title: Morelos

text: While Morelos was key to the 1521 conquest of Tenochtitlan, there are no vestiges of the battles to be found in the state. The "Ruta de los Conventos" or "Ruta de los Volcanos" established by the state tourism agency, takes one from Cuernavaca to Tepoztlan, Oaxtepec, Tlayacapan, Totolapan, Yecapixtla, Ocuituc, Tetela del Volcán, and Zacualpan de Amilpas. These monasteries plus those in Atlatlahuacán and Hueyapán are included in the Monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl World Heritage site. This area also has varying landscapes, a wide variety of flora and fauna as well as churches, former haciendas, archeological sites and ruins. Civilian monuments from the Colonial era include the aforementioned Palace of Cortes and Borda Garden in Cuernavaca, as well as the many sugar cane ‘haciendas’ (estates or plantations) and aqueducts found throughout the state.


title: Morelos

text: Cuautla was the site of an important battle during the Mexican War of Independence, led by Jose Maria de Morelos. There is a museum dedicated to Morelos there, and one can visit other sites related to the siege of the city. There is a small museum dedicated to his right-hand man, Father Mariano Matamoros, in Jantetelco.


title: Morelos

text: The train stations of Cuautla and Cuernavaca both date from the 19th century. The former is now a museum while the latter is a dance academy. Also in Cuernavaca is the Porfirio Diaz bridge.


title: Morelos

text: The "Ruta de Zapata" (Zapata Route) covers the areas General Emiliano Zapata operated throughout the state of Morelos during the Mexican Revolution. Begin in Cuautla and travel through history, since the streets are named after the moments that were lived during the struggles for independence and the Mexican Revolution. A few blocks from the zócalo is the statue and burial site of Zapata. The route continues to Ciudad Ayala, the cradle of the Revolution in Morelos. Follow the tour of Tlaltizapan, where Zapata established his headquarters. Then go to Yautepec, where you can see the hull of the Hacienda de Atlihuayan, which is private but was the place that minted the coins used by the Zapatistas.


title: Morelos

text: There are dozens of waterparks, including natural waterparks (some with hot springs); world-class adventure parks; and small, rustic waterparks to relax with your family. Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, in Oaxtepec, is located in the eastern part of the state. The area has been used as a swimming resort since the time of Aztec "tlotoni" (emperor) Moctezuma II. "Las Estacas" in Tlaltizapan is built around a crystal-clear river surrounded by lush vegetation. You can easily float down the river on an inner tube, or you can scuba dive or snorkel. There are cabins and a large area for camping. A small museum dedicated to Revolutionary War General Emiliano Zapata is nearby. "El Rollo" in "Tlalquitenango", Jojutla is located fifty minutes south of Cuernavaca. It covers an area of 30 hectares and is one of the largest water parks in Latin America. "Ex-Hacienda de Temixco" is located 10 minutes south of Cuernavaca in the town of Temixco. This park is built on the site of a 16th-century sugar-cane plantation which was appropriated during the Mexican Revolution.


title: Morelos

text: Water-skiing is popular at Lake Tequesquitengo and "Acuaski". Scuba and snorkeling are popular at "Las Estacas" and at Lake Tequesquitengo. White-water rafting is available on the Amacuzac River.


title: Morelos

text: Hiking is done primarily along the "Corredor Biológico Ajusco Chichinautzin" in the mountainous regions of Huitzilac, Tepoztlan, and Tlayacapan. Many waterparks allow camping, and both the YMCA and the Scouts of Mexico operate large campgrounds in Tepoztlan. Rock climbing and rappel are popular at the Scout camp in Meztitla and elsewhere, such as Lagunas de Zempoala National Park. There isn't really much mountain climbing in Morelos, and it is illegal to climb Popocatepetl since the volcano is active.


title: Morelos

text: Bicycling might be done by following the former rail line from Mexico City to Cuernavaca. There are dozens of bicycle routes in Cuernavaca and Tepoztlan. Cuernavaca bike routsTepoztlan bike routes


title: Morelos

text: Zoológico Zoofari is a Safari Park in Amacuzac located at Km 55 of the Cuernavaca-Taxco highway. Opened in May 1984, Zoofari has 130 species and 1200 animals on exhibit, including zebras, ostriches, antelopes, lions, elephants, rhinos, and giraffes. The zoo is divided into six sections, five of which can be visited by car. There is a zip line, a restaurant, and a gift shop. Visitors can have their pictures taken with animal cubs and can ride dromedaries, llamas, and ponies.


title: Morelos

text: There is a small petting zoo, a butterfly sanctuary, and a "Herpetario" (Reptile House) at the "Parque Ecológico Chapultepec" in Cuernavaca. There is a butterfly sanctuary at "Jardines de México" in Jojutla. There is a turtle sanctuary in Cuautla.


title: Morelos

text: Visitors can ride horses or ponies at Lagunas de Zempoala National Park in Huitzilac. Kite flying and hiking are also popular there.


title: Morelos

text: Culturally, the state divides into four sections. "Zona Norte" is linked to the Valley of Mexico and includes the municipalities of Cuernavaca, Tepoztlán, Tlalnepantla, Totolapan, Atlatlahucan, Yecapixtla, Ocuituco and Tetela del Volcán. "Zona Oriente" is linked to Puebla and includes the municipalities of Zacualpan de Amilpas, Jantetelco, Jonacatepec and Axochiapan. "Zona Sur Oeste" includes the municipalities of Tlaquiltenango, Jojutla, Zacatepec, Puente de Ixtla, Amacuzac, Coatlán del Río, Tetecala, Mazatepec and Miacatlán. "Zona Centro" includes the municipalities of Temixco, Yautepec, Jiutepec, Emiliano Zapata, Ayala, Tlaltizapan and Axochiapan.


title: Morelos

text: In Cuernavaca, at "Las Mañanitas", diners enjoy chicken in green "mole", tortilla soup and trout almandine, among other selections, surrounded by tropical plants and birds. At "Reposado", nouvelle Mexican offerings include "huitlacoche" (corn smut) fondue, salmon in "adobo" and game hen in peanut "mole". In addition to the more famous restaurants, Cuernavaca has its share of mom-and-pop eateries, which feature a good variety of enchiladas with various fillings and sauces, and local specialties like rabbit in "ancho chile adobo" and chicken in peach sauce. The latter is a very characteristic dish of the region since it combines chicken with fruit, of which Morelos has seemingly endless varieties. The "taco acorazado", consisting of two large tortillas, rice, and beef or chicken, is the most typical food of Cuernavaca. "Tacos al pastor", which is marinated pork slowly cooked by a gas flame on a vertical rotisserie and served on small tortillas, is also popular in the area.


title: Morelos

text: Travelers from Mexico City to Cuernavaca often stop in "Tres Marias," located in the Municipio of Huitzilac. The town is located about halfway between the two cities, at an altitude of 2,814 meters. The town is known for its quesadillas, mushroom soup, "gordas" with whey, and longaniza with chile sauce.


title: Morelos

text: Yecapixtla, located in the eastern part of the state north of Cuautla, is famous for its cecina, or salted beef, which is usually served with fresh cream. Jantetelco is known for crystalized fruit, while Alpuyeca in the west is famous for its ice cream.


title: Morelos

text: Tepoztēcatl, the Aztec god who is said to have created "pulque", a drink made from fermented maguey, was born in Amatlan, Tepoztlán; most pulque produced in Morelos comes from the municipality of Huitzilac today. Mezcal and several craft beers are produced in Morelos.


title: Morelos

text: Many famous Mexican and American actors have (or have had) homes in Morelos, but the state does not have much of a theater tradition. The "Teatro Ocampo" in Cuernavaca is one of the few places which has a live theater.


title: Morelos

text: Students who wish to study acting can attend the state university UAEM, the "Centro de Bellas Artes", or "Escuela Laboratorio de Teatro La Rueca" Hacienda Tetala, Cuernavaca.


title: Morelos

text: Numerous scenes from television and movies have been filmed in Morelos, including: "Second Chance", 1953; "Vera Cruz", 1954; "The Magnificent Seven", 1960 (Tlyacapan); "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", 1969 (Tlayacapan); "Two Mules for Sister Sarah", 1970 (Tlayacapan); "Rio Lobo", 1970 (Cuernavaca); "Under the Volcano (1984 film)", 1984 (Yautepec, Cuautla, and Cuernavaca); "Clear and Present Danger", 1994 (Cuernavaca); "Vantage Point", 2008 (Cuernavaca); and "A Dying King: The Shah of Iran" (documentary), 2017 (Cuernavaca).


title: Morelos

text: Most of the state's traditional music is associated with corridos. The "corrido" is sung and played in many parts of Mexico. Those performed in Morelos belong to the "sureño" (southern) type, which can be complicated but, unlike the northern version, is not meant for dancing. The lyrics of this type of corrido generally have eight syllables per line forming stanzas of five verses each. This type of corrido dates back before the Mexican Revolution, but the tradition has waned. One band noted for saving traditional melodies and songs is the "Banda Tlayacapan", based in Tlayacapan in the north of the state. This band was formed in 1870 and is the state's oldest band organization. In popular music, the best-known composer from the state is Arturo Márquez, who was born in Samosa, Sonora, but has lived in Cuernavaca for a long time. He is known for his danzones.


title: Morelos

text: One tradition that is identified with the state of Morelos is the Dance of the Chinelos. The dance is popular on many occasions but especially during Carnaval (English: Carnival). The origin of the dance or tradition is not known. One story dates the origin to 1870 when a group of youths decided to dress in old clothes, covering their faces in cloth to shout and jump around in the streets. Other stories place the origin in the colonial past, either as a syncretism between Spanish and indigenous dances, or as a protest or mockery of the indigenous' Spanish overlords. However, it has clearly been identified as originating in Tlayacapan and later spreading to various parts of Morelos, Puebla, and Mexico City.


