Gypsies from Sherlock Holmes 2
There is a big difference between the gypsies of the real world and those that thrive in fantasy worlds. At least I’ve been told that and I’m sure the debate will rage within the comments. Anyway, the fantasy gypsy is very romanticized with amazing thief skills, promiscuity, fortune telling, manipulative actions, colorful clothing, and a lot of sexy dancing around a fire. Well, that’s what the Windemere gypsies are like, but not as troublesome.
Many times a person writes a gypsy as being impulsive to the extreme. They are constantly stealing and causing trouble to the point where you consider they’re kleptomaniac sex-a-holics. In regards to these gypsies, the do steal and enjoy sex, but they have self-control. Sari will flirt and tease pouncing on the nearest male and she won’t take everything that isn’t bolted down. This isn’t the Windemere gypsy way.
That way is freedom and community. They travel and make camp for however long they feel like staying. As long as they are together, the gypsies are happy. Cross a member of the clan and they will bring vengeance down upon your head. Still, they enjoy having guests and not to rob them. A sharing of culture and joy is very important to these people. It is to the point where they treat people like family unless they prove to be untrustworthy and cruel. Still, people misunderstand their lifestyle and open culture where nobody truly owns anything. You can take anything that is left around, but you have to give it back if the original owner comes calling and proves ownership. They use games and contests to settle disputes like the guilds of Rodillen.
One of the ‘unusual’ parts of gypsy culture here is their partner practice. It isn’t as odd as the tradition of Bor’daruk, but fans of modern marriage would find it odd. Gypsies are partners for a year and have the choice between separating or staying together. If kids are involved then they stay with the mother unless she feels the father would be a better provider. It is definitely a matriarch society after each clan was founded by a Great Matron. So, women tend to have the upper hand in disputes. This isn’t to say men are useless in gypsy culture since they are part of a central council of elders and are equally proficient in magic.
As stated, the thoughts on gypsies in Windemere is mostly distrust or a disturbing obsession. Many young cityfolk look at young gypsies as easy and will save themselves for one if there is a clan nearby. Typically, this ends in embarrassing pranks or the cityfolk joining the clan. Very rarely does it cause an incident unless the city person forces a tryst or does something wrong. Then all hell can break loose with only the guard and an appeasement to end the hostilities.
Check out more about the gypsies in Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies on December 1st.
Legends of Windemere 
Today’s modern gypsies are VERY different from the gypsies present in many fantasy novels, although the gypsies are still very matriarchal, as my former boss (rest her soul), was a matriarch of the gypsies that live in my area. There was a myth that the gypsies would go to restaurants and steal credit card numbers and tips, simply because they live in such massive houses and have so much wealth, but it’s because of the insurance they’ve gathered over the years that they’re able to pass down to their children. Sorry if I’m about to start rambling, but I find the gypsies in fantasy novels and the modern day gypsies so interesting. I’m strictly speaking about the gypsies in my area, but I have learned a lot of lies over the years about gypsies, until I actually got to know gypsies myself from simply working where I do.
For example, it was once a myth that the women didn’t work and simply spent their husbands’ money. I learned this was false upon discovering my boss was a gypsy and that her sister, who works in payroll, is a gypsy as well. Also, there is a family of gypsies who does travel on the road for setting up fairs around the country, and, yes, the women do work these fairs, as do the men–and sometimes their children, if they’re old enough, but they’re more than likely left within their community. Gypsies are extremely close with one another.
Also, it was once a myth that gypsies had no religion, which simply isn’t true across all gypsies. The gypsies in my area are Catholics. Also, another myth is that when they hold funerals, they’re very celebratory in nature. Not the gypsies in my area. It was a very somber moment when I went to my boss’s funeral. I also noticed that when a gypsy member dies in their area, they don red t-shirts with Jesus on them.
Another interesting thing to note is that it is very easy in my area to detect who the gypsies are, not based on stereotypes at all (like wearing lots of bangles, ect…) If you come to Georgia and see a woman with heavily made up hair (which can take hours to do), she is more than likely a gypsy. Or if you see a group of boys with the same hairstyle (a sort of buzz cut with a slight cow lick at the front), they are more than likely gypsy boys. The gypsies in my area also used to dress their girls up a little bit too much (putting on too much make-up and making them look a little too adultish), but they’ve dressed them down in recent years and have done away with the make-up, but still really dress up the hair–which I’ve come to like over the years.
