Will they still be dancing? (1982)

Chapter Two
THE VAMPIRE IS STILL ALIVE:
WALLACHIAN LABOUR MIGRANTS
FROM NORTHEASTERN SERBIA
"The future path through future ambushes is a continuation of the old path by which the
survivors from the past have come. ... It is by following a path, created and maintained by
generations ofwalking feet, that some ofthe dangers a/the surroundingforests or mountains
or marshes may be avoided. H
John Berger 2
The year is 1983. The place is an immigrant suburb i Denmark. The time is
almost midnight. Milorad is in the process of putting together the annual
report for the meeting of the Wallachian Association. Suddenly, there is a
knock at the window. As soon as he raises his weary eyes from the membership
list, he realizes that what he had feared has indeed occurred. His deceased
mother is hovering outside the window in her white burial attire, muttering
with a distant voice: "Why have you left me?" Trembling, Milorad rushes into
the bedroom, and buries himself between his wife and son, both sleeping
peacefully.
The next day Milorad pays a visit to baba (grandmother/old woman) Jana.'
Despite his studies in Belgrade, he realizes that even the educated cannot
escape vampires:
"The first time my mother came was while I was reading Karen Horney's book 'The
Neurotic Modern Man'. I also paid a visit to the doctor, but he said, "surely you don't
believe in that nonsense". I tried to put it out of mind, but I couldn't sleep at nights. My
wife and especially my son also became afraid. The boy refused to sleep alone. Now we're
all sleeping together. At the club, in fact, they even asked me if my mother hadn't come.
They knew before me that she might come ... I had gone against my mother and married
Zlatka, who was a simple girl and not good enough for me according to Mama. Then later,
when I moved from my mother's house to bring peace to the family,4 my mother condemned
me. Her struggle for my education became 'throwing pearls to swine', now that I
had married below my status and had left her. People knew that my mother was strong and
that her judgement was a hard burden to bear. They knew that she might return ..."
Baba Jana is the only one that can help. She is a wise woman-a "vraj" (wall.)
who can bring vampires to rest in their graves so that they leave the living
alone.' With a twig of basil, incense from harpins from the sacred mount,
garlic, a knife, eggs, flour and many other contrivances, Jana can bring the
vampire (moroj in Wallachian) to meet the hand of God at the door and
envelope the house with the "web of life" . Most important is for the living to
really show great sorrow and pain after the departure of the deceased, "so that
the whole village can hear them". The memory ofthe deceased that is invoked
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