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

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

🇮🇶 Iraq and 5 moreGrimoire A textbook containing instructions for spells, rituals, and the creation of magical objects.Text · Protection · Healing Historical

🇮🇳 India and 2 morePlanets in astrology Seven celestial bodies used to map human character and destinyBelief · Power and authority · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇦 Canada and 1 moreTotemdoodem A spirit or symbol linking a group to nature, from Ojibwe clan systems to Australian kinshipBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇮🇸 IcelandIcelandic magical stavesgaldrastafir Sigils from Icelandic grimoires believed to hold magical powerCharm · Power and authority Historical

🇳🇴 Norway and 2 moreValknut A symbol of three interlocked triangles found on Germanic artifacts and used in modern Heathenry.Belief · Power and authority Living 🇨🇳 China and 4 moreQimen Dunjia奇門遁甲 An ancient Chinese divination system mapping time and space for strategic decision-makingOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Revived

🇳🇿 New Zealand and 5 moreFace tattoo Marks inked on the face for spiritual protection, identity, rank, and rite of passageTradition · Protection · Power and authority Living

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLuoshu Square洛書 An ancient Chinese three-by-three magic square linked to geomancy and numerologyTradition · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreNatural magic A historical tradition exploring hidden forces in the physical worldTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

🇿🇦 South AfricaSympathetic magic A magical principle based on imitation and contact to influence the worldTradition · Protection · Healing Historical 🇨🇳 China and 3 moreQi氣 / 气 A vital force in Chinese philosophy and medicine, believed to flow through all living things.Substance · Healing · Power and authority Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreHermetica A collection of ancient texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, covering magic, alchemy and philosophy.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Change and initiation Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNicholas Culpeper An English herbalist and astrologer who translated medical texts into English for the poor.Text · Healing · Power and authority Historical 🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreAradia A figure of Italian folklore and modern pagan witchcraft, seen as a teacher of magic and liberation.Figure · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Revived

🇸🇳 Senegal and 5 morePentagramπεντάγραμμον A five-pointed star figure used across history for protection, ritual, and cosmologyCharm · Protection · Binding and oaths Living

🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreNecromancy A form of divination that seeks to speak with the dead for hidden knowledge.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 7 moreSlavic Native FaithРодноверие A modern polytheistic movement drawing on Slavic folklore, romanticism, and global spiritual traditions.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomBeltane Fire Festival A modern Edinburgh performance celebrating the start of summer with fire and danceRite · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Living

🇮🇳 India and 3 moreSpirit An invisible force or soul found in many cultures, linked to gods, humans, and nature.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇫🇮 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

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

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreNew Thought A spiritual philosophy linking mental states to physical health and prosperityTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living

🇮🇷 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

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

🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreFairy Queen A female ruler of fairies found in folklore, literature, and witchcraft trials across Europe.Figure · Power and authority Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesAshtar A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇷🇺 RussiaTriple-headed eagle A heraldic and mythological bird with three heads, appearing in Russian symbolism and European manuscripts.Being · Power and authority Historical

🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDusios A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇨🇳 ChinaJiugongdao九宫道 A Chinese folk sect centered on Mount Wutai and esoteric cosmologyTradition · Power and authority Revived 🇨🇳 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

🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreSun cross A cross inside a circle found in prehistoric art and modern political symbolsBelief · Power and authority Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceAstrology and astronomy Two disciplines that shared a history before splitting into science and divinationTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreBuilders of the Adytum A Western mystery school teaching tarot and Qabalah through correspondenceTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority 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

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
Grimoire: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: Jean-Louis Durant (1654-1718), Public domain, source
Numerology: Pietro Bongo, Public domain, source
Sang Thong: Narisara Nuwattiwong, Public domain, source
Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
Sympathetic magic: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5, source
Nicholas Culpeper: Richard Gaywood, Public domain, source
Fairy: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Pentagram: Tomruen, Attribution, source
Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Slavic Native Faith: Union of Slavic Rodnover Communities (Союз Славянских Общин Славянской, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Beltane Fire Festival: Stefan Schäfer, Lich, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Planets in astrology: Jan van Loon, Public domain, source
Totem: Jami430, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
New Thought: Nyttend, Public domain, source
Derafsh Kaviani: CNG Coins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
Dusios: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
John Dee: Unidentified painter, Public domain, source
Face tattoo: Gottfried Lindauer, Public domain, source
Spirit: Jastrow, Public domain, source
Luoshu Square: An unknown Tibetan artist, Public domain, source
Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Teraphim: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
Valknut: Sacrificial_scene_on_Hammars_(I).JPG : Berig derivative work: The Man, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Icelandic magical staves: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Sun cross: National Museum of Denmark, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Astrology and astronomy: anonymous, Public domain, source
Triple-headed eagle: Неизвестный автор. (фото обложки сборника: Александр Храмов), Public domain, source