Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

I'm planning on throwing a gypsy/Romani themed party this year for Halloween. A couple of my friends are of Romani descent, though they know very little about the culture, so I need and want to keep the typical "gypsy" stereotypes--crystal balls, petty crime, etc--to a minimum.

Any ideas?

You could dress up as Nicolae Ceausescu's exhumed corpse, or his wife's, if you're a Miz....:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100721/ap_ ... cu_exhumed


Welcome to the forum!

Keep your head low and your spirits up! Welcome!

According to this site: http://www.romani.org/

The Roma are descendants of the ancient warrior classes of Northern India, particularly the Punjab, and they are identifiable by their language, religion, and customs, which can be directly linked to those of the Punjabi in northern India.

The site was really unhelpful except to say they had "a rich culture" and that they weren't like the stereotypes. I couldn't find a whole lot of information about the Roma... probably, and this is just speculation, because they've spent so long hiding who they really are that no one knows anything but the stereotypes anymore.

Other than that, I don't know anything about the Roma. You might find better information from a cultural resource (anthropology site or what-not) as opposed to a Halloween forum. You're asking for non-stereotypical Roma life... and not wanting anything to do with the stereotypical. I can't help you there.