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.
馃嚬馃嚪 Turkey and 5 moreEvil eye
A curse caused by an envious look and the charms used to block itBelief 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 5 moreKrampus
A horned Alpine figure who punishes misbehaving children on KrampusnachtFigure 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 5 moreFig sign
A hand gesture used to ward off the evil eye or as an insult in many culturesBelief 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚙馃嚞 Bulgaria and 5 moreKukeri泻褍泻械褉懈
A costumed ritual in Bulgaria to chase away evil spirits and welcome springRite 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚜馃嚫 Spain and 5 moreDuende
A humanoid spirit of Iberian and Latin American folklore, ranging from household pranksters to forest guardians.Being 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚙馃嚪 BrazilBoitat谩
A fiery serpent of Brazilian folklore that guards forests or frightens childrenBeing 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚜馃嚫 Spain and 6 moreBurning of Judas
An Easter rite where an effigy of the betrayer is destroyed by fire or other meansRite 路 Cursing and harm 路 Cleansing and purification Living
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 5 moreMolybdomancy
A divination method using molten metal poured into water to read omensRite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚠馃嚛 IndonesiaNyi Roro KidulRatu Laut Selatan
The spirit queen of Java's southern coast and guardian of the Indian OceanBeing 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚘 Ukraine and 5 moreMugwort褔芯褉薪芯斜懈谢褜 (chorn贸byl')
An aromatic herb used in folk medicine, cooking, and magical protection across Eurasia.Substance 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚨馃嚟 PhilippinesTikbalang
A horse-headed spirit of Philippine forests that leads travelers astrayBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 5 moreStraw bearStrohb盲r
A carnival figure wrapped in straw that visits homes for gifts and marks the turning of seasons.Tradition 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚨馃嚬 Portugal and 5 moreCocoCoca
A monster used to frighten children into obedience across the Iberian world and Latin America.Figure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Binding and oaths Living
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 5 moreBogeyman
A mythical creature used across cultures to frighten children into obedienceFigure 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanKodama鏈ㄩ湂
A tree spirit in Japanese folklore that brings misfortune if the host tree is harmedBeing 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesBloody Mary
A mirror ritual to summon a spirit that reveals the future or brings harmBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyBadaliscBadalisch
A mythical goat-headed creature from the Italian Alps, captured and mocked during Epiphany celebrations.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreJinx
A curse or attribute believed to attract bad luckBelief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanMisaki寰″厛
Japanese spirit-like entities that serve gods or possess humans with illness and calamityBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreFriday the 13th
A Western superstition that a specific calendar alignment brings misfortuneBelief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚬馃嚟 Thailand and 5 moreKrasue喔佮福喔班釜喔粪腑
A floating head with trailing organs from Southeast Asian folkloreBeing 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚨馃嚬 Portugal and 1 moreCabra cabriola
A fire-breathing goat bogeyman used to frighten children in Portuguese and Brazilian folkloreBeing 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚨馃嚟 PhilippinesTiyanak
A vampiric creature in Philippine mythology that mimics a baby to lure travelers.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚡馃嚥 Jamaica and 4 moreJumbee
A shadowy spirit of the dead in Caribbean folklore, often linked to evil deeds.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚨馃嚤 Poland and 4 moreMorana袦芯褉械薪邪
A Slavic goddess of winter and death, whose effigy is drowned to welcome springFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Gazu Hyakki Yagy艒: Toriyama Sekien, Public domain, source
- Krampus: Naturpuur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Badalisc: Luca Giarelli, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Coco: Francisco de Goya, CC0, source
- Bogeyman: Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
- Friday the 13th: Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, source
- Fig sign: Harald the Bard, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kukeri: Nenko Lazarov, CC BY 2.5, source
- Duende: Ren茅 Mayorga, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Boitat谩: The ponta cabe莽a, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Burning of Judas: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Molybdomancy: Micha L. Rieser, Attribution, source
- Krasue: Xavier Romero-Frias, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nyi Roro Kidul: Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mugwort: Prahlad balaji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tikbalang: The original uploader was Rodsan18 at English Wikipedia . ( Original t, CC BY 2.5, source
- Morana: Marta Malina Moraczewska, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Straw bear: Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, source
- Evil eye: FocalPoint, CC BY-SA 3.0, source