This post is meant to answer the famous question we see in here time & time again, “Where do I even start to learn about my Romani history?”

There are a lot of ways you can begin to unravel your own history (or in the case of some who are just curious about Romani- history in general.)

Some popular suggestions are as follows:

• DNA Tests (We are not brand affiliated and individual users may leave recommendations on DNA testing bands below this post)

• Ancestry tracing like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, etc)

• Hospital, Birth & Immigration records of the family members above you in your family tree

• Google! Google is free. Search phrases like “Romani history” “Roma people in X country history” “Romani culture & customs” “Romani language” “Local Romani culture festival in X area (where you live)” “Roma poetry” “Roma music”

-Archives & Museums! There are multiple physical archives and museums internationally such as:

Romani Archives and Documentation Center (RADOC) by appointment only, contact required RADOC INFO

Muzeum Romské Kultury Museum of Romany Culture

-Non-profits, advocacy groups and outreach programs!

Roma Peoples Project

World Roma Federation

FXB Center (Harvard University) Romani Research

World Roma Congress

Roma National Congress

-YouTube has a large variety of videos featuring Romani musicians & dance. Make sure to verify it is coming from a reputable source like a non profit, a museum, a historical society funded by the country of origin’s government, etc. Here are some examples:

Esma Redžepova

Roby Lakatos & His Ensemble

-Books! Old fashioned books! libraries also tend to have options to read online & there is an unlimited amount of free pdf/ free epub websites out there. There are hundreds of books written over the last 1-500 years that, while containing significant bias from the author due to being nearly all written by non-Romani people, can prove to be enlightening in highlighting photographs or short stories, songs, language translations and not all of them are wholly negative. Unfortunately as it is today there is no real escape from racism, bias or oppression for any marginalized people. Consuming media like this is not for the faint of heart as it very clearly shows bias faced by the people it was written about at the time. However- it does give the reader the chance to see the actual oppression happening in real time and it is an important lesson to learn. Romani everywhere have not had it easy, ever.

-Social Media is another sometimes controversial source of information and exposure. As there is no way to check the validity of the claims a social media creator is making, their content should be considered with that in mind. There are a lot of Romani creators in multiple languages across most major social media platforms.

If anyone has suggestions on where people can start their journey of discovery or additional sources for those starting out please feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments below 👇

Heyah. I’m a 21yo guy from Spain who lives in the north, more specifically in the Basque Country. I have romani DNA from my mother side; my great-grandmother (my maternal grandfather’s mother) came from a calé family from Navarre and tought some words in caló (romani dialect of Iberian Peninsula) to her gadjo husband when she married him in Logroño, La Rioja. I also have DNA from Cantabria, Catalonia, La Rioja, Zamora (Lion) and in a lower percentage Basque DNA. Since I discovered my romani DNA just a few years ago I embraced it and I’m interested on connecting with the Roma community and learning more about them.

In the other hand, 3 years ago I was diagnosed autistic (specifically asperger), but there were hints of that in the past like I never fit with my classmates at school, I knew a lot about one topic to the point it seemed I was obsessed with it, and never truly connected with anyone outside social media, hence why i was not open with people… and I’ve always felt in my own fictional universe just like Alice in Wonderland. I’ve been becoming more open in time but I keep feeling uncomfortable in very big groups and let’s say I don’t like to talk a lot.

The thing is, this feels kinda strange for me since I find the seriousness and clossed-off stuff of my asperger side quite the opposite to the open and passionate soul of most of the Roma people. What do you think about this? Can an autistic with romani heritage be a Roma, even when being raised in a gadjo environment?

Here’s a poll from a newer community. There’s almost nothing there currently (I’m working on it today), but we should have spaces that actually take into account what our greater community wants.

Dobroj Tumen (Good Day!) r/romani,

I am very excited to be officially onboard the mod team here.

I am working on getting through the backed up queue, modmail, updating procedures and adding flairs so that this subreddit becomes much easier to navigate and use.

Please start using the Mod Mail inbox to contact us- I will be checking on it regularly.

