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Romipen refers to the Romani culture. Romipen is the collection of all of the elements that make up a “true" Romani people. It consists of taboos, rituals, roles, conduct, dress and beliefs that unite the Romani. Through Romipen, relationships are defined, especially relationships between a man and woman, including the restrictive guidelines of conduct between Romani and gadze. A common thread in the culture is the concept of exclusionism, a keeping one's distance from outsiders (known as gadze, gadje or gaje). This was a major historic factor that led to the mainstream's attempts at “filling in the blanks" and fantasizing about the culture that the Romani “hid" from their knowledge.
The ability to survive in a hostile environment such as the Romani people have for so many centuries, has been because of their “survival through resistance" or “survivance". The Romani people have maintained their ways not only by “absolutely excluding gadje [non-Gypsies] from their private lives, their law, their personal practices, and their values, but by excluding them even from knowledge about Romani language and social institutions" (Weyrauch, ix).
The responsibility to perpetuate Romipen rests upon the mother to teach her children, her daughters-in law, and her grandchildren. In the Romani culture, it is unacceptable for a Romani girl to marry a gadje boy. Typically, a newlywed daughter-in-law will live with the groom's family until the training in wifehood and motherhood are complete. If a Romani girl marries a gadje, she will not receive the training and therefore most likely not be able to retain the Romani culture. A gadje daughter-in-law would receive training from her groom's mother, thus preserving the Romani ways, and would therefore be considered a more acceptable union (Fonseca, 49).
There are some Romani customs and beliefs that have no known origin – not even in India, such as “symbolically cutting the invisible lupunza or fetters which tie an infant's feet together to allow it to learn to walk" (Hancock, 71). On the other hand, there are distinctly Indian roots in other aspects of Romani culture. The music has Indian roots – the Romani people use the bhairava musical scale. The Romani tribunal, called a kris, has its origins with “the earlier administrative and judicial Rajput body of men called the panchakala…" (71).
It was due to lands refusing settling by Romani that kept them on the move. The survival of the groups rested upon their ability to move out of hostile territory, as was also their need for a trade or occupation that complimented the lifestyle (Hancock, 59). Also, the practice of “telling fortunes" to the gadje offered both protection and persecution. On the one side, one may be less likely to harm a person who can control the future.
In India, “fortune-telling" is an honored and respected institution. In contrast, this was considered heresy among the Christian populace in Europe (59). In Hindi and Muslim populations, to give alms to beggars is “a religious obligation", whereas in Europe and in the West it is frowned upon. To “have too many children" is looked upon by Europeans and some other nations with disgust, whereas in India and among the Romani, children are their most precious treasure. In fact, “many children much luck" (but chave but baxt in Romani) is a universal Romani saying, for the children are the perpetuation of their way of life as well as their future income-earners (Hancock, 60).
There are other simple misinterpretations of Romani culture. For example, in a hospital in San Francisco in 1995, a Romani parent was praying over his newly born daughter. A nurse overheard the prayer and thought he was a Satan worshipper because she heard the prayer addressed to Devla. Devla, in Romani, means “O God" (61). Ways the Romani say “please" are “I eat your heart"(xav tj'o ilo), or “I eat your liver" (xav tj' o buko). This manner of speaking, though the same types of expressions are found in Hungarian, caused a misinterpretation stating that the Romani people were cannibals (61).
Another simple yet problematic difference between the gadje world and the Romani world stems from the non-verbal moving of the head signaling “yes" (nodding) and “no" (shaking side to side). With the Romani, it is the opposite –to shake the head actually means “yes".
Due to fear of discrimination and persecution, it is not uncommon for a Romani to keep his identity secret (Hancock, xv).
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