Scholarly record
SUPERSTITIONS RELATED TO DEATH IN ROMA CULTURE
Abstract
It is an increasingly widespread view that the Roma are a specific and unique ethnic group, since they do not have a state and have never been at war; moreover, most of them preserve their ethnic (Roma) identity, refuse to merge into the majority society and actually intend to never give up themselves for the mainstream society. The research focused on superstitions about an important turning point in human life, i.e. on superstitions related to death, as deaths affect people and the fate of a tight community (especially in the Roma community). Research data was collected through in-depth interviews conducted with eight interviewees who declared themselves to be Hungarian, Vlach or Musician Roma and lived in five settlements of Levice District in Nitra Region, South Slovakia. We had two goalsВ—first, to map how important superstitions are for Roma people today, and second, to gain greater insight into the culture and folk belief of the second largest minority of Slovakia, living at the margins of society, since the more we learn about the customs of other ethnic groups in Slovakia, the easier it is to understand their specific way of life, which may enable people to overcome prejudices and take an open and positive attitude towards their neighbours.
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References12
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