Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-04-13

word for paradise, and none for heaven,
but the home of the devil (beng-ipe) they
know.
The religion they profess, either for con-
venlence sake, or under compulsion, has
no real hold upon them. They embrace
the religion of the people who allow them
to settle in their midst, and call them
selves Christians" but remain in reality
heathens cherishing the traditions of the
Fire worshipers, which they seem once to
have been. The baptism of child, for in
stance, as performed by the priest, has no
real value for them till the eldest of the
clan has held the babe over large open
IRE. This is the real reception into the
community, whatever outward religion
they may profess.
OF the gypsies in Hungary there are
"A 900 orthodox, $4,000 Greek Catholics.
10000 Roman Catholics, and 9,0eo Pro-
testants of the Helvetian confession. which
answers pretty well the proportion of
creeds in the districts which tolerate them,
the Protestants being less inclined to per-
NIT them TO remain In their vicinity. The
gypsies are generally held up as bad ex-
amples of superstition, witchcrafs and
similar failings
Each of their colonies is ruled BY an
elder, who, in Hrngary, Ro9mania and
Bohemia, Is called rerddH. The elder has
the power of Furnishing, and he usually
uses the stick for more serious crimes, re-
sorting, for lesser ones, to boxing the ears
of the culprit. His authority is supreme,
and it need not be the eldest man who is
raised to the dignity of rejrddu but. in
Hungary, at least, it must be one who can
read and write. in order TO defend his peo-
pie before the authorities. The rejty,e5u
baptizes after the gypsy fashion, as already
mentioned, and, OF course, he performs the
marriage ceremony and the burial rites.
The bridal pair are married in church,
but what We should call civil marriage,
namely, the ceremony before the rejUuda.
must precede 1t for the marriage to have
validity in the eyes of the community.
This ceremony is as solemn as could be de-
sired. The parents of both bride and
bridegroom bring the young people before
the chief, who addresses them in bombastic
phrases of traditional wording, reminding
them of the duties of married life. There
upon an earthen vessel is smashed to
pieces, and great libation, in which
brandy is the principal beverage, finishes
the festival. After this ceremony the
young people, of whom the bridegroom is
seldom older than Is and the bride u are
considered duly married. As rule, the
religious ceremony follows only years alter
ward, as a concession to Christian feeling.
not as necessity for themselves.
The clanchief inficts the severcst pun
ishment, namely, the greatest number of
strokes with heavy stick, upon adulter-
ers, and he arrogates also the right of dis
solving marriages, whatever the civil or
church authorities may have against it.
Family life is very simple and, as rule,
very happy. The father is the absolute
master of his house, and where commu-
nistic ideas prevail, namely, where several
families live together, the Magistrate they
elect out of their midst has the same abso-
Lutte authority over each member of the
community. He is called the "uqjda,"
sometimes, also, the 'uncle," or the "frst
friend" and his insignia are dolman
with big silver buttons and staff with
silver knob. He, too, must be able to
read and write, and he must strictly keep
to the traditions and ceremonies of old.