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

🇷🇸 SerbiaBaukБаук A bear-like creature from Serbian folklore that lurks in the dark.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanAyakashi妖 Water spirits and ghost lights in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomCeffyl Dŵr A Welsh water spirit that takes the form of a horse to test or harm travellers.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇷🇴 RomaniaUriaș Giants in Romanian folklore, known by regional names and linked to landscape features.Being Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreAufhocker A German folklore spirit that leaps on travelers and weighs them down.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDames Blanches Spectral women in French folklore who demand dances or warn of dangerBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇮🇳 IndiaChedipeचेदिप A witch-vampire spirit of the Godavari region that drains men and feeds on sorrowBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreElder Mother A guardian spirit of elder trees in English and Scandinavian folkloreBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical 🇷🇴 RomaniaSântoaderi Supernatural beings in Romanian folklore known for causing illness through music and danceBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇩🇪 GermanyWitte Wiwer Subterranean spirits of Low German folklore known for music and child exchangeBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇮🇳 IndiaAsanbibiআসানবিবি A Bengali folk goddess worshipped with six sisters in southern Bengal.Being · Protection Living

🇮🇳 IndiaKadangot Makkam A North Malabar goddess who became a deity after being killed by her brothers.Being · Protection · Love and attraction Living

🇮🇹 ItalyŚuri𐌑𐌖𐌛𐉩 (Etruscan) An ancient Etruscan deity of volcanic fire, the underworld, and healingBeing · Protection · Healing Historical 🇦🇱 AlbaniaXhindi Invisible spirits in Albanian mythology that appear at night and may help or harm.Being · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Legendary

🇮🇸 IcelandGrýla A monstrous Icelandic troll associated with Christmas and the Yule LadsBeing · Cursing and harm Living 🇧🇷 BrazilLobisomem A South American shape-shifter born from family fate or sin, often linked to the full moon.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇹🇼 TaiwanLui-kong-tsiau雷公鳥 A Taiwanese thunder-creature said to summon storms from treetopsBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇻🇳 VietnamBà Chúa Xứ婆主處 A Mekong Delta goddess of prosperity, asked for trade, health and fertilityBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇯🇵 JapanYamajijii山爺 A one-eyed mountain spirit from Shikoku folklore known for its thunderous voice and unpredictable nature.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇯🇵 JapanUmi zatō海座頭 A sea yōkai depicted as a giant blind musician that threatens shipsBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇨🇳 ChinaAo鰲 A colossal sea turtle of Chinese myth whose legs support the skyBeing · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇪🇸 SpainXana A water spirit of Asturian myth who offers treasures or madness to those who hear her song.Being · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanSankai産怪 A yōkai born from a woman during childbirth if proper care is neglectedBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇭🇹 Haiti and 5 moreLoogaroo A shapeshifting vampire of Caribbean folklore, feared for its blood-drinking habits.Being · Cursing and harm Living 🇯🇵 JapanNoderabō野寺坊 A Japanese yōkai of abandoned temples and broken vowsBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 2 moreMama D'Leau A river spirit of the Caribbean islands who protects aquatic life and heals people.Being · Healing · Protection Legendary 🇵🇭 PhilippinesMandurugo A shapeshifting spirit from Philippine folklore that feeds on human bloodBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇮🇪 IrelandSleih beggey Manx fairies and little people of the Isle of ManBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇪🇬 EgyptSoul Collector A mythical figure said to gather, guide, or judge the spirits of those who have passed away.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomBiast Bhealach Odail A shapeshifting spirit of a Scottish mountain passBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanHashihime橋姫 A Japanese bridge spirit linked to jealousy and demonic transformation in folklore and Noh theatre.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMōryō魍魎 Spirits of nature and graves in East Asian folklore, often linked to corpse theft.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreBake-danuki化け狸 A shape-shifting raccoon dog spirit from Japanese folklore known for pranks and illusions.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanNyūdō-bōzu入道坊主 A Japanese yokai that grows taller when stared at and can kill or vanish depending on the responseBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇯🇵 JapanKamikiri髪切り A Japanese yōkai blamed for the sudden disappearance of human hairBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreFiredrakeognennyi zmei A European dragon myth born from sightings of shooting stars and will-o'-the-wispsBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇷🇴 RomaniaMuma Pădurii A forest spirit in Romania who protects nature and punishes those who harm itBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary

Photo credits on this page

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

Kadangot Makkam: Shagil Kannur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Śuri: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public domain, source
Grýla: Andrii Gladii, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Ao: David Jackson, CC BY-SA 2.0 uk, source
Xana: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
Aufhocker: Longbow4u, Public domain, source
Bake-danuki: Poposhka at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Kamikiri: Sawaki Suushi (佐脇嵩之, Japanese, *1707, †1772), Public domain, source
Firedrake: Ramesh Kumar R, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Bà Chúa Xứ: Phương Huy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Loogaroo: A.F.Pannemaker, Public domain, source