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My mother’s family did not quit looking for me the entire time and finally the British soldiers found me since the British were ruling Palestine at that time. My father was an Egyptian from Tanta and my mother was Palestinian. My grandmother told me when they found me, the gypsy woman was crying loudly and begging them not to take me from her. I was wearing a long gypsy dress with hand-embroidered designs and my hair was braided with coins and beads in it. I can’t remember any of this at all, but I do remember the second time my father kidnapped me at the age of seven.
I was in a Catholic school run by nuns at the time. It was in Jerusalem, about ten minutes from Telaviv. I was walking with the girls side-by-side, hand-in-hand while only 5 nuns were watching over 100 girls. I saw a man come close to me. He took me by the hand, put me in a cab and they drove away as fast as they could before the nuns could get close to me. I remember we drove for a very long, long time. We stopped for food and drinks twice before we reached camp in the late evening hours. It was another Gypsy camp. My father was a trader of merchandise where he met and came to know many gypsies. In Egypt they call the Gypsy tribes Gawasy, in Palestine they call them Nawar and in other Middle Eastern countries they call them Gajar.
My father lost his bakery business after the separation from my mother when he became a trader in merchandise. My father left me with the Nawar and he begged them to take care of me. He kissed me on both cheeks and told me he would be back for me. In the meantime, I stayed with a family that had 4 girls and 2 sons. Some were my age. We used to play together and sleep on a mattress down on the floor. There were no cushions, beds or chairs. In the night the tent turned into 4 bedrooms by draping it with the large fancy material in 4 places, then we opened up our mattresses and it became a bedroom. In the morning we raised the material up and it became a large living room. On the floor there were carpets which the Nawar braided by hand and they layed sheep skin rugs and pillows on top of the carpets. In the morning everyone helped each other by putting things in place while the young girls milked the goats, and fed the animals which included chickens, dogs and cats. The women were in charge of cooking and starting the wood fire. They bathed their babies and all of their clothes were washed by hand. In their spare time they would weave wool, sew things by hand or embroider.
There were many tents close to each other and everybody knew each other by name. The men went into town to trade the things which the women had made for food or cash. The Gypsies often moved from place to place to get away from the rain. When they got ready to move, everyone of us were in charge of packing. Everything was moved by donkeys, horses, mules and camels.
Everyday after dinner everyone relaxed in front of their tents which were all very close to each other. The men gathered together and smoked their pipes and talked of their daily adventures in town as they drank turkish coffee and made an open fire. The women also gathered in front of their tents and played drums, flutes, kanoons and ouds while the Gypsies danced in Gypsy movements and sang Gypsy songs. The movements they danced were the most beautiful movements in dance that I had ever seen in my life. I learned their eye and hand movements and found that they had meanings and told stories. Sometimes 2 women would dance together, a woman would sing the song like a story teller and the dancer would do her movements to match the words. I watched them every night and I learned a great deal from them. The other young girls and I used to dance and imitate the great Gypsies. I learned the real authentic Middle Eastern tribal movements and songs from them. In fact, I used some of their songs in Jordan when I became famous and whoever imitated these movements from my dancing would become very much in demand for parties, etc.
I also witnessed several Gypsy weddings. They usually used Henna to tattoo the bride on the eve of her wedding. The tattooing with Henna before the wedding has a deep meaning and the tattoo differs with each wedding. After the wedding, all of the young girls have to tattoo their hands before they can touch the brides clothes so they can transfer it to her future tent.
The night before the wedding all the women give the bride her last bath so they can wash the Henna powder from her body and they braid her hair with beads and coins. The next day the groom’s family takes all of their camels over to the brides tent to transfer her and her family to the groom’s tent so the wedding can begin. There would be lots of crying and screaming from the bride’s side because they were taking her away. All of the young girls would dress in their best embroidered white robes, including me, and our hair was also braided with coins and beads. This is in hopes that a young boy might find his future bride that day.
From the brides tent to the grooms tent everyone who is not riding the camels would walk behind them slowly singing and dancing in Gypsy style. The groom’s family usually supplied the bride’s clothes from A to Z and her gold, tattoo, etc. The groom’s family also paid the cost for the bride to her father and her family in cash, camels, sheeps, goats or whatever they could afford. The groom’s family would also kill sheeps and cook them for all the guests. The wedding would continue until dark and in the meantime the groom would take his bride to the tent. Everybody would continue singing, dancing, eating and talking. Later on, the groom would come out with a white cloth stained with blood. All the women from her family would do the Zaghareet because that meant she was a pure virgin. Later everybody congratulated each other and went home to their tents.
