A gypsy camp in the village Zarichevo. Part One.

In Sunday morning we went in search of totally unknown sights of Perechyn region, the museum "Romska Sadyba" (Roma hut). The main difficulty in the way of popularizing of the museum is the presence of a museum with a similar name in the same village - «Lemkіvska sadyba».

Arrived at the place, we spent half an hour to interview local citizens for knowledge of the location of the museum. 50% of them had never heard about that museum, another 30% indicated "Lemkіvska sadyba" and further reported that there were not more museums in the village (yeah, what about that there are three of them: "Lemkіvska sadyba", "Romska sadyba", and the house-museum "of Marіyka Pіdhiryanka"), and another 20% did not know about any museum. That's why I love the local population, it is for the way they know and remember their history. Sometimes it gets to the paradox.You stand in the far region of Transcarpathia in the outskirts of the village under the hill on which the castle ruins are visible, and purely for control ask an old lady passing by (in the rural dialect) how to get to the ruins, and she replies that there are no ruins and fortresses, and generally the only attraction is the church in the center of the village. You dab with your finger up the hill, but she sees nothing but meadows. I become sad at such moments. And I say nothing about a lot of time spent on finding direction and winding circles through the village. That's how we spent half an hour in the heart of the village and tried to get at least a rough indication of where to find the museum.

Then it dawned on me that it was necessary to use very different methods, based on an understanding of the features of Aborigines logic. I came into the shop and asked whether gypsies lived in the village. "Yes", they say, "they live". "How many camps are in the village?" I ask. It is one, of course, it is enough for us. Received the go-ahead sign by the hand in the direction of a neighboring valley, we moved on. Found a turn, where three small gypsies were sitting on the stone. I came out and asked them in Ukrainian whether there was the museum in the camp. All three nodded in unison and nodded in the direction of the "heart" of the camp which was situated under the forest. Our conversation was heard by an old lady, whose house stood on the turn. It was a usual little old lady, white. She waved with both hands, begging us not to go to where small gypsies pointed. "You need our Lemkіvska sadyba (hut). What for do you want to see gypsy’s one?" grumbled she. Small gypsies angrily clenched something through teeth. And then somehow everything happened by itself. I, a photograph – amateur, has a dream. It's been three long years. To conduct a photo shoot in a gypsy camp. In an authentic, of course, not in Radvanka. I tried to do it in Lintsi, but I could not even go out of the car seeing a lot of aggression around. Then I planned to implement the plan in Komarovtsi and Domboki. But everything turned out wrong and did not reach a decisive stage...

That's where I was jammed. The legs themselves trotted toward the camp. I walked, taking a camera, putting all necessary adjustments to make at least 50 shots rapidly, while the situation would be out of control. Two gypsy children lost interest in me, and the third one ran after us, approached very cautiously, and said "Give a ruble, and I will show you the camp and museum, and everything else, and dogs will not touch you". I instantly gave the boy a ruble and the "tour" began.



It turned out that it was the camp where "Volokhy" (white gypsies) lived. Although, telling the truth, I saw different colors of skin there. We were in the camp during 30 minutes. We were there like in an alternate universe. I had not seen such quantity of stopped time and concentration of subculture per unit area for many years. Our guide really led the excursion. This is the hut of that one, this is a common stable, this is a "house of worship". He regularly chased the residents of neighboring huts and publicly reported "It is me who lead them".



It was a cart of fresh hay. There was a stable for 4-5 horses, cut down from railway sleepers on the right. I was, frankly, surprised where they were placed there, but our guide immediately opened the door and showed some leaning horse heads.



There was something like a summer kitchen on the left and stall on the right.



It was a typical form of the average Gypsy farmstead. Several pieces of foresight slate, a roll of net, a trough, a house of adobe in the background. The square pedestal at the right bottom - termination of the Gypsy "aqueduct" - if you turn the faucet, the water pours. It is pure and cold.



It is just a wonderful shot. I made about 30 shots, standing in front of this "couple" for 30 seconds. 90% of the frames are identical. Neither the dog nor the child budged. The kid just stood still, the dog sniffed.



At first I thought it was a local children's fun. Then I was told that it was "metal detectors" from the back of the camp in a hurry to the spot where the "increased concentration of metal" was noticeable in the brook.



Look straight in the eyes of this child. Do not turn off 10 seconds. Do you feel the emotional background changes?..



Here is a gypsy hut in the colors of the Ukrainian national flag. Two pals of our guide are on the right. Judging by the short-term verbal skirmish, they were unhappy that they did not tour.



Going through the camp on the main street (a dozen branches stepped aside from it), we finally got to the museum "Romska Sadyba". The left part is the house, the canopy under which the objects of Roma crafts was on the right.



The roof of the house - 100% dried corn tops. They say – it does not leak. A young woman went out from the next door house, and getting know that we were going to a museum, continued the story about the life of the settlement. The museum belongs to her husband, who "has gone to the town". She opened the hut and showed a variety of household goods and utensils. There was very little space inside to make shots from good angles.



Foreground is a children "cradle". There is a store of owner jars over it, he had no time to carry out, as Tour season wouldn’t be soon, and nobody expected that we would appear at the back of the camp without support and invitation. A "Gypsy closet" is in the background under the ceiling.



Here is a "Wardrobe" close-up.



The family tree of Roma masses in the village Zarichevo. That's what I did not expect to find here, so it was a family tree. And I respect the owner, if he thought of this before. A people without knowledge of its history are not the people.



It is the part of scheme close-up



It is an old cast iron stove with a special capsule on the top. Targeting of target audience is obvious.



There are a few old religious objects on the wall over the desk.



Here is an old anvil. Gypsies often were good blacksmiths in the old days.



And this is generally a unique thing. You can very rarely meet such thing now in Transcarpathia. Bellows of tanned leather are on the left, the blacksmith's furnace is on the right, lined with a special way of stones and covered with clay. A metal bar with a hook and chain suspension system hang above the stove.

Related links: The Gypsy camp in the village Zarichevo. Part Two.

05.10.2012. 10:38