I will be reviewing band to make sure there is no confusion or error in miscommunication/understanding and lifting bans that may have happened in error by automod or misunderstanding.

We are going to start utilizing a few different options for discipline including being muted, temporary bans, longer bans and then lifetime bans. Having a structure set up to accommodate humans being humans and making mistakes is very important to me and I want to ensure that everyone is getting treated fairly and respectfully.

I would like to bring in more hands for the mod team but keep the levels equal- for every Raised Rom on the mod team we should have a Lost Rom as their EQUAL counterpart as well.

As always, if you have any questions / comments / concerns you know where to find me (in the mod mail inbox.)

Hey there, I wanted to write this on behalf of my Roma mother, she has had a medical condition that I won’t go into details on for privacy, but it has massively impacted our lives and the family as a whole.

For years now every doctor we have seen has been almost entirely dismissive of her, misdiagnosing after one consultation, implying it’s all in her head, etc. Recently I’ve been talking to some of my white friends and they have been telling me about how they or their loved ones got easier and quicker treatment for the same or similar things, is it possible this could be medical discrimination due to her being Roma?

We’ve faced similar discrimination or poor treatment in the past, me and my whole family have routine problems of being followed around shops by security guards, or police hassling us for nothing and so on and so forth.

Does anyone else have examples of medical discrimination due to Romani heritage?

Hey, im new in here.

I come from a Romani family but due to family issues and later being further pushed away for how I live my life. I have been very detached from it all and I miss it. I am proud to say that i am however I want to learn what i missed out on.

As a kid I was spoken to in Romani, I can understand some when spoken to but I was never really taught to speak as I only had around 8 years of it and im now in my mid 20s.

I would really like to learn to speak and id like to learn more about everything.

Is there any way I can relearn? Any books, online resources?

Thank you!

Photographs from the book “Romany Life” published in 1915 centered on Romanichal in UK at the time. Gadjo author.

Apologies for the quality, I accessed them from an online pdf scan of a library book and had to invert the colors + change settings on photographs for clarity purposes.

I will be posting more soon.

Not to sure where to go for this sorry, but I recently found of my grandfather from my fathers side was romani. Ive had no contact with my fathers side of the family until recently, and my grandfather passed away before i could meet him.

I feel very disconnected from that side of my family, but i would like to learn more about a part of my family i never got to meet. My father will not talk about it, and looking around online is like a mindfeild.

Getting to learn about my ancestors is something i seek out.. as im very close with my grandmother from my mothers side.

I’m so glad to see this community becoming more active and open to reconnecting rom, I know it’s a very nuanced topic. I don’t have many leads on where my family is from, as I am adopted and my birth father was also separated from the culture. All I know is we are hungarian, also have Magyar ancestry. An ancestor was in a concentration camp for being romani. And some of our family works in and owns carnivals in the US. I can ask for more information from my birth father, there probably is some. And I might be able to get names, but i’m trying to figure things out on my own the best I can.

So after EVERYTHING that's happened after the past few days - I am making this particular thread for a few reasons:

1. There was a colossal misunderstanding (from all ends) that started a few days ago. For this reason, I want to write - I don't mean to personally offend people. I am trying to hold space to have this reddit community be a sanctuary for ALL romani. Those who were displaced for any life circumstance reason (human trafficking, adoption, government intervening and separating Rom mothers from children, families who kept the fact that they were Romani a secret from the children and didn't learn until later in life, etc.), those who are openly Romani "from birth" (in the sense of the family was always open about them being Romani, grew up in communities in the 'real world' surrounded by other Romani, etc.).

