International Roma Day is celebrated on April 8
The celebration of the International Roma Day on April 8 was declared at the IV World Romani Congress, which was held in 1990 in the town of Serock, near Warsaw (Poland).
The holiday was established in honorof the First World Romani Congress (7-12 April 1971) in Orpington, near London, England, partly funded by the World Council of Churches and the Government of India. It was attended by 23 representatives from nine countries (Czechoslovakia, Finland, Norway, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Spain and Yugoslavia) and observers from Belgium, Canada, India and the United States.
According to the results of this meeting, the Roma were recognized as a single non-territorial nation.
The symbols were adopted: the flag and the national anthem.
Flag in the form of an upper blue stripe and a lower green one, with a red chakra in the center with 16 spokes. This national emblem of the Roma people was not new, as its prototype was the green and blue flag from the 1933 conference of the General Romani Association of Romania, decorated with a red chakra with sixteen spokes.
The anthem was adopted on the basis of the song "Gelem, gelem" (by Zharko Jovanovych).
Congress participants decided to use the word "Roma" instead of the words "gypsies", "tsigani" and other popular variants in official documents and mass media. This influenced the change of name of the International Gypsy Committee, founded in 1965, which was renamed the International Roma Committee (Komiteto Lumniako Romano).
Five subcommittees were established for the study:
1) social issues,
2) education,
3) war crimes,
4) language,
5) culture.
The First World Roma Congress is an important event in the history of the Roma people. And the holiday established in its honor aims at the self-identification of the Roma ethnic group as a single people. In addition, drawing the public's attention to the original Roma culture, the history of this people, its language rich in dialects. Overcoming the problems of discrimination and other challenges Roma face. Creation of conditions for successful integration of Roma in society.
6 апр 2023
