At the border between cultures : The Xoraxaj of Dobrudja

   

Dobrudja , the oldest historic province of Romania has fascinated generation with its exotic flavor and enigmatic history , having a troubled past  , often being the scene of wars or falling in the hands of neighboring states , it managed in the XIX century to develop a stable local economy which was followed by a increase of population . 

  The biggest paradox about this province is that even though its the first romanian province where life emerged and where the first human settlements were founded , many chapters of its history remain even today a mystery , school books don't pay  to much attention to dobrudjan and many times any at all . 

   Having a important strategic position , Dobrudja was most of the times a corridor for migrating groups and for those who practiced commerce both by land and sea.The history of the province is integrated in a wider perspective in to  history of the Balkans , events such as the spread of byzantine and Christianity later Islam , the expansion and fall of the Byzantine Empire and the century old dominance of the Ottoman Empire created a tight links between the various groups and nations of the Balkans. 

    Do to the historic context that often involved frequent border changes and dislocation of entire groups , Dobrudja's ethnic map had a very dynamic evolution , the groups we see today found this land as a refuge or ideal for developing commercial activities. A  interesting group that inhabits this land since the age of the ottomans are the muslim rromas , also called xoraxaj (horahai , horahane) or turkish gypsies (tigani turci) , historical sources tell use that their history in Dobrudja and in other regions of the Balkans coincides with the assimilation of the territory in to the Ottoman Empire. The xoraxaj are a branch of the rromas that can be found in any region of the Balkans were there are compact muslim communities , their language is a variation of rromani with a significant influence from turkish.  

   They often call them self "turks" - in this context the word dosen't necessary describe the ethnic group but rather the islamic religion , this is do to the fact that Islam was brought in the Balkans by the turks , in a historical  and cultural perspective the notion of turkishness and Islam overlap - even though the turkish communities dosen't relate to them.  In the case of the xoraxaj , Islam has a tradition based role for them rather then being interpreted in a doctrinal perspective.

   Islam in this case plays the role of a bridge that connects the muslim rroma to the turkish world , do to the historic environment in which they evolved , the members of this communities are multilingual , having the capacity to speak more then two languages . The xoraxaj of Dobrudja often knowing turkish , rromani and romanian  , in other cases they can have only turkish as their native language or speak a mixture of tukish and rromani . 

    In Dobrudja the most compact communities are found in Babadag , Constanta , Mangalia and Medgidia , each of this cities also having a significant turkish population . A interesting thing that can be noted in their case is the way in which they are distributed in the cities and towns in which they live , most often preferring to stay separated from rromas of christian faith , settling nearby the areas were other muslims live. 

    The traditional costume assimilated many turkish elements , such as : harem pants , long head coverings and a more neutral color scheme. Records about the daily lives of this communities were made by a number of historians and travelers ,  Ion Adam (photographer) and Nicolae Tonitza (painter) made a series of photos and paintings in which a couple of figures , mostly feminine , from the turkish gypsy communities were shown . 

   Do to their cultural development , which was conditioned by their links to the turkish culture , the xoraxaj often find them self  in a identity  crisis , having members of the community which identify as turkish and other that identify as rroma. 

  There is a greater amount of members that identify as turkish do to the discrimination and stigma asociated with the rroma community. Even so the xoraxaj face the majority of problems that are related to other rroma groups , such as low education or the lack of , unemployment  and segregation . 

   Many xoraxaj today practice forms of commerce and have small family businesses like sellling carpets and clothes , many xoraxaj women are ambulant clothes sellers , walking through the streets trying to sell clothes and textiles. We can conclude that the xoraxaj are a distinctive branch of the rromas that even though their very close ties with the turks managed over the course of time to form and preserve a distinctive identity within the rroma community and a border identity with the turks.