Folk and village custom: magic in this belief world

Rural and household beliefs that belong to no single organised religion.

Folk and village custom is the large body of belief and practice that belongs to no organised religion: the charm against the evil eye, the cure for warts, the fairy hawthorn, the household spirit, the lucky day. It is passed within families and communities and exists in every society. This page looks at how it is kept, who keeps it, and why it is both valued and dismissed. It is also called popular religion, vernacular religion or lived religion by scholars.

Keepers and settings

Keepers are often older women, farmers, midwives, shepherds and craftsmen. Settings are the house, field, well, crossroads and church porch. European cunning folk offered help for fees and kept charms and books. In many Asian and African villages the specialist is a healer, a diviner or a spirit medium working beside religion. The same grandmother may light a candle at church, tie a thread on a child and say a charm for a burn, and see no conflict between them.

Names and labels

The same thing carries many names: the evil eye is the nazar, mal de ojo and ayin hara. Folklorists collected such customs from the nineteenth century, sometimes as relics of a vanished past and sometimes as living culture. The label folk also marks class, since the term often implies rural, poor or uneducated, a bias that modern scholars try to avoid. Where the village has a wise woman or a bone-setter, the community knows what to ask of her and what she will refuse to do.

Religion, state and reform

Churches, mosques and temples have absorbed, tolerated and condemned folk practice in turn. States have banned it as backward: Chinese campaigns against superstition in the twentieth century closed local temples and shrines, and Soviet policy targeted village healers. At times governments have turned to it as national heritage, as in revived festivals across Europe and Asia. Historians and folklorists note that it often keeps old customs alive within newer religions, such as lighting fires at midsummer within Christian saints' days.

Change and commerce

Urban life and migration thin out folk knowledge, while heritage projects and the internet gather it. Customs reappear as products, such as protective charms in shops and festival tourism. Some folk practice carries harm: village accusation of witchcraft, treatments that delay medical care, and fees charged to relieve fear. Illness needs real medical care. In places with active heritage movements, folk custom has become a source of pride, and young people record songs and cures from grandparents before they are lost.

Folk and village custom on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇨🇳 China and 2 moreXiezhi獬豸 A one-horned beast from East Asia that separates the guilty from the innocentBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

🇬🇷 Greece and 3 moreHellhound A mythological canine that guards the underworld or serves demonic forces across global folkloreBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomCŵn Annwn Spectral hounds of the Welsh otherworld that hunt souls and signal deathBeing · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreKnocker A mine spirit of Cornwall and Devon that warns of danger and plays tricks on workersBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomGwyllion Welsh spirits that lead travellers astray and are feared in mountain folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreNight hag A supernatural being believed to sit on sleepers and cause paralysisBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreNachzehrer A German revenant believed to consume the living from beyond the graveBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreChurch grim A guardian spirit of Christian churchyards, often appearing as a black dog or lamb.Being · Protection Historical

🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreLeprechaunlucharachán / leipreachán / luchorpán A solitary Irish fairy known for mischief and shoe-makingBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇮🇪 IrelandPúca A shape-shifting spirit of Celtic folklore that brings fortune or mischiefBeing · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇬🇧 United KingdomHob A small household spirit of Northern England and the Anglo-Scottish border.Being · Power and authority Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomBrowniebrùnaidh A nocturnal household spirit from Scottish folklore that performs chores in exchange for offerings.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreLikhoЛихо A Slavic spirit of bad luck and misfortune, often depicted as a one-eyed creature.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreLeshyлеший A forest spirit from Slavic folklore who guards the woods and misleads travelers.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRevenant An animated corpse or spirit that returns from the grave to haunt the livingBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇯🇵 JapanTengu天狗 Japanese mountain spirits that evolved from ominous birds into protective forest guardians.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomBarghest A mythical black dog from Northern England that foretells death and haunts the countryside.Being · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇯🇵 JapanTsukumogami付喪神 Household objects that gain a spirit after reaching their hundredth year in Japanese folklore.Being · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreRokurokubiろくろ首 A Japanese spirit with a stretching neck or a flying headBeing · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary

🇯🇵 JapanKodama木霊 A tree spirit in Japanese folklore that brings misfortune if the host tree is harmedBeing · Cursing and harm Living 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreFuath A class of malevolent water spirits in Scottish and Irish folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreVodyanoyводяной A water spirit of Slavic folklore that dwells in rivers and lakesBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇳🇴 Norway and 1 moreFossegrim A Scandinavian water spirit known for teaching fiddle music in exchange for offeringsBeing · Power and authority Legendary

