Itinerant groups in Europe


There are a number of traditionally itinerant or travelling groups in Europe who are known as "Travellers" or "Gypsies".
The origins of the indigenous itinerant groups are unclear. They have been assumed to have taken up the travelling lifestyle out of necessity at some point during the Early Modern period but to not be ethnically distinct from their source population. However, recent DNA testing has shown that the Irish Travellers are genetically distinct from their settled counterparts, and more groups are being studied.
Many groups speak their own language or dialect ; it is often a blend of the local settled language and Romani language, even in non-Romani groups.
The largest of these groups are the Romani people, who have Indian roots and heritage, who left India around 1,500 years ago entering Europe around 1,000 years ago; this includes the Sinti people, who are themselves the second largest group. The third largest group in Europe is the Yenish, an indigenous Germanic group.
As opposed to nomads who travel with and subsist on herds of livestock, itinerant groups traditionally travel for trade or other work for the sedentary populations amongst which they live.

Indigenous Dutch Travellers (Woonwagenbewoners)

Indigenous Dutch Travellers are first mentioned in the 1879 census, although they were present before then. They traditionally travelled around and practised traditional professions, like chair bottomers, tinsmiths, broom binders, traders, peddlers, artisans, etc.
Similar to Indigenous Norwegian Travellers, Dutch Travellers are theorised to have Yenish Traveller admixture and possibly could be descended from them.
Settled people call Dutch Travellers Woonwagenbewoners but they call themselves Reizigers. They refer to settled people as Burgers. The name Kampers is considered discriminatory by Dutch Travellers.

Indigenous Norwegian Travellers (Skøyere/Fantefolk)

Indigenous Norwegian Travellers are an itinerant group who call themselves Reisende. Confusingly, this term is also used by Romanisæl Travellers, the Romani group of Norway and Sweden. Unlike the Romanisæl Travellers, the indigenous Norwegian Travellers are non-Romani by culture and origins, and they do not speak any form of Romani language. Instead, their language is ‘Rodi’ which is a Norwegian dialect.
Similar to Indigenous Dutch Travellers, Indigenous Norwegian Travellers are theorised to have Yenish Traveller admixture and possibly could be descended from them. Norwegian Rodi includes a large proportion of Yenish loanwords. Rodi also has a handful of Scandoromani loanwords due to Romanisæl Travellers and Indigenous Norwegian Travellers both living in close proximity to each other.
Indigenous Norwegian Travellers have always concentrated around Southern and Southwestern Norway along the coastline and Romanisæl Travellers have always concentrated around Central Norway. Historically, both groups have travelled all over, and often overlap into each other’s traditional areas.
They are known to the settled majority population as fant/fanter, but they prefer the term reisende. This term is also used by Romanisæl Travellers, though the two groups are distinct.
Eilert Sundt, a 19th-century sociologist, termed the indigenous Travellers småvandrer or småvandringer, to contrast them with the Romanisæl Travellers, which Sundt called storvandrer or storvandringer who ranged further in their journeys.

Irish Travellers (Pavee)

By blood, the Pavees are Irish, but have a separate language and culture than the settled Irish. They live predominantly in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Travellers refer to themselves as Minceir or Pavees in their own language or in Irish as an Lucht Siúil, meaning literally "the walking people". The term Pikey is a pejorative slang term used mainly in the United Kingdom to refer to Irish Travellers. The language of the Irish Travellers, Shelta, is mainly based on an Irish lexicon and an English grammar. There are two dialects of this language: Gammon and Cant. It has been dated back to the eighteenth century but may be older. The vast majority of Irish Travellers are Roman Catholics who maintain their traditions and culture in a close knit community of families.
In 2011 an analysis of DNA from 40 Travellers showed that Irish Travellers are a distinct Indigenous Irish ethnic minority who separated from the settled Irish community at least 1000 years ago; the claim was made that they are as distinct from the settled community as Icelanders are from Norwegians.
Like other itinerant groups they have often been racially discriminated against in the past and still are today. They were only recognised as an official ethnic group in the Republic of Ireland on March 1, 2017.

