About This Book
On the 25th of May each year, Romanies, Tzigans, Gitans, Manush, Kale, Gitanos, Travellers, otherwise known as Gypsies, congregate from all the corners of the globe for a pilgrimage to the southern French town of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer. They come to venerate their Saint, the Black Sara and to celebrate their culture and their music in the Festival of Nations. This is a story of the most misunderstood and most persecuted culture and people in Europe. A unique people because they have never identified themselves with a territory; they have no tradition of an ancient homeland from which their ancestors migrated, nor do they claim the right to national sovereignty in any of the lands where they reside. Rather, Romani identity is bound up with the ideal of freedom expressed, in part, in having no ties to a homeland and to the maintenance of their own unique culture wherever they reside. Music, secrecy, love, mystery, clairvoyance and the paranormal, are all entwined in this drama of Romance and intrigues. Loyalty and sacrifice are questioned and explored. When ancient beliefs are compromised, violence erupts in the most unusual circumstances.
