Feast and Forgive: A few sacred customs of the Romani New Year

...and the legacy of the limping saint Bango Vasil

Pepi’s nephew Sotir, with his wife and family, on New Year’s Eve

You can tell a lot about a culture by what it chooses to celebrate.

The Romani don’t celebrate military victories, conquests, or territorial expansions. They don’t have any, because they never lusted for any in their 1,000+ years of history.

But they don’t formally celebrate their actual achievements, either. They don’t proclaim loudly what they have contributed to the world. They don’t have a celebration for their unparalleled music, their unparalleled craftsmanship, or any of the innumerable ways they have influenced Middle Eastern, Balkan, and European cultures.

What they do celebrate, in the two main holidays that mainstream culture recognizes as “Romani holidays” is new life, renewal, and saints who have rescued them. The biggest Roma holiday, Ederlezi, on May 6th. And the Roma New Year, Vasilitza, on January 14th.