title: Morelos

text: Today, the Chinelo is a symbol of the identity of the state. Although Chinelos are most frequently found in Tepoztlán, Chinelos groups exist in many communities such as Yautepec, Oacalco, Cualtlixco, Atlahuahuacàn, Oaxtepec, Jojutla, and Totolapan. They can also be found in certain parts of Puebla. The Chinelos dance in groups near each other. Each dancer has his or her own style that has been developed since childhood.


title: Morelos

text: Although not as well known as the "Carnaval" of Veracruz, a number of communities in the state hold Carnival celebrations in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. These include Jiutepec, Tlaltizapán, Emiliano Zapata, Tepoztlán, Tlayacapan, Yautepec, and Xochitepec. What distinguishes carnivals in Morelos from others in Mexico is the participation of the Chinelos and bands with wind instruments. In Tepotzlan on a Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the traditional tianguis market is cleared away from the main square and hundreds of multicolored stands move onto the streets in order to make way for Carnival. The street stands mostly specialize in items needed to enjoy the event. Chinelo dancers dominate the event, many in costumes which have been very expensive to assemble. Other events during Carnival there are processions, including the principal one in which there are representatives of all the communities of the municipality. The events last from Sunday to midnight Tuesday, signaling the beginning of Ash Wednesday and Lent. Each day, the Chinelos dance more energetically than the last.


title: Morelos

text: Most of the state's art scene dates from the 20th century. After the Mexican Revolution, and partly because of state's role in it, a number of muralists came to the state and painted works with social themes in places such as the Palacio de Cortés and the Museo de la Tallera Siqueiros. Cuernavaca has several art museums:


title: Morelos

text: Public art includes the mural on the library of "Parque Alameda Solidaridad Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta", in Cuernavaca. The mural depicts the history of the state. In addition, there is a large fountain that resembles a pre-Hispanic ball field. Also, at the entrance to the "Fraccionamiento Lomas de Cuernavaca" in the municipality of Temixco, just outside Cuernavaca, is the "Glorieta de La Luna" with Venetian mosaic by José García Narezo. Along the main street, "Paseo de la Reforma", there are numerous shapes covered with ceramic tiles in the Gaudí style, with diverse representations, including the stars, dragons, and signs of the Zodiac. These are popularly called "Las Bolas", (the balls), and are a favorite play area for children. In the 1960s, Rosell built the "Fuente de las mariposas", (Butterfly Fountain) at the entrance to Tequesquitengo.


title: Morelos

text: Because of the state's mild climate and Cuernavaca's cultural tradition, many Mexican and foreign artists and writers have made the state home. Joy Laville is from Wight, England and resides in Cuernavaca. She is known for her landscapes which often include nude humans. Some of her works are "Mujer viendo una casa", "Mujer en perfil" and "Mujer con flores". Jorge Cázares Campos is a native of the state who is a self-taught painter, mostly of Mexican landscapes. Rafael Cauduro was born in Mexico City and his artwork has brought him fame not only in Morelos but internationally as well. Magali Lara is also originally from Mexico City and has had shows in various countries. Morelos native Carlos Campos Campus is known for his sculpture with pre-Hispanic influence. John Spencer was an American artist and writer whose legacy includes the "Casona Spencer" across from the cathedral and the murals of the "Church of the Three Kings" in the Santa Maria neighborhood in the north part of the city.


title: Morelos

text: As for the literary heritage of Morelos, the most important writer was Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, author of "El Zarco", the story of the leader of a group of bandits based in Yautepec during the Reform War, 1857–1860. Another well-known writer is Malcolm Lowry, an Englishman who wrote "Bajo del Volcán" in the first half of the 20th century. It is set in Cuernavaca and made the city internationally famous. Elena Garro is an important Mexican writer originally from Puebla, but who lived most of her life in Cuernavaca. She is known for works such as "Los Recuerdos del Porvenir", "El Árbol" and "Andarse por las ramas". Another Mexican transplant to Cuernavaca is Franciso Hinojosa, one of the best-known authors of children's literature in the country.


title: Morelos

text: Poets Raúl Isidro Burgos (b. in Cuernavaca 1890, d. in Mexico City 1971), Raúl Isidro Burgos (b. in Jojutla 1975), Miguel Ángel Muñoz Palos (b. in Cuernavaca 1972), and Luis Ruiz de Velasco (b. in Jojutla 1909, d. in Mexico City 2003).


title: Morelos

text: Other writers are Agustín Aragón y León (b. in Jonacatepec 1870, d. in Mexico City 1954), Erwin Möller (b. in Cuernavaca 1954), and Gerardo Horacio Porcayo (b. in Cuernavaca 1964),


title: Morelos

text: The most important pre-Hispanic ruins are found at the Xochicalco. This is a fortified city that was built on top of a large hill, including a Temple of Quetzalcoatl as its center. There is an observatory, three ball courts, and a "tezmacal" (steam bath) as well as a large museum. Xochicalco displays significant influence from Teotihuacan, the Maya civilization, and Monte Albán.


title: Morelos

text: Teopanzolco is located in Cuernavaca. The twin temple and several smaller structures were built by "Tlahuicas". Recent excavations suggest it dates from 1200 CE and it may have served as a model for the "Templo Mayor" in Mexico City.


title: Morelos

text: Other important archaeological sites in Morelos are: "Olintepec", Ayala. 14 structures that date from 1500–1200 BCE; "Las Pilas", Jonacatepec. 4 pyramids and 2 plazas from 700–500 BCE located inside a water park; Tepozteco, Tepoztlan. A small pyramid built at the top of a hill in about 1200 BCE and last modified in 1452; Yautepec. From the "periodo postclásico medio y tardío", this was a center for 11,500 people; Chalcatzingo, Jantetelco. Constructions and petroglyphs from 1500–200 BCE. There are clear influences of the Olmecs from Veracruz and Tabasco, and Coatetelco, Miacatlán. Pyramids, platforms, and a ball court that date from 200–1521 CE.


title: Morelos

text: After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, major constructions here were Christian instead of the native pagan. In the first half of the 16th century, a series of fortress-like church and monastery complexes were built around the slopes of the Popocatepetl volcano from Cuernavaca to Tetela del Volcán, and on into Puebla state, all related to early evangelization efforts. Today, these monasteries are no longer used as such, although most of the churches associated with them remain active, and are now a World Heritage Site.


title: Morelos

text: Non-ecclesiastical buildings from the colonial and independence periods were mostly confined to the capital of Cuernavaca and include the Palace of Cortes, the "Jardin Borda" (Borda Garden), the Cine Morelos and the Ocampo Theater. The kiosk of the Jardin Juarez in Cuernavaca was designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1886.


title: Morelos

text: Much of the rest of the state was divided into large "haciendas", many dedicated to sugar production, with large mansions for their owners. Some of the most interesting are


title: Morelos

text: One notable 20th-century structure was the Japanese style house built by Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton, in Jiutepec, just outside the city of Cuernavaca. This is a hotel and restaurant today.


title: Morelos

text: A modern Catholic church worth seeing is the "Capilla Abierta de San José" in Lomas de Cuernavaca, Temixco. The church was designed by Spanish architect Félix Candela in the 1950s in the style known as "Techos de Cascaron". Set upon a hill, the open-air chapel offers an impressive view of the Valley of Cuernavaca.


title: Morelos

text: The "Centro Cultural Pedro López Elías" (Pedro Lopez Elias Cultural Center) in Tepoztlan opened in 2016. It is the first ecological library in Mexico, contains 50,000 books, and has 42,000 solar panels. The "Centro Cultural Teopanzolco" (Teopanzolco Cultural Center) next to the pyramids in Cuernavaca was designed by the Mexican architects Isaac Broid. The triangles that dictate the composition mark this point of meeting between past and present. It opened in 2018.


title: Morelos

text: The state, especially in the Cuernavaca area, is known as a center of education, second to Mexico City. The state has a high percentage of educated and well-traveled people, many of whom speak second languages such as English, French and German.


title: Morelos

text: Modern education in the state began during the Reform period, with the Mexican government taking over educational responsibilities from the church. The government's role in education expanded after the Mexican Revolution. In Morelos, the government founded "Casas del Pueblo" (People's Houses) staffed with a teacher for the community to become a central figure. In 1936, the "Escuela Regional Campesina" (Farm Workers' Regional School) was established in Yautepec and a short time after that President Lázaro Cárdenas founded the "Escuela Normal Feminina de Palmira" (Palmira Teachers College for Women) and the "Instituto Federal de Capacitacion del Magisterio" for those to earn or complete their teaching credentials.


title: Morelos

text: Until 1991, education was rigidly centralized and bureaucratic, causing difficulties in providing adequate education to many areas. In 1992, the "Instituto de la Educación Básica" (IEBM) (Basic Education Institute) was created to change this. This divided basic education into preschool, special education, primary and secondary.


title: Morelos

text: Today over 360,000 students are taught by over 13,000 teachers in 823 schools up to the ninth grade. All municipalities are required by state law to provide preschool, and grade school education to their populations up to the ninth grade, as well as professional development for teachers. All are required to attend school up to the ninth grade. Most schoolchildren begin with at least one year of preschool or kindergarten and secondary school (middle school) is provided either through face-to-face classes or through "telesecundarias" with televised classes in the more rural areas. Secondary schools are also divided into general and technical schools. The state has four teachers' colleges, two which produce primary school teachers and two which produce secondary school teachers. The state education system provides education from preschool to high school, vocational-technical education, as well as higher education to the doctoral level. There are also "centros de capacitacion" or training centers for workers looking to improve basic skills or gain technical skills. The average number of years of schooling completed is 8.4 years (second year of middle school), with the national average at 8.1.


title: Morelos

text: There are a total of 32 institutions of higher education in the state. The state has been encouraging schools and universities to set up campuses in Morelos to escape the hustle and bustle of Mexico City. This includes: Universidad de la Salle, Universidad Latinoamericano (ULO), Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM), and Universidad Latina (UNILA).


