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

🇫🇷 France and 3 moreWitches' Sabbath A legendary gathering of witches described in early modern trial records and folkloreBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptCurse of the pharaohs A belief that disturbing ancient Egyptian tombs brings illness or death to the living.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇪 IrelandFetch A spectral double of a living person, seen as an omen of death or long life.Being · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomCornish mythology The folk tales and legends of Cornwall, shared with Brittany and Wales.Tradition · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreNecromancy A form of divination that seeks to speak with the dead for hidden knowledge.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreWild Hunt A spectral chase across Europe led by a mythic figure and ghostly riders.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 JapanKitsunebi狐火 Atmospheric ghost lights in Japanese folklore, often linked to foxes and natural phenomena.Belief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreDaniel Dunglas Home A Scottish physical medium known for levitation and spirit communication during the Victorian era.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment 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

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 5 moreWitch hunt A campaign to find and punish people accused of using magic for harmBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWill-o'-the-wisp A ghostly light in folklore that guides or misleads travellers over marshes and bogs.Belief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇷🇴 Romania and 5 moreVampire folklore Global legends of blood-drinking spirits and undead revenantsBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLuoshu Square洛書 An ancient Chinese three-by-three magic square linked to geomancy and numerologyTradition · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreNumerology The belief that numbers hold hidden meanings and influence human events.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇪🇪 Estonia and 5 moreSoul dualism A belief that a person contains two or more distinct kinds of soulsBelief · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇮🇹 ItalyWitches of Benevento A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇳🇱 Netherlands and 3 morePig-faced women A European legend of a woman with the face of a pig, and the charms used to break her curseFigure · Change and initiation Historical

🇷🇺 RussiaBlack magic Magic used for evil or selfish purposes, and the beliefs surrounding itBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaAstrometeorology A historical belief that celestial positions forecast weather and climateBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreUnclean forceнечисть A Slavic term for evil spirits and the undead that inhabit the natural worldBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇧🇷 BrazilThe Hairy LegPerna cabeluda A Brazilian urban legend of a detached leg that attacks people at nightFigure · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇳 India and 3 moreAstrology A divinatory practice that links celestial positions to human affairs and earthly eventsTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇴 Romania and 2 moreStrixστρίξ A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreFairy Queen A female ruler of fairies found in folklore, literature, and witchcraft trials across Europe.Figure · Power and authority Historical

🇯🇵 JapanAosaginohi青鷺火 A Japanese will-o'-the-wisp attributed to the glowing flight of herons at nightBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceGelloΓελλώ A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDusios A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇹 ItalyScrofa semilanuta A legendary sow seen in a dream that became the ancient emblem of Milan.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMaternal impression A discredited theory that a mother's shock or thoughts can mark her unborn childBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomCurse of Scotland A nickname for a playing card linked to bad luck and Scottish historyBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreBožićБожић A Slavic figure linked to the new year and spring, whose name now marks ChristmasFigure · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇨🇳 ChinaChinese sorcery scares A series of moral panics in Imperial China driven by fears of magical harm and hair cuttingBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomLantern man A ghost light of the English fens said to lure victims into the marshesBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBaskerville effect A theory that superstition about unlucky numbers causes heart attacks through stressBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇿 AlgeriaTassili Mushroom Figure Neolithic cave art in Algeria interpreted by some as depicting psychedelic mushroom use.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇯🇵 JapanKamikiri髪切り A Japanese yōkai blamed for the sudden disappearance of human hairBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇫🇷 FranceMagonia A cloud realm of aerial sailors blamed for hail and stolen grain in medieval EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreSun cross A cross inside a circle found in prehistoric art and modern political symbolsBelief · Power and authority Historical 🇯🇵 JapanShiranui不知火 Atmospheric ghost lights of the Yatsushiro and Ariake Seas in JapanBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceAstrology and astronomy Two disciplines that shared a history before splitting into science and divinationTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomThe Cheltenham Ghost A late nineteenth century English haunting investigated by the Society for Psychical ResearchBelief Historical 🇯🇵 Japan and 3 moreThoughtography念写 A claimed psychic ability to imprint mental images directly onto photographic film.Belief · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandJack O'The Lantern An Irish folktale about a deceitful man condemned to wander with a carved lanternFigure · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇫🇷 France and 4 moreEctoplasm A substance said to be excreted by mediums during séances, later exposed as common household materials.Substance · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptEgyptian days Medieval calendar days believed to bring bad luck for new ventures and medical proceduresBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Pig-faced women: DubhEire, CC0, source
Black magic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eliogarcia/ (nick in flickr:creo que soy, CC BY 2.0, source
Astrometeorology: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Numerology: Pietro Bongo, Public domain, source
Aosaginohi: Koikawa Harumachi ja:恋川春町 (1744-1789), Public domain, source
Witch-cult hypothesis: Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
Curse of the pharaohs: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Mediumship: Harvey Metcalfe, Public domain, source
Unclean force: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Fairy: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Jiangshi: Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, source
Cornish mythology: waterborough, Public domain, source
Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Wild Hunt: Peter Nicolai Arbo, Public domain, source
Kitsunebi: Abasaa, Public domain, source
Daniel Dunglas Home: Nadar, Public domain, source
Strix: Prosthetic Head, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Gello: Filippino Lippi, Public domain, source
Scrofa semilanuta: M.casanova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Dusios: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Tassili Mushroom Figure: I redrawn the rock art written by ancient people., Public domain, source
Lady Midday: Віщун, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Curse of Scotland: James Gillray (died 1815), Public domain, source
Jack O'The Lantern: Bodrugan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Egyptian days: Unknown Unknown (Paris scriptorium), Public domain, source
Witch hunt: Johann Jakob Wick, Public domain, source
Will-o'-the-wisp: Hermann Hendrich, Public domain, source
Kamikiri: Sawaki Suushi (佐脇嵩之, Japanese, *1707, †1772), Public domain, source
Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
Luoshu Square: An unknown Tibetan artist, Public domain, source
Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
The Hairy Leg: Diógenes Montenegro, Public domain, source
Soul dualism: 尹真人, Public domain, source
Sun cross: National Museum of Denmark, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Astrology and astronomy: anonymous, Public domain, source
Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source