Norwegian and Swedish Travellers
Norwegian and Swedish Travellers, commonly known as Romanisael (Norwegian: romanifolket, tatere, sigøynere; Swedish: resande, zigenare, tattare; Scandoromani: romanisæl, romanoar, rom(m)ani, tavringer/ar, tattare), are a group or branch of the Romani people who have been resident in Norway and Sweden for some 500 years.[1] The estimated number of Romanisael in Sweden is 65,000,[2] while in Norway, the number is probably about 10,000.[3]
Not to be confused with Indigenous Norwegian Travellers.Origins[edit]
By history and culture, they are related to British Romani Groups, such as Romanichal, Welsh Kale and Scottish Lowland Roma.[4]
Modern-day Romanisael (Tater) are the descendants of the first Roma who arrived in Scandinavia during the 16th century. Most were deportees from Britain to Norway,[5][1] but small numbers came via Denmark.[6] Norwegian and Swedish Romani identify as Romanisæl, this word has origins in the Angloromani word Romanichal, Romanichal is the word English Romani and Scottish Border Romani and Southern Welsh Romani use to identify themselves with.
A related group are the Finnish Kale (Kàlo), descendants of early Scandinavian Roma who were deported in the 17th century from Sweden proper to Finland.[7] The Finnish Kale, however, maintain that their ancestors had originally come from Scotland,[8] They and other Scandinavian Romanisael are related to present-day Romanichal of England and Scotland.
Romanisael in Norway at times have been confused with the indigenous Norwegian Travellers, although they perceive the latter group to be non-Roma by culture and origins.
Romanisael speak a form of Para-Romani referred to as Scandoromani. Many words of the Nordic Romani origin have survived in the Scandinavian languages, both in common speech and slang.[13] Examples from Swedish:
Romani Posten (also Romaniposten, The Romani Post; ISSN 0809-8379) was a news magazine for the Romani community in Norway. It had no political or religious affiliation, and published articles in Norwegian. At its most frequent, it came out eight times per year. On 6 September 2003, it was founded as an on-line publication; the first print edition was published in October 2006. Jone Pedersen was the founding publisher and editor-in-chief. As of 2007, it had ceased publication.[15]