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

🇮🇹 ItalyWitches of Benevento A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇩🇪 GermanyAlp A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇯🇵 JapanKitsunebi狐火 Atmospheric ghost lights in Japanese folklore, often linked to foxes and natural phenomena.Belief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇯🇵 JapanYōkai妖怪 A vast class of supernatural spirits and entities in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreJet A black gemstone carved into amulets and mourning jewellery for centuriesCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWill-o'-the-wisp A ghostly light in folklore that guides or misleads travellers over marshes and bogs.Belief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreNumerology The belief that numbers hold hidden meanings and influence human events.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreTalisman An object believed to channel specific forces for protection, healing, or influence.Charm · Protection · Healing Historical

🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreSampo A magical mill or world pillar in Finnish and Estonian mythology that produces wealth.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Historical

🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreZduhaćздухаћ A South Slavic belief in men who fight storms and hail to protect their cropsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇻🇳 Vietnam and 2 moreVietnamese numismatic charmsBùa Việt Nam Coin-shaped charms used for protection, luck, and ritual in Vietnamese cultureCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇳 India and 3 moreAstrology A divinatory practice that links celestial positions to human affairs and earthly eventsTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreVault protector coin鎮庫錢 (zhèn kù qián) Large Chinese numismatic charms cast to guard mint treasuries and attract wealth.Charm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreChortчёрт A Slavic demon spirit with horns and hooves, known in folklore as a trickster or minor evil force.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇷 Iran and 1 moreDerafsh Kavianiدرفش کاویانی A legendary royal standard of pre-Islamic Iran, later adopted as a symbol of national identity.Charm · Power and authority · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇴 Romania and 2 moreStrixστρίξ A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreTeraphimתרפים Ancient Hebrew household figures linked to ancestry, property rights and divinationBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇪🇸 SpainAnjanaanˈhana / an.xa.nɜ Cantabrian fairies who protect forests and bring gifts to children.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomCurse of Scotland A nickname for a playing card linked to bad luck and Scottish historyBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreFiredrakeognennyi zmei A European dragon myth born from sightings of shooting stars and will-o'-the-wispsBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreBožićБожић A Slavic figure linked to the new year and spring, whose name now marks ChristmasFigure · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 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

🇪🇬 EgyptEgyptian days Medieval calendar days believed to bring bad luck for new ventures and medical proceduresBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇹🇭 Thailand and 2 moreSang Thongสังข์ทอง A Southeast Asian folktale about a prince born in a shell who gains golden skin and magical powers.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Historical 🇫🇷 FranceMagonia A cloud realm of aerial sailors blamed for hail and stolen grain in medieval EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇯🇵 JapanShiranui不知火 Atmospheric ghost lights of the Yatsushiro and Ariake Seas in JapanBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity 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

Photo credits on this page

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

Sampo: Väinö Blomstedt, Public domain, source
Vault protector coin: 风之清扬, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Zduhać: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Numerology: Pietro Bongo, Public domain, source
Xana: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
Sang Thong: Narisara Nuwattiwong, Public domain, source
Alp: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
Kitsunebi: Abasaa, Public domain, source
Yōkai: Kyosai Kawanabe (河鍋暁斎), Public domain, source
Vietnamese numismatic charms: Jean-Michel Moullec, CC BY 2.0, source
Derafsh Kaviani: CNG Coins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Strix: Prosthetic Head, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Jet: Thmsfrst, Public domain, source
Madgy Figgy's Chair: Jim Champion, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Curse of Scotland: James Gillray (died 1815), Public domain, source
Egyptian days: Unknown Unknown (Paris scriptorium), Public domain, source
Will-o'-the-wisp: Hermann Hendrich, Public domain, source
Firedrake: Ramesh Kumar R, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Chort: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Teraphim: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
Talisman: Sasha India, CC BY 2.0, source
Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source