title: Morelos

text: The origins of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM) date back to the 19th century, when governor Francisco Leyva founded the "Instituto Literario y Cientifico de Morelos" in 1871. It was mostly suspended shortly thereafter by President Porfirio Díaz, a political opponent of Leyva, leaving only the School of Agriculture and Veterinary Studies in Acapantzingo. It was revived under the name of "Instituto de Estudios Superiores del Estado de Morelos" by Governor Elpidio Perdomo and President Lázaro Cárdenas. It was reorganized under its current name in 1953, after the addition of more fields of study. Currently, the school offers forty bachelor's degrees.


title: Morelos

text: Telecommunications in the state include telegraph, mail service, telephone, rural telephone service, terrestrial and satellite television, telex, and internet.


title: Morelos

text: Rural telephone service is available via satellite in the municipalities of Amacuzac, Ayala, Puente de Ixtla, Jojutla, Tlaltizapan and Tlaquiltenango. There are 342,240 landline telephones in total.


title: Morelos

text: There are 26 radio stations in Morelos (four AM and 22 FM). Morelos operates a public television station, XHCMO-TV Channel 3 in Cuernavaca, with a repeater, XHMZE-TV channel 22, in Zacatepec. Cuernavaca also has five other terrestrial television stations available, some local and others repeaters of Mexico City-based stations.


title: Morelos

text: Newspapers of Morelos include: "Diario de Morelos", "El Regional del Sur", "El Sol de Cuautla", "El Sol de Cuernavaca", "La Jornada de Morelos", "La Unión de Morelos", and "Unomásuno Morelos."


title: Morelos

text: Morelos is the most-connected state in terms of roadways, with highways connecting all of its communities. It has of federal highways (including of tollways), of state highways (two or more lanes, paved), of rural highways (paved), and of improved paths, for a total of of highways. There are of rail lines.


title: Morelos

text: The Cuernavaca Airport is General Mariano Matamoros International Airport, south of Cuernavaca in Acatlipa, Temixco. It has a runway. It opened in 1988, and since 2009 it has been operated by the firm "Aeropuerto de Cuernavaca S. A. de C. V".


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: "Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records."


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: Świątek won her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open in 2020, defeating Sofia Kenin in straight-sets.


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: Świątek made her debut at the ITF Women's Circuit in 2016 at the $10K event in Stockholm, where she also won her first ITF title in singles event. Since then, she reached seven singles finals in total, winning all of them. Her most significant titles are two $60K events, NEK Open and Montreux Open, both achieved in 2018 in singles. In doubles, she reached only one final, but failed to win the title at the $15K event in Sharm el-Sheikh.


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: Świątek made her debut at the Fed Cup playing for Poland in 2018. Since then, she has a singles record of 7–2, and a doubles record of 2–1.


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: The tournaments won by Świątek are in boldface, and advanced into finals by Świątek are in "italics".""


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: "Świątek's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, Active players are in boldface."


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: Świątek's record against players who have been ranked world No. 11–20. Active players are in boldface:


title: Iga Świątek career statistics

text: Świątek's 37-match win streak is the longest in the 21st century and is tied for the 12th longest in the Open Era.


title: Single-shot

text: Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many centuries passed before multi-shot repeater designs became commonplace.


title: Single-shot

text: Compared to repeating firearms, single-shot designs have no moving parts (other than the trigger and hammer/firing pin or frizzen) and thus do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel, and are much less complex than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms. Although largely disappeared from military usage due to the slow rates of fire, single-shot designs are still produced by many manufacturers in both cartridge- and non-cartridge varieties, from zip guns to the highest-quality hunting and match guns.


title: Single-shot

text: The vast majority of firearms before the introduction of metallic cartridges from the 1860s onwards, were single-shot muzzleloaders. However, multi-barrel, breechloading, revolving, and other multi-shot firearms had been experimented with for centuries. Notable pre-cartridge era single-shot firearms included matchlock, wheellock, snaplock, doglock, miquelet lock, flintlock, and percussion cap firearms. Muzzleloaders included the Brown Bess, Charleville and Springfield Model 1861 muskets, the Kentucky and Mississippi rifles, and the duelling pistol. There were also early breech-loading single-shot rifles such as the Hall, Ferguson, and Sharps.


title: Single-shot

text: Almost all of the early cartridge-fed rifles were single-shot designs, taking advantage of the strength and simplicity of single-shot actions. A good example is the "trapdoor" or Allin action used in early cartridge conversions of 1863 Springfield muzzleloading rifles. The conversion consisted of filing out (or later milling out) the rear of the barrel, and attaching a folding bolt, the "trapdoor", that flipped up and forwards to allow the cartridge to be loaded in the breech. Once loaded, the bolt was closed and latched in place, holding the round securely in place. The bolt contained a firing pin that used the existing percussion hammer, so no changes were required to the lock. After firing, the act of opening the bolt would partially extract the fired case from the chamber, allowing it to be removed. In 1866, the United States standardized on the Springfield Model 1866 rifle and .50-70 cartridge, chambered in trapdoor conversions of rifled muskets that had been used in the American Civil War. The trapdoor mechanism continued usage in 1873 with the adoption of the Springfield Model 1873 rifle and .45-70 cartridge. The Springfield Model 1873 rifle stayed in service until 1892 when it was replaced by the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle from 1892 until 1903.


title: Single-shot

text: Another muzzleloader conversion similar in concept to the Allin action was the British Snider–Enfield, also introduced in 1866, which hinged to the side rather than forward. Unlike the US Army, which kept its trapdoors for decades, the British soon moved beyond the Snider to the more sophisticated dropping-block Martini action derived from the Peabody action. Martini–Henrys were the standard British rifles of the late Victorian era, and Martini–Enfield conversions continued in second-line service until the Second World War.


title: Single-shot

text: Single-shot rifles were the preferred tools of big-game hunters in the later 19th century. The buffalo hunters of the American West used Sharps, Remington, and Springfield single-shots; ivory and trophy hunters in Africa and Asia used Martini and break-action "express rifles" and "elephant guns." These rifles were designed for very large black-powder cartridges, from military-issue .45-70 on up to the enormous .50-140 Sharps and .500 Express; early repeating actions were not capable of handling rounds of this power and physical size. The single-shot big-game rifle would only be displaced by bolt-action repeaters firing high-velocity smokeless-powder cartridges in the early 20th century.


title: Single-shot

text: After the advent of high-powered repeating rifles, single-shot rifles were primarily used for target shooting matches, with the first official match shooting event, opening at Creedmoor, Long Island in 1872. From about 1872 until the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, target shooting with single-shot rifles was nearly as popular in America as golf is today. During that golden age of match shooting, the most popular target rifles were made by Bullard, Stevens, Remington, Maynard, Ballard, Farrow, and Winchester. Calibers used by some of these rifles during matches ranged from the .25/20, .32/40, .33, .35, .35-55, .38-55, .40-50, .40/70, and a host of .44's (.44/105, .44/77, etc.) for over-600-yard shooting at Creedmoor. But two calibers maintained consistency throughout their tenure during the single-shot era: the .32-40 and the .38-55 calibers. The minimum standard in the beginning of the sport had been 200 yard firing from the standing position (off-hand position). No rifle scopes, no bench rests, no prone (lying down on the front) positions, but shooting, as famed rifle barrel maker, "Harry Melville Pope" (1861–1950), once stated, "standing on his hind legs and shooting like a man." The .32-40 and .38-55 were able to buck the wind better at 200 yards, and not wear the rifleman out by heavy recoil, all while sustaining great accuracy. In the end though, it was the .32-40 single-shot rifle that became the dean of match shooters, as the recoil from the .38-55 took its toll after hundreds of rounds had been fired during a match.


title: Single-shot

text: In 1878, John Moses Browning patented arguably the greatest single-shot rifle ever produced: after Browning sold his design to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company it was brought out as the Winchester Model 1885 Rifle. Although fewer than 200,000 Model 1885 Single Shots were built, they remained in production from 1885 to 1920.


title: Single-shot

text: Remington, Sharps, and Browning all made single-shot rifles using different actions, such as the rolling block and falling block. These rifles were originally chambered in large black-powder cartridges, such as .50-110, and were used for hunting large game, often bison. Later production rifles would be in popular smokeless powder cartridges, such as the .30-40 Krag.


title: Single-shot

text: Single-shot rifles co-existed for some time with the lever-action rifle, but they began to fade out of manufacture with the advent of reliable bolt-action rifles.


title: Single-shot

text: The handgun began as a single-shot weapon in China in the 14th century. In its many versions, it remained a muzzle-loaded weapon until the advent of the metallic cartridge in the first third of the 18th century. Such single-shot cartridge-firing pistols were short-lived, as revolver technology evolved rapidly, and cartridge conversions existed for the common models of cap and ball revolvers. Two forms of single-shot pistol, however, remained: single-shot derringers, and target pistols, which were essentially single-shot rifle actions cut down to pistol size. The Remington Rolling Block is perhaps the most well-known of these. As the era of single-shot rifles faded, so did these early single-shot pistols.


title: Single-shot

text: In 1907, J. Stevens Arms, a maker of inexpensive break-open single-shot rifles in pistol calibers, started making pistol versions of their rifles. This pistol was chambered in .22 Long Rifle and came with adjustable iron sights and grips designed for target shooting. These models were discontinued in 1939.


title: Single-shot

text: Single-barrel shotguns have always been popular as an inexpensive alternative to double-barreled shotguns. They are almost always break-open designs, like the double-barreled designs, but far less expensive since they do not require the precise aligning of parallel barrels. Single-barrel shotguns are also lighter, which can be an advantage if they are carried hunting, though it does mean they have more felt recoil. They are not widely used in shotgun sports, as most events require the ability to quickly fire two successive shots.


title: Single-shot

text: The single-barrel shotgun is often referred to as a "kitchen door gun" or a "farm gun" due to its low cost as a self-defense weapon.


