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track and have no electricity, water or sanitary facili ties. Gypsy women are easily recognized by their clothes, their fortune telling skills, palm reading, and herb healing. Young women earn their livelihood mak ing wreaths of paper flowers dipped in wax. Young men continue to weave baskets. Ukrainian-American scholar Adriana Helbig (Columbia University) recently wrote an article for The Ukrainian Weekly 6 on her re search about Gypsies, generously sharing her findings and photos. According to Ms. Helbig, there are close to 120 Gypsy settlements in Transcarpathia today, each numbering 200-250 people. Gypsies in Ukraine have always been a part of the social scene and their presence is reflected in litera ture and the arts. They have been treated kindly by poet Taras Shevchenko, and it is moving to learn that his works have recently been translated into the Ro mani language. Many other literary works deserve to be explored to document the Gypsy’s contribution to Ukrainian life. In many countries, Gypsies retain a special mystique. In France and Spain, for instance, the search for the Gypsies has produced a sublimation of Gypsy life. The Gypsy woman, and especially the mystery that robes her actions and her discourse, has inspired poets, writers, musicians, artists and more recently filmmakers. Just like the smoke of the Gitane French cigarette, this woman cannot be entirely captured or tamed and therefore, she remains the Bohemian or Tsigane that embodies freedom. Ukrainian folk songs echo this intriguing fascination with the gypsy woman . . . she is immortalized as the "tsyhanochka" or the "vorozhka" who is either a free-spirited and light hearted child of nature or a foreboding character whose fortune telling is often cautionary or gloomy. American popular music has also perpetuated Gypsy lore, both positively and negatively. Two songs from the 1970s exemplify this. In one, Cher Bono sings "the people of the town, they called us gypsies, tramps and thieves." In the other, a young man com plains about his love life. He goes to "Madam Lu, you know, the gypsy with the gold tatoo," who gives him a bottle of "love potion number nine" to make him the object of amorous devotion from the most unexpected sources. History tells us that Gypsy bands originated in India. In 1976, their story came full circle when India's Prime Minister Indira Ghandi officially recognized them as a national minority of Indian origin. It was a momentous proclamation for Gypsies worldwide, an affirmation of a people who, like Shevchenko's "pok- rytka," have often been marginalized and misunder stood. Notes 1 Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Volodymyr Kubijovic, editor. Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1984. Reprinted 1985. 2 Hancock, I., The Pariah Syndrome. 1987. [illustration]. 3 Kobzar. Derzhavne Vydavnytstvo Khudozhnoi Lityra- tury. Kyiv. 1956: 282-293. (author’s illustration: 273). 4 Mary Skrypnyk, translator. Edmonton-Toronto: Cana dian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2001. 5 Documentary Strangers Among Us: Gypsies in Today’s Transylvania, by Rita Cebuc, Department of Commu nications, John Carroll University, May 2003; Woloch, Cecilia, Tsigan, The Gypsy Poem, Los Angeles, CA: Cahuenga Press, 2002 (with excellent timeline); Roma Holocaust: Recollections of Survivors, Budapest: Roma Press Center, Book 2: 2001; Binns, Denis, A Gypsy Bibliography : A Bibliography of Recent Books, Pamplets, Articles, Booksheets, Theses , and Disserta tions Pertaining to Gypsies and Other Travellers , Chorltonville, Manchester: Dennis Binns Publications, 1982. 6 “Shevchenko Anniversary: Bard Revered by Roma (Gypsies) in Ukraine.” Sunday, March 9, 2003: 8. Errata. In the March 2004 issue of Our Life, we published an announcement about the UNWLA Convention to be held in Albany, New York in 2005 (page 16). Please note that the upcoming event will be the XVII UNWLA Convention (not the XXVIII UNWLA Convention). Our apolo gies to readers and to members of the Convention Executive Committee for the error.
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