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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
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 4 moreMummers' play A folk drama featuring a fight and a resurrection, performed by amateur troupes in the British Isles.Rite 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Revived 馃嚠馃嚩 Iraq and 5 moreGrimoire A textbook containing instructions for spells, rituals, and the creation of magical objects.Text 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical 馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 2 moreLibation The ritual pouring of liquid as an offering to spirits or the deadRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 4 moreCorn dolly A woven straw figure made from the last sheaf of a European harvest to house the crop spirit.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Revived 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 3 moreRowancaorann A Northern Hemisphere tree believed to ward off witches and protect travellers.Substance 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚫馃嚜 Sweden and 5 moreMidsummerJ膩艈i; Jonin臈s; Jaanip盲ev; Enyovden; Litha; Juhannus A summer solstice festival marked by bonfires, maypole dancing, and feasting across Europe.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 7 moreWalpurgis NightWalpurgisnacht A spring vigil marking the eve of Saint Walpurga's feast day with bonfires and student festivalsRite 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreHalloween A Christian vigil on 31 October for the dead, now marked by costumes and carved vegetablesRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreAstragalomancy Divination by casting marked bones, carved rods, or numbered diceOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 1 moreFolklore of RomaniaFolclorul rom芒nesc The traditional stories, music and customs of the Romanian peopleTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Wonder and entertainment Living 馃嚭馃嚘 Ukraine and 1 moreUkrainian folklore The folk traditions of Ukraine and its ethnic communitiesTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 7 moreSlavic Native Faith袪芯写薪芯胁械褉懈械 A modern polytheistic movement drawing on Slavic folklore, romanticism, and global spiritual traditions.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomWassail A hot spiced drink and the twelfth-night customs of singing to trees or visiting homes for giftsTradition 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Protection Living 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 1 moreLughnasadhL煤nasa A Gaelic harvest festival marking the beginning of the grain gathering seasonTradition 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 5 moreDruidry A modern nature religion inspired by ancient Celtic priests and Romantic idealsTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreSixth and Seventh Books of Moses A grimoire claiming to reveal the hidden spells of Moses for controlling spirits and natureText 路 Power and authority 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 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 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 4 moreTelling the bees A Western European custom of informing bees about major household eventsRite 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚜馃嚫 Spain and 5 moreSt John's Eve A Christian vigil marked by bonfires and plant gathering on the summer solstice eveRite 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 2 moreBeating the bounds A ceremonial walk along parish or town borders to reaffirm boundaries and community memory.Rite 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreWell dressing A rural English custom of decorating water sources with natural designsTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 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 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 2 moreWheel of the Year An annual cycle of eight seasonal festivals observed by modern pagans.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority 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 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreBonfire A large outdoor fire used in seasonal festivals and religious feasts across many culturesRite 路 Cleansing and purification 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 5 moreSlavic religion The pre-Christian beliefs of the Slavic peoples before their conversion to Christianity.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Revived 馃嚚馃嚟 SwitzerlandSegen A German term for blessing, charm, or spell rooted in Christian and folk traditions.Belief 路 Protection 路 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.

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.