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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
🇯🇵 JapanIttan-momen一反木綿 A flying cloth yōkai from Japanese folklore that warns children to stay indoors at nightBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanKitsunetsuki狐憑き A Japanese folk belief in which a fox spirit enters and controls a human host.Belief · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇨🇳 China and 2 moreXiezhi獬豸 A one-horned beast from East Asia that separates the guilty from the innocentBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanInugami犬神 A Japanese spirit of dog possession and folk sorceryBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇯🇵 JapanHyakumonogatari Kaidankai百物語怪談会 An Edo period Japanese parlour game where ghost stories extinguish candles one by oneRite · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇯🇵 JapanKappa河童 A river-dwelling yōkai known for its head dish and love of cucumbersBeing · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanYōkai妖怪 A vast class of supernatural spirits and entities in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇯🇵 JapanShikigami式神 A conjured spirit from Japanese Onmyōdō, often bound to paper or animal form.Being · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanNoppera-bōのっぺらぼう A faceless spirit from Japanese folklore that mimics human appearanceBeing · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇯🇵 JapanHyakki Yagyō百鬼夜行 A Japanese folklore concept of a night parade of supernatural creaturesBelief · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanTsukumogami付喪神 Household objects that gain a spirit after reaching their hundredth year in Japanese folklore.Being · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreRokurokubiろくろ首 A Japanese spirit with a stretching neck or a flying headBeing · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanKodama木霊 A tree spirit in Japanese folklore that brings misfortune if the host tree is harmedBeing · Cursing and harm Living 🇨🇳 ChinaGu蛊 A venom-based poison and black magic practice from south ChinaSubstance · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreJiangshi殭屍 A Chinese corpse said to rise and hop, feared for its strengthBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanKuda-gitsune管狐 (kuda-gitsune) A small spirit kept in a tube or sleeve to aid fortune-telling and cursing in Japanese folklore.Being · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreScapulimancy Divination using animal shoulder blades, practiced across Asia and the Americas.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Living 🇯🇵 JapanTengu天狗 Japanese mountain spirits that evolved from ominous birds into protective forest guardians.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanMisaki御先 Japanese spirit-like entities that serve gods or possess humans with illness and calamityBeing · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇯🇵 JapanTanukitsuki狸憑き (たぬきつき) A Japanese folk belief where a tanuki spirit possesses a human, causing illness and strange behavior.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanNurikabe塗り壁 A spirit that manifests as an invisible wall to block travelers at nightBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanKijo鬼女 A demon woman from Japanese folklore, born of resentment and karma.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 Japan and 2 moreChimimōryō魑魅魍魎 A Chinese term for mountain and river spirits that spread to Japan and VietnamBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇰🇷 South KoreaKorean virgin ghost처녀귀신 (cheonyeo-gwisin) A spirit of an unmarried woman who died with resentment in Korean folklore.Being · Cursing and harm · Binding and oaths Historical 🇨🇳 ChinaNine-headed bird九頭鳥 A mythical creature from ancient China that became a symbol of deceit.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreKakuen玃猿 (Jué yuán) A legendary ape-like creature from Chinese and Japanese folklore known for abducting humans.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇹🇼 TaiwanMo-sin-a魔神仔 A short, furry forest demon from Taiwanese folklore said to lure travelers into the mountains.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanSakabashira逆柱 A reversed wooden pillar in Japanese folk belief, said to cause misfortune or ward off disasterBelief · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 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 🇯🇵 JapanYamajijii山爺 A one-eyed mountain spirit from Shikoku folklore known for its thunderous voice and unpredictable nature.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇯🇵 JapanShidaidaka次第高 A tall spirit in Japan that grows when you look up and shrinks when you look down.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanNoderabō野寺坊 A Japanese yōkai of abandoned temples and broken vowsBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMōryō魍魎 Spirits of nature and graves in East Asian folklore, often linked to corpse theft.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanSankai産怪 A yōkai born from a woman during childbirth if proper care is neglectedBeing · Cursing and harm 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 🇯🇵 JapanAyakashi妖 Water spirits and ghost lights in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇯🇵 JapanUmi zatō海座頭 A sea yōkai depicted as a giant blind musician that threatens shipsBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanHannya般若 A Noh theater mask depicting a jealous female spirit or demonessText · Cursing and harm Living 🇯🇵 JapanHashihime橋姫 A Japanese bridge spirit linked to jealousy and demonic transformation in folklore and Noh theatre.Being · Protection · 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.

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