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreJiangshi殭屍 A Chinese corpse said to rise and hop, feared for its strengthBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇩🇪 GermanyAlp A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇳 India and 3 moreSpirit An invisible force or soul found in many cultures, linked to gods, humans, and nature.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇬🇷 GreeceBaba Yaga (sample)Баба-яга A witch of Slavic tales who lives in a hut on legs.Figure · Change and initiation Legendary

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreBhootभूत A restless spirit of the dead in South Asian belief and folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreKallikantzarosκαλικάντζαρος A malevolent goblin that dwells underground and surfaces during the twelve days of Christmas.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomPuck A mischievous domestic sprite of English folklore known for practical jokes and household choresBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇨🇳 ChinaJin Chan金蟾 A three-legged toad charm used in feng shui to attract wealth and guard against bad luckBeing · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living

🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreZduhaćздухаћ A South Slavic belief in men who fight storms and hail to protect their cropsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇹 ItalyBadaliscBadalisch A mythical goat-headed creature from the Italian Alps, captured and mocked during Epiphany celebrations.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇮🇳 India and 1 morePichal periਪਿੱਛਲ ਪੈਰੀ A backward-footed female spirit of northwestern South Asia and Central AsiaBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 5 moreSoucouyant A shape-shifting vampire spirit of Caribbean folklore that sheds its skin to fly as a fireballBeing · Cursing and harm Living

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreRougarou A lycanthrope legend from French-speaking communities in North AmericaBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇳🇴 Norway and 1 moreTroll cat A familiar spirit in Nordic folklore blamed for stealing milk and cream from farmsBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇷🇴 Romania and 2 moreSolomonariȘolomonar A Romanian weather wizard who rides a dragon and controls the storms.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇹🇼 Taiwan and 1 moreOng Yah王爺 (Ông-iâ) Royal Lord deities of Fujian and Taiwan who tour the land, driving out diseaseBeing · Protection · Healing Living

🇺🇸 United StatesThe Gray Man A coastal ghost from South Carolina said to warn of hurricanesBeing · Protection Living 🇯🇵 JapanMisaki御先 Japanese spirit-like entities that serve gods or possess humans with illness and calamityBeing · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇵🇱 Poland and 1 moreDydko A Polish folk creature evolved from a Slavic house demon into a night-time scarecrow.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇦🇿 AzerbaijanBastyBasdı A group of evil spirits and goblins from Turkic folklore in Anatolia.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomWirry-cow A Scottish folk figure representing a frightening object or spiritBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomMadam Pigott A White Lady ghost of Shropshire who haunts roads and rides on horsesBeing Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomLoch Ness MonsterUilebheist Loch Nis A legendary lake creature from the Scottish Highlands, famous for disputed photographs and folk tales.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreEaster Bunny A German folkloric hare that judges children and delivers colored eggs for EasterBeing · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇨🇭 Switzerland and 3 moreTatzelwurm A cat-headed lizard of the Alps, said to guard mines and drink cow milk.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Bhoot: Anilbhardwajnoida, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Kallikantzaros: Katolophyromai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Jin Chan: Tristanb, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Gazu Hyakki Yagyō: Toriyama Sekien, Public domain, source
Zduhać: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Alp: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Badalisc: Luca Giarelli, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Curse: Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, source
Hellhound: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
Night hag: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Church grim: Inès Lee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Leprechaun: Unknown author, FAL, source
Púca: Wirt Sikes, Public domain, source
Hob: Jo Turner, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Brownie: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Likho: Mhapon, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Leshy: Γραφέας, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tsukumogami: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Rokurokubi: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Vodyanoy: Ivan Bilibin, Public domain, source
Fossegrim: Bjørn som tegner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Jiangshi: Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, source
Ong Yah: Suzuki1314 at Chinese Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Loch Ness Monster: StaraBlazkova at Czech Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Easter Bunny: Dr. Bernd Gross, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Tatzelwurm: Abrasax, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
Wiedergänger: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Puck: Joseph Noel Paton, Public domain, source
Rougarou: XxxJohnDoExxxx, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
The Gray Man: Phoebe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Spirit: Jastrow, Public domain, source
Xiezhi: Carty239 at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source