Each Roma family has its own views on the Gods, but certain things are nigh universal amongst the tribes. With the exception of a few rogue tribes who have been corrupted, the deities are split into "clean" & "unclean" columns that more or less follow the holy & unholy pantheons, with the neutral ones falling to one or the other. A very few deities are not considered at all, or called gadje deities if they are brought up.

The most commonly unclean deities are undeath (normally the foremost), stillbirth, death, pestilence, chaos, darkness, void, destruction, nightmare, envy, despair, nothingness, moons, & some forms of fauna & flora. Titles follow the pattern of "Chovexani" for females or "Beng" for males, then the name of the sphere in their language. Thus, Venair or Hollow Jack would be Beng Naswalemos ("devil illness") & Xephthar would be Chovexani Brigaki ("witch sorrow").

The most commonly clean/pure deities are life (often foremost), light, order, travel, love, peace, dream, healing, story, skill, might, home, harvest, wisdom, balance, celebration, truth, creation, music, sun, hope, vision, hunt, & some forms of fauna & flora. Titles are always "Phuro" then the name of the sphere in their language. Thus, Quothar would be Phuro Paramicha ("head of family storyteller").

Fauna & flora use whatever aspect of their sphere is considered (ie, Beng (or Phuro) Machka is the term for the cat-aspect of Jarikir... or possibly Bast (only distinguishable for the unclean version (that is, she'd be Chovexani Machka then))).

The only deity commonly considered gadje is wealth. As a gadje deity, he is referred to simply by his sphere ("Love," Roma word for "money"). His outsider status is due largely to the fact that the Roma first encountered him in the guise he took amongst the civilized world--huge, intimidating banks that lock away the wealth. This never, of course, appealed to most of them.

Tribe by tribe it varies, but mostly, the Roma revere deities whose spheres have traditionally helped them survive in a world against them.

A Romany dictionary

This topic: Shem > RomaReligiousView
Topic revision: 27 Jan 2012, UnknownUser
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