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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
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreNumerology The belief that numbers hold hidden meanings and influence human events.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 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 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreKnocker A mine spirit of Cornwall and Devon that warns of danger and plays tricks on workersBeing 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomBrowniebr霉naidh A nocturnal household spirit from Scottish folklore that performs chores in exchange for offerings.Being 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Legendary 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreSpodomancy Divination by reading omens in ashes, soot, and cindersOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing 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 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 7 moreSaint Andrew's Day A Christian feast day marked by national holidays in Scotland and Romania, and folk divination across Europe.Rite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 4 moreMay Day A European spring festival marking the start of summer with flowers, poles and fire.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 1 moreBeltaneBealtaine A Gaelic festival marking the start of summer with protective bonfires and livestock ritualsTradition 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Revived 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 2 moreAdder stone A naturally perforated stone used as a protective talisman in European folkloreCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚘馃嚬 Austria and 3 morePerchtaPercht A Alpine goddess of winter who rewards diligence and punishes laziness during the twelve days after Christmas.Being 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Cursing and harm Revived 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 馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyAlp A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 3 moreJet A black gemstone carved into amulets and mourning jewellery for centuriesCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚬馃嚪 Turkey and 1 moreTurkish folkloreT眉rk halk k眉lt眉r眉 A rich body of oral tales, jokes, and rituals from Turkey and the Turkic worldTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living 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 馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreBay Laurel未维蠁谓畏 An aromatic Mediterranean plant used in cooking and as a symbol of victory and purification.Substance 路 Protection 路 Cleansing and purification Living 馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 2 moreBulla A round Roman amulet given to freeborn boys as a mark of status and protectionCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandStatue rubbing A tourist custom of touching statues to attract luck, love, or a return visit.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Love and attraction Living 馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 2 moreTiet盲j盲 A traditional Finnic healer and sage whose power came from memorised spells and deep knowledge.Figure 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomHobgoblin A household spirit from English folklore known for chores and mischiefBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚟馃嚭 HungaryLid茅rc A shape-shifting spirit from Hungarian folklore that brings wealth or illness.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Legendary 馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyIn bocca al lupo An Italian idiom wishing good luck by invoking danger, with a response asking for the wolf's death.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚝馃嚪 FrancePetit AlbertSecrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique du petit Albert An 18th-century French grimoire of natural and cabalistic magic sold to rural householdsText 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical 馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 1 moreFrog coffin A Finnish folk magic burial of a frog in a tiny coffin to steal luck or reflect harmRite 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical 馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomQueen of Elphame The elfin queen of Faerie from Lowland Scotland and Northern England folkloreFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Healing Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreCromniomancy Divination by onions to reveal health, love, weather and distant newsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Love and attraction Historical 馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreNis PukNi脽 Puk A legendary household spirit from Northern Germany and Denmark that helps or torments its owner.Being 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Protection Legendary

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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Every Monday: seven entries you may not know, what is on the calendar this week, and one rite drawn step by step.