«The Wandering Home»: About the Funeral and Memorial Rites of the Vlach Roma of Eastern Serbia

This article is based on conversations in Serbian conducted in spring 2024 with Vesna Nikolić, a Roma woman from the village of Rgotina (Eastern Serbia, Zaječar region), concerning funerary and commemorative customs in the Timok region. The rituals and customs of the Vlachs (Serb. Vlasi), who predominantly migrated to this area in the 19th century, influenced Serbian folk tradition and, as the dialogue reveals, Roma rituals and customs. Nikolić, who, in her own words, «didn’t go to school», speaks fluently three languages: her native Romani, Serbian, and German. Her narratives emphasize the idea that her Roma family possesses a «Vlach mentality» (although she doesn't know the Vlach language), due to their long-term coexistence with the Vlachs (Romanians). The death of her eldest daughter less than a year prior makes the recorded dialectal texts partially autobiographical: responding to questions, the narrator conveys her thoughts on various ritual actions, prohibitions, prescriptions, and their motivations. Analysis of the conversation reveals that this «outsider» Roma ethnic group possesses extensive knowledge of both Serbian and Vlach rites, the latter adopted from their ancestors' wanderings through the Zaječar region. Adherence to Vlach tradition is unsurprising, as Vlach funerary and commemorative rituals are rich in prescriptions based on a developed folk mythology concerning the afterlife, the means of entering it, and ensuring a comfortable existence there – a process in which the deceased's relatives can assist from «this world». Each segment of the Romani woman's stories of her past few years reveals a specific ritual character (evidently not only Vlach, but also Roma and, in part, Serbian, perceived as its «own»). The article highlights the terminology of traditional folk culture used, which in this peripheral Serbian region differs from the commonly accepted usage.