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Very interesting. I only know the fantasy gypsies, which tends to paint a picture of wandering vagabonds. So, I built Sari around that myth with making additions and changes to suit the world. Until now, I wasn’t really aware of where you could find gypsies or if they were even to be found in this country.
I’d never heard of the women not working among gypsies. It was always explained as matriarchal and the women did a lot of work. If anything, the fantasy version had lazy men. The close knit family is the only consistent part of any gypsy tale I’ve read. I like that idea for a character to come from a huge family and have this loving mentality with an edge of apprehension. Also, the ‘do not mess with my loved ones’ switch that turns Sari into a really cruel character.
Are gypsies very common in Georgia?
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Yes indeed! At first they seem like an untouchable people, much like the Mennonites in our area, but upon actually discovering my boss was one, I find they’re not as untouchable as they seem, though they still seem very wrapped up in their own world. Now the Mennonites, I’m still unsure of, but at my job, I have had a few Mennonites come and sign up for the Fiat.
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I think that’s common for all cultures. They have their own world within the bigger world that they interact with. I’m thinking along the lines of Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Russia, and the other cultural/ethnic regions of NYC. They’re approachable, but you really feel like you stepped into another region some times.
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Interesting thoughts Charles. We have gypsy colonies over here and in some areas they integrate really well and in others, they are disliked. I think a lot of it depends on the behaviour of the individual colonies, but I am intrigued that you have included them in your books. I really am going to have to read these! 🙂
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They make for an interesting culture to add. They have a lot of mistrust among the cityfolk, but it appears only when they’re in a group. Individual gypsies seem to be greeted warmly at first. Then again, that might just be Sari.
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I guess it is like any culture. Individually we are fine but when we are in a group, then we can appear threatening. I love how you identify so closely with each of your characters. 🙂
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Thanks. Took time to make them, so they’re really like individual beings in my head. The cultures alone get confusing.
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I can imagine – and will only get more confusing as you progress through the series I would think! Hope you have either a great memory or a great notation and filing system!! 🙂
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I check back in the books whenever I come to something I’m not 100% sure of. Things change between my notes and the actual writing.
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I was thinking about that today. I have been fine with the sequel but when I write the third book, as it will cover the same time period, I am pretty much going to have to refer to both of the first books the whole time.! Wow – what an undertaking.
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It slows you up a bit, but it helps to do a fact check before writing. If I know what I’m going to run into then I ‘study’ beforehand. Windemere has grown so big that even I can’t remember every detail. That’s just from other series down the road that I’ve done some planning from.
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Yes. I have a notebook and I use Notepad on the laptop to keep a check on the most pertinent facts, but it is the little things that escape. I am hoping that there are no glaring continuity errors in the sequel… fingers crossed! And good luck with it all as the series continues to grow.
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What kinds of little things?
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Erm… clothing, what they are wearing. Days and who was where when. And remembering if someone has already said that etc… A bit like the usual continuity errors you can see in films from time to time. I did have one glaring one which my husband picked up thankfully! 🙂
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I try my best on those, but I always try to do at least one continuity editing run. Especially picking up repeated information and messed up physical traits. Kept switching Luke’s eye color in the first book at one point.
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Oh dear… sounds familiar. And then you feel dreadful because you think that if you don’t remember those details about your characters, what chance has anyone else got! 🙂
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I’m fine with it. I have so many characters in my head that it’s rather easy to get a few wires crossed. Many have had changes over the years too, so I might remember the wrong version. I’ve noticed that eye color isn’t always mentioned in a book like hair color. I do find that’s harder to remember because we have a strange eye color connection to each hair color. For example, blonde hair/blue eyes and red hair/green eyes.
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Hmm, most Fantasy I have read doesn’t actually call them Gypsies. Usually a different name like Edema Ruh (Kingkiller Chronicles) or Tuatha’an (Wheel of Time), definitely based on the idea of Gypsies. It’s kind of like the idea you had for Noble Shepard I think, probably gives the author more room to create their own unique customs that might not be represented by what people know about Gypsies in real life.
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I didn’t stray too far from what I was told about gypsies when I was in college. At least the romanticized version you see in movies and TV. I stuck rather close to the ‘lore’ I’ve heard of, which is why I don’t have much worry about what they are called.
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Graceling Series by Kristin Cashore apparently uses gypsies in a non-Earth setting. At least that’s what another person in this house is telling me.