title: Single-shot

text: The earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for general military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading rifle muskets. The upper rear portion of the barrel was filed or milled away and replaced by a hinged breechblock which opened upward to permit loading. An internal angled firing pin allowed the re-use of the rifle's existing side-hammer. The Allin action made by Springfield Arsenal in the US hinged forward; the Snider–Enfield used by the British opened to the side. Whereas the British quickly replaced the Snider with a dropping-block Peabody-style Martini action, the US Army felt the trapdoor action to be adequate and followed its muzzleloader conversions with the new-production Springfield Model 1873, which was the principal longarm of the Indian Wars and was still in service with some units in the Spanish–American War.


title: Single-shot

text: Other trapdoor actions include the rare Confederate Tarpley carbine, the Austrian Wanzl, the Belgian Albini-Braendlin rifle and Terssen conversion (some of which were made from French 1777 pattern flintlocks), the M1842/59/67 Swiss Milbank-Amsler, the M1859/67 Spanish Berdan, and the Colt-manufactured Russian Berdan Type I. All of these designs save the 1863 Tarpley date from the period 1865–1869, and all but the Tarpley and the Russian Berdan were conversions from muzzle-loaders.


title: Single-shot

text: Perhaps the most common type of single-shot action, usually found in shotguns, small pistols, and black-powder "elephant" guns, a break action connects the barrel assembly to the breechblock with a hinge. When a locking latch is released, the barrel assembly pivots away from the receiver, opening the breech and sometimes on higher quality firearms, partially extracting the spent cartridge.


title: Single-shot

text: In a rolling block action, the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis. The operator rotates or "rolls" the block to open and close the breech; it is a simple, rugged and reliable design. Rolling blocks are most often associated with firearms made by Remington in the later 19th century; in the Remington action the hammer serves to lock the breech closed at the moment of firing, and the block, in turn, prevents the hammer from falling with the breech open. An interesting variation of the rolling block was the Austrian M1867 Werndl–Holub, in which the pivot pin was parallel to the barrel and the block rotated sideways.


title: Single-shot

text: These are actions wherein the breechblock lowers or "drops" into the receiver to open the breech, usually actuated by an underlever. There are two principal types of dropping block: the tilting block and the falling or sliding block.


title: Single-shot

text: In a tilting or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged at the rear. When the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber. The best-known pivoting block designs are the Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, and Ballard actions.


title: Single-shot

text: The original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the Providence Tool Company, used a manually cocked side-hammer. Swiss gunsmith Friedrich Martini devised an action that resembled the Peabody but incorporated a hammerless striker cocked by the operating lever with the same motion that pivoted the block. The 1871 Martini–Henry which replaced the "trapdoor" Snider–Enfield was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, and the Martini was also a popular action for civilian rifles.


title: Single-shot

text: Charles H. Ballard's self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the Marlin Firearms Company from 1875 and earned a superlative reputation among long-range "Creedmoor" target shooters. Surviving Marlin Ballards are today highly prized by collectors, especially those mounted in the elaborate Swiss-style "Schützen" stocks of the day.


title: Single-shot

text: In a falling block action the block does not pivot but rather slides vertically in a slot milled into the receiver. Falling blocks are among the strongest small-arm actions ever produced, and are also used in heavy artillery. Well-known falling block designs include the Sharps rifles and carbines, the Browning/Winchester Single Shot, the Farquharson rifle, and the modern Ruger No. 1.


title: Single-shot

text: Although bolt-actions are usually associated with fixed or detachable box magazines, in fact, the first general-issue military breechloader was a single-shot bolt-action: the paper-cartridge Prussian needle gun of 1841. France countered in 1866 with its superior Chassepot rifle, also a paper-cartridge bolt-action. The first metallic-cartridge bolt-actions in general military service were the Berdan Type II introduced by Russia in 1870, the Mauser Model 1871, and a modified Chassepot, the Gras rifle of 1874; all these were single-shots.


title: Single-shot

text: Single-shot bolt-actions in .22 caliber were also widely manufactured as inexpensive "boys' guns" in the earlier 20th century; and there have been a few single-shot bolt-action shotguns, usually in .410 bore.


title: Single-shot

text: The OSS stinger pen pistol and several other clandestine pen guns, as well as homemade zip guns often made using plumbing parts, and cane guns used for both defense and poaching use a screw thread to attach the chambered barrel to a receiver with some sort of breech and firing pin. The user unscrews the barrel from the receiver to expose the chamber to load a cartridge. The RN50 .50BMG single shot rifle uses a similar screwthread breech cap to allow an otherwise simple break action to contain a .50BMG round.


title: Single-shot

text: Although non-cartridge single-shot firearms are still made in hobbyist contexts (for example, replicas of antique guns), this discussion focuses on newer designs employing cartridges.


title: Single-shot

text: The modern era of single-shot firearms is most visible in the realm of pistols. Remington introduced the single-shot bolt-action XP-100 pistol in 1963, which heralded the era of high-performance, high-velocity pistols. The .221 Fireball cartridge lived up to its name by reaching velocities of 2700 ft/s (823 m/s) from a 10.5" (26.7 cm) barrel. Essentially a shortened .222 Remington, the compact .221 Fireball delivered accuracy exceeding many rifles, out to ranges unheard of for other handguns.


title: Single-shot

text: Even bigger than the XP-100, the 1967 introduction of the Thompson Center Arms Contender pistol changed handgun sports forever. The Contender was a break-open design that allowed barrels to be changed by the shooter in minutes. Available in calibers from .22 Long Rifle up to .45-70, and in barrel lengths of 8, 10, and 14 inches (20, 25, and 35.5 cm), the Contender could, in the right hands, handle any type of game, and delivered rifle-like accuracy to match the XP-100.


title: Single-shot

text: Many other manufacturers make single-shot pistols, most based on the bolt-action rifle, with barrels generally ranging from 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 cm). Single-shots dominate handgun metallic silhouette shooting, and single-shots are the most common handguns used for hunting.


title: Single-shot

text: Single-shot pistols have sometimes found popularity among insurgents, resistance fighters, and street gangs. The mass-produced, low-cost Liberator pistol of World War II, which was manufactured and distributed by U.S. forces to Allied Resistance forces and Guerrilla fighters as an assassination pistol, is the most common example of a mass-produced single-shot pistol. More than a million units were produced and distributed freely and many remain in private hands. A few varieties of zip guns could also be considered single-shot pistols. In recent years these improvised firearms have become more common in the hands of criminals and insurgents, especially when manufactured firearms are difficult to acquire.


title: Single-shot

text: In 1966, Sturm, Ruger introduced their first true rifle, Ruger No. 1, which uses a falling-block action and is available in a wide selection of calibers from .22 Hornet to .458 Winchester Magnum. The No. 1 has always been sought after by shooters who appreciate the compact size of a single-shot rifle, and the falling block action cuts about four inches off the length of the rifle for a given barrel length. From 1972 to 1987, Ruger also made a less expensive version of the #1, the #3. The #3, which sold for about half the price of a #1, used a simplified, non-locking lever for the falling block action, and came with an uncheckered stock.


title: Single-shot

text: In 1985 Browning re-introduced the famous Winchester Model 1885 single-shot rifles in popular calibers but under the Browning name. Although the Winchester Single Shot gained fame under the Winchester brand name, it was John Moses Browning that designed the rifle, selling the rights to Winchester in the early 1880s. The Browning Single Shot Rifle was in production from 1985 to 2001.


title: Single-shot

text: The majority of rifles made by Cooper are single-shot bolt-action rifles. Many of their rifles are specially crafted to suit long-range varmint hunting, where the accuracy of the single-shot action is helpful.


title: Single-shot

text: One of the most common single-action rifles would be the New England Firearms' inexpensive break-open rifles, which are built on their 12 gauge break-open shotgun actions. The rifles however are made on a heat-treated steel action, and the shotgun actions are not heat-treated. Any rifle frame may accept rifle or shotgun barrels, the shotgun frames however are only safe for shotgun barrels. These were originally built by Harrington & Richardson starting in 1871. H&R was later acquired by NEF, and both are now part of the Marlin Firearms family. Rifles are sold both under the NEF and the H&R names. These rifles are quite accurate, and often less than half the price of a bolt-action rifle in the same caliber.


title: Single-shot

text: In 2005, Winchester re-marketed their legendary Model 1885 Single Shot Rifle, under their "Limited Series" category. The modern calibers of .17 were offered in a Low Wall design, and the .243 and .30-06 were of the High Wall type. The most faithful of the reproductions are the "Traditional Hunter Limited Series" Model 1885 Single Shots, as they have the original style steel crescent butt plates, and folding steel tang rear sights, with full-length octagon barrels. The Traditional Hunters are chambered in the 19th-century calibers of .45-90 BPCR, .45-70, .405, and .38-55. Test firing of some of these Winchesters showed that they are high quality in construction, using the latest technology and modern steel, they are stronger and safer than their 19th-century predecessors, and accuracy from their factory (non-custom) barrels were exceptionally good; especially at 200 yards.


title: Single-shot

text: Sharps rifles were a staple of the buffalo hunters in the late 19th century. Recently they have had a resurgence in popularity for hunting large game as well as historical firearms events and black-powder cartridge (BPCR) competitions. Much of the current popularity is due to the film Quigley Down Under that featured a Sharps Model 1874 rifle. The popularity of Cowboy action shooting has also affected the availability of single-shot rifles, with many replicas of the old black-powder rifles, particularly the Sharps, now being available.


title: Single-shot

text: The Barrett M99 is a single-shot, bolt-action, bullpup sniper rifle. It is chambered in .50 BMG, and .416 Barrett round that has 0.5 MOA accuracy at ranges that far exceed one mile.


title: Single-shot

text: The Denel NTW-20 is a bolt-action, anti-materiel, or large-caliber sniper rifle. With a buffered slide in the receiver, that the barrel can recoil inside the frame, allowing for large rounds to be fired with relative ease by the user. It is chambered for 20×82mm Mauser, 14.5×114mm, and 20×110mm Hispano-Suiza round. Specifically, it is only a single-shot when chambered to the 20mm Hispano-Suiza round, while the remaining chamberings feed from 3-round magazines.