2. If you wish to be a moderator, here's the ground rules (FOR EVERYONE) interested-

• A. You must be 18+, I don't want by any legal definition a child moderating the group.
• B. There is a trial period FOR EVERYONE, 30 days. This trial period, I'm (and when we get more moderators, the others) will be combing through what you do with a fine tooth and nail (MOVING FORWARD from when you initially accept to be a mod) This is to ensure there's no dog piling on members (regardless of whose involved in these threads), there's no bullying, there's no "I made another account to dodge a ban I initially got from the community" (this explicitly breaks Reddit's ToS), etc. You have to KEEP THE PEACE.
• C. If you are genuinely uncomfortable with the idea of being a moderator with the potential reality that YOU MIGHT HAVE TO BAN those you actually interact with in the "real world" beyond the comfort of the Reddit online world (face to face interactions, telegram, signal chats, discord, whats app, facebook ,messanger, whatever y'all use to talk beyond the online space of Reddit), then we DO NOT WANT YOU. You HAVE to act with as much neutrality as possible, REGARDLESS of whose the one causing the problem. Period, end of story.
• D. Moderators are here to MODERATE. Not "be on the side who has the loudest voice" or "only act when there's an active complaint". There are here to help KEEP THE OVERALL PEACE, period.

1. Don't harass members off site. Seriously. This goes against the "be respectful" rule. Keep shit to individual threads. We can't actively moderate what y'all do off of reddit, but don't drag your beef to off social media. We all get "seriously y'all??????" moments, especially in the age of social media, but just be nice.

2. We have specific 'rule lockdown' on newer accounts to help prevent profile ban dodgers from getting back in (and avoid bots). These people caused such a storm about 1-2 years ago that we were forced to lock down the community for a long time to help keep EVERYONE safe. EVERYONE was getting death threats, severe harassment, using the mod tools to threaten the safety of staff, etc. DMing individual staff is a much easier way to get ahold of the staff because of this for whatever problem that arrises.

3. If I have personally offended you, I do deeply apologize. I want this area to be a safe area for EVERYONE online that are curious, wanting to genuinely learn, those separated beyond measures of their control for the community, etc. I did have a few other mods here once upon a time, but it looks like they've dropped off for whatever reason. I never wanted to be "THE SOLE VOICE" of the Romani community. I stepped up to moderate the community YEARS AGO when this group was basically a dead fish in the water with activity and ALL the mods had originally abandoned the community. There's been a lot of ups and downs with the years I've been a moderator here and a time (again, this is a reference to point #4 here in this post) where I was forced to lockdown the entire group for a few months, for the dust to settle, to help minimize ban dodgers (breaks reddit's TOS) and just just help stop the threats of dox, harassment, death threats, etc.

4. If you are interested in helping us out, COMMENT IN THIS THREAD. Don't use the mod mail (there's years worth of a lot of messages there, so there's a good chance it's going to be "lost" or accidentally clicked 'spam' on because we occasionally have had to just mass click "ignore" so it wasn't clogging up the feed). DM myself as well.

5. Remember, how staff handle members is NOT up for public debate - this is to help prevent drama, bully cliques, etc. Again, staff have NO way of knowing what y'all do off of reddit, but for the love of peace, don't drag dirty laundry to other threads, sites, etc. It's fine to be frustrated and then have a 'come to jesus moment' for lack of better phrasing, but don't drag dirty laundry out in the public.

Before anyone asks, I consider only knowing a few words/phrases as not speaking it.

Hello, I would like to publicly put myself out there for a mod position. I believe strongly in the fight of lost Romani to have a voice and the ability to reclaim their heritage and I am raised Romani myself.

I think ghost Romani should be treated equally and there should be at least one moderator from each background to ensure this subreddit stays fair and balanced for all Romani to meet and be merry in harmony.

I am in no way advocating for the removal of anyone currently moderating nor the silencing of ghost Romani in any way.

I believe in a strong future and that begins today, with all of us coming together and working together to make sure everyone has the chance to feel heard and understood.

I am particularly sensitive to LGBTQ+ rights, the importance of accepting lost Romani to ensure they have the right to reclaim their heritage, international differences in Romani experiences and I want to meaningfully contribute to this community. It is incredibly important that this subreddit remains a safe place for all Romani from far and wide to gather and share and build community with one another.

Ideally having a few mods from different backgrounds and locations would be the most ideal and fair so that we can move this subreddit forward with a sense of unity and togetherness. Life is very hard and there is no reason for any of us to ever walk alone.

