Gypsies, Roma, Romani, Romni, Romney

Where to start with this complex topic. Roma appear in most of Eastern and Western Europe, migrated as did any other group to places from Australia to the United States, show physical characteristics tying them to India, perhaps, and linguistic commonalities also stemming from there.

Here, street musicians in Warsaw (not Dan, on the right, however). See them in horsecarts in Romania, scavenging in dumps there, going with great style into a casino, or watching from a dark doorway as hordes of little children clamber over your car, little fingers reaching, until finally you go, "Whtjshhhht!" With your own hands scissoring fast across each other horizontally, "Whjthshhhhstht!" No more. And the adult calls them back, Dan gets out, stays by the car to see no little one is under a tire, and we creep back out, wave a thank you, Dan pops back in and off.

See our site at Gypsies, Roma, Romani and "Zoli", by Collum McCann, a novel based roughly on the life of the Gypsy poet Branislawa Wajs. Read his book, "Zoli," for a view of the Slovakian -Polish experience 1920's-1980's or so.

Then read, "Bury Me Standing, The Gypsies and Their Journey," by Isabel Fonseca, Alfred A. Knopf NY 1995. Ms. Fonseca lived with various Gypsies and in Gypsy communities. Then let it all steep, because there is so much to try to grasp. They have survived.

And look at the surnames. We all may have some in us. Romney, Rom'ni, the names referring to smiths, blacksmiths, coopers, coopersmiths, on and on. Different groups specializing in different trades, music.

And the slaughter, the prejudice. Focus on that. We have gotten nowhere. Sites for these issues are in the Gypsies Roma site.

Black Madonnas: Medieval (and earlier); early pagan roots?

Finding Black Madonnas

As we find more, we add:  Black Madonna at Maria Plain, Salzburg, Austria, at Austria Road Ways, Maria Plain, Black Madonna? As I recall, there was also a copy at Maria Plain of the Jasna Gora Black Madonna.  Someone go back. Also visit Mariazell, Austria. Note that this site does not even mention she is black, at http://www.sacred-destinations.com/austria/mariazell-shrine

For our older list of Black Madonnas:

1.  Gdansk, Poland

Black Madonna, Church of St. Mary, Gdansk, Poland

Black Madonna at the Church of Saint Mary, Gdansk, Poland. There as another Black Madonna at that Church, that looks like a copy of the Black Madonna at Jasna Gora Monastery, also in Poland.

No further information yet.

Note that this may not be a Black
Madonna" because there is no child. The inscription looks like a Russian reference, by the script - but we are not expert on that.  See Poland Road Ways.

2. Mont St. Michel, France
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Black Madonna, Mont St. Michel, France

Black Madonnas are found throughout Europe, and seem to date from the early middle ages, mostly. Some may be earlier, and the legends and stories explaining them are varied.

For a background for these, and where they are, black virgin statues at www.ancientquest.com/embark/blackvirgin; and Eann Begg's at www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/blackm/blackm.
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There is a theory to fit each person's predisposition as to why. No one explanation fits them all. See saxakali.com/suzar/madonna, for a history of black madonnas.

Here is the Black Madonna at Mont St. Michel, France. See if you agree that our western religious orientation is to downplay the role of the black, and lands connected to our Bible that were in Africa, see Martin Luther's Stove, Translation Serving a Cultural Agenda.

See also ://www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/blackm/blackm.

3.  Altotting, Germany

Black Madonna, Altotting, Germany
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This is the Black Madonna at Altotting, Germany.
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We also saw another Black Madonna at Guadalupe, Spain. This was a tiny triangular shaped Madonna with a tinier head, very high up, and with a multitude of costumes on display that change with the seasons and feast days.

These places are usually also pilgrimage destinations.  Another site names another black madonna at Altotting, see the small A-shape, doll-like form that appears in many places, at ://romanmiscellany.blogspot.com/2006/09/alttting.html/  The explanation there is that her face is darkened by the centuries - but somehow the face of the child remains light. 