title: Single-shot

text: The original version of Steyr HS .50 is a single-shot bolt-action sniper rifle. It is chambered in .50 BMG (or the .460 Steyr round in California) and can reach ranges from 1500 to 2500 meters.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a 2011 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries, Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity. It is a remake of "" (2001), developed by Bungie. Publisher Microsoft announced "Anniversary" alongside "Halo 4" at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo. It was released in November 2011, the 10th anniversary of the original "Halo," for the Xbox 360 console, and re-released as part of "" for the Xbox One in November 2014. A Windows version was released in March 2020.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: 343 Industries, overseers of the "Halo" franchise, approached Saber Interactive to develop a remake of "Halo" for the anniversary. Saber used its proprietary game engine to reproduce the graphics and the original "Halo" engine for gameplay. A development tool for toggling between the old and new visuals became a game feature. "Anniversary"s enhancements include a complete high-definition visual overhaul, support for cooperative and multiplayer gameplay via the Xbox Live online service, new and remastered sound effects and music, and extras such as achievements and in-game collectibles. It is the first "Halo" game to include Kinect support.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Critical reception to "Anniversary" was generally positive. The updated graphics, sounds, and ability to toggle between the remastered and original visuals were praised. Complaints included technical glitches, faults with the original game's level design, and the multiplayer implementation.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" and the original, "", are identical in gameplay and plot. The game is a first-person shooter with portions of vehicular combat taking place from a third-person perspective. The plot follows the player character and protagonist Master Chief, a supersoldier, as he fights the alien Covenant on the mysterious ancient ringworld Halo. Players are equipped with a recharging energy shield that absorbs damage; players also have health that can only be replenished by health packs scattered across the game's levels. A variety of human and alien weapons and vehicles can be used.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Players can switch between the "classic" graphics of the original game and new graphics developed for the remake by pressing the Back button on the controller. The classic and new graphics are presented in high-definition, widescreen compared to the original game's 480i resolution and aspect ratio. The remastered graphics are also available in stereoscopic 3D for compatible televisions.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Additions to the gameplay include Xbox Live achievements, online cooperative gameplay, and hidden content: video terminals that provide additional plot information, and collectible skulls that modify gameplay when activated. Support for Xbox Kinect includes voice commands for video navigation, in-combat directives, and environment-scanning, which adds on-screen items to an encyclopedia called the Library.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: The original "Combat Evolved" did not support online multiplayer, but players could play multiplayer locally via split-screen or System Link LAN. "Anniversary" adds revamped multiplayer and two-player co-op campaign support available both online via Xbox Live and offline locally. The game's multiplayer mode uses ""s engine and features seven remakes of "Combat Evolved" and "Halo 2" maps. "Anniversary" also includes a new map based on "Halo"s eponymous campaign level for , a wave-based survival multiplayer game type in which players and their allies fight enemy groups of scaling difficulty. "Anniversary" introduced artificially intelligent Firefight allies to the series.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: After fleeing the Covenant's destruction of the human world Reach, the human ship "Pillar of Autumn" makes a random slipspace jump to avoid leading the Covenant to Earth. Arriving in uncharted space, the crew of the "Autumn" discover a massive ringworld orbiting a gas giant. When the Covenant attack, "Autumn"s captain, Jacob Keyes, entrusts the ship's AI, Cortana—and her knowledge of defense deployments and the location of Earth—to the supersoldier known as the Master Chief for safekeeping. The Master Chief fights off Covenant boarding parties and leaves the "Autumn" via a lifeboat for the surface of the ringworld while Keyes directs the "Autumn" to "land" on the ring.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: On the ringworld, the Chief rallies human survivors and leads a boarding party to rescue Keyes from the Covenant's clutches. Keyes reveals that the Covenant call the ring "Halo", and they believe it is some sort of weapon. The Chief is tasked with finding Halo's control room before the Covenant does. Once Cortana is inserted into the control room, she becomes alarmed and stays behind while she sends the Master Chief to find Keyes. While searching for the captain, the Master Chief encounters the Flood, a parasitic organism that infects sentient life. The release prompts Halo's caretaker, the AI 343 Guilty Spark, to enlist the Chief's help in activating Halo's defenses. The Chief's activation of the ring from the Control Room is stopped by Cortana, who reveals that Halo's defenses do not kill Flood, but rather their food in an effort to starve them—meaning that activating the ring would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. To stop the Flood from spreading and Spark from activating the ring, Cortana devises a plan to detonate the crashed "Autumn"s engines and destroy Halo, but they will need to get Keyes’s implant to connect to the ship. But Chief and Cortana find out that Keyes has converted into the flood, Chief removes the Captain’s implant and they set on a path to the "Autumn". Fighting through Flood, Covenant, and Guilty Spark's robotic Sentinels, the Chief manually destabilizes the "Autumn"s reactors and he and Cortana narrowly escape the destruction of the ring via a Longsword fighter.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: After Microsoft acquired Bungie in 2000, Bungie developed the original "Halo: Combat Evolved" as a 2001 launch game for the Xbox. Bungie and Microsoft split in 2007, but the rights to "Halo" remained with the latter, which formed an internal division to oversee "Halo" franchise development. 343 Industries, the internal division, approached Saber Interactive with a proposal to remake "Combat Evolved" for the game's tenth anniversary. Saber's Chief Operating Officer Andrey Iones recalled that the offer was "an opportunity we [could not] miss", as Saber had never before worked on a major game franchise and many team members were fans of "Halo". Saber developed concept art to form visual ideas for the remake and then flew to Seattle, Washington, to meet with 343 Industries.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: 343 Industries wanted a complete remake of the original game by the tenth anniversary of "Halo"s release, giving Saber just over a year to complete the project. The gameplay was to remain unchanged; while the original game had imbalanced elements, 343 Industries decided to preserve the game experience players remembered while introducing young fans to the game for perhaps the first time. The visuals, meanwhile, would be updated along with added features like campaign skulls. Iones recalled that experimentation with the game was limited—redoing keyframed character animations was off-limits because redoing them could introduce gameplay bugs, and design choices like game balance had already been determined. Likewise, porting the PC version of the game back to the Xbox to add features would have constrained the amount of visual improvements Saber could make, as well as require significant time training artists to use the same production pipelines that were used for "Combat Evolved". Saber decided to use the original engine for the gameplay and its own for the visuals, despite the compatibility problems this solution presented. Development began under the codename "Spark". The game was completed and released to manufacturing ("going gold") on October 15, 2011.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: To solve the issues of transferring information from the original game's engine to the Saber engine, the developers looked at how they used the third-party Havok physics engine to handle object positioning, velocities, and collisions. Saber created a proxy of every object in the "Halo" engine to transfer into the Saber engine, meaning that the game's original programming remained unchanged. The game's ability to alternate between the legacy and remastered graphics engines in the campaign was made possible by the rendering engine developed by Saber Interactive. The technology allowed the developers to update "Halo: Combat Evolved"s visuals and preserve the original gameplay. Originally, players would have chosen which graphical presentation to play from the main menu. The in-game toggle feature quickly became a talking point among the developers, who pushed for it to be available to other players. Since the ability to switch between classic version and remastered version was provided to players, both engines work simultaneously to retain the spontaneity of game. This approach caused several problems, including collision issues—because objects and environments in the original game were of a lower resolution with fewer polygons, higher-resolution visuals in the Saber engine could deviate from the original significantly. As the original game's geometry was used as the basis for collisions, in some cases characters could appear to walk through or above terrain, weapons could drop through the ground, and bullets would appear to be deflected by nothing. The sheer number of these issues, combined with the desire to keep the original gameplay intact, forced Saber to use a variety of approaches to fix the problems, including making tools for artists to visualize height differences and creating intermediate geometry. In some cases, the artists developed other ways of keeping to the same collision data while updating the visuals by changing the actual object—turning a blocky, low-polygon rock into an angular Forerunner structure avoided the collision issues.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Where possible, the developers drew on or adapted assets from "Halo 3" and "Reach". For elements that had no analogues, Microsoft sent art director Ben Cammarano to Saber's offices in St. Petersburg, Russia, to oversee the redesign of the game's visuals. Cammarano established four tenets of Halo—what Iones termed "heroic vistas, iconic imagery and characters, clean and vibrant aesthetics, and visceral action"—to guide Saber's artists. Since the original assets already existed, concept artists took screenshots from the original game and painted over new looks to show how environmental effects, improved lighting, and new textures could change the look of the levels. Some of Saber's visual designs were considered too much of a departure from the original game—while the artists had changed the position of the Halo ringworld and nearby planets to make a more pleasing skybox, Microsoft insisted maintaining continuity with the universe was more important and vetoed the changes. Vocal fans pointed out other inconsistencies with the game's visuals in pre-release trailers and pictures that Saber ultimately changed. Iones pointed to the floor designs of the Forerunner structures, the assault rifle, and the look of the Chief as places fans had an impact. The Chief's armor was redesigned from scratch instead of porting existing assets.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Saber doubted that it would be able to convert "Combat Evolved"s split-screen cooperative play to facilitate online play. Greg Hermann, a 343 Industries technical lead who had experience with Bungie technology, assisted Saber in development of a networking solution that would allow online co-op. Since the original game would behave identically when given the same scenario and inputs, only the player inputs needed to be synchronized between players' Xbox consoles.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Because of its previous contributions to the series—"Halo 2"s Blastacular and "Halo: Reach"s Defiant map pack—Certain Affinity was approached by 343 Industries to streamline the multiplayer maps to take "Halo: Reach"s gameplay options into account. The multiplayer is powered by the "Halo: Reach" engine. 343 Industries director Frank O'Connor said that the decision to use "Reach" for the multiplayer was controversial, even within the studio. "In "Halo"s day, there was never a proper networking mode," O'Connor explained. "We couldn't roll back the technology; [recreating "Halo"s local area network multiplayer] just wouldn't have worked with things like latency and all other modern Xbox Live-related problems. So we would have had to build it from scratch, and it still wouldn't have been the experience [players] remember." An additional consideration O'Connor mentioned was that producing a full replication of "Combat Evolved"s multiplayer would have divided the "Halo" player base and interrupted "Reach"s lifespan. In choosing which seven "Halo" maps to remake, 343 Industries set a number of rules—the map could not have been previously remade for a 360-era "Halo" title, it had to work with "Reach"s gameplay sandbox, and it had to be a fan favorite. The company retained the same art director between the campaign and multiplayer elements of "Anniversary" to make sure the two halves of the game looked visually cohesive.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Since 343 Industries developed "Halo 4" concurrently with the anniversary edition, it decided to use "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" to link the original trilogy with the upcoming Reclaimer trilogy by means of in-game collectibles similar to "Halo 3"s terminals, ""s audio logs, and "Halo: Reach"s data pads. While the other games' collectibles were aimed at and enjoyed by serious "Halo" fiction fans, 343 Industries wanted to make "Anniversary"s terminals higher-budget, more impressive, and accessible to all players.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Though Iones described "Anniversary"s one-year development cycle as a "very smooth ride", some production issues that were not discovered until late in development contributed to bugs and other problems. Saber relied on a partially automated tool to render the game's cinematics, but did not do a thorough vetting of the results until after the game had reached the alpha stage of its release cycle. As a result, the developers realized that their addition of motion capture animation and lip-syncing had caused serious audio syncing issues and animation bugs.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: The developers refreshed "Combat Evolved"s music and sound effects along with its visuals. While players can toggle the original music from "Halo: Combat Evolved", the soundtrack was also re-recorded in partnership with Pyramind Studios, using the 75-piece Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and the Chanticleer vocal ensemble. Because there were no MIDI recordings of the original game's music, Paul Lipson, Lennie Moore, Tom Salta, and Brian Trifon transcribed each piece of music.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: The soundtrack was released digitally and in two physical formats: a two-disc CD edition and a vinyl record edition, the latter of which was limited to 2000 units. The vinyl edition contains 16 tracks on two sides and comes with a code to download the rest of the "Anniversary" soundtrack digitally. The compact disc edition contains thirty-nine tracks and was released on November 15, 2011.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" was announced to the public with a trailer on June 6, 2011, at Microsoft's annual E3 global media briefing, which closed with the teaser trailer for "Halo 4". Bonuses for preordering the game included a Master Chief Xbox 360 avatar costume and an exclusive Grunt Funeral skull, which toggles whether enemy Grunts explode upon death. During the Halo Universe panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, a short trailer showcasing the animation used in the terminals with a narration by 343 Guilty Spark was shown to the fans. Microsoft launched the "Halo Living Monument", consisting of a live-action short and a website, to celebrate the launch of "Combat Evolved Anniversary".


