and (contrary to a good deal of evidence) are morally extremely lax: they are cowards and fatalists, and take the part of craven, fool or jester in E. European anecdotes, the paltroon being always a gipsy, but not so malicious as those who endured the hardships of outlawry in the West. God to them is Devla, and devil Bang, while Trushul is cross. Their beliefs (it is said) are not peculiar but belong to the common stock of folk-lore, indeed, their stories often seem mere translations from Rumanian or Modern Greek. Their fairy stories resemble the local legends in both these countries and do not even seem to have aided in disseminating these tales, many being already known in the west long before their appearance. Their single justifiable claim (according to Gaster) is to be the inventors of playing-cards, first heard of in Nicolas of Cavellazzo's Chronicle as introduced (1379) into Viterbo from Saracen lands (i.e. Anatolia or the Balkans). As in other games or pastimes, one may safely assume that they had at first a mystical meaning or magical use. The game Tarot in French, or Taroc (in Bologna, c. 1400) directly represents the tarot des Bohémiens. They were known as Cianos to the German chronicler in 1416, an Italian form of the name which shows that they must have been there some time before the extant evidence would warrant.
Can we Trace Pagan Survivals?
16. While Gaster is contented with saying that they readily conform, if desired or forced, to the religion of their hosts, MacRitchie points out certain survivals of a primitive nature-cult, which may (or may not) be idiosyncratic and significant. At Camargue Island in S. France, the Crypt on May 25 is reserved exclusively for the gipsies, because the shrine of their patroness Sara of Egypt is there: arriving in great numbers on 22nd, they keep vigil through the night of the 24th. Their votive
