My Big Fat New Obsession

When I say gypsy, what comes to your mind? I think of that fortune teller from Scooby Doo. I think of an old woman in a slinky clothes and clanky bangles with a crystal ball surrounded by smoke. I didn't think that "gypsies" were real. But I have learned that they are. TLC has come out with a new show called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. These people are very very different. So different, in fact, that I have been sitting on my couch watching the same episode repeat for a little over an hour. These people are called Irish Travelers. I'm assuming that they are Irish, but the episode that I have been watching is taking place in Northern Wales. They move around so much that it is impossible for any of them to stay in school. Most of them cannot read or write. The boys stay in school a little longer than the girls do because the girls are taken out of school around age 13 to focus on being housewives. They usually live in "trailers"or what I was taught to call a camper. They spend their young lives on the prowl for a spouse.. and the girls dress like fairy hookers. All the time. Everything is so extravagent. Even their infants have bejeweled pacifiers. The boys often take part in a custom called "grabbing" where you literally chase a girl, catch her, and force her to kiss you. It can get very physical from what I have noticed. The boys are allowed to start drinking when they are around 11.. and girls are not allowed to. Equality is not in their vocabulary whatsoever. I'm not even getting to the good part. When they get married (around 16... no big deal) they dress so outlandishly. Their dresses are so huge that they have their own gravitational pull. Seriously, these girls have a really hard time getting in and out of their stretch Bentley limos. Think of the biggest wedding dress you've ever seen.. and the gypsy girl's is 2 times bigger. They stack their hair up higher than the nasdaq building and they wear huge crowns to top it off. Their wedding cakes look like castles.. complete with Barbies. And Barbie horses. Do I approve of this way of life? Nope. Am I extremely intrigued? Absolutely. I love watching these people participate in the ridiculous and outlandish rituals that are their way of life.. because it adds one more bullet to the list of reasons that I am proud to be an American. And not a gypsy.