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

🇯🇵 JapanYakudoshi厄年 Traditional Japanese ages believed to bring bad luck and the rituals used to ward them offBelief · Protection Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreDried cat A dried feline body hidden in walls to protect a home from harmCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaDrishti bommai A fearsome doll hung at homes and vehicles to ward off the evil eye in South India.Charm · Protection Living 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreFrog coffin A Finnish folk magic burial of a frog in a tiny coffin to steal luck or reflect harmRite · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaKadangot Makkam A North Malabar goddess who became a deity after being killed by her brothers.Being · Protection · Love and attraction Living 🇮🇳 IndiaAsanbibiআসানবিবি A Bengali folk goddess worshipped with six sisters in southern Bengal.Being · Protection Living

🇳🇴 NorwayBergen rune charm A four-sided wooden stick with runic verses for love and protection from medieval Norway.Charm · Love and attraction · Protection Historical

🇨🇳 ChinaEight Treasures八寶 (Bābǎo) A set of eight symbols in Chinese art and amulets representing good fortune.Charm · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living 🇫🇷 FranceTempestarii Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇯🇵 JapanHōko這子 A Japanese soft doll used as a protective talisman for mothers and childrenCharm · Protection Historical

🇹🇼 TaiwanYin miao陰廟 Temples for wandering spirits in Taiwanese folk religionTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomFairy FlagA' Bhratach Shìth A tattered silk heirloom of Clan MacLeod, said to hold fairy magic and ancient power.Charm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreBesomвеник A twig broom used for sweeping, folk magic, and fire responseCharm · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇸🇪 Sweden and 1 moreTroll crosstrollkors A carved or bent iron sigil used in Sweden and Norway to ward off harmful magic and creatures.Charm · Protection Revived

🇪🇸 SpainIndalo A Bronze Age pictograph used as a protective house charm and lucky symbol in Almería, SpainCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇹🇭 ThailandPla taphianปลาตะเพียนสาน A woven palm leaf fish mobile hung as a blessing for health and plentyCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇳 ChinaSuperstition in China A broad category for folk beliefs and rituals dismissed as backward by modern Chinese authoritiesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreWedding superstitions Folk beliefs and omens tied to marriage customs across many culturesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇺🇦 Ukraine and 5 moreBullroarer A wooden slat on a string that produces a roaring sound for ritual and communication.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreDrude A Germanic nightmare spirit and the pentagram charm used to keep it outBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreElder Mother A guardian spirit of elder trees in English and Scandinavian folkloreBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesNew England vampire panic A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief · Protection · Healing Historical

🇻🇳 VietnamCây nêuCây nêu (chữ Nôm: 核標) A bamboo pole raised to keep evil spirits away during the Lunar New Year in VietnamTradition · Protection Living

🇮🇳 IndiaPulimaranja Thondachan A theyyam deity of North Malabar, born from a shapeshifter who became a leopard.Figure · Protection · Power and authority Living

🇻🇳 VietnamBà Chúa Xứ婆主處 A Mekong Delta goddess of prosperity, asked for trade, health and fertilityBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇸🇾 SyriaArslan Tash amulets Assyrian limestone charms found in Syria that ward off demons through inscribed prayersCharm · Protection Historical

🇫🇷 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 · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇨🇭 SwitzerlandSegen A German term for blessing, charm, or spell rooted in Christian and folk traditions.Belief · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreGod's eyeOjo de Dios A woven yarn cross believed to grant spiritual sight and protectionCharm · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇺🇸 United StatesJewett City vampires A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief · Protection Historical 🇦🇲 Armenia and 5 moreSpilling water for luck A folk custom of pouring water to wish a traveler or worker a smooth journeyBelief · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living

Photo credits on this page

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

Kadangot Makkam: Shagil Kannur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Drude: Ramessos, Public domain, source
God's eye: Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Petit Albert: Albertus Parvus Lucius, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Troll cross: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Dried cat: The Voice of Hassocks, CC0, source
Drishti bommai: Chrissy starsi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Bergen rune charm: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
Eight Treasures: Etnografiska Museet, CC BY 2.5, source
Yin miao: Outlookxp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Fairy Flag: Otter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Besom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cox_(artist), Public domain, source
Indalo: Ismael Olea, Public domain, source
Pla taphian: Mr.Peerapong Prasutr, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Superstition in China: Gary Todd, CC0, source
Wedding superstitions: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source
Cây nêu: vi:Phạm Xuân Nguyên, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Pulimaranja Thondachan: Uajith, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Bà Chúa Xứ: Phương Huy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Arslan Tash amulets: National Museum of Aleppo, Public domain, source