4.  Jasna Gora, Czechestochowa, Poland; and Wroclaw Poland

Black Madonna, Wroclaw, Poland (copy of Jasna Gora?)
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This is the Black Madonna at Wroclaw, Poland, apparently a copy of the original at Czestochowa, Jasna Gora Monastery, Poland. Do an "images" search for Black Madonna, Jasna Gora, and see the similarities - no photos were permitted of it.

See discussion re the broadly different representation of the Black Madonna in the Jasna Gora gift shop (different dress, and elaborate crowns, and varying skin tones available for purchase, including pale Caucasian white), at Poland Road Ways.

No one explanation fits all the Madonnas. Some charred, others originally black, others buried. This source presents the thesis that white madonnas were later in time than the black madonnas. Some find African origins. See www.africanbynature.com/links/madonnalinks.
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Here is a picture of the small and high on the wall Black Madonna at Guadalupe, Spain. Too high for a good picture using my camera: See www.solt3.org/guadalupespain/.

5. Copy of Jasna Gora at Gdansk, Poland

Black Madonna, St. Mary's Church, Gdansk, Poland (copy of Jasna Gora)

Here is a copy of the Jasna Gora Black Madonna at Gdansk, Poland, also showing the same kind of clothing as at Wroclaw.

Even the "images" search shows some versions with the crowns and different dress, and I can't remember the original any more. I thought I was buying a picture of it, but apparently not. Someone go check it out?

This is a different concept from the "inculturated" black madonnas that reflect a cultural depiction, so that there would also be madonnas with the facial features and skin tones of the people whose conversion is sought; or ones with features like those of the faithful in the area. See www.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/blackmdn. What color was Mary? Or Jesus? What does it say about us, that we have to ask?

See this site for connections to pagan black goddesses, see crystalinks.com/blackisis.

I looked up official images of Mary at this site, catholic-forum.com/saints/saintbvm, but found none of the Black Madonnas.

Crusades - Here, Templars, Teutonic Knights - Mercy turned mercenary

At the massive, brick castle "Malbork" in Poland, see four of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights, the group that built it. Overview at www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/malbork.htm. A bare-bones narrative summary of their history is at www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/teutonic.htm.

Overview of crusades and Templars - see the History of Central Europe at http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/misc/europe.htm#Mong.

During the crusades, Teutonic Knights hospitals and otherwise helped and protected the pilgrims and the wounded. When the crusaders lost the Holy Land back to the Saracens, there was no more of that same protective and healing work to be done there. See the pictures and narrative at www.crystalinks.com/teutonicknights.html. See also James Michener's large novel, "Poland." Review at www.allreaders.com/Topics/Info_1544.asp. See the portions on the slaughter of Christians by "Christians."

So they retreated to Venice, built up their economic and political fortunes, and then from there, morphed into mercenaries. They killed Baltic Christians as "infidels" just as they killed other nonbelievers, on grounds that they had to have been converted to Christianity by the Pope's forces and not some earlier saint who did not count. See remus.shidler.hawaii.edu/genes/WPrussia/Teutonic/home.htm.

In other ways, they were a jolly group, says this site, noting their camaraderie and sense of humor. See department.monm.edu/history/urban/articles/humor_of_Teutonic_Knights.htm. Similarities to Chaucer and Boccaccio are shown there.

See Poland Road Ways for posts and cites to Malbork and the Teutonic Knights. The Roman Catholic view is at www.newadvent.org/cathen/14541b.htm.

The Knights are still active. I found a website with a large portrait of Pope Benedict at the top left of the page, and the history and recruiting efforts discussed, modern day opportunities for service. Still looking to find it again.

They founded Brasov, Romania, where the castle named "Bran" is tourist-featured as a place where Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) is said to be associated. See www.maisnie-champenoise.org/uk/teutons.html. See Bran Castle at " Romania Road Ways - Vlad Tepes.

There is a digitalized copy of the F.C, Woodhouse 1879 book, "The Military Religious Orders of the Middle Ages," online. Do a search for modern Teutonic Knights