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Comment by vonwoodson | Hacker News Reader

I had an opportunity to tour Romania, and was very surprised at how unique it is there. Fore example: The houses have eyes, small false windows installed on their tin roofs, to watch their neighbors. Jealousy is rampant, and the charming Romanian folk-saying was “Let my neighbor’s goat die.” Romanians are very proud of their Roman heritage, and also their active Gypsy culture.

This is an interesting Wikipedia article. I think this area of the world and is history is generally very interesting and unique. We’re lucky today that is no longer behind The Iron Curtain and is worth a visit by and brave adventurers.

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This is an example of why one should not post claims about a country after merely "touring" it, because tourists visiting any country typically get only a vague and often mistaken sense of the local culture and history. First of all, Romanians are not “very proud of their active Gypsy culture”: the Roma minority are largely despised by the rest of Romania’s population. Secondly, Romanian pride in their Roman heritage is largely a consequence of 19th-century trends upon the rediscovery of the roots of the Romanian language, and the dacomania and francophilia that bloomed then; that pride is not something that was actually preserved down the last two millennia.

And when it comes to traditional architecture in Romania, it should be noted that the homes that are among the most celebrated today for their traditional craftsmanship are those built by the Transylvanian Saxons, i.e. neither Romanians nor Roma. I only mention this because I have seen tourists visit places in Romania and talk about Romanian this and Romanian that, when Romania is a multiethnic country and what they saw many have actually been by one of the other ethnicities.

God finally answers the prayers of a dude but says to him: “I will grant you three wishes but will give your neighbor twice what you receive”. “Alright”, man says, “I want a big house”. “Sure”, God replies, “the neighbor will get a house twice as large”. “I want five chests full of gold money”. “Done, the neighbor gets ten of them”. Man says, “Now, pluck out one of my eyes”.

> Romanians are very proud of their [...] active Gypsy culture.

As a Romanian, I regret to inform you that a lot of Romanians really don't like gipsies. This has always been the case, unfortunately.

You should probably visit a museum that has lot of different houses from different places, trying to conclude something from some houses you seen from the street is probably impossible.

Houses in my village and region do not use metal and don't have windows, and windows on the roof is a good idea because you get a lot of light in the attic, it is a lot of effort to go in the attic to spy on someone if you can do it from a window from a regular wall anyway.

> Romanians are very proud of their Roman heritage, and also their active Gypsy culture.

The Romanians I've known (personally) are always careful to draw a hard and firm distinction between Romanians and Romany (the so-called "gypsies"). Far from being proud of it, they are quite angry when they get confused.

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