 | |
| Other names | O styago le romengo,O romanko flako |
|---|---|
| Use | Ethnic flag |
| Adopted | 1971 1978 |
| Designed by | Gheorghe A. Lăzăreanu-Lăzurică (purported) World Romani Congress Weer Rajendra Rishi |
.svg) | |
| Use | Unofficial variant |
| Adopted | 1971 |
| Designed by | Slobodan Berberski World Romani Congress |
TheRomani flag (Romani:O romanko flako) is the internationalethnic flag of theRomani people, historically known as Gypsies. They constitute a stateless minority concentrated inEurope, but are also dispersed across parts of other continents. The flag was approved by the representatives of various Romani communities at the first and secondWorld Romani Congresses (WRC), in 1971 and 1978. It consists of a background of blue and green, representing the heavens and earth, respectively; it also contains a 16-spoke reddharmachakra, or cartwheel, in the center. The latter element stands for the itinerant tradition of the Romani people and is also an homage to theflag of India, added to the flag by scholarWeer Rajendra Rishi. It superseded a number of tribal emblems and banners, several of which evoked claims of Romani descent from theAncient Egyptians.
Older Romani symbolism comprises insignia reflecting occupational and tribal divisions, as welltotems andpictograms. In some cases,Romani "Kings" and "Princes" were also integrated within the European heraldic tradition with coats of arms of their own. As a result of this synthesis, "Egyptians" became visually associated with heraldic animals, including theadder and, in the 19th century, thehedgehog. Around 1890, affiliates of theGypsy Lore Society had deduced that a tricolor of red-yellow-black was preferred by theSpanish Romanies, and embraced it as a generic Romani symbol. In theBalkans at large, corporate representation was granted to the Gypsyesnaf—which preceded the creation of modern professional unions, all of which had their own seals or flags. The first stages of identity politics in the 20th century saw the emergence of Romani political groups, but their designs remained attached to those of more dominantcultural nationalisms in their respective country. Into the interwar era, the various and competing Romani flags were mostly based onRomanian,Polish,communist, orIslamic symbolism.
The 1971 flag claimed to revive a plain blue-green bicolor, reportedly created by activistGheorghe A. Lăzăreanu-Lăzurică in interwarGreater Romania. This design had been endorsed in the 1950s byIonel Rotaru, who also claimed it as a flag for an independent settlement area, or "Romanestan". A tricolor version, flown by survivors of theRomani genocide, fell out of use due to allegations that it stood forcommunism. Rishi's definitive variant of 1978, with the added wheel, gained in popularity over the late 20th century; it is especially associated with groups which are advocating the transnational unity of the Romani people and combating its designation as "Gypsies". This flag was promoted by actorYul Brynner, writerRonald Lee, and violinistYehudi Menuhin, and it was also adopted by "King"Florin Cioabă. It was especially popular inSocialist Yugoslavia, which awarded it official recognition upon its adoption.
The WRC Congress never provided specifications for the flag, which exists in various versions and has many derivatives, including national flagsdefaced with Rishi'sdharmachakra. Several countries and communities have officially recognized it during the 2010s, but its display has also sparked controversy in various parts of theEuropean Union. Derivatives were also widely used in Romani political symbolism during the same period. However, inside the scholarly community, the Romani flag has been criticized as aEurocentric symbol, and its display as a perfunctory solution to issues which are faced by theethnic group which it represents. It has continuously been rejected by various Romani tribes, as well as by theAshkali and Balkan Egyptians, who form a distinct ethnicity.
Scholar Konstantin Stoyanovitch notes that Romani subgroups, such as theLovari, traditionally employed a set of quasi-heraldic symbols: "Each tribe [has] its own emblem or marking, the equivalent of a flag. This sign consists of a small piece of wood bearing some notches, or a piece of fabric or threads of various colors, or even a branch torn off the tribe's favorite tree, a tree it considered to be its own (sort of like a totem). It is only shown within the limits of a territory only used for a certain group's travels."[1] Romanies, along with the various other"traveling people" of Europe, used "rudimentary hieroglyphs" to mark their territories; art historian Amanda Wasielewski suggests that such practices survive in the "international squatters' symbol", which is indirectly based on "gypsy symbols or rogue signs".[2] Travel writerGeorge Borrow likened the secretivetribal folklore, or "Gipsyism", toMasonic ritual and symbolism. Borrow listed tents, hammers, tongs, tin kettles,creels, andcuddies as some of the Romanies' "banners and mottoes".[3] A late-18th-century etching byFrancis Wheatley shows the "genuine dwellings ofEnglish Gypsies of that date", alongside a "strange object hung on a pole". This is tentatively identified as adrag harrow, suggesting that the camp was one of "smiths, who made or repaired such tools."[4] Within Romani encampments, the usage of cloth markers extends to the practice of segregating menstruating women and their garments. AnthropologistJudith Okely proposes that "the tea towel hanging separately to dry on a line becomes a flag of ethnic purity".[5] A specific flag (steagu), fashioned from white scarf and red ribbon tied to a willow rod, appears duringGurban festival as practiced by theBoyash ofGrebenac.[6]
