Abstract
From early European encounters to contemporary scholarship, Roma (widely also known as Gypsies) religiosity has often been portrayed as fluid, opportunistic, or even absent—epitomized in the oft-repeated caricature: “Gypsies have no religion… they are Christians among Christians, Muslims in Turkey, and would be Jews in a Kingdom of Judah.” Such depictions reflect not only enduring stereotypes but also a Eurocentric inability to recognize the complex foundations of Roma spiritual life. They judge “alien” systems solely through dominant norms, overlooking alternative modes of religious expression. Rather than remnants of a mysterious ancient creed, Roma religiosity is better understood as an ongoing process of selective adaptation—appropriating and reconfiguring elements from surrounding traditions. Shaped by historical displacement, ethnic cohesion, and internal social structures, this process produces a rich diversity of religious forms across Roma subgroups. This paper identifies a defining characteristic of Roma religiosity, which is religious syncretism (the integration of elements from diverse religious traditions). This syncretism can lead to different phenomenon, such as indeterminate confessional affiliation (fluid or multiple religious identities, often emerging from repeated conversions, life in multi-religious environments, or displacement as war refugees), or to specific bi-religiosity (the equivalent and interchangeable practice of two religions) or religious diglossia (the functional separation of two religions, each employed in specific social or spatial contexts). Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork among diverse Roma groups in Southeastern Europe and Ukraine, the paper presents case studies illustrating these patterns, challenging monolithic conceptions of religious belonging and highlighting the Roma’s dynamic strategies of spiritual adaptation.
Presenters
Elena MarushiakovaProfessor, Ethnic Studies, Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia Veselin Popov
senior researcher, ethnic studies, Insitute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology at Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Commonalities and Differences
KEYWORDS
Roma, Syncretism, Confessions, Bi-religiosity, Religious Diglossia, Adaptation
