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

🇵🇭 PhilippinesMananambal A Filipino folk healer who treats illness with herbs, prayers, and sorceryTradition · Healing · Cursing and harm Living

🇯🇵 JapanHannya般若 A Noh theater mask depicting a jealous female spirit or demonessText · Cursing and harm Living 🇸🇪 SwedenVittra A forest spirit from northern Sweden linked to livestock and seductionBeing · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Legendary 🇲🇦 Morocco and 1 moreZuhriزوهري A human-djinn hybrid child in North African folklore, sought for treasure ritualsBeing · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Fading 🇦🇱 AlbaniaKukudh An undead revenant from Albanian folklore that haunts houses and spreads sickness.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇬🇧 United KingdomHobgoblin A household spirit from English folklore known for chores and mischiefBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇫🇷 FranceMagonia A cloud realm of aerial sailors blamed for hail and stolen grain in medieval EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇮🇶 Iraq and 1 moreAramaic Uruk incantation A Seleucid-era magical tablet written in Aramaic using cuneiform signsText · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇧🇷 BrazilBestial beastBesta-fera A centaur-like creature in Brazilian folklore thought to be the Devil.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇨🇱 ChileCamahueto A one-horned river bull from Chilote folklore that drags people to the seaBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇭🇺 HungaryLidérc A shape-shifting spirit from Hungarian folklore that brings wealth or illness.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇩🇪 GermanyFeldgeist German folk creatures tied to crops, weather and harvest ritualsBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBogle A Northumbrian and Scots household spirit or ghost known for perplexing people.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 1 moreDouen A faceless creature with backwards feet from Trinidad and Tobago folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomMaggy Moulach A Scottish brownie known for her hair and fierce protection of her kinBeing · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesWoman in Black A spectral figure from Appalachian folklore said to punish men for moral failingsBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇨🇳 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

🇯🇵 JapanYama-uba山姥 A Japanese mountain spirit depicted as either a cannibalistic monster or a benevolent guardian.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesBelled buzzard A folklore omen of disaster, depicted as a vulture wearing a bellBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇳 IndiaBramrachokh A demon in Kashmiri myth that mimics a light to lead travellers astrayBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreDrude A Germanic nightmare spirit and the pentagram charm used to keep it outBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesMoll Dyer A Maryland folktale about a woman accused of witchcraft and her cursed stoneFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

🇮🇩 IndonesiaBabi ngepet A Javanese myth about a person who turns into a boar to steal wealthBeing · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇪🇸 SpainGuajona A blood-sucking hag from Cantabrian and Asturian legendBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇬🇧 United KingdomMadgy Figgy's Chair A granite rock in Cornwall linked to a legendary witch and her storm conjuringFigure · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇷🇸 SerbiaBaukБаук A bear-like creature from Serbian folklore that lurks in the dark.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanAyakashi妖 Water spirits and ghost lights in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreAufhocker A German folklore spirit that leaps on travelers and weighs them down.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDames Blanches Spectral women in French folklore who demand dances or warn of dangerBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanSankai産怪 A yōkai born from a woman during childbirth if proper care is neglectedBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇵🇭 PhilippinesMandurugo A shapeshifting spirit from Philippine folklore that feeds on human bloodBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇵🇱 Poland and 4 moreMoranaМорена A Slavic goddess of winter and death, whose effigy is drowned to welcome springFigure · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living 🇨🇴 Colombia and 1 moreLa Bolefuego A fiery apparition from the Llanos that hunts travelers and avoids prayer.Figure · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇮🇪 IrelandSleih beggey Manx fairies and little people of the Isle of ManBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇷🇺 RussiaMeduzaМедуза A Russian mythic figure with a woman's head and a serpent body, linked to trickery.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreGrim Reaper A hooded skeleton with a scythe, representing death in Western art and story.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇪 IrelandDeath coachcóiste bodhar A spectral carriage that signals an unavoidable death in European folkloreBelief · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomBiast Bhealach Odail A shapeshifting spirit of a Scottish mountain passBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreChain letterFukou no Tegami A message that demands copying and forwarding to avoid bad luck or gain fortuneBelief · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomChained Oak A Staffordshire oak bound in chains by a local legend of a curse and an earl.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanHashihime橋姫 A Japanese bridge spirit linked to jealousy and demonic transformation in folklore and Noh theatre.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇸 IcelandYule catJólakötturinn A giant feline from Icelandic folklore that threatens those without new Christmas clothesFigure · Cursing and harm Living

🇮🇸 IcelandDjákninn á Myrká An Icelandic ghost story about a dead deacon who returns for his bride on Christmas EveFigure · Cursing and harm 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

🇷🇸 Serbia and 1 moreVampire pumpkins and watermelons A Balkan folk tale about ground fruit that turns into vampires.Belief · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreBake-danuki化け狸 A shape-shifting raccoon dog spirit from Japanese folklore known for pranks and illusions.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanNyūdō-bōzu入道坊主 A Japanese yokai that grows taller when stared at and can kill or vanish depending on the responseBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇯🇵 JapanKamikiri髪切り A Japanese yōkai blamed for the sudden disappearance of human hairBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Mananambal: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Hannya: Daderot, Public domain, source
Hobgoblin: Herbert Railton, Public domain, source
Camahueto: Rjcastillo, CC BY 4.0, source
Feldgeist: Zwoelefant, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Yama-uba: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Belled buzzard: Saturday Evening Post Irvin Cobb Douglas Durr, Public domain, source
Drude: Ramessos, Public domain, source
Moll Dyer: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Babi ngepet: Tropenmuseum, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Guajona: Francisco Goya / Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
Madgy Figgy's Chair: Jim Champion, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Aufhocker: Longbow4u, Public domain, source
Morana: Marta Malina Moraczewska, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Grim Reaper: Jaroslav A. Polák, CC BY 4.0, source
Chain letter: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Chained Oak: Gary Rogers, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Yule cat: Christine Rondeau, CC BY 2.0, source
Djákninn á Myrká: Théodore Meyer-Heine / Jules Worms, Public domain, source
Vampire pumpkins and watermelons: The original uploader was Ke4roh at English Wikipedia ., Public domain, source
Bake-danuki: Poposhka at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Kamikiri: Sawaki Suushi (佐脇嵩之, Japanese, *1707, †1772), Public domain, source