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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 Kingdom and 3 moreFirst-footciad-chuairt The first visitor on New Year's Day, believed to set the household's fortune for the year aheadTradition 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 2 moreCaul A birth membrane kept as a talisman for luck and protection from drowningCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreKnocking on wood A gesture of tapping wood to ward off bad luck or prevent tempting fateBelief 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreBay Laurel未维蠁谓畏 An aromatic Mediterranean plant used in cooking and as a symbol of victory and purification.Substance 路 Protection 路 Cleansing and purification Living 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 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 1 moreBrigid's crossCros Bhr铆de A woven straw charm hung for protection, named after Ireland's patron saintCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 4 moreFolk Orthodoxy薪邪褉芯写薪芯械 锌褉邪胁芯褋谢邪胁懈械 A blend of Eastern Orthodox doctrine and pre-Christian pagan beliefs in Slavic communitiesTradition 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreNumerology The belief that numbers hold hidden meanings and influence human events.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 4 moreFour-leaf clover A rare plant mutation believed to bring good luck and used as a symbol of fortune.Charm 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 7 moreSaint Andrew's Day A Christian feast day marked by national holidays in Scotland and Romania, and folk divination across Europe.Rite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyBefana An Italian witch-like figure who delivers gifts on Epiphany EveFigure 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Wonder and entertainment Living 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 4 moreWinter solstice The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked by rites of solar returnTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Living 馃嚜馃嚜 Estonia and 5 moreFern flower A mythical bloom said to bring fortune and unlock secrets, found only on midsummer night.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Love and attraction Living 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreCairn A human-made stack of stones used as a marker, memorial, or religious symbol across many cultures.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 5 moreConcealed shoes Shoes hidden in building structures as folk charms for protection and fertilityCharm 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandStatue rubbing A tourist custom of touching statues to attract luck, love, or a return visit.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Love and attraction Living 馃嚝馃嚪 France and 2 moreMelusineM茅lusine A water spirit of French and Luxembourgish lore, known for her serpent form and the castles she built.Figure 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Power and authority Legendary 馃嚫馃嚠 Slovenia and 5 moreVesna袙械褋薪邪 A Slavic personification of spring and youth, known in myth and languageFigure 路 Luck and prosperity 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 馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 1 moreS芒nzian膬 Romanian fairies and a summer solstice festival of flowers and magicBeing 路 Protection 路 Love and attraction Living 馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayTycho Brahe daysTycho Brahes-dage Scandinavian folklore dates believed to be unlucky for magic and businessBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreSailors' superstitions A global collection of omens, charms and taboos used by mariners to manage the risks of life at seaBelief 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚘馃嚥 Armenia and 5 moreSpilling water for luck A folk custom of pouring water to wish a traveler or worker a smooth journeyBelief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Protection Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomCurse of Scotland A nickname for a playing card linked to bad luck and Scottish historyBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚪馃嚫 Serbia and 3 moreBo啪i膰袘芯卸懈褯 A Slavic figure linked to the new year and spring, whose name now marks ChristmasFigure 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 GermanySuhl card reader case A 1956 East German trial of a psychic for favorable forecasts about leaving the countryBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚜馃嚫 SpainIndalo A Bronze Age pictograph used as a protective house charm and lucky symbol in Almer铆a, SpainCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 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 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomShoes on a table A superstition that placing footwear on a table invites bad luck or disrespectBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 5 moreWedding superstitions Folk beliefs and omens tied to marriage customs across many culturesBelief 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyIn bocca al lupo An Italian idiom wishing good luck by invoking danger, with a response asking for the wolf's death.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity Living

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.