World Roma Festival Khamoro

Roma, or Romani, are a people who have been around throughout the centuries.  They have no country to call their own and traditionally wandered from place to place, yet they are still united.  Some call them gypsies and others have names for the Roma that are much less attractive.  Over the years and into modern times they’ve been subject to racism and discrimination the likes of which few people have been forced to suffer.  The Roma live in many places around Europe and nowadays call many countries their home, but still their culture is as misunderstood as it ever was.  In order to change things in the world, the World Roma Festival Khamoro was organized and today is a wonderful gathering of Roma people from all over Europe in one concerted effort to show the world who they really are.

World Roma Festival Khamoro is held each year in the city of Prague, starting up in late May during the last week of the month.  It’s been going on since 1999 and has the sponsorship of many important government personalities.  The organization’s chief goal in bringing the festival about is to show the essence of Roma culture and to help the Roma and Czech people to understand each other so that they can mutually benefit, with the longer-term goal of bringing that same understanding to the rest of the world.

The way the festival goes about this is through a collection of displays of the many things that make Roma culture unique.  Art displays are abundant, including many performances of dance and music, two very important Roma cultural elements.  Exhibitions of culture take place, along with fashion shows, film screenings, theater performances and workshops.  Expert seminars are put together to address such important issues as racism and intolerance and cultural integration.  And it’s all highlighted by a grand parade that shows off the Roma traditions in all their glory.

Much of the festival is put together by the Roma people and parts of it are organized by the top scholars in Roma studies.  Special care is taken to make sure an accurate representation of the culture is presented.  Enough misunderstanding has been fostered over the centuries that attention to detail is very important.

For those who really want to discover the Roma culture and wouldn’t mind taking a trip to the historic and beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic, the Roma World Festival Khamoro presents a unique opportunity to immerse one’s self in their traditions.  If it sounds like something that interests you, you can check out the Khamoro Home Page for more information about the when and where of it, as well as what else to expect.  With any luck, the festival may eventually do what it has set out to do and the stigma surrounding the Roma can be shrugged off with a new grasp of understanding.

Image courtesy of Jialiang Gao