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Yenish People

image located by Chrystian Kretowicz, 27 June 2010
Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Le_drapeau_yeniche_%284%29bis.jpg

About the Yeniche

See also:

European organizations and movements

About the Yenicsh people

Yéniches (in French & Waloon) / Jenische (in German, Allemanisch, Dutch) people are a distinctive ethnic minority in Central and Western Europe with own language, customs and, previously, nomadic lifestyle. They claim to be of Celtic ancestry. Their presence in Europe can be documented back to XVth Century. Most deny any links with the Rom, but on the other hand, they do associate themselves politically with the Roms and Sinti. Only the small minority follows still the nomadic way of life. They are recognized as a an ethnic minority only in Switzerland, but live in several European countries:

Germany 412,000
France 300,000
Italy 293,000
Netherlands 81,000
Hungary 60,000
Belgium 52,000
Austria 41,000
Belarus 11,000
Luxembourg 2,500

(these are their own estimates - other sources vary widely)

Predominant religion is Roman Catholic. The Jenisch language (ISO 629-3 code: yec) "is a variety of German and contains in its vocabulary a mixture of Romani, Yiddish, slang, and various German dialects"
(Wikipedia)

The quite comprehensive description of these people is presented by the German Wikipedia: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenische. The unofficial flag of Yéniches/Jenische can be seen at French Wikipedia site: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yéniches and also at http://membres.multimania.fr/yeniche/les_yeniches_en_europe.htm, http://membres.multimania.fr/yeniche/. The flag of the Swiss Jenische is available at:
http://yeniche.musicblog.fr/1005390/Association-Yenisch-Suisse.

Chrystian Kretowicz, 27 June 2010