FolkloristDavid MacRitchie, building on ethnological observations madeHeinrich von Wlislocki among theHungarian Romanies, notes the existence of an established tradition in theKingdom of Hungary, where tribal chiefs, oftentimes styled as "Kings of Egypt/of the Gypsies", wore "the serpent engraved on the silver buttons on their coats".[7] MacRitchie speculates that the threeadders on a shield atNunraw armorial, in theKingdom of Scotland, may therefore connect toJohn Faa and theScottish Romanichal.[8] In the 1860s, John's nominal descendant, Esther Faa Blythe ofKirk Yetholm, used atinselcoronet with theScottish thistle.[9] Several 15th-century sources report the existence of heraldic symbols associated with nomadic "Gypsy Princes" from theHoly Roman Empire. One such figure, named Panuel, used a crowned golden eagle, while another one, Bautma, had a complex coat of arms, incorporating ascimitar and a crowned rooster; both figures also used hounds as their heraldic animal, with Panuel's being abadge.[10] A 1498 epitaph atPforzheim commemorates aFreigraf of "Little Egypt", in fact a Romani tribal leader. His attached coat of arms has thestar and crescent in combination with the stag.[11] InWallachia andMoldavia, where they were kept asprincely slaves, Romani craftsmen were directly involved in fabricating heraldic seals, albeit of a rudimentary kind.[12]
At the turn of the 18th century, the disunity and symbolic disorder of Romani tribes was a subject matter inIon Budai-Deleanu's mock-epic,Țiganiada. ARomanian proto-nationalist of theTransylvanian School, Budai probably hinted at political disentanglement within his own ethnic community;Țiganiada shows Gypsies marking under numerousvexilloids: a shovel for theBoyash, a copper tray for theKalderash, a stuffed crow for theArgintari, and a red sieve, painted on white rawhide leather, for theCiurari.[13] In the 1830s, the English philanthropist James Crabb recalled meeting a Romanifortune-teller, whose saddle was "literally studded with silver; for she carried on it the emblems of her profession wrought in that metal; namely, a half-moon, seven stars, and the rising sun."[14] A group ofUrsari captured in 1872 atFribourg reportedly wore red bonnets.[15] By that stage, some Romani symbols had embraced more than tribal groups. These include a red banner carried byTurkish Romanies, all of whom belonged to a specialesnaf (guild) of theOttoman Empire.[16] Gypsies also served theAustrian Empire inSerbian Vojvodina during 1848, when they reportedly wore "colourful garbs" and carried their own banners.[17] A banner of theKosovar Gypsies, dating from 1849, is still preserved inPrizren.[18]
British traditions tended to regard combinations of yellow and red, or yellow-red-black as "Gypsy". An English, non-Romani, cricket club calledI Zingari ("The Gypsies") was established in 1845, with red, yellow (or gold), and black as its colors. "The oldest extant club colours in the UK", these had a contextual meaning, symbolizing the "coming out of darkness, through fire, and into light."[19] In 1890, one unnamed member of theGypsy Lore Society (GLS) proposed that the European Gypsies were generally using red and yellow as their distinctive colors. He noted their recurrence in both theRomani folk dress andI Zingarikits, as well as the identification of "red and yellow for Romany" in one English rhyme. The same source rendered the words of a "Romany chal in Spain", according to whom there was a "tacit recognition" of red-yellow-black as a tribal tricolor; in that instance, the former two colors also replicated theSpanish red-weld.[20] The tricolor scheme had by then appeared on the cover of Borrow'sRomany Vocabulary, printed inLondon for GLS use (1889).[21] MacRitchie placed doubt on this claim, noting that in earlier testimonies by Walter Simson the colors of Scottish Romani costumes are depicted as primarily green.[20] In a 1907 report for the GLS,James Yoxall briefly discussed "why yellow is so much a Gypsy colour". Yoxall hypothesized that a "distinctive hue" may have been forced "upon the wanderers of the roads" in medieval times, the same asyellow badges had beenimposed on Jews.[22] Writing a year later, MacRitchie noted the "Gypsy colours of Spain" as used on Andrew McCormick's monograph ofThe Tinkler-Gypsies. He credited "the lateLord Lilford" as the ultimate source for the information published by the GLS in 1890.[23]