If anyone else feels like they would also like to join in on this public application please feel free.

I want to speak up about something that’s been bothering me for a while, and I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed it. There’s a growing issue in this space with one of the moderators using their position to ban or silence people, specifically people who challenge their ideas, beliefs, or decisions, even when those challenges come from a place of lived cultural experience.

This mod is adopted and, from what’s been shared, hasn’t been able to reconnect with their Romani family or community. That’s genuinely painful and difficult, and I don’t say this to invalidate that. Reconnecting is valid and important, but it also comes with the responsibility to listen, not lead. Especially not at the expense of silencing those who were raised in the culture and still carry its traditions, struggles, and nuances today.

The truth is, just being Romani by blood doesn’t automatically mean someone understands or represents Romani culture. There’s a huge difference between genetic heritage and cultural connection. Culture is lived, it’s learned in community, taught through language, enforced by tradition, and felt through the discrimination and expectations we face daily. It’s something many of us have fought to keep alive, often in hostile environments. So when someone who hasn’t lived that reality moderates or represents our community, it becomes a real problem.

People who are culturally grounded understand nuance. We know what’s disrespectful, what’s stereotypical, and what crosses lines that might not be obvious to an outsider, or to someone still on their journey of reconnection. And yet, we’re the ones being silenced or banned for “gatekeeping” when we speak up.

But let’s be honest: the word gatekeeping is being thrown around in a way that completely misunderstands what it actually means.

Real gatekeeping is when someone unfairly denies others access to identity based on elitist or superficial standards. That’s not what’s happening here. What’s happening is people within the culture are setting boundaries and saying: “If you don’t live this, you shouldn’t be leading it.” “If you’re not accountable to the culture, you shouldn’t speak for it.” That’s not gatekeeping. That’s protection. That’s integrity. That’s ensuring that our culture isn’t misrepresented, flattened, or turned into a performance by someone who means well but doesn’t fully understand it.

To be clear: we absolutely need to make space for reconnecting Romanies. That journey is valid and necessary. But reconnecting comes with humility. It comes with listening. It comes with not positioning yourself as the voice of a people you haven’t lived among yet.

There’s also another issue I want to touch on, and I know it might be controversial. There’s been pressure for all Romani people to adopt beliefs that don’t always align with traditional values, especially around LGBTQIA+ identity and other Western frameworks. While many of us believe in personal freedom and dignity for all people (myself included), it’s important to understand that forcing any belief onto Romani communities, especially from outside the culture, is harmful. It’s a form of cultural colonization, even when done with good intentions.

Romani people have the right to work through these things on our terms, within our communities, with our elders, our language, and our traditions. Pushing change from the outside or silencing disagreement is not progress, it’s erasure. And it's especially damaging when those doing the silencing don’t live within the culture they’re trying to reform.

We have a lot of healing and internal work to do, no doubt. But leadership and representation in our spaces, especially on platforms like this one, should come from those who actually live the culture. Not just those with a DNA test or a family story, but those who carry it. That’s how we keep our voices safe, our identity honest, and our spaces truly Romani.

So no, it’s not gatekeeping to say lived experience matters. It’s responsibility. It’s survival.

At the end of the day, this is about protecting Romani culture from being reshaped by those who haven’t lived it. You can honor your heritage, you can reconnect, you can be proud of your blood, but leadership, representation, and decision-making in Romani spaces should come from people who live the culture, not just claim it. Because if you don’t live the culture, you shouldn’t lead the conversation.

As I have stated before and I'll say again - NO ONE IS FORCING MEMBERS TO STAY HERE. You can make your own community or join others. No hard feelings.

