Roma culture and traditions: the ROMANIPEN

Traditions:
Romani traditions play an important role in the life of the family. Roma attach very much importance to the preservation of traditions as a way of defining Roma own identity; however Roma traditions should not be an obstacle to modernization: an important challenge young European Roma are dealing with is to decide which Romani traditions to preserve and carry forward into the future, and which to leave behind. The important thing is to maintain the Roma identity and to protect the existence of the Roma culture.

Romani culture – the Rromanipen as the religion of the Roma.
 
The Rromanipen (the Roma culture) is of greater importance for the Roma than cultures usually have for the corresponding communities. This is due to the fact that the Roma culture has developed as the survival strategy of the Roma, and that nowadays it still plays a crucial role in regulating the everyday life of the Roma as well as their relations inside and outside the community.
A number of concepts in the Roma culture are quite similar to the Eastern (oriental) ones and therefore are substantially different from the corresponding Western concepts. For example:

The Notion of “Purity”:
The Roma notion of purity is the oriental one, meaning that it concerns not only physical but also spiritual cleanliness. This concept and its real implications not only in the everyday life of Roma and the way they take care of their houses but also on some very important customs related to childbirths, death and funerals, etc. Finally it also affects intergenerational relations as well as relations between Roma men and women, as well as the perception of the elderly and children.

Dualism in the Communication:
The Roma mode of communication is a special skill. The Roma do not speak directly each other and yet they understand each other very well. But the non-Roma frequently misunderstand this dualism in communication. Therefore they often have difficulty understanding the real meaning of what the Roma are saying.
 
The Notion of Time:
The Roma have a very different conception of time from other groups. They have a pre-industrial vision of time, a more static (oriental) one. Time is a continuous “horizontal” flow in, very flexible in its application, without rigid parameters or particular duties. Another issue of which the non-Roma are unaware, thus confusing their interpretations, is that in the traditional Roma family everyone is entitled to express an opinion.
 
Health is one of the most important values for the Roma. But the Roma cultural specificities are often challenging for the health institutions. There are already positive practices in some countries such as Finland, were these differences have been successfully taken into account by the health care institutions.
 
Despite some minor differences in terminology or even variation in customs, the different Roma groups throughout Europe still share the main elements of the Roma culture and its fundamental principles such as:
Recognition of diversity;
Solidarity;
Fraternity;
Respect;
Purity;
Honour;
Sincerity;
Complementarily between men and women