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Utterly facinating.


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It would be so interesting to trace the development of the gypsy/traveler culture from a century or so ago (while at the same time investigating how much it really resembled the stereotypical portrayals in literature/art) all the way to today and see how it evolved into what we see now and what common threads still run through the fabric of their society.

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I live in N.Ireland so we have Irish Travellers here. I watched the whole series when it was aired here and I thought it portrayed a very rose tinted view at first. Have you seen the one where the boys "grab" the girls? It's tradition to grab a girl, drag her off and kiss her against her will. :confused: Many kids leave school early but have travelled around so much or simply not gone to school regularly so they cannot read or write. That is in another episode so I'm not gossiping, I could but I won't.;)

 

OP, I too have a fascination with other cultures. The same UK channel that showed Gipsy weddings also showed The Squarest Teenagers in the World where Amish teens came to live with families in the UK and live the teenagers lives. It sparked quite an interest in me. There is a follow up show starting next week here where UK teens go to live with Amish families.:001_huh: That should be good.....

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It is fascinating! Some of the customs seem so crazy, and so at odds with each other, yet they turn up their noses at indoor bathrooms--apparently the community members consider it crass to do your bathroom business in your house.

 

The show definitely sucks me in, though certainly many parts of it make me sad. I hate for anyone to get married because she does not have any other options. My favorite person on the series is the woman who makes the wedding dresses. She is obviously respectful of the culture (her bread and butter, after all), but she makes a lot of comments about its shortcomings--the plight of the one single mom I have seen featured, for example.

 

Terri

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I have a friend who grew up in an American Gypsy family. She married outside the culture. She was very poorly educated and is always trying to fix that. Her family group was migrant, doing seasonal farm work. When we first met, she knew very little about typical American childhood and was tickled to discover Winnie the Pooh with her children. The culture is very strict and tradition driven. Whether you call it highly moral or not would depend on what you mean by moral. To me, it is not moral to suppress a child's natural desire to learn. My friend also has to deal with genetic problems due to inbreeding.

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It would be so interesting to trace the development of the gypsy/traveler culture from a century or so ago (while at the same time investigating how much it really resembled the stereotypical portrayals in literature/art) all the way to today and see how it evolved into what we see now and what common threads still run through the fabric of their society.

 

The horse fair that has been going on for 300 years is jaw dropping.

 

I live in N.Ireland so we have Irish Travellers here. I watched the whole series when it was aired here and I thought it portrayed a very rose tinted view at first. Have you seen the one where the boys "grab" the girls? It's tradition to grab a girl, drag her off and kiss her against her will. :confused: Many kids leave school early but have travelled around so much or simply not gone to school regularly so they cannot read or write. That is in another episode so I'm not gossiping, I could but I won't.;)

 

OP, I too have a fascination with other cultures. The same UK channel that showed Gipsy weddings also showed The Squarest Teenagers in the World where Amish teens came to live with families in the UK and live the teenagers lives. It sparked quite an interest in me. There is a follow up show starting next week here where UK teens go to live with Amish families.:001_huh: That should be good.....

 

lorraine, I would love to see that show you're watching.

 

Don't believe everything you see on tv.

 

:glare: I'm not that naive.

 

I have a friend who grew up in an American Gypsy family. She married outside the culture. She was very poorly educated and is always trying to fix that. Her family group was migrant, doing seasonal farm work. When we first met, she knew very little about typical American childhood and was tickled to discover Winnie the Pooh with her children. The culture is very strict and tradition driven. Whether you call it highly moral or not would depend on what you mean by moral. To me, it is not moral to suppress a child's natural desire to learn. My friend also has to deal with genetic problems due to inbreeding.

 

Well, I was speaking to the part where they girls dress like streetwalkers, but wouldn't think to shame their family. That's a high tensioned balance to parent.

 

I know there are negatives, as to any culture. I don't think it's moral that we have homeless veterans in our country, I don't think it's moral that we don't have universal healthcare, that there are hungry people in the US, or that there are kids here who graduate not being able to read or even afford college. So, it all depends on the POV.

 

The Amish are so inbred that they have a genetic mutations that are extremely rare, and no one is castigating them.

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I watched some of this program when it first started, its on about series 3 now isn't it? It was just so shocking that so many of the girls couldn't read or write. It feels like even though they look really modern, especially the women with their provocative clothing, fake tan & heavy makeup, they almost live locked in the past.

 

I remember small groups of traveller kids coming to our school for a week or so once a year at primary school. I am not sure whether they were culturally the same as the people in Big fat Gypsey Wedding.

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I haven't read all the replies, but I work in the banquet department of a large hotel and I have worked many big fat gypsy weddings. They are obnoxious, lol. They always include two meals. The first is for people to see when they enter the ballroom, but no one eats that meal. We throw it away. The second meal is the biggie, always with lobster and fancy drinks. This is the "grooms dinner" in which they "pass the hat" to pay for their $40k shindig. The music so so loud that my ears ring for days afterward.

 

The biggest extravagance I have ever seen at one was a $10k cake with real gold frosting which no one ate. It was a very big cake, made into a beautiful golden castle. The bride and groom and various guests had their picture taken "in" the castle cake, and at the end of the night it went in the trash.

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I haven't read all the replies, but I work in the banquet department of a large hotel and I have worked many big fat gypsy weddings. They are obnoxious, lol. They always include two meals. The first is for people to see when they enter the ballroom, but no one eats that meal. We throw it away. The second meal is the biggie, always with lobster and fancy drinks. This is the "grooms dinner" in which they "pass the hat" to pay for their $40k shindig. The music so so loud that my ears ring for days afterward.

 

The biggest extravagance I have ever seen at one was a $10k cake with real gold frosting which no one ate. It was a very big cake, made into a beautiful golden castle. The bride and groom and various guests had their picture taken "in" the castle cake, and at the end of the night it went in the trash.

 

Why the waste? :confused:

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I hope it didn't sound as if I was castigating them, because I wasn't. I was pointing out the negatives that my friend had to deal with. That's it. Just facts.

 

No, not you, but I was meaning that we put the Amish on a pedestal, and it seems the travellers are persona non grata. But perhaps they have more in common than one would first think.

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Honestly I have been to, at least ten or more of these weddings and they all throw away the first meal. They always like it dished up and sitting on tables when the guests arrive. The guests might pick at it a tiny bit, but mostly it goes in the trash. It is always cheaper than the other meal though, things like pasta salad and chicken breast. The second meal gets eaten, every scrap. I do not know why there is so much waste at these weddings, and it is sad when so many of these people came from eastern Europe and are so small in stature that I am sure they did not have enough to eat in their youth.

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