InAustria-Hungary, all Gypsies were informally attributed a "coat of arms" displaying thehedgehog. This was first used byArchduke Joseph Karl on his 1886 treatise,Czigány nyelvtan (where the animal is shown "with a twig in its mouth"),[24] and later etched intoJános Bihari's monument onMargaret Island.[25] The selection was validated by scholarEmil Ponori Thewrewk [hu], who argued that the hedgehog was an "emblem shared by all the Gypsies", adding: "Gypsies from different countries distinguish themselves with hedgehogs that hold various cones or leaves (namely pine cones, birch or hawthorn leaves) in its mouth."[24] In 1888, OrientalistWilhelm Solf described the "peculiar organisation of the Gypsies" in theGerman Empire. According to Solf, the tribal "captains" of theGerman Romanies each kept an "official seal, upon which a hedgehog is engraved—a beast held as sacred by all the Gypsies"; similarly, all groups favored the color green, symbolic of "honour".[20][26] There were three German Gypsy tribes, named for their respective area:Old Prussia, which carried ablack-and-white flag defaced with a fir tree;New Prussia—green-and-white, with a birch tree; andHanover—gold-blue-white with a mulberry tree.[20][26] GLS folklorist Friedrich Wilhelm Brepohl noted in 1911 that "Gypsy Princes" in Switzerland and elsewhere had coats of arms depicting "either a hedgehog, which is the gypsy's favorite animal, or a magpie—the sacred bird of the gypsies."[27] Guild organization was meanwhile maintained in the post-OttomanPrincipality of Bulgaria—an association ofBulgarian Romani porters was set up in 1901; its flag is also preserved.[28] In 1910,Vidin became home to the first-ever civic organization for Romanies (still describing themselves as the "Egyptian Nation" or "Copts"). Its emblem showedSaint George slaying a crocodile, which, the group explained, was symbolic of Christianity vanquishingEgyptian paganism.[29]
%2c_from_Archduke_Joseph_Karl%2527s_Czig%25C3%25A1ny_nyelvtan_(1888).svg)
The emergence Romani nationalism afterWorld War I coincided roughly with the spread of communism and the proclamation of theSoviet Union. Groups which embraced both ideals also replicatedcommunist symbolism. One early case was theKingdom of Bulgaria, where left-wing Romanies established in 1920 anEgypt society, functioning as a branch of theBulgarian Communist Party. This organization adopted a"wine-red flag".[30] In 1923, a small group ofRussian Romanies appeared at theMay Day parade inRed Square, holding up a banner inscribed with the message: "Gypsy Workers of the World, Unite!"[31]Romany Zoria appeared in late 1927 as aSoviet propaganda journal aimed at the Romani community, and aiming for their complete sedentarization as proletarians. It repeated the slogan, and published illustrations of the Romanies trampling on symbols of their nomadic lifestyle—primarily including the cartwheel.[32] In the early 1930s,Stalinist authorities envisaged colonizing Soviet Romanies andAssyrians "in compact groups to form [their own] national territories" along the border; a blueprint for this policy was set by theJewish Autonomous Oblast.[33]
Greater Romania, as the home of asizable Romani minority (including formerly Hungarian Romani communities inTransylvania), witnessed some of the first manifestations of Romani nationalism. In 1923, the Romanies ofTeaca affirmed their collective existence as a "new minority" of "Transylvanian Gypsies", by adopting a flag. Its design is not specified beyond the colors, namely "black–yellow–red."[34] Among the early Romanian Romani organizers, Lazăr Naftanailă is known to have worn theRomanian national tricolor as asash.[35]
According to historianIan Hancock, the current flag originates with the world Romani flag proposed in late 1933 by Romania's General Union of the Romanies (UGRR), upon the initiative ofGheorghe A. Lăzăreanu-Lăzurică; thechakra was absent from that version, which was a plain bicolor. Scholar Ilona Klímová-Alexander argues that such a detail is "not confirmed by the statutes or any other source."[36] Other historians, includingElena Marushiakova, note the "lack of any real historical evidence" to substantiate Hancock's account, which they describe as a sample of "nation-building" mythology.[37] Sociologist Jean-Pierre Liégeois also describes the UGRR's Romani flag as a theorized concept, rather than an actual design,[38] whereas scholarWhitney Smith believes that the bicolor existed, but also that its designer remains unknown.[39] Lăzurică's organization had its own, better attested, flag, used to represent Romania's Romani community. It was described in the UGRR charter as a defaced Romanian tricolor, or "the Romanian national colors".[40] Its symbolism combined thenational coat of arms with symbols of Romani tribes: "a violin, an anvil, a compass and a trowel crossed with a hammer."[41] The UGRR also used at least 36 regional flags, which were usually blessed in public ceremonies by representatives of theRomanian Orthodox Church, to which Lăzurică belonged.[42] One meeting held atMediaș in May 1934 hadvexilla, "similar to the flags of the old Roman legions", topped bytuning forks.[43]
In neighboringPoland, aKalderash man, Matejasz Kwiek, established himself as a "King of the Gypsies". Though his clan was regarded by mainstreamPolish Romanies as "Rumanian Gypsies",[44] he remained indifferent to Lăzurică's projects. A February 1935 report mentions various "Gypsy banners", as well as a sash and an "official seal", appearing at a ceremony in which Kwiek became "Leader of the Gypsy Nation".[45] One account suggests that King Matejasz's arms showed aPharaoh's crown alongside three symbols of the Romanies' "wandering life": a hammer, anvil and whip.[46] The king's funeral in 1937 saw the flying of various blue and red banners, with slogans espousing Kwiek's loyalty towardPolish nationalism.[47] One report in theJournal des Débats describes the procession as carrying an ethnic flag "with the Kwiek dynastic emblem", alongside theflag of Poland.[48]
