Monday, November 25, 2013

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves

peace to you

c. 1914
courtesy Indiana Music Libraries, site address to the right


I searched, but could not find a way to say
'peace'
in any Romany language.
So, we will have to do with English today!


gypsy caravan paper cutting by Helen Musselwhite


Who doesn't know Cher's famous rendition of
'Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves'?

Here is a recording of Cher, with some great footage of gypsies:



vintage gypsy woman with guitar


I first started researching the Romany people for two reasons:

1. I love their gypsy wagons!

2. I could not believe it when in 2009 France deported 10,000 Roma
to Romania and Bulgaria as illegal immigrants.

By the summer of 2012 the mounting criticism of the French government
over their treatment of the Roma spurred an emergency meeting  for talks
on how to handle the estimated 15,000 Roma living in camps across France.


Roma relocation to Bucharest
www.affordablehousinginstitute.org


vintage gypsies caravan
commons.wikimedia.org

Gypsies have a long history of culture and traditions.
New studies in 2012 revealed that the most likely origins of the Romany peoples 
occurred out of India in the early 12th century.


vintage photo gypsy woman

It had long been believed that the gypsies came out of Egypt,
resulting in the name 'gypsy' and due to their darker skin tones.
However, the new studies disprove that.

forever friends at the Horse Fair in Stowe, England
www.dapagroup.com


Truthfully, I even get mixed up on the proper terms to use!
So please, if I use a word wrong, drop me a comment so I can be more accurate.


c.1915

You can find Roma, or Travellers, all over the world.
I didn't know that!
There are of course the Travellers in Britain and the U.S.A. and Canada.



There are distinct Roma families in Eastern Europe,
including Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, etc.

'Feast with Gipsy Musicians'
by Theodor Aman, 1884


Also sizable Romany populations are in Western Europe, such as
Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway and more.

'Young Gypsies"
by William Adolphe Bouguereau, 1879


There are even populations in South America!

Spanish Gypsy

c.1850


Gypsy dancers on the village Green, United Kingdom, 2007


Dausa people, India, 2008
www.pbase.com


Today many Roma peoples reject the term 'gypsy' because of all the historically 
negative images and innuendos connected with the word.


sign in a South London business window


This prejudice is traditionally found in Eastern European countries with large Romany populations, but recent tensions have spread with Romany families seeking a new life in Western Europe.



Western Europe gypsies, 
www.vintage.es

In 1992 Bert Karlsson, leader of the Ny Demokrati in Sweden said:

'Gypsies are responsible for 90% of crime against senior citizens in Sweden.'


courtesy annalevi.blogspot.com


In Central and Eastern Europe the Romas often live in squatter communities.
Very high unemployment plagues them.


gypsy boy sitting in ruins of home outside Madrid, destroyed by the Spanish government
www.photoblog.nbcnews.com


Thousands of Romany were deported and their encampments were razed
during the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, France.

Roma forced displacement, waiting in Paris, France for plane to Romania, 2012

Romany women displaced from France, 11/2012
www.chronicle.com


This is part I of a series on Gypsies.
I'll post for now, but I will have more next time!

Have a wonderful day,
inkspired
www.inkspired.etsy.com
www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com
www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com
and on pinterest:  kkloberdans

Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Pirate and the Mermaid

The Proposal
Wil Cormier, 1955


"If the pirate with the scarf
had  been more poetically minded
he'd have thought that her eyes
were like a thousand emeralds,
glittering in a far-off pirate treasure chest.
But he wasn't,
so he just thought that she had
really really green eyes,
a bit like seaweed."

- Gideon Defoe,  The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists





sea dogs and treasure chests
www.pinterest.com


"Only those who will risk going too far
can possibly find out
how far one can go."
- T.S. Eliot




paper doll set by Susan Hoffman

bronze ship's pocket sundial/compass
www.StylishInteriors.etsy.com




"No! No! the adventures first,
explanations take such a dreadful time."

- Lewis Carroll,
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland




Mermaid Kat, Katrin Felton
www.facebook.com


selkie lilly's mermaid
www.lewfoster.etsy.com



"I love to sail forbidden seas,
and land on barbarous coasts."

- Herman Melville



Captain Johns, New Foundland


www.polyvore.etsy.com


by Thomas Blackshear
sea dogs and treasure chests, www.pinterest.com



"Let us step into the night
and pursue that flighty temptress -
adventure."

- J.K.Rowling,
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince



Captain Cur
www.StudioRayyan.etsy.com


www.beautifulwallpapersfordesktop.blogspot.com


'Shopping for Lunch' Collage Art Doll Mermaid
www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com



The Mermaid
One Friday morn when we set sail,
And our ship not far from land,
We there did a-spy a pretty fair maid
with a comb and a glass in her hands.
While the raging seas did roar,
And the stormy winds did blow,
And we jolly sailor-boys were all up aloft
And the land-lubbers lying down below."

- anonymous



unknown artist

unknown artist

Mermaids from The Pirates of the Caribbean
www.pirates.wikia.com



"You don't know what it is 
to live and laugh and love
and run a man through!
You've never tasted salty air on your tongue
or waved heartily at a mermaid!"

- Gideon Defoe
The Pirates! in an Adventure with the Romantics




coloring page courtesy Dover Books


Ryan Pancoast
sea dogs and treasure chests, www.pinterest.com



The Buccaneer movie poster
www.sodahead.com



vintage Japanese pirate mask (eyes not punched out)
www.flickr.com


artist unknown




"There is no shortage of well-known pirates,
including:
Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd,
Blackbeard, Yellow Beard,
and Yellow Beard with Black Roots,
who surmised that,
if blondes have more fun,
than blond pirates must have
a heck-of-a-lot more fun."

- Cuthbert Soup
Another Whole Nother Story


vintage Bergamot Brass Works buckle
www.AjsCollectables.etsy.com



The Pirate Movie DVD cover art


Pirate Jeff
www.mypiratenovel.wordpress.com

Life Savers' ad
sea dogs and treasure chests, www.pinterest.com



"My bounty is as  boundless as the sea,
my love as deep.
The more I give thee,
the more I have,
For both are infinite." 

- William Shakespeare

fantasyart-mermaids
www.pintocara.wordpress.com

www.tylersworkshop.etsy.com

The Flower Garden
www.WilCormier.com


Pirate and Mermaid by dashinvaine
www.mermaids-melody.deviantart.com


Merman and Mermaid
www.forestofthefaie.ning.com


incredible costume!
www.instructables.com


and that is the tale
of the Pirate and the Mermaid!



artist: Scott Gustavson



'til next time...
inkspired
www.inkspired.etsy.com
www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com
www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com
and on pinterest:  kkloberdans
"Mermaid Preening"
Collage Paper Painting by inkspired
using all recycled junk mail and magazines
www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

I found quotes here too:

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/pirates?page=2