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A vardo (also Romani wag(g)on, Gypsy wagon, living wagon, caravan, van and house-on-wheels) is a four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle traditionally used by travelling Romanichal as their home.[1]: 89–90, 168 [2]: 138 The name vardo is a Romani term believed to have originated from the Ossetic wærdon meaning cart or carriage.[3] It is pulled by a single horse in shafts, sometimes with a second horse (called a sider or sideliner) hitched on its right side outside the shafts to help pull heavier loads or assist in pulling up a hill.[1]: 89–90, 168 [4]: 20 The vehicle is typically highly decorated, intricately carved, brightly painted, and even gilded. The Romanichal tradition of the vardo is seen as a high cultural point of both artistic design and a masterpiece of woodcrafter's art.[5][page needed]
The heyday of the caravan lasted for roughly 70 years, from the mid-nineteenth century through the first two decades of the twentieth century. Not used for year-round living today, they are shown at the cultural gatherings held throughout the year, the best known of which is Appleby Horse Fair in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland in Cumbria, North West England.[6]
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walrond79was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cheung, Johnny (2007). Etymological dictionary of the Iranian verb. Leiden Indo-European etymological dictionary series. Leiden: Brill. pp. 423–425. ISBN 978-90-04-15496-4. OCLC 71747954.
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Thorburnwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Appleby Horse Fair". Appleby Fair Strategic Group. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.