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.
🇵🇱 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
🇮🇳 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
🇭🇹 Haiti and 5 moreLoogaroo
A shapeshifting vampire of Caribbean folklore, feared for its blood-drinking habits.Being · Cursing and harm Living
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLuopan罗盘 (luó pán)
A Chinese magnetic compass with concentric rings for feng shui practiceCharm · Power and authority Living
🇫🇷 FranceTempestarii
Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection 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
🇺🇦 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
🇷🇺 RussiaAugust curse
A Russian belief that severe disasters and national tragedies cluster in the month of August.Belief Living
🇩🇪 GermanyWitte Wiwer
Subterranean spirits of Low German folklore known for music and child exchangeBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreNis PukNiß Puk
A legendary household spirit from Northern Germany and Denmark that helps or torments its owner.Being · Luck and prosperity · Protection Legendary
🇷🇴 RomaniaSântoaderi
Supernatural beings in Romanian folklore known for causing illness through music and danceBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary
🇹🇼 TaiwanLui-kong-tsiau雷公鳥
A Taiwanese thunder-creature said to summon storms from treetopsBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreElder Mother
A guardian spirit of elder trees in English and Scandinavian folkloreBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaChedipeचेदिप
A witch-vampire spirit of the Godavari region that drains men and feeds on sorrowBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇧🇷 BrazilRomãozinho
A cursed immortal boy from Brazilian folklore who never grows and causes mischief.Figure · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDames Blanches
Spectral women in French folklore who demand dances or warn of dangerBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreAufhocker
A German folklore spirit that leaps on travelers and weighs them down.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇬🇷 GreeceNymphνύμφη
A nature spirit from Greek myth, tied to specific places like springs or trees, often seen as a maiden.Being · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreKuma LisaКума Лиса
A trickster fox from Slavic folklore who outwits other animalsFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇯🇵 JapanSankai産怪
A yōkai born from a woman during childbirth if proper care is neglectedBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇷🇴 RomaniaUriaș
Giants in Romanian folklore, known by regional names and linked to landscape features.Being Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyUR Group
An Italian esoteric circle studying magic and traditional philosophy in the late 1920s.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇯🇵 JapanAyakashi妖
Water spirits and ghost lights in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇷🇸 SerbiaBaukБаук
A bear-like creature from Serbian folklore that lurks in the dark.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇸🇪 SwedenSjörå
A Swedish lake spirit that rewards kindness and drowns the disrespectfulBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Legendary
🇩🇪 GermanySuhl card reader case
A 1956 East German trial of a psychic for favorable forecasts about leaving the countryBelief · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity 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
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 2 moreMama D'Leau
A river spirit of the Caribbean islands who protects aquatic life and heals people.Being · Healing · Protection Legendary
🇵🇭 PhilippinesMandurugo
A shapeshifting spirit from Philippine folklore that feeds on human bloodBeing · Cursing and harm 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
🇵🇱 Poland and 4 moreMoranaМорена
A Slavic goddess of winter and death, whose effigy is drowned to welcome springFigure · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomCurse of Scotland
A nickname for a playing card linked to bad luck and Scottish historyBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇪🇸 SpainGuajona
A blood-sucking hag from Cantabrian and Asturian legendBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇨🇴 Colombia and 1 moreLa Bolefuego
A fiery apparition from the Llanos that hunts travelers and avoids prayer.Figure · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇮🇪 IrelandSleih beggey
Manx fairies and little people of the Isle of ManBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇪🇬 EgyptSoul Collector
A mythical figure said to gather, guide, or judge the spirits of those who have passed away.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
🇷🇺 RussiaMeduzaМедуза
A Russian mythic figure with a woman's head and a serpent body, linked to trickery.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomTom Thumb
A tiny English folk hero who outwits giants and serves King ArthurFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreGrim Reaper
A hooded skeleton with a scythe, representing death in Western art and story.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical
🇦🇹 Austria and 3 moreSalige Frau
A blissful Alpine spirit who guides farmers and guards mountain gameFigure · Protection · Healing Legendary
🇨🇳 ChinaInterconnected-arm gibbon通臂猿
A mythical primate with linked arms that can extend one limb by pulling in the other.Figure · Power and authority Legendary
🇮🇪 IrelandDeath coachcóiste bodhar
A spectral carriage that signals an unavoidable death in European folkloreBelief · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇯🇵 JapanAmabieアマビエ
A prophetic sea creature from Japan that wards off disease with its imageFigure · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomBiast Bhealach Odail
A shapeshifting spirit of a Scottish mountain passBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇩 IndonesiaBabi ngepet
A Javanese myth about a person who turns into a boar to steal wealthBeing · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomCain bairns
A Scottish folk belief that witches took children as a tax to the DevilBelief Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Huldra: Bernard Evans Ward, Public domain, source
- Babi ngepet: Tropenmuseum, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Amabie: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Guajona: Francisco Goya / Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
- Madgy Figgy's Chair: Jim Champion, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- UR Group: Gruppo di Ur, Public domain, source
- Nymph: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Aufhocker: Longbow4u, Public domain, source
- Morana: Marta Malina Moraczewska, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Curse of Scotland: James Gillray (died 1815), Public domain, source
- Tom Thumb: Leutemann or Offterdinger , photo by Harke, Public domain, source
- Grim Reaper: Jaroslav A. Polák, CC BY 4.0, source
- Salige Frau: various, Public domain, source
- Interconnected-arm gibbon: Xuande Emperor, Public domain, source
- Lucky Jew: Silar, 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
- Loogaroo: A.F.Pannemaker, Public domain, source
- Luopan: Pcae18 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nis Puk: R2D3LA, CC BY-SA 4.0, source