The reasons and functions of conversion to Pentecostalism in a Roma community in Moldavia, Romania
The reasons and functions of conversion to Pentecostalism in a Roma community in Moldavia, Romania

Summary/Abstract: The ethnographic material underlying this study was collected by the author during field-work conducted between 2013 and 2017. The fieldwork took place in a large Roma community of Ursari (bear trainers/animal tamers) residing in a Moldavian village in Romania, most of whom converted from Orthodox Christianity to Pentecostalism in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This analysis explores the conditions under which the Roma community embraced Pentecostalism, the reasons behind this conversion, and the roles that Pentecostalism plays in the lives of the Roma. Following a brief historical overview of the recent past of the Roma, the author outlines the community’s main sociocultural characteristics and presents their current situation, then details the conversion stories of five individuals. The Roma community’s livelihood is primarily based on migration, which can be categorised into two types: one involving “begging migration” primarily directed toward Northern European countries, and the other involving long-term settlement in Western European countries. As a result of migration, Pentecostal communities composed of Roma have also emerged in England and France, primarily along the kinship networks and relational ties of the studied Ursari Roma community. The author analyzes the religious conversion within this Roma community in relation to scholarly literature that theoretically examines the conversions of Eastern European Roma. The author argues that significant modernisation changes are occurring within the community through the value system of Pentecostalism. Furthermore, it is posited that through the ideal of being “born-again”, a central concept in Pentecostalism, there is an effort to transcend the stigmatised Roma identity.

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