Following the ascension of Janusz Kwiek to the throne inWarsaw, journalists noted that the "Gypsy kingdom" was not yet flying a single flag of its own, and that "banners of various colors" were used.[49] A report in the Romanian newspaperFoaia Poporului described them more specifically as "hundreds of Gypsy flags, colored red, green, rose, and yellow."[50] Regional symbols also prevailed in Bulgaria: from 1930, its"Mohammedan" Romanies prioritized the star and crescent assymbols of Islam.[51] In theKingdom of Yugoslavia, Romanies united around the cult ofSaint Sarah asBibija used a blue banner displaying Sarah andSaint Nicholas together.[52] The Panhellenic Cultural Association of theGreek Gypsies, active under theMetaxas Regime, used a flag of unspecified color, adorned with the image ofSaint Sophia.[53] In Britain, GLS affiliates such asAugustus John promoted the red-yellow-black arrangement as "Romany colours". These were used on the cover of theGLSJournal for the 1938 Jubilee issue.[21]
Janusz Kwiek began to look intoterritorial nationalism, drawing up a "government program" for a Romani state, and envisaging mass migration intoItalian Ethiopia.[54] His project coincided with the agenda ofItalian fascism, namely the deportation ofpeninsular Jews and "other persons who were considered racially dangerous, such as gypsies", to the newEast African provinces.[55] By the mid 1930s, the initiative to use and recognize an international flag was taken up by the UGRR's new president, Gheorghe Nicolescu;[56] at the time, he corresponded with Kwiek's rival King, Mikita, who wished to establish a Romani state on theGanges, or in Africa.[57] The "national Gypsy assembly", which he and Naftanailă convened inSibiu in September 1934, had "about 72 flags" on display.[58] According to one report, the 1935 Romani congress inBucharest, presided over by Nicolescu, had the "Romany flag" displayed alongside portraits ofAdolf Hitler andMichael I of Romania.[59] Nicolescu soon proclaimed himself a Gypsy King—and, according to writer Mabel Farley Nandriș, who visited him in his Bucharest home, flew the "Gypsy standard with the Rumanian Arms on one side and the Gypsy Arms on the other—a pair of compasses to measure justice and a lute for music."[60] By 1937, his admiration forNazism and theNational Christian Party also resulted in UGRR usage ofswastikas.[61]
Despite such "alliances of Roma activists with leading political forces",[62] the 1933 international flag, if it had ever been used at that time, virtually disappeared by the time ofWorld War II;[39] many European tribes were decimated in theRomani genocide, itself part of theHolocaust. During this period, many Romanies also went into hiding or they denied their identities in order to escape from theEinsatzgruppen or avoid deportation. In one incident which was reported atSimferopol in 1941,Crimean Romanies flew thegreen flag of Islam, hoping to make the Nazis believe that they were eitherTatars orTurks.[63]Žarko Jovanović, a survivor of theJasenovac concentration camp, recorded the Holocaust experience in various songs. One of these,Jeg djesoro ratvalo avilo ("A Day Turned Bloody"), refers to the "Gypsy flag" (o romanko flako) being hoisted in honor of Romani continuity.[64]
Early in theCold War era, ethnic symbolism experienced a resurgence. Active in 1945–1948, the United Gypsy Organization in Bulgaria used a "red [flag] with two white fields and with a triangle in the middle."[65] A rival Bulgarian Romani body, calledEkipe, mentioned both the Romani state and the Romani national flag in its charter, though it failed to describe the latter in sufficient detail.[66] In 1946, Kwiek, having survived in Holocaust in hiding, returned to regular life in thePolish People's Republic. He renounced his claim to the Romani throne, as well as his itinerant lifestyle, and asked instead to be recognized as "President".[67] WriterJerzy Ficowski, who identifies him as "Rudolf Kwiek", reports that he was still a monarch to his followers, having been reconfirmed as such with a ceremony inBydgoszcz; also according to Ficowski, the Kwiek royal seal was "a crow holding a ring in its beak."[68] From 1955, a "flag of the Gypsies" has represented Romani pilgrims to theSanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. It is described as a sixteen-ray comet on a field of starry blue with the effigies of Christ and the Virgin Mary.[69] The item is explained in more detail as a "grand flag of the night, carrying theStar of the Magi",[70] though other sources have "a yellow sun shining on a blue field."[71]
Meanwhile, the bicolor flag had surfaced, or it was being revived, byIonel Rotaru. According to Liégeois' interviewees in the Romani community, he was "not at all a Gypsy, but rather a Romanian", and acted mainly as aconfidence artist;[72] he had authored novels which reportedly showed his fascist sympathies.[73] From his place of refuge in France, Rotaru envisaged the creation of a Romani state, now named "Romanestan", and he showed its flag to journalist Nico Rost.[74] Several accounts suggest that he originally obtained recognition as "Voivode" by 75,000 Romanies atAnkara, in December 1958.[75] On May 24, 1959, he crowned himself atEnghien-les-Bains as "Vaïda Voëvod III", Supreme Leader of theUrsari tribe (though explicitly not as the "King of the Gypsies"), and formed a nucleus of theInternational Romani Union.[76] This group earned recognition from the Kwieks (who had also escaped to France), and established its first local chapter in Poland.[77]
