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

🇹🇷 Turkey and 5 moreEvil eye A curse caused by an envious look and the charms used to block itBelief · Protection · Cursing and harm Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreConcealed shoes Shoes hidden in building structures as folk charms for protection and fertilityCharm · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 4 moreLady MiddayPoludnitsa A Slavic noon spirit who watches over fields and punishes those who work during the hottest hours.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreSt John's Eve A Christian vigil marked by bonfires and plant gathering on the summer solstice eveRite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇬🇧 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 · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living

🇮🇳 India and 5 moreSnake worship Veneration of serpents as divine or ancestral beings across global culturesTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇷🇺 Russia and 4 moreFolk Orthodoxyнародное православие A blend of Eastern Orthodox doctrine and pre-Christian pagan beliefs in Slavic communitiesTradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇨🇳 China and 4 moreKitchen God灶君 The Chinese hearth deity who reports domestic conduct to the Jade EmperorBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreWitchcraft in Latin AmericaBrujería A syncretic blend of Indigenous, African, and European magical practices across Latin AmericaTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreCairn A human-made stack of stones used as a marker, memorial, or religious symbol across many cultures.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreBagua八卦 A set of eight trigram symbols from China used in divination, cosmology, and feng shui.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living

🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreBay Laurelδάφνη An aromatic Mediterranean plant used in cooking and as a symbol of victory and purification.Substance · Protection · Cleansing and purification Living

🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreRainmaking Efforts to induce rain through technology, ritual, or prayer.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇩🇪 Germany and 7 moreWalpurgis NightWalpurgisnacht A spring vigil marking the eve of Saint Walpurga's feast day with bonfires and student festivalsRite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇸🇳 Senegal and 5 morePentagramπεντάγραμμον A five-pointed star figure used across history for protection, ritual, and cosmologyCharm · Protection · Binding and oaths Living

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreAncestor veneration in China中國傳統宗法性宗教 Rites for dead kin who are thought to watch over the familyTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreSanta MuerteNuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte A female skeletal folk saint in Mexico and the Americas, worshipped for protection, healing, and safe passage.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇺🇦 Ukraine and 5 moreMugwortчорнобиль (chornóbyl') An aromatic herb used in folk medicine, cooking, and magical protection across Eurasia.Substance · Protection · Healing Living 🇬🇧 United KingdomEvil eye bead (sample)Nazar boncuğu A blue glass bead hung to turn aside envy.Charm · Protection Living

🇹🇼 TaiwanKuai Kuai culture乖乖文化 A Taiwanese custom of placing obedient snacks on machines to ensure smooth operationBelief · Protection Living

🇮🇪 IrelandStatue rubbing A tourist custom of touching statues to attract luck, love, or a return visit.Belief · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Living 🇦🇺 Australia and 2 moreTheatrical superstitions Beliefs and rituals among actors to avoid bad luck and ward off spiritsBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreKōshin庚申信仰 A Japanese folk belief involving vigils to prevent internal spirits from reporting human deeds to heavenBelief · Protection · Healing Living 🇯🇵 JapanYakudoshi厄年 Traditional Japanese ages believed to bring bad luck and the rituals used to ward them offBelief · Protection Living

🇸🇪 Sweden and 1 moreTroll crosstrollkors A carved or bent iron sigil used in Sweden and Norway to ward off harmful magic and creatures.Charm · Protection Revived

🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreDrude A Germanic nightmare spirit and the pentagram charm used to keep it outBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇨🇭 SwitzerlandSegen A German term for blessing, charm, or spell rooted in Christian and folk traditions.Belief · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Kuai Kuai culture: 總統府, CC BY 2.0, source
European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Bagua: TarcísioTS at Portuguese Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Bay Laurel: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us, source
Rainmaking: George Catlin, Public domain, source
Walpurgis Night: Luis Ricardo Falero, Public domain, source
Pentagram: Tomruen, Attribution, source
Statue rubbing: Matthias Rosenkranz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Ancestor veneration in China: Three huntings, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Santa Muerte: Not home, Public domain, source
Mugwort: Prahlad balaji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Drude: Ramessos, Public domain, source
Concealed shoes: Edmund Patrick, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Lady Midday: Віщун, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
St John's Eve: Jules Breton, Public domain, source
Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Saint Andrew's Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
Troll cross: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Snake worship: Alexandermcnabb, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Folk Orthodoxy: Лобачев Владимир, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Cairn: Andrew Bossi, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Evil eye: FocalPoint, CC BY-SA 3.0, source