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Show AGE-OLD CUSTOMS OF ROMANY PEOPLE Little Change in Centuries of Wandering. For all his placid virtues, John Bull still has a touch of gypsy blood. There are about 100.000 gypsies In England who practice the age-old rites of the Romany people, and their caravans, bright and gay, are a familiar feature of the countryside. Recently at Taunton, charms and amulets were found buried with a baby's body, and a police officer at the inquest testified that It is a Romany Ro-many custom to bury charms and coins with a body for "good luck and farewell." "The gypsies have stranger customs cus-toms than these," an authority on their customs says. "Many are married mar-ried in a 'blood union.' A sort of wedding cake is made of flour mixed with blood taken from the wrists of the bride and bridegroom, both of whom eat a piece. "Another marriage form is that of jumping over a flowering broom plant. "But in the most generally used rite, the bridegroom knocks thrice on the door of his beloved's caravan. cara-van. Her father opens the door and the suitor must then produce evidence evi-dence of his suitability a halter to show he possesses horses, a ring to indicate money, and a whip signifying signify-ing his possession of a wagon. "When the father leads forth the bride, the happy couple kiss and vow eternal faith, and the groom kisses his bride on the forehead an act which means devotion. Then the bride helps her husband to food from the stewpot, or carries fuel to his caravan to signify obedience. Thus they are wedded. "Not many divorces take place among gypsies nowadays. In days gone by a woman's guilt or innocence inno-cence was decided by a horse which was let loose. If it was caught again without trouble, It was held that the woman's guilt was small. If, however, it resisted capture, this was taken as a sign of very great guilt. "The horse was killed and over its dead body the man and woman vowed never to met again. "Another form of divorce was by causing blood to flow between husband hus-band and wife. This he did by chopping chop-ping off the fourth finger of his left hand. He preserved the finger and carried It about with him. When he married again he gave the finger to his new wife! "When a man dies his clothes are buried with him, his caravan and other belongings are bnrned, and no one Is allowed to touch thein or to mention the dead man's name. "Romany laws are very strict. There are no judges or juries settlement set-tlement of any dispute usually being be-ing left to the old women." |