Quote Originally Posted by Montmorency View Post
My impression is that the Roma aren't really nomadic by culture, just that they were a migratory people who, upon reaching Europe after some centuries of migration, developed an itinerant culture.

The question is, why have they preserved and perpetuated this sort of culture for the past millenium of living among densely-clustered peoples?

Comparison to the Jews is incomplete, as Jewish peripateticism was usually reluctant or unwilling, in that Jews wanted to settle down and for various political or economic reasons after some years or even generations had to abandon their current homes. For instance, the movements of one side of my mother's family line (though I'd prefer to check the dating before marking it) can be traced thus (denoting areas of contemporary delineation): England - Germany - Italy - Poland - Romania - Belarus - Russia - Georgia. For each major movement AFAIK, these Jews moved on due to growing local hostility, never because they were actually made their living by travelling from place to place for the purpose of engaging in commerce with fresh populations. Note the perennial Jewish love of agriculture and settled-community life - do the Roma have any such yearning?

Also, Jews tended to integrate quite rapidly when given the opportunity (e.g. laxening of legal distinctions). Are any such applicable to Roma in Europe today (e.g. 'special' tax status)?
To take the last question first: the Scandinavian Roma(tatere) are integrated well. Secondly, remember that the Roma were victims of the Holocaust as well. That should give a clue as to the persecutions they have had to put up with, and justifies a comparison to the Jews. The case of this thread is a nice illustration of one of the Roma stereotypes; that of the babysnatcher. A stereotype they share with the Jews and the Freemasons, which are "coincidentally" two other groups the OP has expressed distrust of. At least they're not accused of gutting her and selling the meat to the turks this time... Progress!!

Thirdly, a question for you: do you happen to know the ratio of travelling Roma to settled Roma, by any chance? The vast majority is settled, mostly in the Balkans. So... In reality, they have not kept a nomadic lifestyle. They have settled, and they have taken "normal" work.

Perhaps because they are humans like the rest of us...?