Garachi
Encyclopedia
The Garachi also spelled Karachi or Karaci, are a group of Romani people living in Azerbaijan
. Little research has been done on the Garachi, and most of what is known about them is based on the works of the 19th-century Russia
n scholars Kerope Patkanov
and Jean-Marie Chopin
.
It is noteworthy that the term Garachi is sometimes used to describe the Domari-speaking people of northern Iran
, who were previously thought to be of Romani stock. The confusion is explained by the fact that both groups live in the regions populated mostly by Azeri-speakers
who apply the word Garachi to all medieval collective migrants from the Indian subcontinent
, including the Dom. For information on the Dom of Iran, see the article under Dom people
.
word qara - "black" and the suffix -çı denoting the stem-word's function/occupation), they do not seem to share same origins with the Dom people. According to Jean-Marie Chopin, the Azerbaijani Garachi descend from the medieval Romani nomads of Central Asia
. In 1944, Vasily Yan
suggested that the Garachi of Azerbaijan and the Dom of Iran (sometimes referred to as the Garachi) differ in terms of their origins.
In 1887, Kerope Patkanov stated that the Garachi of the South Caucasus
(then part of the Russian Empire
) numbered 2,399 people living mostly in the Goychay uyezd (present-day Goychay
, Ujar
, Agsu
, and Ismayilli
rayons of Azerbaijan) and Nakhichevan
. The largest Garachi settlement was named after them and is situated around 4km southeast of Khacmaz town in Khachmaz
region.
Their main occupation was the production of household items such as baskets, sieves and chewing gum made by men and sold by women in the neighbouring towns. Among other sources of income Patkanov lists fortune-telling
and cattle larceny
. Nomadic Garachi groups used to train animals and make street song-and-dance performances. This practice was described in the famous 1913 story Garaja giz ("Nigella") by the Azeri writer Suleyman Sani Akhundov
. The Garachi claim to adhere to Shia Islam but in reality are non-religious for the most part.
, it is not mutually intelligible with any of the Romani
or Domari
dialects of the Balkans
, Russia
, or the Middle East
. In addition to it, the Garachi observed by Patkanov spoke Azeri and sometimes Tat as a second and third language respectively.
Here are four phrases in Garachi and Romani languages with translation.
, Agdash
, Gakh, Khachmaz
and Baku
suburbs numbering altogether around 2,000 people. Small communities in Shusha
and Jabrayil
were driven out by the Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nowadays the Garachi are undergoing cultural and linguistic assimilation by Azeris. Modern Garachi couples tend to have 2 to 3 children as opposed to 5 and above, as it was often the case throughout their history.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. Little research has been done on the Garachi, and most of what is known about them is based on the works of the 19th-century Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n scholars Kerope Patkanov
Kerope Patkanov
Kerope Petrovich Patkanov was an Armenian scientist-orientalist, professor of Saint Petersburg University; in 1863 he obtained the master degree for his eastern literature study ; in 1864 he obtained the doctor degree in literature for "The Study of the Composition in the Armenian language".-...
and Jean-Marie Chopin
Jean-Marie Chopin
Jean-Marie Chopin was a French-Russian explorer of the Caucasus. Son of a French sculptor and employed by Catherine II of Russia, Chopin began his career as secretary and librarian to Prince Alexander Kurakin, Russian ambassador to France...
.
It is noteworthy that the term Garachi is sometimes used to describe the Domari-speaking people of northern Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, who were previously thought to be of Romani stock. The confusion is explained by the fact that both groups live in the regions populated mostly by Azeri-speakers
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
who apply the word Garachi to all medieval collective migrants from the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, including the Dom. For information on the Dom of Iran, see the article under Dom people
Dom people
The Dom of the Middle East are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group. Some authors relate them to the Domba people of India.- Culture :...
.
Origins and history
Even though the Garachi of Azerbaijan call themselves Dom (the name Garachi was given to them by the local population and derives from the AzeriAzerbaijani language
Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran...
word qara - "black" and the suffix -çı denoting the stem-word's function/occupation), they do not seem to share same origins with the Dom people. According to Jean-Marie Chopin, the Azerbaijani Garachi descend from the medieval Romani nomads of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. In 1944, Vasily Yan
Vasily Yan
Vasily Yan. - Russian Soviet writer. Also spelled "Vassily Yan" or just "V...
suggested that the Garachi of Azerbaijan and the Dom of Iran (sometimes referred to as the Garachi) differ in terms of their origins.