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Thirteen retail Microsoft Stores hosted launch events for "Anniversary"s November 15, 2011, midnight release; festivities included sixteen-player multiplayer matches, limited-edition giveaways, and appearances by the game developers. In the United Kingdom, Microsoft and the British video game retailer GAME held two pre-release events with the full version of the game and prizes. In another British promotion, those who purchased a special "Halo"-themed Pizza Hut pizza during a two-week promotional period surrounding the release date received two days of Xbox Live premium membership. VideoGamer.com's staff found the pizza to be delicious, but its connection to the "Halo" franchise tenuous. Microsoft and Pizza Hut would run a similar promotion the next year for "Halo 4"s release.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: As stated by tracking firm Chart-Track, "Anniversary" was the sixth best-selling game of the week across all platforms in the UK; it attained the fifteenth spot in Japan according to Media Create, while according to Amazon orders, it was the second best-selling game for the 360 platform in the same period. It was the third best-selling Xbox 360 game in North America during its first week.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: The game was re-released on the Xbox One as part of "" on November 11, 2014, with support for 1080p60 rendering.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: In March 2019, a PC version of "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" was announced as part of "Halo: Master Chief Collection" for Microsoft Windows. It was released on March 3, 2020.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" received generally positive reviews. On aggregate review website Metacritic, the game has a weighted score of 82 out of 100, based on 73 reviews from critics. On GameRankings, the game has an overall score of 81.92% based on reviews from 53 critics. The staff of "Official Xbox Magazine" praised the developers for preserving the original gameplay, avoiding "revisionist horrors" and "Star Wars" re-release moments. Brandon Justice of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" wrote for fans of the series, "["Anniversary"] is one of the best pieces of fan service our industry has ever produced, and you "need" to go buy it."


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: The remastered visuals were positively received; reviewers such as "The Inquirer"s Chris Martin and "The Escapist"s Russ Pitts singled out the graphics-switch button for praise. "The Guardian"s Steve Boxer called the feature "utterly fascinating—a bit like ... archaeology on your console", and said that the visual overhaul improved areas where the original game engine was weak, such as rendering outdoor environments. While praising most of the game's refinements, Watters singled out the Flood as enemies he thought the original game envisioned better, saying "the simplicity of the classic look feels more sinister and alien". Hamza Aziz of Destructoid appreciated the visual updates, but not some of the resulting audio–animation syncing issues.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Reviewers disagreed on how the core gameplay of "Combat Evolved", unaltered in "Anniversary", had aged over ten years. Writing for GameSpot, editor Chris Watters opined that "the fundamental mechanics of the game have ... endured well", with responsive controls and challenging enemies. "PALGN" writer Adam Guetti agreed, praising "rock solid" controls and tight gameplay, while Mike Wilcox of "The Sydney Morning Herald" argued the anniversary edition "[proves] a game with a winning formula doesn't wither with age". IGN's Steven Hopper felt that the level design was dated, the repetitious environments making it easy for players to lose their bearings, and that vehicles handled poorly. Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker wrote that while the best aspects of the game remained, other aspects—such as the level design and fighting the Flood—were no less frustrating after ten years; Digital Spy's Matthew Reynolds echoed the sentiment, praising the game for presenting situations unsurpassed in later games while faulting irregular checkpoints.


title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

text: Critics had split opinions on "Anniversary"s additional features. The stereoscopic 3D effect was alternately praised and dismissed: Matt Miller of "Game Informer" wrote that the feature "doesn't add anything to the experience", while Aziz described the feature as "fantastic", considering its use in "Anniversary" to be more subtle and pleasing than in other games. Aziz also applauded the narrative terminals, although he criticized the Kinect voice command support for being slower in combat than pressing buttons. Ben Kuchera of "Ars Technica" enjoyed the improvements of the "Halo" maps in "Anniversary"s multiplayer mode, but criticized the inability to play said mode via four-person local split screen as in the original game. Reynolds agreed with 343 Industries's choice to use "Reach" for "Anniversary"s multiplayer mode, writing that the map pack offered "a smart way of reintroducing players back into the game", as well as commending "Halo"s combat for offering an alternative to contemporary military shooters.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The Romani people are a distinct ethnic and cultural group of peoples living all across the globe, who share a family of languages and sometimes a traditional nomadic mode of life. Though their exact origins are unclear, central India is a notable point of origin. Their language shares a common origin with, and is similar to, modern-day Gujarati and Rajasthani, borrowing loan words from other languages as they migrated from India. In Europe, even though their culture has been victimized by other cultures, they have still found a way to maintain their heritage and society. Romani culture is influenced by Indian culture and European culture.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Linguistic and phonological research has traced the Roma people's origin to places in the Indian subcontinent, specifically linking Proto-Romani groups to Central India. Many report in extracts from popular literature that Romani emerged from the North-west regions of India, rather than from Central India. Features of phonological developments which emerged during the early transition stage from Old to Middle Indic prove that the history of Romani began in Central India. The Romani language shares many features with the Central Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Rajasthani; it also shares connections with Northern Indo-Aryan languages like Kashmiri, and the language itself contains a cluster of Persian and Arabic words. Linguists use these phonological similarities as well as features of phonological developments which emerged during the early transition stage from Old Sanskrit to Middle Indic Prakrit to conclude that the history of Romani began in Central India.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Other factors such as DNA and blood groups and unwritten customs also suggest Indian subcontinent origins of the Roma, possibly the main haplogroup of the Romani men (HM82), which is definitely Indian, could be explained. The Roma find issues with documenting their own exact origin due to a lack of finding specific records left by ancestors. Their history however is retold by clan family customs, such as singing and storytelling. Records cannot identify exactly why the Roma migrated from India; there are a number of possible motives, such as famine and military invasions on the part of Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) and/or Mahmud of Ghazni (971–1030 CE).


title: Romani society and culture

text: There is no 100% single origin theory that is accepted by all different Roma groups. Many legends and theories exist in the different countries where Roma live in. It varies from "Dasikane Roma (Christian)", and "Horahane Roma (Muslim)" in the Balkans, as well as by the different Roma subgroups around the World.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Many versions were put up by non-Roma, especially the version of the evangelical missionaries, that the Roma were supposedly the descendants of Indian slaves who were once taken by Mahmud Ghaznawi in the years 1000-1026 AD from his India campaign. This claim is fueled by Islamophobia.


title: Romani society and culture

text: However, this contradicts the Byzantine written mentions of Roma people who lived in Thrace in Europe already at 800-803 AD.


