Romanistan
The authors of Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling present: Romanistan! Do you love rebels? Do you want to live in a place where outcasts shine their brightest? Welcome to Romanistan! We're your friendly neighborhood Gypsies, celebrating Romani identity and outcast culture, and practicing good diplomatic relations with other marginalized communities.
We love the rebels who are living their truth, even if it clashes with tradition. We also love tradition and honoring our roots. This podcast is for everyone who loves and supports Roma & related groups, and anyone who feels like a misfit and wants to uplift others to create a beautiful community.
We feature pioneers in culture, fashion, art, literature, music, activism, cuisine, and everything good. We adore the intersections of gender, sexuality, spirituality, ability, and identity. We cover all topics, from the difficult to the glorious. Let's sit crooked and talk straight.
Hosted by Paulina Stevens and Jezmina Von Thiele. We reclaim the slur Gypsy, but if you aren’t Romani, we prefer you don't use it. xoxo.
P.S. The Romani people are a diasporic ethnic group originally from northwest India, circa the 10th century. Now, Roma live all over the globe, and due to centuries of oppression, slavery, genocide, and other atrocities, Roma are still fighting for basic human rights. We seek to raise awareness of who Roma are, and highlight Romani resilience, creativity, & culture.
Romanistan
14: Surviving the Holidays
In this cozy episode, Paulina and Jess discuss the holiday season. The holidays can be tough, and we discuss why that is, and offer a little advice from the tarot for navigating the season. We also offer a brief history of Winter Solstice celebrations in Europe, and how they became the foundation for many Christmas traditions you may be familiar with today. Shout out to Irish Pagan author and expert Lora O'Brien. We touch on how Thanksgiving in the US is a day of mourning for many Indigenous folks, and why it's important to learn the true history of the holiday, and how you can be an ally to Indigenous people. We recommend you listen to All My Relations podcast, Buy Native, support movements like Landback and No More Stolen Sisters, learn about the land you occupy if you're a settler with tools like the Native Land app, and learn what you can about Indigenous people, territory, traditions, and issues so you can be informed and supportive.
Thank you for listening to Romanistan podcast.
You can find us on Instagram @romanistanpodcast, and on Facebook under the same name, and on Twitter @romanistanpod
We started a Ko-fi fundraiser to help us expand. Our goal is to release 2 episodes a month, create video content, like an advice column and other treats, and we would also like to register as a nonprofit so we can produce content by other Romani & Sinti creators. We are hoping to cover production costs, like paying for our hosting site, website, editing and producing, and all the rest. We would love it if you could contribute and spread the word. The link, Ko-fi.com/romanistan, is in our bio on Instagram, and will be in the show notes
Please rate, review, and subscribe. It helps us so much.
If you would like to advertise with us, email us at romanistanpodcast@gmail.com. We offer sliding-scale for Romani, Sinti & related businesses, so reach out!
You can find Jess on Instagram @jezmina.vonthiele, and you can find Jess’ vintage and curiosities shop Evil Eye Edit on Instagram @evileyeedit & Etsy.
You can find Paulina Verminski on Instagram @_paulina_v_ and at https://romaniholistic.com/. Follow Paulina’s store, Romani Holistic, in Corona Del Mar, CA, on Instagram @romaniholistic
Romanistan is hosted by Jessica Reidy and Paulina Verminski
Conceived of by Paulina Verminski
Edited by Carlo Patrão
With Music by Viktor Pachas
And Artwork by Elijah Vardo