Summary: Once people had everything they could ever want. They always had food and eternal life. One day, an old man went to an inn ran by a man and his wife. Before the old man left however, he gave the inn owner a fish and told him not to eat it, but return it to him when he came back 9 days later and he would be rewarded. Except, the inn owners wife cooked the fish only two days later, not believing the old man's tale. Right after the fish was cooked, a huge storm came and started flooding all the rivers. On the ninth day, the man came back and told the inn keeper that everyone and everything would be drowned but because he had kept his word, he would be rescued. The old man told the innkeeper to build a boat for his relatives, the animals, and the seeds of trees and herbs. The man did as he was told, and after a year of flooding, the water sank. The people now had to start to work for food and had started to catch diseases and die. Culture: The Transylvanian Gypsy originated in Europe, but is concentrated in modern day Romania. Originally the Transylvanian Gypsies (also known as Romani Gypsies) were nomadic and did not have any formal documents. Instead, they had people pass down songs and stories to younger generations. Today, some of the Romani Gypsies are still nomadic and live in trailers, but some have tried to combine with a few neighborhoods. Also, it is not uncommon for the Romani to stay in empty apartments in the poorer area of towns. Because of their history, their music as well as dances are an important practice in their culture. Romani Gypsies also wear jewelry and headdresses made with gold and coins to show how rich they are. Finally, woman are usually married around 16 to 18 years old and are often made by the family of the husband. The weddings tend to be extremely fancy and include both bride and groom's extended family's to attend. Similarities to Hebrew flood myth: *The main man must make a boat to survive a flood *The man takes his family and all animals onto the boat *The flood covers the entire earth *The flood drowned and killed all living things on the earth *The man had to build a boat all by himself Similarities to Babylonian flood myth: *The man must make a boat to survive the flood *The man must take seeds for plants as well as animals onto the boat *The flood was caused by a large storm *The man can take his family *The flood kills all living things on the planet Differences to both Babylonian and Hebrew flood myths: *Nowhere in the Transylvanian flood myth is there a god *It rained and flooded for a full year *The man was chosen to build a boat because he kept his word while the others were chosen because a god chose them. *In the Transylvanian Gypsy flood myth the people on earth are immortal before the flood unlike the Babylonian flood myth *The wife of the main man was the reason for the flood in the Transylvanian Gypsy flood myth unlike the other flood myths Archetypes: *Task (situational archetype): the man is given the task of not eating the fish *The Fall (situational archetype): the wife is killed for disobeying *The Herald (character archetypes): the old man who brought the fish *Heaven vs. Hell (symbolic archetype): they had immortality before the flood then there was death after *The Journey (situational archetype): the man must make a boat Citations: * "Transylvania." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2015. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. * "Romani (Gypsy) Cultures." Romani (Gypsy) Cultures. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. * "The Patrin Web Journal - Romani (Gypsy) Culture and History." The Patrin Web Journal - Romani (Gypsy) Culture and History. 21 Jan. 2002. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. * "Flood Stories from Around the World." Flood Stories from Around the World. 2 Sept. 2002. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. |