title: Romani society and culture

text: In Hungary there is a claim that the Roma are descendants of the untouchable, the Dalits, who came to Europe from India between 400 and 500 AD. There is a genetic study which clearly shows that Roma are genetically close to Indian untouchables or descended from Indian Dalits.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The Sinti in Germany believe that their ancestors once came to Europe as war refugees from Sindh in 711–713 AD through the Umayyads under Muhammad ibn al Qasim, while some said they are the descendants of the Sintians who live once in Sintiki in Europe.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Another legend described the Persian king Bahram V, who took musicians from India to Iran at 420–438 AD, then wandered over the silk road to Europe. Some believe the Roma are their descendants.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Some Roma groups believe they are the descendants of Indians who were brought to Europe by Alexander the Great around the year 326 BC. This legend spread widely among the Christian and Muslim Roma in North Macedonia and Greece.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The majority of the Romanlar in Turkey, on the other hand, believe that they are the descendants of the Indian servants of Cleopatra, the last queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, or the descendants of Indian traders who came to Egypt later during the Roman-Indian trade relations between 1st century AD – 2nd century AD, and lived there for several centuries, mixed with the Copts. The Copts called them ⲣⲱⲙⲁ (Roma), which means human being in Bohairic Coptic also named ⲗⲱⲙⲓ (Lomi) in Fayyumic coptic. In fact there are many archaeological artifacts found from South Indian settlers in Egypt on the Red Sea and the Nil River at Koptps (Qift), and the Roma are also mentioned in the early Coptic chronicles. Through the Arab–Byzantine wars 629–1050s AD, they came together with the Arabian warriors as sutlers, from Egypt to Anatolia in the Byzantine Empire, where they were called Athinganos (untouchables), and belonged to the Gnostic sect of the Simonians, who were named after their founder Simon Magus. In 1050 AD Roma were definitely living in Byzantium, at Sulukule the oldest Roma sedentary settlement.


title: Romani society and culture

text: An old German theory said, the Roma are the descendants of the Chingari tribe (Tschingaren), a Hindu folk, that belonged to the Chandala (Tschandala), once lived in north-west India, and moved to Europe through Egypt, and from there to Europe over Asia Minor.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The Chandala are mentioned in the post-Vedic Manusmriti text, as untouchables, originated from the union of low cast Shudra men and high cast Brahmin women.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Some Indian scholars have put forward the theory that the ancestors of the Roma left India due to the 12 year famine in the 7th century AD, due to lack of rain from Thanjavur district, mentioned in Hindu literature Periya Puranam.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Then there are some Roma groups who claim they are descendants of Ancient Egyptians (Balkan-Egyptians, descendants of the pharaohs, or Egyptian slaves who left Egypt with Moses), or Sassanid Persians (Ashkali) who came to the Balkans. Several Roma groups claim that the Roma are the descendants of the lost ten tribes of the Israelites, or Cainites. Other groups refer to ancient Sigynnae tribe, or see themselves as descendants of Atlantis, or the sunken city Dwaraka in Gujarat-India.


title: Romani society and culture

text: However genetic and linguistic studies have shown clearly the Indian subcontinent to be the country of origin. In particular the main Y-DNA haplogroup H1, as well as the main mt-DNA M5, are proof of a South Asian origin. All other haplogroups among the Roma people are also found by non-Roma, as a result for intermarriages.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The Romani people are today found across the world. Typically, Roma adopt given names that are common in the country of their residence. Seldom do modern Roma use the traditional name from their own language, such as Čingaren. Romanes is the only Indo-Aryan language that has been spoken exclusively around Europe since the Middle Ages. Speakers use many terms for their language. They generally refer to their language as "Čingari čhib" or "řomani čhib" translated as ‘the Romani language’, or "romanes", ‘in a Rom way’. The English term, Romani, has been used by scholars since the 19th Century, where previously they had used the term 'Gypsy Language'.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Marriage in Romani society underscores the importance of family and demonstrates ties between different groups, often transnationally. Traditionally an arranged marriage is highly desirable. It is custom for the parents of the groom to pay the family of the daughter. Parents of the potential bridal couple help identify an ideal partner for their child. Parents may pressure a particular spouse on their child, because it is an established norm to be married by your mid-twenties. School, church, weddings, and other events are also popular environments for finding a prospective spouse. Potential couples are expected to be supervised or chaperoned by an adult. With the emergence of both social media such as Facebook and mobile phones, and the advancing education of women, many traditional mores and conservative views have become less rigid. In some Romani groups, for example the Finnish Roma, the idea of a legally registered marriage is ignored altogether.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Marriages outside their own groups are extremely rare and often not welcomed. Christian and Muslim Roma generally do not get married. There are marriages with non-Roma Gadjo, especially Roma woman and Gadjo men. Balkan and Turkish Muslim Roma men who came to Germany as guest workers have sometimes married German women. Traditionally, the Romani community is highly patriarchal, such that issues like virginity are considered essential in unmarried women. This practice provides a visible representation of a young women's preserved purity and thereby the maintained honour of her family. As a result, men and women often marry very young.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The Romani practice of child marriage has generated substantial controversy across the world. In 2003, one of the many self-styled Romani "kings", Ilie Tortică, prohibited marriage before the parties were of legal age in their country of residence. A Romani patriarch, Florin Cioabă, ran afoul of Romanian authorities in late 2003 when he married off his youngest daughter, Ana-Maria, at the age of twelve, well below the legal marriageable age.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Bride kidnapping "(not to be confused with the romanian bride kidnapping tradition)" is believed to be a traditional part of Romani practice. Girls as young as twelve years old may be kidnapped for marriage to teenage boys. This practice has been reported in Ireland, England, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Slovakia. Bride kidnapping is thought to be a way to avoid a bride price or a means for a girl to marry a boy she wants but that her parents do not want. The tradition's normalisation of kidnapping puts young women at higher risk of becoming victims of human trafficking.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The practices of bride kidnapping and child marriage are not universally accepted throughout Romani culture. Some Romani women and men seek to eliminate such customs.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Romani mothers breastfeed their children for optimal health and increased immunity. They also view this as a gift from God, and a help to building healthy relationships between mothers and children.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Christian Roma rite, parts of the human body are considered impure: the genital organs, because they produce impure emissions, and the lower body.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Clothes for the lower body, as well as the clothes of menstruating women, are washed separately. Items used for eating are washed in a different place.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Childbirth is considered "impure" and must occur outside the dwelling place; the mother is considered "impure" for 40 days.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Death is seen as "impure" and affects the whole family of the dead, who may remain "impure" for a period after the death; usually private items of the dead are considered to be impure and are to be buried in his/her grave or given to non-Romani poor people. "Impure" is not literal but rather linked to cleanliness.


title: Romani society and culture

text: This practice of burial (rather than cremation) is also found amongst the nomadic people of Western India to this day. Notable deviations from this practice exist among German Roma and British Romanichal, the latter holding a tradition of cremation similar to that of some Hindu cultures. Up until the mid-20th century they invariably burned the deceased person and all their earthly belongings, including the dwelling place, all which was considered spiritually impure. During the latter half of the 20th century British Romanichal began adopting the burial customs of their Continental cousins. It is believed the soul of the deceased does not officially enter Heaven until after the burial.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Romani people incorporate their values into how they raise their children. There is an element of impurity placed upon both the mother and father after the mother gives birth. This impurity is lessened if the child is a male and the family is considered "lucky". Traditionally, the couple will live with the father of the groom until their first child is born. Romani people place high value on extended family so godparents, along with this other family, are active in the child's life to ensure its well-being.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The culture and tradition of Dasikane (Christian) Roma and Horahane (Muslim) Roma is very different. There is no single roma culture or tradition, it differs from country, subgroups and religion.


title: Romani society and culture

text: ' (also ', ', ', ', ', ") is a concept of Romani philosophy encompassing totality of the Romani spirit, culture, law, being a Rom, a set of Romani strains.


title: Romani society and culture

text: An ethnic Rom is considered to be a Gadjikane Roma in Romani society if the person has no Romanipen. Sometimes a Gadjo, usually an adopted child, may be considered to be a Rom if the person has Romanipen. As a concept, Romanipen has been the subject of interest to numerous academic observers. It has been hypothesized that it owes more to a framework of culture than simply an adherence to historically received rules.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Significant changes in Romani culture following the Second World War have been attributed to the suspension of these social norms, as strict rules relating to food and contact with certain classes of people broke down. This period also coincided with a perceived loss of authority invested in traditional leaders, the primary maintainers of Romanipen. Furthermore, the Roma who found themselves under Soviet control during the war, while deported to the east of the Urals and often persecuted, were generally left alone to follow their orthodox practices and thus preserved strict interpretations of Romanipen. However, the Roma who lived in other countries of eastern Europe, in the face of widespread discrimination and society's attempts at forced assimilation, often had to compromise their strict interpretation of the customs to survive. As a result, the whole concept of Romanipen became interpreted differently among various Roma groups. Muslim Roma as example considered an uncircumcised Man as impure.


title: Romani society and culture

text: A considerable punishment for a Rom is banishment from Romani society. An expelled person is considered to be "contaminated" and is shunned by other Romanis.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Travelling Roma left symbols or signposts for their traveling fellows, known as "s (an old word for leaf).


title: Romani society and culture

text: Romani Code, or "Romano Zakono", is the most important part of Romanipen. It is a set of rules for Romani life. It differes from Groups and Religions.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Though Romani ethnic groups have different sets of rules, Oral Romani cultures are most likely to adhere to the Romani code, these communities are geographically spread. There are proverbs about the Romani Code and customs, such as:


title: Romani society and culture

text: Rules of Romani Code describe relationships inside the Romani community and set limits for customs, behavior and other aspects of life.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The code can be summarised in pillars; the main pillar representing the polar ideas of "baxt" (pronounced "baht") meaning honour and "ladž" (pronounced "Ladge") meaning shame.


title: Romani society and culture

text: It is honourable, in some Romani cultures, to celebrate "baxt" by being generous and displaying your success to the public. The focus on generosity means sharing food is of great importance to some groups of Roma. Making lavish meals to share with other Romani visitors is commonplace and in some cases not having food to share is considered shameful.


