International Romani Day

International Romanian Day is always marked on April 8 every year. It honors the first major international meeting of Romanian representatives, 7-12 April 1971 at Chelsfield near London.

The Romani were originally court musicians who traveled in what is now India and Pakistan.

The Romanian people have their own language and culture. They migrated in the Middle Ages to Turkey, France, Spain. In Spain, their culture blends with Iberian, Jewish, Muslim and Moorish society and is identified as Flamenco. They were one of the most persecuted populations, a target of extinction by both Nazis and Communists, as well as some local governments in Asia and Africa.

In the early 1800s, many Romanians went to the United States, Canada, Brazil, and other countries in the Americas. One million Roma in the United States are estimated by the people and 800,000 in Brazil.

The Romanians are more than just a socially or culturally defined group of people that is showed in a New York Times story. They are also genetically identified as a separate genetic group.

Popular Romanian include:

Michael Caine, (Maurice Joseph Micklewhite)

A person who is said to have been born into a caravan named Charlie Chaplin

A person who according to his own testimony, 1/4 is Roman and 1/4 is Jewish named Yul Brynner (Yul Borisovich Brynner).

Pablo Picasso is proud of his Roma roots.

History of International Romani Day

International Romani Day was established in Serock, Poland in 1990 during the World Romanian Congress of the International Romanian Union which began in 1971.

Romani is known as a country that joined the European Union in 2007. Researchers have found evidence that humans have inhabited this Romanian land since very early. Many of the fossils found here date back to 34,000 to 36,000 years old.

However, the first kingdom recorded in history here was Dacia, which appeared around 513 BC. This country is ruled by Burebista a wise king who made even the ancient Roman empire somewhat respect. However, he was assassinated at a time when the country was flourishing, causing the kingdom to be divided and later turned into a part of the Roman Empire.

The empire's troops were then driven out of Romania by nomadic armies, which again caused the country to be divided into parts. followed by a period of oppression of the Romanian people when respectively subjected to the oppression of the Ottoman court, the Russian empire and the Austro-Hungarian empire. Especially during the Austro-Hungarian period with the brutal Hungarianization policy.

It was not until the first war broke out with the dissolution of many monarchies across Europe that the country of Romania regained its independence from the western empire.

At the beginning of the second world war, the Romanian government, specifically the Antonescu government, supported the fascists and killed a lot of Jews. They are considered the perpetrators of planning and killing 380,000 Jews. However, the Antonescu government deposed Romania, at the end of the war, in favor of the Allies.

With the victory of the Allies, Romania became a people's communist country and was placed under Soviet control in 1947. Then in turn renamed the Socialist Republic of Romania in 1965. and Romania as it is today after the collapse of the Soviet Union became a semi-presidential, parliamentary republic.

How to observe International Romanian Day

Read more about the Romani people in Ian F. Hancock's We Are Romani People. Because the culture is strongly represented by its music, sample traditional Romanian music like Flamenco, or compositions by Franz Liszt. Share your Romanian heritage using #InternationalRomaniDay, #RomaniDay, #Romani on social media and follow to learn more.