patrins - from the Romanes word for leaf
This week I asked Mummy if she had ever used Patrins. She didn’t know what I was talking about!
She asked me to spell it, so I did.
Then she asked me to say what patrins was. I explained that you find patrins to solve mysteries.
She asked me where I heard it and I told her it was in a Famous Five book by Enid Blyton.
Mummy still didn’t know and thought I had spelled it wrong. I knew I hadn’t.
When we got home I showed her the book and she read through the chapter. She STILL hadn’t heard of it!
I thought Mummy knew everything!
She said it sounded like a track of clues like Hanzel and Gretel leave behind themselves on the way to the house, but we could investigate, like Mystery solvers and see what we could find.
We found it hard to discover much, but it looks like Patrins is a collection of links that creates a story or forms a picture. Not really a story or a picture you can see or read, but one in your mind that helps you figure things out. A bit like a map or your sixth sense.
It is from the Romanes word for ‘leaf’ and patrins are markers are used by travelling Roma to tell others of directions or to share news. So maybe they are like Mother nature’s version of books and the internet or like flags used for SOS signals.
We found some information on a website about Romany Gypsies. I would like to be a gypsy.
Maybe someone else can tell me more about Patrins and we can see if Mummy has it right.
I told Mummy I hadn’t been doing much school work recently and she answered ‘You learn all the time Verona, you don’t need to sit at a desk to learn. Have a think through all the new things you have learned today.’
Well I guess I know a bit about Patrins and I don’t expect many people do! Also, I learned that if I scrape my elbow against the garage door it hurts. I learned that we can grow nice lettuces in the greenhouse; better than the ones outside and that slugs like kale - a lot. And I learned that when you press flowers, the colours look completely different when you take them out.
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Do you know i think i remember that famous five story from when i was your age. Is it the one where the gypsy’s leave the leaf, stone and twig messages for the others to follow? I think your understanding of Patrins is right, it certainly makes sense, although i googled it and it is very hard to find information about isn’t it?
I don’t think you need to worry about how much work you have been doing, it looks to me like you are really learning a lot - your mum is definitely right about that.
Hello September, you have a brilliant way to remember. You’re right about the book. Thank you for your nice comment and I hope you and Hannah are having a good time in the sunshine.
Hello Verona.
This is a really interesting piece of research. In which Famous Five story is the idea of patrins used?
It is very hard to track the information but you seem to have the right idea about this very interesting gypsy custom.
I have discovered this information. It comes from a book called The World for Sale by Gilbert Parker. I don’t think it’s a children’s book. I found the quotation on a site called http://www.manybooks.net
“The patrin is the clue which Gipsies leave behind them on the road they go, that other Gipsies who travel in it may know they have gone before. It may be a piece of string, a thread of wool, a twig, or in the dust the ancient cross of the Romany, which preceded the Christian cross and belonged to the Assyrian or Phoenician world. The invocation that no patrins shall mark the road of a Romany is to make him an outcast, and for the Ry of Rys to utter the curse is sentence of death upon a Romany, for thenceforward every hand of his race is against him, free to do him harm.”
I shall be very interested to see if anyone else can add to what we have discovered so far.
I love following clues like this, don’t you?
what an interesting piece of news, Grandma. I’ll be sure to follow it if I need any help on patrins again.
Look forward to seeing you soon,
Verona x