A big fat Gypsy booklist
Tales of the Gypsy Dressmaker
by Thelma Madine and Gypsy Boy My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies
by Mikey Walsh Some may say the overwrought portrayals of eccentrics and unfortunates in reality TV shows have dumbed down the medium (who knew there were sub-levels?) and certainly the proliferation of expose-type programs around addicts and other afflicted peoples use buzz words like gritty and truthful to mask a deeply saddening level of exploitation.
But some of them, for all their trappings do reveal interesting subcultures and different ways people can be in the world. Of these, the ones that stood out in the last network season were the My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding series. British and American versions have aired. These programs revealed a unique cultural group co-existing with, but quite separate from their European and North American neighbours. Some may remember this show purely for the cartoonishly gigantic wedding dresses worn by Gypsy brides, most made by one dressmaker in Liverpool, England – Thelma Madine.
Madine’s memoir, Tales of the Gypsy Dressmaker, will attract fans or rubberneckers intrigued with the TV program, but the book does offer a closer look into the travelling culture as a whole.
Madine describes her roots as a dressmaker and how she began designing celebration outfits for the travelling community.
Madine’s close connections with Irish Travellers (one of three ethnically divergent travelling groups, the others being British Travellers and Romany Gypsies) have allowed her a level of knowledge and understanding not common for non-travellers. The Gypsies are insular and very secretive and do not typically mix with anyone outside their culture.
They do not hold traditional jobs (in fact, women do not work outside the home and are not usually educated and are often illiterate); they do not live in traditional homes (caravans or trailers are most common) and they are fiercely proud and protective of their traditions.
Madine’s memoir is entertaining and offers a fun, gossipy glimpse into this wary culture, but a reader will get a glimpse of some of the darker elements of this cagey group that shuns modern values and outside support. Abuse can be rampant and almost always goes unreported, and takes many forms in Gypsy society. Mikey Walsh writes about this side of Gypsy life in his book, My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies.
Walsh’s text leaves the fun froufery of Gypsy life well in the dust. He describes his often violent, always unstable upbringing in unflinching detail.
Much has been made of the Gyspy woman’s role, to cook, clean, raise children and care for her man, but little has been exposed of how the culture’s hyper-masculinised, uncompromising patriarchy affects individual boys and men.
Mikey Walsh was born to a Romany family with a long line of tough men. His greatgrandfather was the first Walsh to win the crown in the sport most favoured by Gypsies: bare-knuckle fighting. This crown was carried through the generations and it was expected of Mikey to win it again.
He describes the life of a Gypsy man, especially one born to pugilistic royalty saying that it is “impossible for any Gypsy man, no matter how much he might wish for a quiet life, to be in the company of other Gypsy men without being asked to put his hands up. And when he is asked, that is what he must do.”
Young boys are taught early how to fight, Mikey’s own father pitted him against other boys, teenagers and even grown men “until they learned to be fearless and ferocious”. This started when Mikey was five years old. He was beaten every time. He didn’t fit in. Mikey’s journey through childhood and his eventual break from his people is gripping, troubling at times and ultimately a deeply insightful tale of a young soul’s entrapment and escape.
You can find both of these books at the Prince George Public Library. — Andrea Palmer is the communications
co-ordinator at the library.