Sept 09 Essai

September 3, 2009 11:26 

 The Barcs Beash community today

 There is a strong sense of distance and an opposite sense of community between the oranges and the Muncans who speak essentially the same language.  Their self-definition is also based on this: they often define themselves relative to one another and to the other.  The Barcs believe that the term angelica was coined by the Muncsans.  They call themselves burrows, not gangrene, and they also call the Muncans a burrow.  On the other hand, women from Barnica in Alsószentmárton say that the Barcs are the Bees and they are the Sokac Gypsies.  Although the name Muncana is accepted, it is believed to have been invented by the Romanians (!).

 Although the old endogamous system of marriage relations, which can be said to be strict compared to today, has loosened today, there is still a strong sense of separation from other Gypsy groups among the Barcs.  Not only do they distinguish themselves from Romanian-speaking Muncans, but also from the Gaelic-speaking Gaelic or Colombian-speaking Gypsies, who call them Letters.

 The loosening of the old norms also characterizes the local community of the Gipsies of Barcs.  The settlement on Béke Street is still inhabited by a homogeneous Gypsy population, which, however, cannot be said to function as a community like the old Cam.  In the past, the Bees lived separately from the settlement, according to the standards of their own community.  Their own leader, the voivode, made the most important decisions affecting the community, but the opinion of the elders, respected and respected by others, also played a role.  The institution of the voivodeship disappeared in the mid-20th century.  The last voivode in Barcs was István Balogh (Goga) of the Csuga (Ciuga) genus.

 The Barcs administration made several attempts to integrate and "regulate" the Gypsy community. One of the most significant of these was the numbering of the Gypsies' huts in 1905.

 The 20th century brought about the demolition of huts and the construction of comfortable living quarters for Gypsies in every respect.  The Bees' extremely poor education rates also improved significantly from the 0% (!) Level before World War I.  However, the changes did not only have a positive effect.  The development of the manufacturing industry has diminished the need for gypsies and spoons for the Gypsies, thus reducing the power of traditional Bashi crafts and assimilating the power of the Gypsies to break up the traditional Gypsy community, abandon security practices and loosen moral standards.

 The community is still undergoing major changes.  They are getting closer to the non-Gypsy population in their way of life and values, and today they are also changing their language.  Older and middle-aged Barcs Gypsies use Hungarian as a second language besides their Bash mother tongue.  The young Bees, on the other hand, are native Hungarian speakers, and the Bees are spoken as a second language.  Many of the children understand, but no longer or only poorly speak the Bashi language.

 At the same time, the opposite is happening.  Beas intelligentsia, recognizing the significance of the changes that are happening today, try to preserve or teach the language and cultivate the culture within an organized framework.  Skillful and enthusiastic rural Gypsy people pass on the traditional beash crafts to the posterity, sometimes raising the art of wood carving and basket weaving to an artistic level.