The bicolor appeared in Rotaru's sash, presented to him alongside a sword and a necklace.[78] His charter suggested that the color green stood for "land covered in vegetation" and a "world without borders", with blue as a stand-in for the "cosmos and liberty". Unusually, the horizontal display was explained in relation to the vertical flagpole, which represented "the line of profundity of our thinking"; the adoption of a heraldic device was announced, but postponed for "when the time comes."[39] By 1961, Rotaru openly claimed the bicolor as the state flag of Romanestan; in this context, the blue was explained as representing freedom.[39] The location of his proposed state constantly shifted, fromSomalia or a "small desert island" to an area aroundLyon.[79] Around 1970, Rotaru was issuing Romani "identity cards" which were decked in blue and green.[80]
These projects were registered with alarm byFrench intelligence, which kept Rotaru under watch as a possible communist infiltrator who was serving theEastern bloc. Its agents also believed that Vaïda and Rotaru were not the same person—instead, they listed Vaïda as Rotaru's figurehead.[81] The Somalian relocation plan was received with distress by many of Rotaru's nominal subjects, who feared that various nation-states would unilaterally endorse it, using it is an excuse to expel the Romanies from Europe.[82] From September 1969, his undertaking was being met with some opposition by a rival organization, GIPSAR, formed by expatriateCroatian,Serb andMacedonian Romanies. GIPSAR sent Zivan (or Sivan) Vasic, "president of the Gypsy government", as its representative to the funeral ofCharles de Gaulle in late 1970, where he carried a Romani banner;France-Soir mistakenly identified Vasic asVaïda Voéva [sic], but then issued a correction, which also indicated that the GIPSAR bicolor was "black and green".[83] His claim to represent the Romanies, and more specifically theManushes, was relinquished at a press conference in 1974.[84]
Lăzurică and Vaïda's flag faced additional competition from a green-red-blue horizontaltriband, which stripes respectively representing the grass, fire, and the skies. By 1962, it had become highly popular among Romani communities.[85] During that interval, references to this symbolism were promoted byFrancoist Spain as less contentious than left-wing symbolism favored bylocal Romanies. A reference to the "Republican flag", inLa Niña de los Peines'Triana, was changed bycensorship to read "Gypsy flags" (banderitas gitanas).[86] Suspicions that the tricolor's prominently displayed red stood for communism led some activists to promote a green-blue bicolor with a red flame or wheel instead of the stripe.[85] An alternative flag of Romanestan was being proposed in 1966 by a Turkish Rom, Nazım Taşkent—it showed violins, guitars and drums on a pink background.[87] Three years later, Romanies gathering atBanneux inWallonia had a multitude of flags, in various colors, some of them displaying images ofOur Lady of the Poor, alongsidecaravans.[88]
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In the late 1960s, an "International Gypsy Committee", presided upon by Vanko Rouda, validated continued usage of the blue-green bicolor. The group also announced in 1968 that it would institute a Blue Green Literary Award, named in honor of the flag; activist Leuléa Rouda explained that these were the "colors of the Gypsy flag", "colors of liberty and hope, of sky and nature".[89] The following year, Rotaru's Comité International Tsigane attended a reunion of theCouncil of Europe inStrasbourg. Delegates carried with them a "Gypsy flag" of blue and green, though their version broke with earlier banners, in being "divided not horizontally but diagonally".[90] A red-wheel variant was eventually selected as the standardized design, as recognized by theWorld Romani Congress (WRC). Reportedly, the bicolor background was specifically proposed by Jan Cibula, who established its pedigree as originating with "the pre-war Bucharest congress."[91]
The original WRC congress of 1971, held atOrpington, only confirmed the bicolor, though specifying that a "red fire", "thin stripe", or "wheel" could also be added. This was a compromise version to appease Slobodan Berberski and other communist delegates, who had campaigned for the addition of ared star.[92] The work in its definitive form is attributed to an IndianRomologist,Weer Rajendra Rishi.[93] Specifications were also adopted at subsequent WRC meetings, especially during the second congress of 1978.[94] The wheel was not only made a permanent feature of the flag, but was also explicitly based on theAshoka Chakra, as used in theflag of India.[95] The decision to include "something Indian" on the flag was generally popular, reflecting in part Rishi's theories, according to which Romanies were a "medieval warrior caste" akin toRajputs.[96] Reportedly, this variant defeated proposals by other attendees, who supported "earlier flags which had depicted an icon of a horse". Several activists were upset by Rishi's intervention, feeling that thechakra was an outside symbol, and as such one "thrust upon them".[97] As noted by Smith, the international flag did not detail specifications such as designs orPantone values. The original WRC design described a "carriage wheel" which did not closely resemble thechakra;chakra-like designs are therefore more recent.[39] Painter Michel Van Hamme, who claims to have contributed in constructing the wheel flag, notes that the sixteen spokes stood for 16 centuries of nomadism.[98]
