In her video work Balkan Erotic Epic, performance artist Marina Abramovic narrates a series of Balkan folk traditions tied to sexuality and fertility. In one, a woman seeking a man’s love is instructed to place a small fish inside her vagina overnight. By morning, once the fish has died, she grinds it into a powder, mixes it into his coffee, and serves it to him. The belief states that if he drinks it, he will never leave her.

This is one of many rituals related to the Vlachs of Eastern Serbia and the surrounding borders. The Vlachs, an ethnic minority, have largely assimilated into other cultures like Serbian, but preserved their alphabet-less language and whimsical folklore across generations. Their spiritual practices combine Orthodox Christianity with pre-Christian pagan beliefs, incorporating both black (bad) and white (good) magic, as well as fantastical rituals marking life’s key transitions such as birth, adulthood, sexual maturity, and death.

Eastern Serbia feels like a place suspended in mystery, where magic’s wisdom is sought out and protected