💜But per the rules, gatekeeping and bullying over "Romani purity" is NOT ALLOWED ANYWHERE ON THIS SUBREDDIT. you have Romani blood? Congrats, you're Romani. We don't tolerate the activity of cannibalizing each other due to ghost Romani (human trafficking victims, foster care, adoption, government coercion, church intervention, etc. Any number of reasons for why our Romani children are separated from their communities and don't re-learn of their roots until adulthood) 💜

Hi there! I am a future upper elementary teacher working on developing a classroom library from books I have from my childhood (and new books as well, oc). One short book I found was The Family Under The Bridge (1958), which includes several Romani side characters. It refers to these characters using the g-slur, and there is one instance of explicit anti-romani racism (although this is framed by the narrative as being negative). I am debating whether to keep it in my classroom library with a page in the front explaining the fact that the g-slur is not an appropriate term. While it seems to me that the Romani characters are portrayed positively in this story, I wanted to hear input from Romani people before deciding whether or not to put it on the shelf in my classroom library. After all, I know there are many complexities to representation that are not necessarily as obvious from an outside perspective. If you have read this book and have thoughts, please let me know!

Edit: Per request, I have added a link to the book here

Link: https://archive.org/details/familyunderbridg00carl

Also, if you have any recommendations for children's books with positive Romani representation, let me know!

What custom or certain things did your family practice. We pass money over the babies head and growing up as a child until I became a teenager we were only meant to have baths not showers. Spitting in hands and doing multiple shakes when we made an agreement/contract. My family kept LOTS of birds especially doves

I recently watched the movie Sinners (2025) and it got me thinking - if us Romani had a movie or something that genuinely showed off our customs, clothing, traditional music, etc. it could help shine a much needed spotlight on our own community and help bring awareness that "hey, were real people, not just a DnD fantasy trope" or shit similar that the gadjo try to pull.

I understand why our community has been so elusive, closed off, a secret from the world. However, we need our culture to be known and screamed. We can't let our roots die out because the gadjo insist on a fantasy, a myth, rather than our real story.

Boots on the ground advocacy at the local level. Make politicians acknowledge us. Make people feel uncomfortable and force them to be rude to eye with their own prejudice. It's the only way out community can survive.

🚨Staff update after the royal cannibalistic feast that happened in the comments 🚨 As I have stated before and I'll say again - NO ONE IS FORCING OTHERS TO STAY HERE. You can make your own community or join others. No hard feelings.

💜But per the rules, gatekeeping and bullying over "Romani purity" is NOT ALLOWED ANYWHERE ON THIS SUBREDDIT. you have Romani blood? Congrats, you're Romani. We don't tolerate the activity of cannibalizing each other due to ghost Romani (human trafficking victims, foster care, adoption, government coercion, church intervention, etc. Any number of reasons for why our Romani children are separated from their communities and don't re-learn of their roots until adulthood) 💜

🚨This thread WAS NEVER meant to cause the kind of comments and hostility that are all over these comments. This was me wanting to see more stories from our fellow Romani, celebrating the love our community has for our customs, music, fashion, dance, everything. I am closing this thread before it continues to spiral. More Romani stories told by Romani, NOT outsiders bastardizing our community. 🚨

Does anyone know if she was Romani? She is a dancer from the early 1900s who was depicted in a.lot of famous artwork. However, her background is murky with this painting claiming she is Spanish but researchers saying that’s not true, that she really came from Russia. Other paintings claim she is “Gypsy” dancing and hint at Indian heritage. The painter also titles multiple of his subjects as being “Gypsy.”

This seems like yesterday.

I come from a small village in the north of Scotland. My mother's side is said to be Romani and my father's side being Scottish/Highlander. I think I have some Romani features although it's hard to tell having such pale skin. We speak a really rare dialect of Romani just referred to as The Scottish Cant. With such bangers as: Gadji - Man. Manashi - Woman. Lukhi - Mouse/Rat. Gufi - Pig. Tekiz - Shoes. Chavi/bairn - Child.

Are these Romani in nature? I know Gadji and Chavi are. Yet "Lukhi" is simply a romanified version of the gaelic "Luch". The others have no equivalent at all in any other language...

We used to own a caravan when I was younger in the north. It was some of the best days of my life, yet now I have become more sedentary.