According to sociologist Lídia Balogh, the Romani flag retained Indian symbolism, but was still readable without it: "The wheel can also refer to the eternal cycle of the world, or it can be interpreted as a carriage wheel".[99] One complex explanation of the resulting composition is favored by theRomanies of Brazil. According to these sources, the upper blue half represents heavens, as well as "liberty and peace", as "fundamental Gypsy values"; the green is a reference to "nature and routes explored by the caravans". The red wheel is "life, continuity and tradition, the road traveled and still ahead", with the spokes evoking "fire, transformation, and constant movement."[100] According to ethnologist Ion Duminică, it stands for the "Road of Life", with red as an allusion to the "vitality of blood." Duminică also explains the blue as a reference to "Heavens-Father-God" and to the ideals of "liberty and cleanliness, the unbound space"; whereas green is a stand-in for "Mother Earth".[101] Balogh also notes that the two stripes can be deciphered "without any particular cultural background knowledge" as being the sky, implicitly a symbol of "freedom and transcendence", and the earth; she views the red as a reference to blood, with its dual meaning: "blood is the symbol of life, on the one hand, and the blood spilled on wars and destruction."[102]
As sociologist Oana Marcu argues, the reference to "perpetual movement" signified that the Romanies were proudly accepting their nomadic traditions, previously seen as "socially dangerous".[103] According to Balogh, the wheel recalls ancient nomadism, but also the Romanies' participation in the 21st-century economic migration across Europe.[104] Similarly, Duminică writes about symbols of nomadic life as evoking prosperity, since "with no opportunity to perambulate, Romanies will fall prey to poverty."[105] ActivistJuan de Dios Ramírez Heredia explained it as a "cartwheel standing in for freedom, which is characteristic of our culture."[106] However, in order to honor the "continuous and varied" support it had received fromSocialist Yugoslavia, the WRC also accepted Berberski's star on unofficial variants, specifically referencing theYugoslav flag.[107] Yugoslavia also pioneered the official Romani flag, which was given recognition in the constituentSocialist Republic of Macedonia as early as 1971 (or 1972).[39] This was the culmination of efforts by Faik Abdi, a Macedonian Rom.[108] The symbol was especially important for theGurbeti aroundSkopje, who integrated it within wedding ceremonies,[109] and was also popularized on album covers byŽarko Jovanović.[110]
During theCatholic Jubilee of 1975, Manushes gathered atPrimavalle under a "blue banner, with the crowned figure of Our Lady of the Gypsies and a caravan, topped by a tinytricolor pennant."[111] By then, the WRC variant was being used for remembering the 1940s genocide, beginning with a ceremony held atNatzweiler-Struthof in June 1973.[112] In January 1975, writer-activistMatéo Maximoff and a "large Gypsy delegation" took "the blue-and-green flag" to theGypsy family camp atAuschwitz.[113] In this commemorative context, however, the consecrated flag was sometimes replaced by other symbols: in April 1975, Romani Holocaust survivors were represented atFort Mont-Valérien by a never-before-seen banner, displaying aplum[114] or violet[115] triangle on white. This was a visual clue toNazi concentration camp badges, and, according to journalist Jean-Pierre Quélin, was picked and designed by a Manush politician, Dany Peto-Manso, and carried on the field despite deprecatory remarks from members of theNational Gendarmerie.[115] Peto-Manso himself referred to flag as "hastily made", without specifying its author.[114]
The WRC flag was given more exposure in 1978–1979, when a Romani delegation comprising Hancock andYul Brynner presented it to theUnited Nations.[116] The item was brought by theCanadian Romani writerRonald Lee, and as such was also "the first Canadian Romani flag"—sewn by his daughter Diana.[117] A "small organized group of Gypsies, with a flag and armbands", took part in the August 1980 pilgrimage to theBlack Madonna of Częstochowa, in what was then thePolish People's Republic.[118] Within the post-WRC setting, it remained especially important as a distinguishing symbol of NGOs who prefer the terms "Roma" and "Romani" overexonyms such as "Gypsies"; an example of this is the Roma Community Center inToronto.[119]
The Romani flag acquired an enhanced political status during the late stages of the Cold War. This was especially the case amongHungarian Romanies, who embraced cultural separatism. By 1995, a series of "naive science" works had been published there by unsigned Romani authors, with "the cover of each volume was designed based on the elements of the Gypsy flag."[120] In the years leading up to the creation of a Gypsy Minority Self-Government, activists made a show of removingHungarian flags from public meetings, which were held under all-Romani flags.[121] In tandem, there was a resurgence of extremeHungarian nationalism in places such asKalocsa, where, in October 1989, the Romani support center was vandalized; reportedly, its Romani flag was "defaced with a swastika."[122] The WRC flag was flown during theVelvet Revolution in theCzechoslovak Socialist Republic, in particular at a rally of Romani anti-communists, held outsideLetná Park.[123] Following thedissolution of Czechoslovakia,Slovak Romanies adopted the WRC design with the wheel in yellow, combined with theSlovak tricolor.[39] From about 1989,Croatian Romanies, represented by the "Democratic Party of the Croatian Roma", have used a variant of thechakra flag superimposed with thešahovnica.[124]
