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Christian myth of the “Wandering Jew” and “Wandering Gypsy”
This is not "Torah" study, but an investigation into the role of a Gypsy legend in the history of antiziganism and by-the-by of antisemitism.
There is a well known story of the Gypsy blacksmith and the 4 nails of the crucifixion.
The legend of the Gypsy making the nails for the crucifixion (traced back to the 12th century in the Greek Islands) appears to have been created as a way to attack and condemn Gypsies.
In one ballad:
There is a well known story of the Gypsy blacksmith and the 4 nails of the crucifixion.
A number of versions exist but it goes something like this:
In the gypsy versions, it says that the blacksmith was addressed by God in a dream, where he was told to make four nails, but only hand over three, as the fourth was intended to pierce the heart of Jesus. (or in other versions that the gypsy stole the 4th nail intended for the crucifixion). The proof of this is that in all crucifixes but a single nail is used to pierce Jesus’ feet. In return, the legend goes, God gave his descendants the right to wander where they would on God’s earth and also the right to steal from non-Romanies without breaking the 7th of the Ten Commandments "Thou shalt not steal" once in their lifetime.
That seems unfortunate in that it reinforces the negative stereotype of gypsies stealing. But maybe that was a useful twist, or maybe it made the tale more convincing to non-Gypsies by playing to their stereotypes of Gypsies.
That seems unfortunate in that it reinforces the negative stereotype of gypsies stealing. But maybe that was a useful twist, or maybe it made the tale more convincing to non-Gypsies by playing to their stereotypes of Gypsies.
However there’s a story behind the story
The legend of the Gypsy making the nails for the crucifixion (traced back to the 12th century in the Greek Islands) appears to have been created as a way to attack and condemn Gypsies.
In one ballad:
'Chant du Vendredi Saint,' this plaint of Our Lady:
'Our Lady was in a grotto
And made her prayer.
She hears rolling of thunder,
She sees lightnings,
She hears a great noise.
She goes to the window:
She sees the heaven all black
And the stars veiled:
The bright moon was bathed in blood.
She looks to right, she looks to left:
She perceives St. John;
She sees John coming
In tears and dejection:
He holds a handkerchief spotted with blood.
"Good-day, John. Wherefore
These tears and this dejection?
Has thy Master beaten thee,
Or hast thou lost the Psalter?"
"The Master has not beaten me,
And I have not lost the Psalter.
I have no mouth to tell it thee,
Nor tongue to speak to thee:
And thine heart will be unable to hear me.
These miserable Jews have arrested my Master,
They have arrested him like a thief,
And they are leading him away like a murderer."
Our Lady, when she heard it,
Fell and swooned.
They sprinkle her from a pitcher of water,
From three bottles of musk,
And from four bottles of rose-water,
Until she comes to herself.
When she was come to herself, she says,
"All you who love Christ and adore him,
Come with me to find him,
Before they kill him,
And before they nail him,
And before they put him to death.
Let Martha, Magdalene, and Mary come,
And the mother of the Forerunner."
These words were still on her lips,
Lo! five thousand marching in front,
And four thousand following after.
They take the road, the path of the Jews.
No one went near the Jews except the unhappy mother.
The path led them in front of the door of a nail-maker.
She finds the nail-maker with his children,
The nail-maker with his wife.
"Good-day, workman, what art making there?"
"The Jews have ordered nails of me;
They have ordered four of me;
But I, I am making them five."
"Tell me, tell me, workman,
What they will do with them."
"They will put two nails in his feet,
Two others in his hands;
And the other, the sharpest,
Will pierce his lung."
Our Lady, when she heard it,
Fell and swooned.
They sprinkle her from a pitcher of water
From three bottles of musk,
And from four bottles of rose;
Until she comes to herself.
When she had come to herself, she says:
"Be accursed, O Tziganes!
May there never be a cinder in your forges,
May there never be bread on your bread-pans,
Nor buttons to your shirts!"
They take the road,' etc.
And made her prayer.
She hears rolling of thunder,
She sees lightnings,
She hears a great noise.
She goes to the window:
She sees the heaven all black
And the stars veiled:
The bright moon was bathed in blood.
She looks to right, she looks to left:
She perceives St. John;
She sees John coming
In tears and dejection:
He holds a handkerchief spotted with blood.
"Good-day, John. Wherefore
These tears and this dejection?
Has thy Master beaten thee,
Or hast thou lost the Psalter?"
"The Master has not beaten me,
And I have not lost the Psalter.
I have no mouth to tell it thee,
Nor tongue to speak to thee:
And thine heart will be unable to hear me.
These miserable Jews have arrested my Master,
They have arrested him like a thief,
And they are leading him away like a murderer."
Our Lady, when she heard it,
Fell and swooned.
They sprinkle her from a pitcher of water,
From three bottles of musk,
And from four bottles of rose-water,
Until she comes to herself.
When she was come to herself, she says,
"All you who love Christ and adore him,
Come with me to find him,
Before they kill him,
And before they nail him,
And before they put him to death.
Let Martha, Magdalene, and Mary come,
And the mother of the Forerunner."
These words were still on her lips,
Lo! five thousand marching in front,
And four thousand following after.
They take the road, the path of the Jews.
No one went near the Jews except the unhappy mother.
The path led them in front of the door of a nail-maker.
She finds the nail-maker with his children,
The nail-maker with his wife.
"Good-day, workman, what art making there?"
"The Jews have ordered nails of me;
They have ordered four of me;
But I, I am making them five."
"Tell me, tell me, workman,
What they will do with them."
"They will put two nails in his feet,
Two others in his hands;
And the other, the sharpest,
Will pierce his lung."
Our Lady, when she heard it,
Fell and swooned.
They sprinkle her from a pitcher of water
From three bottles of musk,
And from four bottles of rose;
Until she comes to herself.
When she had come to herself, she says:
"Be accursed, O Tziganes!
May there never be a cinder in your forges,
May there never be bread on your bread-pans,
Nor buttons to your shirts!"
They take the road,' etc.
So in their attempts to explain why Jews and Gypsies were persecuted, impoverished, had no land and went from place to place, Christians did not identify their own role in persecution of the landless strangers in their midst, instead they sought theological explanations that blamed both Jews and Gypsies for a supposed historical sin, thus justifying why they should be “cursed to wander the Earth”
- and by doing so gave reasons to perpetuated the persecution.
Thus the story behind the Gypsy story first given is that it is apparently a counter-attempt to turn the Christian anti-ziganist libel into a positive mark of honour for Gypsies.
See https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/roma/gft/gft021.htm
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See also the "Wandering Jew" legend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_Jew
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See also the "Wandering Jew" legend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_Jew