This contribution aims to discuss selected manifestations of magical thinking in the Roma communities in Brno, which have not been mapped so far. These are mainly manifestations of magic that are aimed at harming individuals. Objectives: The present article focuses on understanding how and to what extent magical practices are still used in the environment of Brno's Slovak and Hungarian Roma communities. One of the aims was to take note of the memories of those respondents about the magical practices they had encountered in the past and the related occult practices performed by Romani people in earlier times.
Methods: The paper relies mainly on the collection of material obtained during field research carried out in and in Brno. The primary research method was field interviews and the research focused on the environment of the sub-ethnic groups servika and ungrika Roma.
The interviews were conducted in Czech. The type of interview was chosen depending on the nature of the informants and whether they agreed to be recorded. In some cases, semi-structured interviews were used and audio recordings were always made.
It was difficult to achieve complete privacy in the research and in most cases, the interviews were conducted collectively. In only two cases were we completely alone with the respondents. In addition to interviews, the participant observation method was also used. Conclusion: The signs of magical thinking are present or not are summarised.
Although it appears that magical practices are still abundantly represented in the majority, in comparison with the Slovak-Romani environment we can see their gradual disappearance. A significant factor in keeping these practices alive is by maintaining active contact with their relatives from Slovakia.