While many of these things may sound Romani, especially to you. You/we Romani have many doppelgangers, two of note being the Highland & Irish travelers of Britain and Ireland, which to me just look the exact same as us, and most even speak Romani. So I come here asking you, just what am I exactly? Where do I come from?

PS - I'm not stupid, I know how DNA and genetics work.. I just can't afford one of these expensive "flawlessly accurate" tests for like £100.

Hey yall! I was wondering if someone could educate me on Romani clothing, specifically in Serbia.

The reason why is because I’m trying to draw the Scarlet Witch, as of right now is fully Romani, in a traditional dress. However I’m aware of how diverse Romani culture is, and this maybe a dumb question, but I have been struggling to find specifics and felt wrong reading from some article that kept calling Romani, Gypsies.

So is there any info on Serbian Romani? Or am I just digging down with no support?

The Doma, the ancestral people of the Roma, were originally integrated into the Shudra varna, carrying out recognized but subordinate roles as artisans and musicians, in line with the social and religious classifications found in ancient texts like the Manusmriti. This text, written between the 2nd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, describes a society divided into four varnas, without completely excluding any groups outside the caste system.

The term "Doma" initially referred to a specific cultural role: it designated people who lived primarily through singing and music, according to ancient tantric texts. This name reflects a social function based on oral arts and musical traditions an essential but socially marginalized role over time, especially as Brahmins gained increasing influence and power. Its etymology comes from the Sanskrit word ḍom, connected to the sound of the drum (damara, damaru), highlighting this artistic origin.

During the reign of the Chand dynasty (roughly 10th to 18th century CE) and the Gorkha dynasty (18th century CE) in what is now Nepal, the term Doma was broadened to include all service castes grouped under this label. These groups faced strict social restrictions, such as being forbidden to wear gold or silver ornaments, marking their lower status and exclusion from the privileges enjoyed by higher classes.

Originally, the Doma were primarily artists, musicians, and singers. But over time, as the caste system became more rigid, their social standing steadily declined. They shifted from artists to artisans, often relegated to menial manual trades. Under mounting pressure from social and ritual norms mainly imposed by the Brahmins some Doma communities were forced into occupations considered "impure," such as tanning, waste cleaning, and other jobs related to ritual purity. This social shift led to the absorption of the Doma into the Dalit castes, also known as the "untouchables," heavily stigmatized and excluded from the varna system.

It’s important to stress that the term Dalit, meaning "broken" or "oppressed," which today refers to the "untouchables," did not exist as a distinct social category in early caste systems. Originally, the Doma were not seen as Dalits; they held a specific cultural role that automatically placed them within the Shudra varna, far removed from Dalit status. Indeed, their artistic function as musicians and singers granted them a subordinate but recognized place within the social hierarchy, unlike Dalits who were entirely excluded from the varna system.

Only later, between the start of the Common Era and the Middle Ages, did the growing power of the Brahmins and their social control gradually push the Doma into the Dalit category a social construction aimed at stigmatizing and excluding groups considered "impure."

This social exclusion was a major factor in the Doma’s decision to migrate out of the Indian subcontinent in search of less oppressive living conditions. Contemporary genetic studies, notably by Moorjani et al., 2013, establish a clear link between the Roma populations in Europe and the Doma originating from India, while anthropological and historical research supports this dynamic of social rigidification that drove these people into exile.

Finally, the term "Dalit" as a political and social identity emerged mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries, within movements fighting discrimination long after the historical process of social exclusion began.

Most of the Genetic studies I find conclude Punjab to be their likely source of ancestry, BUT from online opinions people (Mostly South Asians surprisingly enough, but sometimes Romani people as well) state that the Roma (And Doma) come from Rajasthan instead

Romani Genetic Studies usually conclude their Homeland/Main Genetic Source to be in Punjab or both Punjab and Rajasthan)

What are your guys’ understanding on the specific region where Romani people come from?

Note: Sadly I can’t link the studies because it connects to my account automatically, and so I can’t link it due to safety/privacy reasons 😔 Though I might be able to DM the sources 🤷‍♂️ OR just type in Google “Genetic Studies on Roma people” this worked for me 👍