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That’s cool. Not saying you can’t or shouldn’t use the name just it sounds weird to me since Gypsy is an ethnicity. Like if I were writing a fantasy story called Night of the Gypsy, it sounds wrong to me, it would be like saying Night of the Asian, or Night of the African… just sounds weird to me.
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Is it a nationality or ethnicity? Because while the term is traditionally attached to the Romani, it has been used for other groups. Sea Gypsies of the Southeast Asian region or simply the traveling groups within Europe. This is just what I’ve found looking it up over the years. Romani are the gold, what everyone thinks of standard when one thinks of Gypsies, but it seems it has also been used as a synonym for nomadic groups. Basically, there seems to be a lot of confusion on this one and it depends on who you ask. Kind of like if Jews are a culture or a religion.
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Sounds like a band of gypsies that I wouldn’t mind hanging around with. They sound very interesting and fun.
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Thanks. They’re definitely a fun group.
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This was a very interesting post (and only makes me more excited to read about Sari).
I love when ‘family ties’ are present in books. I think they’re often underutilized.
Also, I just have to say . . . although I’m not the biggest RDJ fan, I absolutely LOVED the Sherlock Holmes movies he did.
I say that scene where they were running through the forest is probably one of the best ‘shooting’ scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie. This is all completely beside the point, but I just thought about it because of the picture at the top. 🙂
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Family seems to play a big part for Sari and Nyx. One was raised in a large, tight clan and the other is an orphan, so they both have a clear sense of family. Though, the third book focuses more on Luke’s family and the mess he left at home.
That was an interesting shooting scene. I’m glad it hasn’t been duplicated all over the place like the Matrix Bullet Time stuff.
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It really can add so many different dynamics to a story, I think.
I’m glad that scene hasn’t been duplicated all over the place as well. Then again, it’s not very surprising to me. Nobody ever talks about it. I loved it though.
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I think it flew under the radar because of when the movie came out. I barely remember it being in theaters, so I saw it on TV.
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Yeah, I honestly can’t remember it’/them being in theaters either (and I’m pretty good at keeping up with when movies are coming out), but I have both of them. I think I was just determined not to watch either of them for a while, but I’m glad I changed my mind. 🙂
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The first one was in theaters for a while and I loved it. Kind of wondering if they’ll try for a third.
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I REALLY hope they make a third. Seems like those movies sort of slipped under the radar, which is such a shame. They’re just fantastic.
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It’s hard to do without Moriarty. They ended it with the possibility, but I hope they don’t push it too far.
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This is true. Then again, he lived after the fall (I’m disregarding how unrealistic that was, despite the tiny mouthpiece), so who knows?
Also true about pushing things too far. The Mentalist is one show I never thought I would get sick of, but did.
Do you watch Elementary?
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I watch Elementary and I like the twist on it. As for the fall, he survived and faked his death in the original stories. The event ended the first set of stories, so I guess they could continue with the later tales.
I feel like CSI has been limping along for a while.
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I didn’t think I’d like the obvious twists (Watson being female, for one), but I came around to it pretty quickly. And I think Johnny Lee Miller is just…extraordinary.
You know…CSI is one of the ONLY shows like that I don’t watch. I think I got a bit ‘scarred’ when I was younger and caught part of an episode.
I’m weird.
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Miller definitely makes the show. The female Watson was a little off-putting, but that got cleared up really quickly. Great chemistry between the characters, which I think is essential.
They’ve had some freaky CSI episodes. Some of them seemed a little too over the top at times.
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I was VERY put-off by her at the beginning, but I’ll agree with you in that I got over it really quickly. I can’t say enough how exceptional he is in that show.
Freaky and pretty gross episodes of CSI. A bit MUCH for me.
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Thanks for this explanation. I love a nomadic society. Interesting social mores. So partners stay together for a year and then decide to remain or separate? What’s the separation rate? Do most wind up staying together?
I just watched Sherlock Holmes for the third time. So I remember that scene well. Loved it!
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It varies and depends on those involved. It’s rare that a gypsy will stay with their first partner since that tends to happen around age 17-18. Many will use the first few partners to get a sense of relationships, but they will stay together if kids enter the picture. For example, Sari had just renewed her partnership right before the book begins and she’s 18.
I based the entire thing off the ‘Year and a Day’ system that a few Wiccan college friends told me about.
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