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Boyash or Bayash (endonym: Bȯjáṡ, Romanian: Băieși, Hungarian: Beás, Slovak language: Bojáš, Serbo-Croatian: Banjaši, Bojaši) are a Romani people ethnic group living in Romania, Moldova, southern Hungary, northern Croatia, northern Serbia, Slovakia, the Balkans, but also in the Americas. Alternative names are Rudari ( Ludari), Lingurari and Zlătari.
At the end of the 16th century the Boyash started migrating towards the south, in Wallachia, and the east, in Moldavia, where they were held as slaves together with other Romani groups (until the slavery was abolished in 1855–56).
Another name for the Boyash, Rudari, comes from the Slavic languages ruda ("metal", "ore"). As the mines became inefficient, the Boyash people were forced to readjust by earning their living making wood food utensil ( Lingurari means "spoon-makers" in Romanian; also cf. Serbian language ruda, Hungarian rúd, Romanian rudă meaning "relative", but also "rod, pole, stick"). The nickname Kashtale ("wood-workers") was also given to them by the Romani-speaking Roma and it has remained in Romani as a more general word for a Rom who does not speak Romani. After the point at which they began to make wood tools they scattered themselves in isolated communities. The consequence of this is that nowadays they speak a distinct archaic dialect of Romanian, with borrowings from other surrounding languages.
In 1993, about 14,000 of the 280,000 recorded Hungarian Roma were Boyash.
In Croatia, the Boyash are settled in several small communities along the Hungarian border in the regions of Međimurje, the Podravina, Slavonija and Baranja region with an overflow of settlers living in the Apatin county of Vojvodina, Serbia. 2005 saw the Boyash language of Croatia published in its own alphabet for the first time in the Catholic Catechism, published by the HBK Glas Koncila in Zagreb. In 2007, the first Bible—a children's Bible—was published by OM EAST in Austria and facilitated by The Romani Bible Union.
For the same ethnic group in Hungary and Croatia the terms Beyash and Bayash (Bajaši) are now officially used. The ethnonym Banyash ("miner") in Serbia is known only among the group settled in Bačka region, living along the river Danube, near the border with Croatia and Hungary. This term is only sporadically understood, and not used among some other Banyash groups in the Serbian Banat region, e.g. the village of Uljma.
They are also known by many appellations based on trades; in addition to Rudari/Ludari ("miners", from Serbian and Bulgarian ruda "ore, metal") they are known as Kopanari ("cradle-makers", from Serbian and Bulgarian kopanja "wooden box"), Koritari ("trough-makers"), Lingurara ("spoon-makers", cf. Romanian lingură "spoon") and Ursari (cf. Romanian urs "bear") or Mechkara ("bear-trainers").
During the last few years there have been several attempts on behalf of local non-governmental organizations in East Bačka region to introduce optional classes in Romanian. According to 2004 field research data, only two such projects are still going on there: optional classes in Romanian in the village of Vajska, and kindergarten in the local Ardeal dialect in Bački Monoštor, attended by 20 pupils altogether.
Notes
Bibliography
Studies about Boyash Gypsies in Hungary Studies about Boyash Gypsies in Hungary book Google Books Zsuzsanna Bódi - 1997
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