Traditional housing and elements of the unsettled life
of Vlaxurja and Servurja Roma Cover Image

Традиционное жилище и элементы неоседлого быта цыган-влахов и сэрвов
Traditional housing and elements of the unsettled life of Vlaxurja and Servurja Roma

Author(s): Ilona Makhotina, Yanush Panchenko
Subject(s): Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei
Keywords: Roma people; Vlaxurja; Servurja; material culture; mobility; traditional dwelling; traditional tent; katuna;

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the description of the traditional dwelling of Vlaxurja and Servurja Roma based on narrative and visual sources. The Vlaxurja are among the least studied groups of Roma. Until recently, little research has been material culture of Vlaxurja and Servurja. The authors introduce unique field materials into scientific circulation. The article contains a brief ethnographic description of the Roma Vlaxurja and Servurja groups, their occupations and peculiarities of their mobility. Various housing designs for living in the summer and winter are considered. The article continues the publications of 2014, 2018, and 2019 on the language and traditional culture of the Vlaxurja and Servurja. In addition to printed sources, the article relies on field and visual materials collected in 2013–2019, including materials collected during the ethno-sociological survey of Kherson region of Ukraine in 2016–2017. Data on material culture, in particular, on housing, were obtained mainly from interviews with informants representing the territorial divisions of the Kuban Vlaxurja and Taurida Servurja. The information we have received relates mainly to the period of the transition of gypsies to settlement.

  • Issue Year: XXVI/2019
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 22-31
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English, Romanian, Russian