When I was living with the Gypsies, it was tradition for other tribes to pass through from town to other tribes. They would stop for water, food and rest with their camels. They would unload the heavy weight from their back and rest all night and they would leave the next day. Usually, they respected eah other without knowing one another. They might need them some day, to pass through the other side and they would want to be treated right by them.
One day 2 Gypsy women were passing our site with their camels coming from town. They needed to rest over night. They unloaded their camels and were invited inside the tent. They both looked to be in their thirties. I remember one of them had a mole under her eye and she had large beautiful eyes with tatoos on her forehead and her chin and hands. She was fairly beautiful. It caught my eyes because she kept looking at me. She asked the Gypsies, “This girl has no tattoos on her face, why is she different?” They told her, “We cannot put tattoos on her face. She is entrusted to us by her father. We are keeping her here for him because he is our friend.” “What is her father’s name?” she asked. They told her my father’s name. We were eating dinner at that time down on the floor from a wooden tray. We were eating with our hands. I remember very well. We were eating sheep meat with rice and homemade yogurt. She asked, “What’s your name?” I told her my name was Jodette. She looked at my left cheek to see if I had a mole near my ear. She said, “Oh my God!” She asked me if I would show her my right leg and told me to turn around. As I did she shrieked, “There is another large mole there!” She told the Gypsy women that she was the girl who nursed me for 2 years until they took me away from her. She asked me if I remembered her and I said no. She came close to me and hugged me tight. “You have a brother by milk,” she said. One day I will bring him for you to meet each other. She was crying and she asked me many questions and we talked for a long time after dinner. She also told the Gypsies how the police found me and all the details. As usual, after dinner we gathered together in front of the tent and played music and danced. They called her name and asked her to get up and dance. “Helwa, please dance!” She stood up and held her long sleeves and she waived them right and left and I was reminded that each tribe dances a little different than the others. Then she took her turbin from her head and she untied her long braided hair and dropped her head forward and swung it to the right and then to the left and around and around. Her hair was very long, thick and jet black. She pushed her bust up and down at the same time as she took her steps with hip movements. I liked it so much that immediately I was imitating her. She took my hand and danced with me and then the other women and children danced with us until we all got tired.
In the morning it was time for her and her friend to load the camels. The Gypsies gave them plenty of water and she walked close to me and said, “Would you like to come with me?” I said, “I can’t because my father would not be able to find me if I leave.” She had a silver band of Fatima with blue beads on a safety pin and she took it and pinned it on my chest. “This will keep you safe, I’ve got another one inside my robe,” she said. She hugged me tight and kissed me on both of my cheeks as tears streamed from her eyes. I was sad but it did not move me at all at that time. Yes I was sad to know that this woman who had cared for me and stayed very close to me for 2 days and a night was leaving and I might never see her again, but that is all I felt then. She told everyone good-bye and I watched her leave for the last time. Both women rode off on their camels. Somehow I did have feelings about her kindness but they kept going until they got far out of sight. I finally turned around and went into the tent.
For many, many years I couldn’t talk about it, but in Cairo, Egypt the Kawabeb Magazine wanted to know how the real tribes dressed, danced and lived. I replied to the ad and showed them some of the genuine costumes that I collected when I was only 17 years old. It had been kept a secret inside of me for so long and it was good to share it finally. They were fascinated with the clothes and had me model them for their famous magazine. I showed them how they danced and I even appeared in two black and white movies where the stars were supposed to play tribes.
I stayed with the Gypsies for 3 years and I think my father felt sorry for me
because I was missing an education, so he came back and voluntarily returned me to my mother’s family after the police failed to find me. All the Gypsies were crying when my time came to leave. All the children in my age group were very sad. Again, I was wearing Gypsy clothes and my hair was long and braided with beads and coins. My Grandmother said I was dirty, but all I remember is that we never were abused or even yelled at, the Gypsies were always happy and loved to dance and celebrate. It was just as important as working to play when the day ended. We left and I never saw the Gypsies again. All these years I have never forgotten my happy time with them. That was the best and the happiest times of my life. Except for the time I spent with my Prince and my beloved grandmother. But those are different stories!
--Jodette
For more photos, Click Here and see all of the beautiful authentic costumes of the 40's and 50's from Bethlehem, Egypt, Lebanon and More. You will see so much nostalgia that it will make you homesick for the Middle East, whether you are from there or not!
I hope you enjoyed my story and photos of my time spent with the Gypsies. They are wonderful people and I feel lucky to have been a part of their lives. They say I have Gypsy in my Blood because I was nursed by a Gypsy woman and you know...I think they are right!!
Soon you will be able to see the tribute of my Idol, Tahia Karooka, as I share my story of the days I worked with her and all that I learned from her. She was an awesome lady and I will miss her, may she rest in Peace.
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