In 1887, Kerope Patkanov stated that the Garachi of the South Caucasus
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...
(then part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
) numbered 2,399 people living mostly in the Goychay uyezd (present-day Goychay
Goychay
Goychay is a rayon of Azerbaijan located in the central part of the county. The region is famous for its pomegranate growing industry.-Geography:...
, Ujar
Ujar
Ujar Rayon is a rayon of Azerbaijan, situated to the south of Goycay, in the centre of the country. This region contains the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to the south of the Shirvan plain. There are 32 villages and 1 city in Ucar...
, Agsu
Agsu
-General information:According to some sources that Agsu city was founded by Nadir Shah, in 1735. The remainders of that city is situated in the south of Agsu city. The name of the city is derived from “Agsuchay” which flow through the city. City status was given to Agsu, in 1967.Agsu district was...
, and Ismayilli
Ismayilli
İsmayıllı is a city and head town of the Ismailli Rayon of Azerbaijan. Population 14,435 .- References :* – World-Gazetteer.com...
rayons of Azerbaijan) and Nakhichevan
Nakhichevan
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,363 km² and borders Armenia to the east and north, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest...
. The largest Garachi settlement was named after them and is situated around 4km southeast of Khacmaz town in Khachmaz
Khachmaz
Khachmaz is a city in Northeastern Azerbaijan's Khachmaz region. It is located about 10 km from the Caspian Sea, below Khudat, and to the east of Quba. It is located at 41-28N, 48-48E at an elevation of 27m. Khachmaz is 170 kilometres north of the capital Baku...
region.
Their main occupation was the production of household items such as baskets, sieves and chewing gum made by men and sold by women in the neighbouring towns. Among other sources of income Patkanov lists fortune-telling
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
and cattle larceny
Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...
. Nomadic Garachi groups used to train animals and make street song-and-dance performances. This practice was described in the famous 1913 story Garaja giz ("Nigella") by the Azeri writer Suleyman Sani Akhundov
Suleyman Sani Akhundov
Suleyman Sani Akhundov was an Azerbaijani playwright, journalist, children's author, and teacher...
. The Garachi claim to adhere to Shia Islam but in reality are non-religious for the most part.
Language
Patkanov's analysis of the language of the Garachi (based on 101 common phrases) indicated that despite being Indo-AryanIndo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
, it is not mutually intelligible with any of the Romani
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
or Domari
Domari language
Domari is an Indo-Aryan language, spoken by the Dom people across the Middle East, mainly in Iran and Egypt, but significant numbers of speakers are also found in India where they are known as Domba....
dialects of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, or the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. In addition to it, the Garachi observed by Patkanov spoke Azeri and sometimes Tat as a second and third language respectively.
Here are four phrases in Garachi and Romani languages with translation.
| Garachi | Romani | English translation |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Present-day
Most Garachis nowadays are settled and live in communities in YevlakhYevlakh
Yevlakh is a small city in Azerbaijan, 265 km west of capital Baku. It is surrounded by, but administratively separate from, the rayon of the same name...
, Agdash
Agdash
Agdash is a rayon in central Azerbaijan. Agdash rayon consists of Leki settlement and 72 villages. This rayon has a favorable economic and geographic location. Turyan River and Kura River along South-West border extend through the territory of the rayon. Upper Shirvan Channel also crosses Agdash...
, Gakh, Khachmaz
Khachmaz
Khachmaz is a city in Northeastern Azerbaijan's Khachmaz region. It is located about 10 km from the Caspian Sea, below Khudat, and to the east of Quba. It is located at 41-28N, 48-48E at an elevation of 27m. Khachmaz is 170 kilometres north of the capital Baku...
and Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
suburbs numbering altogether around 2,000 people. Small communities in Shusha
Shusha
Shusha , also known as Shushi is a town in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. It has been under the control of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since its capture in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
and Jabrayil
Jabrayil
Jabrayil is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The region was occupied in 1993 and has been controlled by the breakway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, as part of its Hadrut Province, since the Nagorno-Karabakh War. According to the last 1989 Soviet census, there were 49,156 people in the rayon. According to...
were driven out by the Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
Nowadays the Garachi are undergoing cultural and linguistic assimilation by Azeris. Modern Garachi couples tend to have 2 to 3 children as opposed to 5 and above, as it was often the case throughout their history.