I see this:
And I don’t think “oooh, a tasty treat”…
I think:
I have a new obsession. Gypsy Brides. Inspired by the new TLC program ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’. It’s like a terrible accident; it’s gruesome and horrible, but you can’t look away from this train wreck-of-a-culture. In short, Gypsies are travelers that rarely stay in one place for very long. Their social norms are very regimented and strict and straight out of the 18th century.
Young girls are taken out of school at 11-12 to clean their family caravans (motor homes), they are uneducated and illiterate and are often responsible for rearing their mothers’ younger children. It is a young girls’ only aspiration to get married and raise a family. They do so around the age of 16, and if they are not married by the time they are 21 or 22, they are like our current-age spinster, bringing shame to their families.
It is completely unacceptable for girls and boys to mingle, so the girls have to dress as provocatively as possible to attract a mate. He shows his interest in her by ‘grabbing’ her (which is violently dragging her into some dark corner and punching, pinching or pulling her hair until she agrees to kiss him). Despite their looks, girls must remain completely chaste until marriage, less they be disgraced by their community. They can’t go out without their parents, they can’t drink, or party or talk to boys; but MAN can they dance! Girls have been known to say that they don’t expect to be doctors or lawyers because they are meant to be housewives and their big achievement in life will be their big elaborate weddings.
Girls compete by having the biggest, most flamboyant (and often tacky) wedding dresses and wedding cakes. I think of these uneducated 16 and 17 year old girls getting hitched and imagine that they are like 6 year olds. Imagine the wedding dress designed by your little grade 1 relative and how silly and tacky and childish it is. Imagine butterflies and hearts and taffeta and make it PINK! That is what these girls do.
People from outside the gypsy community are almost never invited, but there is an open invitation to all gypsies. Unmarried girls use weddings and social events to show off their bodies and dancing skills. The problem with this culture is that girls are so repressed. They can’t work or socialize or have an educated. They clean their trailers and pop out babies at 16 years. They say more than half of marriages in the gypsy community are riddled with domestic abuse and divorce is almost unheard of because these girls have nothing if they left their men. This is happening today, in the 21st CENTURY!
In any case, I find it sick and fascinating. And even if it is every little girl’s fantasy to look like Cinderella on her wedding day, most of us have the sense to keep that dream where it belongs; in the midnight hours! However, I WILL commission pictures of any friends that want to be Gypsy brides:
So in conclusion, I am going to leave you with some thoughts and feelings-
Something I am Angry about:
My car got broken into AGAIN! I filed a police report and called my property manager to move my parking spot to a more exposed area, but that doesn't change the fact that it is going to cost me a fortune to fix!
Something I am Looking Forward to:
Our cottages are almost complete! Soon we will have a new Bunkie that can sleep six and Stuart's cottage construction should be complete by mid-July.
Something that is Frustrating me:
I am learning some new positions at work, but I am finding it difficult to balance my old and new responsibilities while we are short staffed. In light of my new tasks, I was also denied vacation because now I am considered backup for other departments and only one person can be off at a time from each one. Boo!
Thanks, that is all for now loyal blog-readers!
