Show AGE OLD CUSTOMS OF ROMANY PEOPLE alv little change in centuries of wandering for all his placid virtues B ill still has a touch of blood there are about gypsies in england who practice the age old rites of the romany people and their caravans blight and gay are a familiar feature of the countryside recently at taunton charms and amileta were found burled with a baby s body and a police officer at the inquest testified that it Is a ro many custom to bury charms and coins with a body tor for good luck and farewell the gyps es have hae stranger cus toms than these an authority on their customs says many are 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 blat tl at of jumping over a flowering broom plant but in the most generally used rite the bridegroom knocks thrice on an the door of his belov eds cara van her father opens the door and the suitor must then produce evi dence of his sult suitability ability a halter to show he pos esses horses a ring to indicate money ind a whip signify ing his possession of a wagon when the father leads forth the bride the happy couple kiss hiss and vow eternal faith and the gro groom om kisses his bride on the forehead ai at act which means devotion then the bride helps her husband to fool from the stewpot or carries fuel to his caravan to signify obedience tl TI is they are wedded not many divorces take place among gypsies nowadays in days gone by by a woman s guilt or inno cence was decided by a horse which aas aa let loose if it 11 was caught again without trouble it was held tl ti at the woman s guilt was small if hoi however ieNer it resl resisted sted 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 caus causing lil blood to flow between husband and wife this he did by chop ping off the fourth finger of his left hand he ile preserved the finger and carried it aboa abou with him when he married agali agaid he gave the flu fluger ger to his new wife I 1 when a maa man dies his clothes are burled with him his caravan and other belon belongings ginis are burned and no one Is allowed to touch them or to mention the dead man s name romany laws are very strict there are no judges or juries set of any dispute usually being left to the old women |