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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
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 4 moreLady MiddayPoludnitsa A Slavic noon spirit who watches over fields and punishes those who work during the hottest hours.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 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 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreWill-o'-the-wisp A ghostly light in folklore that guides or misleads travellers over marshes and bogs.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 2 moreStrigoi A Romanian undead spirit linked to witchcraft and vampirismBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyWitches of Benevento A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚠馃嚦 India and 2 moreTrial by ordeal An ancient judicial test where a dangerous physical trial determined guilt or innocenceRite 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyAlp A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreMare A spirit that sits on sleepers to cause nightmares and physical distressBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreAradia A figure of Italian folklore and modern pagan witchcraft, seen as a teacher of magic and liberation.Figure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Revived 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 5 moreWild Hunt A spectral chase across Europe led by a mythic figure and ghostly riders.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 5 moreVampire folklore Global legends of blood-drinking spirits and undead revenantsBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚝馃嚪 France and 3 moreWitches' Sabbath A legendary gathering of witches described in early modern trial records and folkloreBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 3 moreJack A trickster hero from English folklore who outwits giants and oppressorsFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandBodach A Gaelic trickster figure used to frighten children and warn of deathFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical 馃嚠馃嚫 IcelandGaldrab贸k An Icelandic grimoire of spells and staves from around 1600Text 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚪馃嚭 RussiaBlack magic Magic used for evil or selfish purposes, and the beliefs surrounding itBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief 路 Healing 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 1 moreUnclean force薪械褔懈褋褌褜 A Slavic term for evil spirits and the undead that inhabit the natural worldBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomWirry-cow A Scottish folk figure representing a frightening object or spiritBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreShamanism in Europe Scholarly theories on shamanic elements in European folk beliefs and witch trialsTradition 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚚馃嚟 Switzerland and 2 moreOrder of the Solar TempleOrdre du Temple solaire A neo-Templar new religious movement responsible for mass deaths in the 1990s.Tradition 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 3 moreChort褔褢褉褌 A Slavic demon spirit with horns and hooves, known in folklore as a trickster or minor evil force.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 2 moreStrix蟽蟿蟻委尉 A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceGello螕蔚位位蠋 A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreCola Pesce An Italian merman legend about a boy cursed by his mother to live in the seaFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreWiederg盲nger A German term for a revenant or ghost that returns to the world of the living.Being 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 4 moreNight ravennattravn A nocturnal creature of European folklore, feared as a child-stealer or seen as a ghost in bird form.Being 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚝馃嚪 France and 1 moreDusios A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceYan-gant-y-tan A Breton demon who carries five candles and is said to bring bad luck.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical 馃嚟馃嚭 Hungary and 1 moreS谩rk谩ny A winged reptilian beast from Hungarian folklore, linked to weather and literary heroes.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical 馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayDeildegast A Norwegian ghost bound to boundary stones it moved in lifeBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomMadgy Figgy's Chair A granite rock in Cornwall linked to a legendary witch and her storm conjuringFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLantern man A ghost light of the English fens said to lure victims into the marshesBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomTam Lin A Scottish ballad about a fairy knight rescued by his mortal lover on Hallowe'enFigure 路 Love and attraction 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLazy Laurence A mischievous English pixie who makes orchard workers lazy and gives them indigestionBeing 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚝馃嚪 FranceMagonia A cloud realm of aerial sailors blamed for hail and stolen grain in medieval EuropeBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreGrim Reaper A hooded skeleton with a scythe, representing death in Western art and story.Figure 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚠馃嚫 IcelandYule catJ贸lak枚tturinn A giant feline from Icelandic folklore that threatens those without new Christmas clothesFigure 路 Cursing and harm Living 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreMaternal impression A discredited theory that a mother's shock or thoughts can mark her unborn childBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 5 moreFiredrakeognennyi zmei A European dragon myth born from sightings of shooting stars and will-o'-the-wispsBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 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.

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.