I’m a traveller and these are the 6 things that outsiders find strange about our culture – from our washing up methods to ‘grabbing’
- Charlotte Maguire, from Peterborough, took to TikTok speak about her culture
- READ MORE: I’m a traveller and my upbringing wasn’t as strict as it is for others
A traveller has taken to TikTok to reveal things about her culture that non-travellers find ‘strange’.
Charlotte Ann Maguire, 29, from Peterborough, made a video on her TikTok account where she discussed aspects of her culture that may seem strange to non-travellers.
She often speaks about the travelling culture on her account (@charlotteann71) and has more than 55,000 followers.
Charlotte started off by saying: ‘Things that travellers and gypsies do that country people, aka non-travellers, don’t understand.
‘We’ll start with the first one. Disclaimer, I can only talk from my own experiences my own life and obviously the family and everyone I’ve been brought up by, I can’t talk for every traveller.
‘Number one is grabbing. Irish travellers grab.
Charlotte Ann Maguire, from Peterborough, has taken to TikTok to discuss aspects of her culture that may seem strange to non-travellers
‘Let me tell you this, the media made grabbing out to be something completely different to what it is.
‘They made it out like it was some sort of assault, an attack and this really bad thing because gypsy wedding, I don’t know what they’re all screaming at the top of their lungs for.
‘Don’t know what that’s all about, it’s literally just a harmless kiss, a harmless grab, most of the girls that are getting a grab, nine times out of ten know the boy is going to grab them.
‘And they’re waiting to get grabbed by them but then they start screaming and playing hard to get. It’s just so stupid but it’s mainly children that are doing this.
‘Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, I don’t even know if they still do it anymore but this is just stupid teenagers.
‘There’s nothing in it that the media says it is, it’s nothing like that whatsoever.’
Putting plastic on furniture
Charlotte then goes on to discuss the second thing, which is coating furniture in plastic.
She says: ‘We plastic our furniture. It’s to stop it from getting dirty and it’s to stop the leather breaking and getting destroyed.
‘It’s not plastic you get packages in, it’s a different kind plastic that you buy off a market.
‘It’s completely different. It’s to keep everything protected and to keep everything fresh.
‘Sometimes people plastic their kitchen as well but I don’t.’
Charlotte spoke about how travellers put plastic on their furniture so that it lasts longer and stays fresh. Picture from another video
The man usually pays for everything
Charlotte then said: ‘Paying for things. Did you know when country men and women are dating or married, they pay for things for each other.
‘And they go fifty-fifty on bills and paying for things. We don’t do that in our culture, men pay for everything, even if the woman works.
‘Regardless if the woman works, whether that be their girlfriend. It’s very rare a wife would work, but some do.
‘She still wouldn’t be paying the majority of things, the man would do that.
‘Because in our culture that’s just how it is, men pay for things.
‘Even me I work full time and things like that, but if I was married or anything like that I wouldn’t be paying the bills.
‘Nay nay, that’s his job, he’s a man. That’s our culture, that’s what we believe so that’s the way we’ve been brought up.’
Girls don’t leave home unless they are married
Charlotte said: ‘Girls don’t leave home unless they’re married.
‘You will not leave your mammy or daddy until you’re married. Don’t care how old you are, I’m 29 and I’m still at home with my mammy.
‘Girls do not leave home until they’re married.’
Washing up
In a part two video, Charlotte spoke about the difference of washing up. She said that she washes vessels, what some would call pans, in a tub rather than the sink.
She said: ‘We wash our vessels, aka washing up, in a vessel dish, we don’t use a sink, we don’t wash them straight out of a sink, we use what you would call a washing up bowl and we put bleach in it.
‘We put bleach in a tub for vessels and boiling water out of a kettle, that’s what we do.’
Charlotte spoke about the difference of washing up. She said that she washes vessels, what some would call pans, in a dish rather than the sink
Washing the floor with a cloth instead of mop
She said: ‘We wash the floor with a cloth, like a floor cloth, that’s what we wash the floor with.
‘Some use mops but it’s very rare you’ll see us use a mop because we like to around the corners .
‘If you use a mop, I don’t care. Whoever cleans cleans whatever they want to clean. We’re not gonna start the mop war over again.
‘If you want to use a mop, use a mop, there’s no right or wrong way to clean.’
She adds that this is just her personal preference and what her family do.
Charlotte then added that the bucket you use to clean the floor, you would not use for anything else.
She added that you would have a different bucket for each area of the house, each bucket is separate from each other and there is no cross-contamination.
Charlotte also said that many travellers use sunbeds and drink Red Bull frequently.
Girls usually leave school early
Charlotte said: ‘Someone mentioned in the comments that girls leave school early.
‘They do usually. Obviously they don’t need a further education because usually they’re going to be staying at home.
‘And if they do choose to go on and have a career and work, you can still do that without going to school, I did that.
‘Whatever qualifications I needed, I got whilst doing my job. It is possible.
‘School doesn’t make you clever, school doesn’t make you intelligent. I’m not saying quit school kids, but I’m saying academic stuff doesn’t always make you successful in life. ‘
TikToker users took to the comments to write things that Charlotte did not mention in her videos
People took to the comments to add things Charlotte did not mention in her videos.
One user said: ‘That we don’t wash our hands in our kitchen sink I remember seeing other people washing their hands in their kitchen sink, I was shocked to death.’
Another wrote: ‘Don’t forget the detol baths.’
A third penned: ‘If the man expected the women to pay would it be frowned upon.’
A fourth commented: ‘My husband’s culture is very similar, and he also pays for everything. I’m seriously thinking about plastic on my sofa though, great idea with kids.’
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