Northern Romani Travellers

Northern Romani Traveller groups include:
1.) Romanichal Travellers in England, with diaspora communities in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
2.) Welsh Kale Travellers in the West-speaking parts of Northwestern Wales.
3.) Scottish Lowland Travellers in Lowland Scotland.
4.) Romanisæl Travellers in Central Norway and Sweden.
5.) Finnish Kale in Finland and parts of Sweden.
These groups have much European blood due to mixing with Indigenous Traveller groups and even non-Travellers over the centuries. This has led to these Romani groups generally looking White in appearance.
It is also a reason why these groups speak mixed languages rather than more pure forms of Romani:
Romanichal Travellers speak Angloromani.
Romanisæl Travellers speak Scandoromani.
Scottish Lowland Travellers speak Scottish Cant.
Welsh Kale speak Kalá.
Finnish Kale speak Kalo.
Northern European Romani groups culturally have more in common with Indigenous Northern European Traveller groups, such as Irish Travellers, Dutch Travellers, Scottish Highland Travellers and Norwegian Travellers then what they do with Romani from the rest of Europe. Northern Romani groups have common ancestry from the wave of Romani who migrated to England and Scotland in the 16th century. These groups also tend to identity as “Travellers” more than they do as “Gypsies”.
Northern Romani diverged so much from Romani from the rest of Europe due to mixing with local Traveller groups and staying isolated from the rest of Europe for centuries.
Romani from the rest of Europe consider Northern Romani groups to not be proper Romani, due to their languages, heritage and cultures being mixed. Many Romani from the rest of Europe wrongfully assume that Northern Romani groups don’t have Romani roots and that they are Indigenous European Travellers, similar to Irish Travellers for example.

Romani/Gypsies

The best known itinerant community are the Romani people.
The Romani have Indo-Aryan roots and heritage and first entered Europe via the Middle East around a thousand years ago. They spread further through Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries, separating into various subgroups in the process.
They speak Romani, and Indo-Aryan language.

Indigenous Scottish Highland Travellers

are also known as Ceardannan in Scottish Gaelic or more poetically as the "Summer Walkers".
The Highland Traveller community has a long history in Scotland going back on record to at least the 12th century. Historically they would travel from village to village and would pitch their bow-tents on rough ground around the edge of a village and would earn money there as tinsmiths, hawkers, horse dealers or pearl-fishermen. Many found seasonal employment on farms, e.g. doing berry picking or during harvests. Nowadays the majority of Highland Travellers have settled down into organized campsites or regular houses.
The Scottish Highland Travellers have their own language based on Scottish Gaelic called Beurla Reagaird.
Highland Travellers are closely tied to their native Highlands the native Gaelic speaking population; they may follow an itinerant or a settled lifestyle. They have played an essential role in the preservation of traditional Gaelic culture. Travellers' outstanding contribution to Highland life has been as custodians of an ancient and vital Gaelic singing, storytelling and folklore tradition of great importance. It is estimated that there are only 2,000 Highland Travellers leading their traditional lifestyle.

Yenish Travellers

In German-speaking Europe, France and Wallonia,
there are the Jenische or Yeniche.
An early description of this group was published by Johann Ulrich Schöll in 1793.

Funfair Travellers (Showmen)

, also known as Funfair Travellers or Travelling Showpeople, are the members of families who own travelling funfairs and circuses, and are referred to as occupational travelers, who move around as part of their work. These groups formed across Europe, and included the families of travelling funfairs and circuses that required frequent mobility. These groups usually follow a set pattern of yearly nomadism. Membership of these groups has, over the years, been drawn from other communities. For example, Showmen in Great Britain and Ireland often had a mix of English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and/or Traveller heritage.
As a result, Funfair Travellers are not defined as an ethnic group, even though they display certain common features, although in many countries they identify as a cultural group.
Funfair Travellers often sport unique cultures and self-identity, and they tend to be insular, favouring marriage within the community, which results in long lineages and a strong sense of cultural homogeneity. For example, the Showman's Guild of Great Britain requires that applicants have a parent from the Funfair Travelling community.
Many Funfair Travellers in the fairground and circus business across Europe have partial Romani heritage, evidenced by significant traces of the Romani language and matriarchal forms of social organisation. Despite this, the roots, culture, traditions, and identity of showman groups have remained separate from Romani groups.