title: Romani society and culture

text: While in India, the ancestors of the Romani people followed the Hindu religion. This theory is supported by the Romani word for "cross", "trushul", which is the word which describes Shiva's trident (Trishul). A Hindu foundation means that the concept of ', a universal balance, is central to the people's spirituality. ' means that all things belong in the universe according to their natural


title: Romani society and culture

text: Many branches of Christianity, like Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Church, Protestantism and in modern time several evangelical groups have been adopted by Roma. In Romani language a Christian Roma is named Dasikane, the meaning is sometimes given as a slave or servant


title: Romani society and culture

text: Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla is considered a patron saint of the Romani people in Roman Catholicism. Saint Sarah, or Kali Sara, has been revered as a patron saint in the same manner as the Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla, but a transition occurred in the 21st century, whereby Kali Sara is understood as an Indian deity brought by the refugee ancestors of the Romani people, thereby removing any Christian association. Saint Sarah is progressively being considered as "a Romani goddess, the Protectress of the Roma" and an "indisputable link with Mother India".


title: Romani society and culture

text: The holy Aunt Bibi, by orthodox Christian Roma at the Balkans, many saints and deities are like: Baba Fingo and Bababilyos two male deities, and E Gugli Sagiya a female guardian angel, Devleski Day a mother goddess, also the Ursitory.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Roma often adopt the dominant religion of their host country if a ceremony associated with a formal religious institution is necessary, such as a baptism or funeral (their particular belief systems and indigenous religion and worship remain preserved regardless of such adoption processes). Some Roma continue to practice "Shaktism", a practice with origins in India, whereby a female consort is required for the worship of a god. Adherence to this practice means that for the Romani who worship a Christian God, prayer is conducted through the Virgin Mary, or her mother, Saint Anne. Shaktism continues over 1,000 years after the people's separation from India.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Romani elders serve as spiritual leaders; there are no specific Christian Roma priests, churches, or Christian Roma scriptures, the exception being the Pentecostal Roma, most in Western society.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Within the United Kingdom, a large proportion of British Roma (40% by some estimates) are members of Light and Life, a Charismatic Pentecostal Christian movement.


title: Romani society and culture

text: It is a custom among Muslim Roma that the foreskin must be buried after Sunet Bijav, (Religious male circumcision ceremony). They believe the foreskin will come back to men in Paradise (Jannah), based a Hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari 6524: The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "You will be raised on the Day of Judgement barefooted, naked, and uncircumicized (with foreskin)." Burying the foreskin is also a tradition among Malaysian Muslims


title: Romani society and culture

text: For the Muslim Romani communities that have resided in the Balkans for centuries, often referred to as "Horahane Roma" or "Turkish Gypsies", all Muslim Roma got a Religious male circumcision, the following histories apply for religious beliefs:


title: Romani society and culture

text: In the Balkans, the Roma of North Macedonia and southern Serbia, including the disputed territory of Kosovo, have been particularly active in Islamic mystical brotherhoods (Sufism)—Muslim Roma immigrants to Western Europe and America have brought these traditions with them.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Ukraine and Russia contain Romani Muslim populations, as the families of Balkan migrants continue to live there. The descendants' ancestors settled on the Crimean peninsula during the 17th and 18th centuries, but most descendants migrated to Ukraine, southern Russia and the Povolzhie (along the Volga River). Formally, Islam is the religion that these communities align themselves with, and the people are recognized for their staunch preservation of the Romani language and identity.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Most Eastern European Roma are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Muslim. Those in Western Europe and the United States are mostly Roman Catholic or Protestant. In southern Spain, many Roma are Pentecostal, but this is a small minority that has emerged in contemporary times. In Egypt, the Roma are split into Christian and Muslim populations. For countless years, dance has been considered a religious procedure for the Egyptian Roma. In Turkey, the Romani people are Muslim and the males are circumcised, while the majority of Roma in Latin America have maintained their European religions, with most following Eastern Orthodox Christianity.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Since World War II, a growing number of Roma have embraced Evangelical movements. For the first time, Roma became ministers and created their own, autonomous churches and missionary organizations. In some countries, the majority of Roma belong to Romani churches. This unexpected change has greatly contributed to a better image of Roma in society. The work they perform is seen as more legitimate, and they have begun to obtain legal permits for commercial activities.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Evangelical Romani churches exist in every country where Roma are settled. The movement is particularly strong in France and Spain; there are more than 1,000 Romani churches (known as "Filadelfia" or simply "el culto") in Spain, with almost 100 in Madrid alone. In Germany, the most numerous group is that of Polish Roma, with their main church in Mannheim. Other important and numerous Romani assemblies are in Los Angeles, Houston, Buenos Aires, and Mexico.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Theravada Buddhism linked to the Dalit Buddhist movement of B.R. Ambedkar has spread among European Roma, particularly in Hungary, although it is still a minority.


title: Romani society and culture

text: An uniquely Roma religion, based on Romani mythology, founded after the Yugoslav Wars by Dasikane (Christian) Roma and Horahane (Muslim) Roma. The religion is amed after Devla, the word for God in Romani language.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The lăutari who perform at traditional Romanian weddings are virtually all Roma, although their music draws heavily from a vast variety of ethnic traditions—for example Romanian, Turkish, Jewish, and Slavic—as well as Romani traditions. Probably the most internationally prominent contemporary performer in the "lăutari" tradition is Taraful Haiducilor. Zdob şi Zdub, one of the most prominent rock bands in Moldova, although not Roma themselves, draw heavily on Romani music, as do Spitalul de Urgenţă in Romania.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Flamenco music and dance came from the Roma in Spain; the distinctive sound of Romani music has also strongly influenced bolero, jazz, and Cante Jondo in Europe. European-style Gypsy jazz is still widely practised among the original creators (the Romani People); one who acknowledged this artistic debt was Django Reinhardt.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Romani music is very important in Eastern European cultures such as Hungary, Russia, and Romania. Performance practices by Romani musicians have influenced European classical composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms.


title: Romani society and culture

text: The Romani language is spoken by millions of Romani people throughout the world. It is of the Indo-Aryan branch. Many Romani people can speak two or more languages. It is not considered an official language because it varies from tribe to tribe.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Each June, Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month is celebrated in London. International Romani Day is a holiday celebrated in Europe, especially in Budapest, Bulgaria, Romania and Eastern Europe, on April 8.


title: Romani society and culture

text: There exist four well-known Romani theatres in the world, Romen Theatre, Romance Theatre, Romanothan and Phralipe, and also many small theatres.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Horse meat is forbidden. Any Roma who eats horse meat is punished and banished from their tribe. Cat meat and dog meat are also forbidden and are considered unclean.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Romani tea is similar to Russian tea and stuffed cabbage is popular among the Roma. Berries, vegetables, mushrooms, hedgehog, game and fowl are favored by the Roma.


title: Romani society and culture

text: A stereotype that Romani people have psychic powers (e.g. fortune-teller) is still sometimes present, and some romantics attribute the invention of the Tarot cards to them.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Because of their nomadic lifestyle and differences in language and culture, Roma and their more settled neighbours have held each other in distrust. The popular image of Roma as tramps and thieves unfit for work contributed to their widespread persecution. This belief is often cited as the etymological source of the term "gyp", meaning to "cheat", as in "I got gypped by a con man."


title: Romani society and culture

text: There are still tensions between Roma and the majority population around them. Common complaints are that Roma steal and live off social welfare and residents often reject Romani encampments. This has led to Roma being described as "perhaps the most hated minority in Europe." In the UK, travellers (referring to both Irish Travellers and Roma) became a 2005 general election issue, with Michael Howard, the then-leader of the Conservative Party promising to review the Human Rights Act 1998. This law, which absorbs the European Convention on Human Rights into UK primary legislation, is seen by some to permit the granting of retrospective planning permission for Romani communities. Severe population pressures and the paucity of greenfield sites have led to travellers purchasing land and setting up residential settlements almost overnight, thus subverting the planning restrictions imposed on other members of the community. Travellers argued in response that thousands of retrospective planning permissions are granted in Britain in cases involving non-Romani applicants each year and that statistics showed that 90% of planning applications by Roma and travellers were initially refused by local councils, compared with a national average of 20% for other applicants, potentially disproving claims of preferential treatment favouring Roma. They also argued that the root of the problem was that many traditional stopping-places had been barricaded off and that legislation passed by the previous Conservative government had effectively criminalised their communities by removing local authorities' responsibility to provide sites, thus leaving the travellers with no option but to purchase unregistered new sites themselves.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Law enforcement agencies in the United States hold regular conferences on the Roma and similar nomadic groups.


title: Romani society and culture

text: In Denmark, there was much controversy when the city of Helsingør decided to put all Romani students in special classes in its public schools. The classes were later abandoned after it was determined that they were discriminatory and the Romani students were put back in regular classes.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Romani people avoid gadje because non-Romani are believed to be polluting and defile the Romani world.


title: Romani society and culture

text: In Eastern Europe, Roma often live in depressed squatter communities with very high unemployment, while only some are fully integrated in the society. However, in some cases—notably the Kalderash clan in Romania, who work as traditional coppersmiths—they have prospered. Although some Roma still embrace a nomadic lifestyle, most migration is actually forced, as most communities do not accept Romani settlements. However, each year in May approximately 10,000 to 15,000 Romani people go on a pilgrimage to Les-Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer in Southern France. Roma arrive in caravans for celebrations, weddings and religious ceremonies.


title: Romani society and culture

text: Many countries that were formerly part of the Eastern bloc and former Yugoslavia have substantial populations of Roma. The level of integration of Roma into society remains limited. In these countries, they usually remain on the margins of society, living in isolated, ghetto-like settlements (see Chánov). Only a small fraction of Romani children graduate from secondary schools, though numerous official efforts have been made, past and present, to compel their attendance. Roma frequently feel rejected by the state and the main population, creating another obstacle to their integration.


title: Romani society and culture

text: In the Czech Republic, 75% of Romani children are educated in schools for people with learning difficulties and 70% are unemployed, compared with a national rate of 9%. In Hungary, 44% of Romani children are in special schools, while 74% of men and 83% of women are unemployed. In Slovakia, Romani children are 28 times more likely to be sent to a special school than non-Roma, whilst Romani unemployment stands at 80%.


title: Romani society and culture

text: In 2004, Lívia Járóka and Viktória Mohácsi of Hungary became the two current Romani Members of the European Parliament. The first Romani MEP was Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia of Spain.