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EveryJaadu

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 AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindTraditionRiteCharmOracleSubstanceBeingFigureTextIllusionBelief
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
OccasionWeddings and betrothalFestivalsBirth and childhoodDeath and remembranceHarvest, farming and weatherNew yearInitiation and coming of ageIllness and misfortuneJourneys and voyagesEveryday use
StandingLivingRevivedFadingHistoricalLegendaryPerformed
OrderBest knownA to ZNewestLiving first
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreWill-o'-the-wisp A ghostly light in folklore that guides or misleads travellers over marshes and bogs.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚭馃嚘 Ukraine and 5 moreMugwort褔芯褉薪芯斜懈谢褜 (chorn贸byl') An aromatic herb used in folk medicine, cooking, and magical protection across Eurasia.Substance 路 Protection 路 Healing Living 馃嚫馃嚜 Sweden and 2 moreGermanic seeressv谦lva Diviners and sorceresses of early Germanic and Norse societyTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Revived 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 4 moreLady MiddayPoludnitsa A Slavic noon spirit who watches over fields and punishes those who work during the hottest hours.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomBarghest A mythical black dog from Northern England that foretells death and haunts the countryside.Being 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Legendary 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyWitches of Benevento A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 3 moreChangeling A substitute left by supernatural beings in place of a stolen human child or adultBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Legendary 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomBlack Shuck A ghostly black dog from East Anglia folklore, often seen as a death omen or a terrifying apparition.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 5 moreVampire folklore Global legends of blood-drinking spirits and undead revenantsBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreAradia A figure of Italian folklore and modern pagan witchcraft, seen as a teacher of magic and liberation.Figure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Revived 馃嚨馃嚬 Portugal and 5 moreCocoCoca A monster used to frighten children into obedience across the Iberian world and Latin America.Figure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Binding and oaths Living 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 5 moreFig sign A hand gesture used to ward off the evil eye or as an insult in many culturesBelief 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 5 moreWild Hunt A spectral chase across Europe led by a mythic figure and ghostly riders.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚝馃嚪 France and 3 moreWitches' Sabbath A legendary gathering of witches described in early modern trial records and folkloreBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomSt Mark's Eve An English folk custom to witness omens of death and future marriage on the eve of a saint's feast dayRite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚜馃嚫 Spain and 6 moreBurning of Judas An Easter rite where an effigy of the betrayer is destroyed by fire or other meansRite 路 Cursing and harm 路 Cleansing and purification Living 馃嚪馃嚭 RussiaBlack magic Magic used for evil or selfish purposes, and the beliefs surrounding itBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 5 moreEuropean witchcraft Historical beliefs in harmful magic and the resulting trials across EuropeBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief 路 Healing 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚟馃嚭 HungaryCurse of TuranTur谩ni 谩tok A Hungarian belief that a historic spell causes national misfortune and personal despairBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 1 moreUnclean force薪械褔懈褋褌褜 A Slavic term for evil spirits and the undead that inhabit the natural worldBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceWitchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome Ancient beliefs and practices of magic, curses, and love charms in the Mediterranean worldTradition 路 Cursing and harm 路 Love and attraction Historical 馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 2 moreStrix蟽蟿蟻委尉 A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 4 moreFiery serpents芯谐薪械薪薪褘泄 蟹屑械泄 A pan-Slavic spirit of fire and wind, seen as a demon or a household helperBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceGello螕蔚位位蠋 A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚝馃嚪 France and 1 moreDusios A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLantern man A ghost light of the English fens said to lure victims into the marshesBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreSwan maiden A folk motif where a man steals a bird-woman's feather cloak to force marriage.Figure 路 Love and attraction 路 Cursing and harm Legendary 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceMagonia A cloud realm of aerial sailors blamed for hail and stolen grain in medieval EuropeBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceTempestarii Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreDrude A Germanic nightmare spirit and the pentagram charm used to keep it outBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandDeath coachc贸iste bodhar A spectral carriage that signals an unavoidable death in European folkloreBelief 路 Cursing and harm Legendary 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomChained Oak A Staffordshire oak bound in chains by a local legend of a curse and an earl.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreMaternal impression A discredited theory that a mother's shock or thoughts can mark her unborn childBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚪馃嚫 Serbia and 1 moreVampire pumpkins and watermelons A Balkan folk tale about ground fruit that turns into vampires.Belief 路 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.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven entries you may not know, what is on the calendar this week, and one rite drawn step by step.