GIPSY MOURNERS
SIR,—As a gipsyologist Lavas much impressed by Mr. F. Brittain's account of the funeral in his article The Gipsy Queen in the Spectator of May 27th. It may interest him and your readers, however, to hear that the motive which influenced the behaviour of the dead girl's mother was not stoicism, but the profound belief of most British gipsies that tears disturb the rest of the dead. Such admonitions to mourning relatives as: "Weep not for the dead ; it is a sin," or: "Weep not, my child, thy tears scorch his [or her] soul" have been frequently recorded from the Mouths of gipsies ; and on tombstones up and down the country ihe .ROmanies always seem to have selected from the undertaker's funeral verges those which deprecate tears and lamentation. I was therefore very -surprised to learn that Mr. Brittain's gipsy mother, after the departure of the funeral-gazers, flung herself -down on-the grave "and wept and wept"!
Previous page
