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

🇻🇳 VietnamChầu vănHát chầu văn A Vietnamese trance singing art used in deity mediumship ritualsIllusion · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇮🇩 Indonesia and 1 moreJailangkung An Indonesian séance using a straw effigy to communicate with spirits of the dead.Rite · 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

🇮🇳 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 🇬🇹 Guatemala and 1 moreEl Sombrerón A tall, hat-wearing figure from Guatemalan legend who courts young women and haunts neighborhoods at dusk.Figure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇮🇪 IrelandChildren of LirOidheadh chloinne Lir An Irish myth about four siblings transformed into swans by a jealous stepmotherFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇨🇲 CameroonNyongo society A witch legend from Cameroon used to explain sudden wealth and unexplained deathBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Living

🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreSun cross A cross inside a circle found in prehistoric art and modern political symbolsBelief · Power and authority Historical 🇺🇸 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 🇯🇵 JapanNoderabō野寺坊 A Japanese yōkai of abandoned temples and broken vowsBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

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

🇸🇪 SwedenSigtuna rib A runic bone amulet from medieval Sweden bearing a spell against diseaseCharm · Healing Historical

🇹🇭 ThailandPla taphianปลาตะเพียนสาน A woven palm leaf fish mobile hung as a blessing for health and plentyCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇯🇵 JapanShiranui不知火 Atmospheric ghost lights of the Yatsushiro and Ariake Seas in JapanBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇫🇷 FranceTempestarii Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceAstrology and astronomy Two disciplines that shared a history before splitting into science and divinationTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMōryō魍魎 Spirits of nature and graves in East Asian folklore, often linked to corpse theft.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇿🇦 South AfricaTagati A South African English term for a harmful wizard or poisoner, from Zulu roots.Belief · Cursing and harm 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 🇮🇳 IndiaNaeviology A divination method that reads the future from moles and scarsOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreScyphomancy Divination by reading signs in a cup of water or listening for voices within the glass.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇨🇳 ChinaSuperstition in China A broad category for folk beliefs and rituals dismissed as backward by modern Chinese authoritiesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇸🇪 SwedenÅrsgång An archaic Swedish divination ritual performed on Christmas Eve to glimpse the coming year.Rite · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomBluecap A blue flame spirit of English mines that guides miners and warns of dangerBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreFavomancy Divination by throwing beans and reading the patterns they form on the groundOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇸🇾 SyriaMoleosophy Divination by reading the shape and place of moles on the bodyOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreWedding superstitions Folk beliefs and omens tied to marriage customs across many culturesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇳 ChinaFish in Chinese mythology鱼 (yú) A cultural symbol of wealth and abundance in Chinese traditionBelief · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Living

🇲🇿 Mozambique and 1 moreNdau witchcraft and sorcery A system of spirit belief and traditional healing among the Ndau people of Mozambique and ZimbabweTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇲🇽 MexicoMercado de Sonora A Mexico City market known for herbal medicine and occult goodsTradition · Protection · Love and attraction 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 🇬🇧 United KingdomQueen of Elphame The elfin queen of Faerie from Lowland Scotland and Northern England folkloreFigure · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomTam Lin A Scottish ballad about a fairy knight rescued by his mortal lover on Hallowe'enFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇩 IndonesiaNini Pelet A West Javanese sorceress legend linked to Mount Ciremai and the origin of the word for love charmsFigure · Love and attraction · Power and authority Legendary

🇮🇩 IndonesiaKeong Emas A Javanese legend about a princess turned into a golden snailFigure · Love and attraction Legendary

🇨🇳 China and 3 moreSwan maiden A folk motif where a man steals a bird-woman's feather cloak to force marriage.Figure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreCromniomancy Divination by onions to reveal health, love, weather and distant newsOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Love and attraction Historical 🇷🇺 RussiaAugust curse A Russian belief that severe disasters and national tragedies cluster in the month of August.Belief Living 🇺🇸 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 🇩🇪 GermanyWitte Wiwer Subterranean spirits of Low German folklore known for music and child exchangeBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇷🇴 RomaniaSântoaderi Supernatural beings in Romanian folklore known for causing illness through music and danceBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇯🇲 Jamaica and 4 moreJumbee A shadowy spirit of the dead in Caribbean folklore, often linked to evil deeds.Belief · Cursing and harm Living

🇺🇸 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 🇷🇺 RussiaVolkhovnikВолховник A lost Old Russian divination book of omens and signsText · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomThe Cheltenham Ghost A late nineteenth century English haunting investigated by the Society for Psychical ResearchBelief Historical

🇵🇱 PolandLucky JewŻyd z pieniążkiem A Polish figurine of a Jewish man with a coin, used as a talisman for financial fortune.Charm · Luck and prosperity Living

Photo credits on this page

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

Children of Lir: John Duncan, Public domain, source
Kadangot Makkam: Shagil Kannur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Besom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cox_(artist), Public domain, source
Sun cross: National Museum of Denmark, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Indalo: Ismael Olea, Public domain, source
Sigtuna rib: Swedish National Heritage Board, CC BY 4.0, source
Pla taphian: Mr.Peerapong Prasutr, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Astrology and astronomy: anonymous, Public domain, source
Superstition in China: Gary Todd, CC0, source
Moleosophy: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Wedding superstitions: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
Fish in Chinese mythology: Daderot, Public domain, source
Ndau witchcraft and sorcery: Mycelium101, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Mercado de Sonora: AlejandroLinaresGarcia, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tam Lin: Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Keong Emas: Post of Indonesia, Public domain, source
Swan maiden: Walter Crane, 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
Lucky Jew: Silar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source