In July 1992, a casket containing the body ofCamarón de la Isla, Spain's influential Rom singer, was draped with a purported "Gypsy flag". This showed a cartwheel and a map ofCatalonia, both on a field of plain green.[125] Later Catalan variants are more closely modeled on the 1978 flag, but have the red wheel outlined in yellow, perhaps to evoke theSenyera.[39] Achakra-like derivative, or "round-wheeled Gypsy flag", also appears, along with themenorah, in the arms granted to Jewish violinistYehudi Menuhin upon his creation as a British lord 1993; according to music critic Mark Swed, they are defiant symbols of Menuhin's nonconformity.[126]
The flag was fully integrated in Holocaust memorials by 1995, when it was shown atAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.[39] A sculpture of the wagon wheel appears at the Bucharest monument commemorating theHolocaust in Romania, explained by curators as a symbol of its 11,000 Romani victims.[127] After 2000, the WRC bicolor also acquired recognition from other national and regional governments. In 2006, as part of an effort to combatracism in Brazil,PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva instituted a "National Day of the Gypsy" (May 24), during which the Romani flag was on display in official settings.[128] The Romani community of Spain was similarly honored at various dates in 2018, when the Romani flag was displayed by for instance by theCity Council of Madrid[129] and its correspondent inAlicante.[130] In October 2011, a similar initiative in the Welsh town ofAberystwyth resulted in controversy, after a local councilor had argued that the expenses were unjustified.[131]
Since the 1990s,chakras and cartwheels have endured as major preferred symbols of Romani activism in Europe, being adopted by organizations such asRomani CRISS, theSocial-Political Movement of the Roma, and theMuseum of Romani Culture.[132] The traditionally RomaniŠuto Orizari Municipality, inNorth Macedonia, has "a colourful flag featuring the Roma wheel – an Indian chakra, which refers to the origin of the Roma people."[133] Eight-spoked wheels are also popular as variations, used for instance by theCiocănari Romanies ofMoldova.[134] In 2002, theItalian Rom artist Luca Vitone designed ananarchist version of the flag, featuring the redchakra on a field of black.[135] By 2009, other derivatives of the Romani flag were becoming widely used by self-identified Manush or "Traveller" users ofFacebook, sometimes combined with badges showing hedgehogs and images of caravans.[136] Since 2007, theVenice Biennale experimented with separate pavilions for Romani artists, who exhibited "under the Romani flag, a flag of a borderless nation; a country embodied solely by those who dare to fly that flag."[137] A controversy erupted inPrague during July 2013, when artist Tomáš Rafa displayed hybrid versions of the Romani andCzech flags. This commentary on the marginalization ofCzech Romanies was read as a defamation of the national symbols, and resulted in Rafa being fined.[138]
A 2009 study among Hungarian Romanies showed that many were recognizing the flag as standing in for the Romani nation as a whole.[139] In subsequent years, it appeared during Romani Catholic pilgrimages toPomezia, which commemoratePope Paul VI's 1965 visit to a "tent city".[140] In 2014, boxerDomenico Spada, an Italian Rom, announced that he would be competing under the ethnic flag in his match againstMarco Antonio Rubio. He declared this a protest against Italy's alleged indifference toward his career.[141] In late 2018, the symbol was spotted as one of the protest flags waved by theYellow vests movement in France.[142]
The flag also enjoys popularity in its purported native country, Romania, where it was flown privately by Vasile Velcu Năzdrăvan, a leader of the Romanies inCraiova.[143] It was additionally used bySibiu's "King of the Roma",Florin Cioabă, and other members of his clan. As early as 2002, Cioabă's daughter Luminița appeared at local festivities wearing "her traditional Roma costume, in the symbolic colors blue (for the sky), green (for the earth) and red (for the Roma), which can also be found in the Gypsy flag."[144] Florin Cioabă's funeral ceremony in August 2013 reportedly displayed four flags: the WRC bicolor, theflag of Europe and theRomanian tricolor, alongside banners representing the royal house and theStabor (Romani tribunal).[145]
Writing about the Romanian Romanies in 2011, journalistBen Judah viewed the bicolor as "a remnant of mostly failed efforts made by NGOs in the 1970s to unite and organize the Roma."[146] In addition to raising controversy for its Indian symbolism, the flag has received criticism for beingessentialist in relation to a complex identity. During the final years of the 20th century, activists such asNicolae Gheorghe and Andrzej Mirga were heralding "a small but important movement away from the Romani nationalism of the International Romani Union", rejecting "the idealisation andromanticisation of Gypsy identity associated with such symbols as flags and anthems."[147] As noted by philosopher David Kergel, the WRC flag inherently stands for the "effort to define the Roma as a nation without land and assimilate them into a concept of thenational state", aEurocentric vision which neglects that the Roma are in reality "heterogeneous".