lagan's nav is devi noggins is knackin
this mangan is nagin's tea
gypsy travellers have been a legally
recognised ethnic minority
since 2008 but very few in the general
public
truly know who we are scottish
travellers or
tinklers as we were once known have been
in scotland since at least
the 12th century with our own oral
history placing us
as far back as the ninth but the first
recorded gypsy
in scotland was in 1505 when in the book
of the treasurer to the king
james iv demanded a sum of seven pounds
be paid
to the egyptians later in 1540
james v would proclaim the leader of
these egyptians
johnny far of little egypt a title
that was to later become the king of the
gypsies
it wasn't just the high and mighty since
the medieval times travellers
and gypsies have played a myriad of
roles throughout scotland
we were the crafts people the ballad
singers and the pedal fishers
we also worked the land with
agricultural areas such as perfect and
angus
relying upon our nomadic workforce
travellers have been immortalized
in art and literature with our beloved
scottish bard rabbi burns even claiming
that he had
a gypsy muse and depicting travellers
within much of his poetry
and song it's been said that the bard
first heard the famous adlang zein
from the maufa traveller we've
contributed a lot to scotland's heritage
who knows the very perils on the honours
of scotland
may well have passed through the skilled
hands of a traveler
but despite the important role that our
people have played in scotland's story
we've often been pushed to the margins
and have faced persecution in the 1570s
despite living in scotland for
generations
our people were ordered to stop
travelling or to face deportation
punishment soon became death and many
travellers were tragically
hanged for the crime of following their
indigenous
way of life 1714 saw the last travellers
hanged
for being gypsies gene bailey and agnes
mcdonald
were tragically hanged at the grass
market in edinburgh but this was far
from the last example of persecution
in our story the 18th century saw a new
form of punishment
travellers from across the country were
now being forcibly deported
across the seas with some records
showing that travellers were even sent
slave plantations
in the caribbean and the americas the
19th century
brought with it new ideologies of who
should fit into society
and who shouldn't and in 1895
the authorities launched an inquiry into
what they termed
the tinker problem the inquiry heard
evidence from across the country
and the report concluded eradication is
the only
cure this statement would lead to many
travellers
being forced into segregation from
society
segregated schooling designated areas
termed tinker reserves and legislation
set removing nomadic traveling people
from the scottish landscape but by far
the most tragic impact
of this statement was felt by traveller
children
throughout the 20th century many
traveller children
were removed from their families for no
other reason
than that they had been born travellers
this trauma
remained with those children but it
continues to resonate with our community
today our connections with scotland's
landscape are forgotten by society
our ancestral stopping places blocked
with boulders and our contributions
to scotland's history are omitted but
despite it all
we are a proud people proud of our
culture and our heritage
today many of us continue to travel
scotland's roads
shifting through places sacred to our
ancestors
and passing on our culture and
traditions for a new generation
other travelers live in houses or on
permanent sites
but no matter where we choose to live we
speak our languages with pride
and we stand up for our right to belong
this leilam's mangan is nagin's tea
you