Today Is April 8

April 8 was officially declared International Romani Day in 1990 in Serock, Poland, the site of the fourth World Romani Congress of the International Romani Union, in honor of the first major international meeting of Romani representatives, April 7-12, 1971 in Chelsfield near London.

A Romani wagon in Germany in 1935. By Bundesarchiv, Wikipedia

Romani or Gypsies are nomadic people of low-caste Indian origin, who migrated to Persia. They moved onto Europe, reaching Germany and France in the 15th century.

The name gypsy derives from the original mistaken belief that they came from Egypt. They were called Egyptians, which became corrupted to Gyptians and so to the present form.

Romani are well known for their folk music. The earliest reference to what are believed to be Gypsies as musicians was used in the mid 11th century in Constantinople.