[148] Similarly, anthropologist Carol Silverman notes that the bicolor and theRomani anthem are modeled on the "dominant European tropes of defining the heritage of a singular nation."[149] Upon reviewing several editions of the Festival for Romani Music and Song inStara Zagora, sociologist Nadezhda Georgieva remarked: "If a true feeling or expression ofRomanes is to be sought, then the audience should be pointed out as one of the main participants in the show, as real artists, remaining faithful to their identity and sensitive to the changes dictated to them by any elites or institutions. They are the ones who build and dismantle ethnic boundaries [...]. This is where the real signs ofRomanes should be sought; not in the official Romani symbols present on the stage such as the Romani flag or the playing of the Romani anthem, to which little attention was paid."[150]
Another line of criticism refers to the perceived irrelevancy of the WRC flag. Already in 1977, ethnographer Zsolt Csalog observed that creating the flag was "more intended to hide away real issues than to solve them."[151] In 2009, Jud Nirenberg of theEuropean Roma Rights Centre reproached on theInternational Romani Union that it dealt mainly with promoting the flag and other symbols of Romani nationalism, rather than "develop[ing] concrete plans for addressing discrimination or poverty."[152] The same year, three authors from theUniversity of Manchester expressed criticism of the Black Health Agency's involvement in assisting Romanian Romani children in England; according to their finds, the Romanies were artificially separated fromRomanians in the United Kingdom, and encouraged to adopt a "victim discourse" in describing their condition. The Agency's toolkit "features a theme on the Romani Flag and Anthem, both of which were previously unknown to most members of the local Roma community."[153] Romani artistDamian Le Bas saluted the decision to exhibitMałgorzata Mirga-Tas' works in the Venice Biennale'sPolish pavilion, and under thePolish flag. He argued that previous usage of the WRC bicolor had validated segregation: "Across Europe, the opinion that Romani people do not belong in the countries of which they are citizens is commonplace."[137]
Several alternatives to the 1978 flag still emerged among dissenting Romani oritinerant groups. TheSinti, which stand apart as the more assimilated group ofGerman Romanies, have been particularly reluctant in adopting national symbolism. As reported by scholarsGilad Margalit andYaron Matras: "During the civic struggle of the early 1980s, Sinti organizations used the Romani national flag as well as rhetoric that contained certain elements borrowed from Romani nationalism, but these expressions had a rather superficial character and disappeared over the years. [...] Most German Sinti [...] prefer the assimilation model, with certain reservations that would enable them to preserve their unique ethnic subculture."[154] In April 2015,Vocea Romilor, a newspaper for the Romanian Romanies, reported that the "Gypsies of Fața Luncii neighborhood" in Craiova put out Romanian flags on their gates, in protest against the usage ofSzékely flags byethnic Hungarians. Activist Romeo Tiberiade explained: "the flag of this county, no matter the region, is but one [...]. We were upset that other citizens, belonging to a minority that is smaller in numbers than our own, have been putting out a flag other than the national one. The law is for all Romanians, and we are proud of being Romanians."[155] In the Netherlands, Koko (or Koka) Petalo urged his followers to adopt a tricolor of yellow, white and red,[39] while the Romanies ofExtremadura use a "flag of horizontal white and green stripes" during their pilgrimage toFregenal de la Sierra.[156]
Along with other Romani symbols, thechakra is rejected by theAshkali and Balkan Egyptians, who used two successive designs for their own ethnic flag;[157] similarly, Romanies in theEpirus reportedly use a banner of the1914 republic.[39] TheDom people of theMiddle East do not have any political symbols; this was noted in 2022 by scholar Ronen Zeidel, in reference to theIraqi "Gypsies": "Unlike other Iraq minorities Gypsies have no flag, unique religion, territorial claims, and at present eventheir language is on the verge of extinction."[158] Reports in 2004 noted that theIrish Travellers had considered creating their own flag, but also that they "may model [it] on the Roma standard, which bears an image of a 16-spoke wheel."[159] In June 2018, the Travellers ofCork adopted a banner displaying a cartwheel and replicating the city colors of orange and white.[160] Such projects were criticized from within the community by Travellers who argue for a "common identity we all share on the island of Ireland", and forIrish republicanism as its political expression. They voice their continued loyalty to, and preference for, theIrish tricolor.[161] Similarly, anthropologist Marc Bordigoni observed that "certain [French] Traveller groups also make a point of distancing themselves from the French Romanies [...], as well as from those Romanies who are either refugees or migrants from Eastern European countries". Coalesced into theCollectif national des gens du Voyage andVoyageurs, Français à part entière, they use the French flag alongside pennons representing either of these groups.[162]
