The Roma have always had a mysterious aura, ever since they came to Europe. Once associated with a mysterious world of magic, divination suited them perfectly. On the other hand, however, they also indulged in "diabolical", magical, sorcery occupations, condemned both by the Church and judged by the Inquisition tribunal, as well as by secular tribunals. Right from 1427, as I said, on the date of their first appearance at the gates of Paris, gypsies practiced palmistry and necromancy in public. The painters of the time as well as the great writers of the following centuries – Ronsard, Marot, Gil Vicente, Cervantes, Moliere, Pepys, Lesage, etc. a. – describe such practices. Despite all the prohibitions of secular and ecclesiastical authorities, peasants, townspeople, and often even high society people consulted these "Egyptian" palmists, sometimes even calling on them at home. Other magical powers were also attributed to them - to discover hidden treasures, to put out a fire, to prepare drugs with aphrodisiac effects, to make amulets, to cure diseases of people and animals by preparing all kinds of drinks and alifies - like the innumerable "doftoroaia" from the villages.
Reduced to the scale of primal thought, divination was an easy way to make money. Throughout time, Roma have used many methods of divination, from crystal bowls, tarot cards, to numerology and palm reading.
It is worth mentioning the division, in the Roma communities, by gender and sex in terms of occupations, thus fortune-telling is eminently a female occupation, like doftoroas in traditional villages. However, a reasonable explanation is that the true skill of Romani fortune tellers is their remarkable ability to judge a person's character and see what he wants. As an unwritten rule, fortunetellers do not use fortunetelling with "theirs". In their community, the Roma have other ways of predicting the future and healing. They often wear lucky charms and talismans to ward off trouble, evil spirits and disease.
Nowadays, on books, anyone can tell their own fortunes. The meaning of these cards has ceased to be a mystery. To an uninitiated person, it appears that divination is performed using a simple deck of 36 cards. Souvenir decks are often used, which have only 2 colors, red and black. These are the colors of Roma, such cards carry their mystical energy. To please customers, fortune tellers often predict a favorable future.
A portrait of riddles from Roma communities is Mihai Margareta (zisă Ița), 92 de ani din Roșiori, jud. Teleorman.
Mihai Margareta (photo from her youth)
Dressed in the specific attire of boilermakers, the informant recalls the stages of her childhood and youth when she went to the villages and did fortune-telling and the men made bone combs for lice. He's still guessing with the cards. He was born in Roșiori, he has 7 girls, but no boys. They were nomads, traveling with wheelbarrows (they sold goods, mainly caldrons and bone combs and the women did fortune-telling). The combs were made of horn, they were cut, straightened, polished, the hair was combed with them and then gas was put on the hair. The parents were also from Roșiori (her mother died at the age of 87). They stayed with rent only in winter, during the rest of the year they were nomads. He got married at 17, "he took me with a good word, with a wedding." The wedding was big at that time, she received gold objects, this is what the Roma invest the most in, she also had a golden sable, which sable was passed down from mother to daughter. The husband died 7 years ago. Her parents were called Smochina and Mihai. Most of the time, its role in divination was to heal, and the plant used was rush.
Talking to fortune teller Mihai Margareta
She learned fortune telling from her mother. He knew the tarot cards and always told them for real, a session lasted about 30 minutes. II was shooting with gas and salt for bullets. He also guessed about love, about finding the bear. Especially women and girls came from the villages where they stayed. Everything was done in secret, "it was a shame to hear that you were going to fortune-telling", but they were all curious to know what the future held for them. In terms of healing, their prescription did not differ from the medicine of the midwives, but people invested them with greater powers and therefore called on their services. In exchange for their services, they received food (flour, cornmeal, eggs, vegetables), rarely birds, almost never money. Since they became sedentary, after 1990, it stopped guessing, and the world used it, but less and less, exclusively for its healing qualities.
