second cousins in families is common.
Their lifestyle is comparable to what it was five hundred years ago. The task of the Romani woman is to take care of the children, to maintain the household, and to hold together the extended family. As mother, she knows precisely the details of her children's lives, including all of the stupid things they do.
Talk to older relatives for clues and family stories. Old family photos can help to identify Gypsy heritage. Photographs taken at gatherings such as hop picking or fairs might be a sign, although these were often annual events which brought together families from many backgrounds, not just Gypsies and Travellers.
Nine disorders are caused by “novel private” Roma mutations, including forms of glaucoma, polycystic kidney disease, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, and a few neuropathies.
The Gypsy and Traveller community firmly believe that “marriage is for life” and divorce is rare. Older children may be particularly reluctant to leave permanently.
In the UK, it is common in data collections to differentiate between: Gypsies (including English Gypsies, Scottish Gypsies or Travellers, Welsh Gypsies and other Romany people) Irish Travellers (who have specific Irish roots) Roma, understood to be more recent migrants from Central and Eastern Europe.
Irish ancestry
They found that Travellers are of Irish ancestral origin but have significant differences in their genetic make-up compared with the settled community. These differences have arisen because of hundreds of years of isolation combined with a decreasing Traveller population, the researchers say.
There is no legal restriction on the marriage of first cousins. You may not marry your: Grandmother or grandfather. Mother or father.
Although they are dispersed, their most concentrated populations are located in Europe, especially central, eastern and southern Europe (notably southern France), as well as western Asia (mainly Turkey).
Gypsies Live a Simple Life
Gypsies don't have a permanent home because their life is more on traveling, because of this, it is impossible for them to have a job at the office and make a lot of money. Most gypsies settle making money by looking for temporary jobs like gardeners, nail artists, and painters.
All traveller boys take part in 'grabbing'…
Made popular by the television show 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding', it is where Traveller girls are 'grabbed' as part of a courtship ritual, which sees boys forcing a kiss. The majority of Travellers have never heard of this and courtship occurs through careful supervision.
"Most Roma have brown hair and eyes, but there are many blond Roma with blue eyes," said Juan Gamella, a social anthropologist at the University of Granada in Spain.
In comparison with other studied groups from Ukraine (mainly Ukrainians but also other minorities) Djaczenko found that Gypsies have the lowest cephalic index, the widest nose, darkest pigmentation, and the most dense beard.
Gypsy, Roma and Travellers have the poorest health outcomes than any other social or ethnic group (SWPHO, 2011:3). The life expectancy of a GRT person is 50 years old for both men and women.
Romani communities are dispersed across all Australian states, with significant populations located in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Around 14,000 Roma live in Western Australia, mostly immigrants from Macedonia and their children. Nearly all lead sedentary lives.
Typical Romany surname: common ones include Cooper, Smith, Lee, Boswell, Lovell, Doe, Wood, Young and Heron.
Among Gypsies, or Roma, marrying young is a tradition born of the need to survive in an environment where young women were fair game for non-Roma men. Romanian Roma, in particular, turned to early marriage during 500 years of slavery that ended only in the 19th century.
Although monogamy is the rule, polygamy is not unknown, depending upon ability to bear the expense of additional marriages. The orthodox gypsies, however, are forbidden plural marriages by law. Among the gypsies of Rogatika, although they are Moslem, polygamy is rare on account of their poverty.
“Gypsies” were considered dirty, deceitful, too lazy to work, and prone to steal. The most heinous accusation was that they kidnapped the young, a charge frequently hurled against Jews as well. Several of these stereotypes clearly derive from the nomadism of Roma.