Mercedes Echerer

The Secret of Rozsanéni
an evening by and with Mercedes Echerer

"When the cat sneaks to steal the moon
and someone tells you their half-formed dreams, then listen closely."

So goes the advice of Rozsanéni. Rozsanéni, Hungarian for Aunt Rosa,
was already a significant part of our family before my arrival on Earth, but she was not a relative.
She would come, stay for several months, and at some point, she just stopped coming...
This very round woman, ancient, always dressed in black,
had an almost inexhaustible repertoire of songs,
and one could truly cry on her bosom.
Especially in matters of heartbreak.
She answered my childish questions with infinite patience.
But there was one question I was never to ask her.
About such things, adults commonly believed, one does not speak.
I sensed it, but I did not know that Rozsanéni was a Romni.
If I was not supposed to talk about it as a little girl,
I wanted to do so now, sat down, and began to jot down my memories.
To approach the stranger in its originality,
I intertwined historical facts with personal experiences, memories, and questions.
The occasion to use these notes for my new program ARRIVEDERCI ROMA
was the 30th anniversary of the recognition of Roma and Sinti as an ethnic group in Austria.