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

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBarnstar A painted or carved star used to decorate barns in parts of the United States and Canada.Charm · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreNeoshamanism A modern spiritual movement adapting shamanic techniques for Western seekers outside their traditional cultures.Tradition · Healing · Change and initiation Living

🇮🇹 ItalyBadaliscBadalisch A mythical goat-headed creature from the Italian Alps, captured and mocked during Epiphany celebrations.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreTarocco Bolognese A 62-card Italian tarot deck from Bologna used for games and cartomancyText · Wonder and entertainment · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇧🇷 BrazilThe Hairy LegPerna cabeluda A Brazilian urban legend of a detached leg that attacks people at nightFigure · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomLoch Ness MonsterUilebheist Loch Nis A legendary lake creature from the Scottish Highlands, famous for disputed photographs and folk tales.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBigfoot A large, hairy humanoid creature of North American folklore and cryptozoologyFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreEaster Bunny A German folkloric hare that judges children and delivers colored eggs for EasterBeing · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇮🇳 IndiaSnow Lionགངས་སེང་གེ་ A celestial mountain guardian of Tibet embodying fearlessness, bliss, and the DharmaBeing · Protection · Power and authority Living 🇷🇴 Romania and 5 moreBalaur A many-headed dragon from Romanian folklore that guards treasures and controls the weather.Being · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Legendary

🇯🇵 JapanAosaginohi青鷺火 A Japanese will-o'-the-wisp attributed to the glowing flight of herons at nightBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandMerrowmurúch A sea creature from Irish folklore, known for its magical cap and singing voice.Figure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreThirteen Treasures of the Island of BritainTri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Prydain A collection of magical objects from late-medieval Welsh legendText · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇨🇳 China and 2 moreShen蜃 A sea creature from Chinese mythology said to create mirages through shape-shiftingBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇷🇴 RomaniaZână A Romanian woodland spirit linked to Diana that guides travelers and blesses children.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇨🇳 ChinaKui夔 (kuí) A one-legged mountain spirit and ancient music master from Chinese mythologyBeing · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

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

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreFengli风狸 / 風狸 A legendary flying mammal from Chinese lore, said to carry a magic wand and resist death.Figure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇮🇹 ItalySquasc A small, tawny creature from Eastern Lombardy folklore that frightens children and plays jokes on young girlsBeing · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇫🇷 FranceYan-gant-y-tan A Breton demon who carries five candles and is said to bring bad luck.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇹 ItalyScrofa semilanuta A legendary sow seen in a dream that became the ancient emblem of Milan.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomTrow Nocturnal spirits of the Orkney and Shetland islands, known for mischief and musical abduction.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇨🇳 China and 4 moreHuoshu火鼠 A legendary fire-resistant rat from Chinese folklore said to yield self-cleaning cloth.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreDokkaebi도깨비 A one-legged supernatural being from Korean folklore, often linked to household objects and magical items.Being · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 moreSárkány A winged reptilian beast from Hungarian folklore, linked to weather and literary heroes.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇲🇲 MyanmarMythical creatures in Burmese folklore A collection of spirits, beasts and hybrids from Myanmar's stories and playsBeing · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇮🇳 IndiaBaakবাক A shapeshifting water spirit from Assamese folklore that mimics humans and fears torn nets.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇨🇳 ChinaAo鰲 A colossal sea turtle of Chinese myth whose legs support the skyBeing · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanTaka-Onna高女 A Japanese yokai of a tall woman said to spy on brothels from above.Being · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandChildren of LirOidheadh chloinne Lir An Irish myth about four siblings transformed into swans by a jealous stepmotherFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇺🇦 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

🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreBesomвеник A twig broom used for sweeping, folk magic, and fire responseCharm · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇹🇼 TaiwanLui-kong-tsiau雷公鳥 A Taiwanese thunder-creature said to summon storms from treetopsBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇧🇷 BrazilRomãozinho A cursed immortal boy from Brazilian folklore who never grows and causes mischief.Figure · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇺🇸 United States and 3 more11:11 A clock time believed to signal spiritual alignment or synchronicity in numerology and New Age thoughtBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Living

🇩🇿 AlgeriaTassili Mushroom Figure Neolithic cave art in Algeria interpreted by some as depicting psychedelic mushroom use.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇯🇵 JapanShiranui不知火 Atmospheric ghost lights of the Yatsushiro and Ariake Seas in JapanBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇭🇹 HaitiHaitian CarnivalKanaval A major Caribbean festival of music, dance, and satire leading to Mardi Gras in HaitiTradition · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇳 ChinaLuduan甪端 A mythical Chinese creature said to speak every language and travel vast distances in a single dayBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreKlabautermann A North Sea ship kobold that aids sailors and signals a vessel's doom.Being · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBogle A Northumbrian and Scots household spirit or ghost known for perplexing people.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreFiddler's Green A maritime afterlife of endless music and rest for veteran sailorsBelief · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇳🇿 New Zealand and 4 moreFeather cloak A garment of feathers worn by royalty and gods across cultures to signal rank or enable flightCharm · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇯🇵 JapanTsuchinokoツチノコ A snake-like cryptid from Japanese folklore said to roll like a wheelBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreKuma LisaКума Лиса A trickster fox from Slavic folklore who outwits other animalsFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇷🇸 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 KingdomTom Thumb A tiny English folk hero who outwits giants and serves King ArthurFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesMarmot Day An Alaskan holiday celebrating local marmots and frontier culture, replacing Groundhog Day.Tradition · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living

Photo credits on this page

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

Barnstar: Una Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Aosaginohi: Koikawa Harumachi ja:恋川春町 (1744-1789), Public domain, source
Bigfoot: Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, Public domain, source
Fengli: Anonymous (1603), Public domain, source
Children of Lir: John Duncan, Public domain, source
Ao: David Jackson, CC BY-SA 2.0 uk, source
Xana: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
Badalisc: Luca Giarelli, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Neoshamanism: Carptrash, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tarocco Bolognese: Countakeshi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Loch Ness Monster: StaraBlazkova at Czech Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Easter Bunny: Dr. Bernd Gross, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Merrow: Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Kui: Dave Pape, Public domain, source
Scrofa semilanuta: M.casanova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Yan-gant-y-tan: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
Mythical creatures in Burmese folklore: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Sárkány: Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, source
Tassili Mushroom Figure: I redrawn the rock art written by ancient people., Public domain, source
Haitian Carnival: User:Doron, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Luduan: Gisling, CC BY 2.5, source
Klabautermann: Anton von Werner, Public domain, source
Feather cloak: Lusanaherandraton, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tom Thumb: Leutemann or Offterdinger , photo by Harke, Public domain, source
Marmot Day: Colin Canterbury/USFWS, Public domain, source
Snow Lion: John Hill, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
The Hairy Leg: Diógenes Montenegro, Public domain, source
Besom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cox_(artist), Public domain, source