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.
🇩🇪 Germany and 4 moreNeed-fireNotfeuer
A ritual fire lit by friction to protect livestock and people from disease and witchcraftRite · Protection · Cleansing and purification Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreKnocker
A mine spirit of Cornwall and Devon that warns of danger and plays tricks on workersBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomGwyllion
Welsh spirits that lead travellers astray and are feared in mountain folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreChurch grim
A guardian spirit of Christian churchyards, often appearing as a black dog or lamb.Being · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomHob
A small household spirit of Northern England and the Anglo-Scottish border.Being · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreTrial by ordeal
An ancient judicial test where a dangerous physical trial determined guilt or innocenceRite · Cursing and harm Historical
🇯🇵 JapanTsukumogami付喪神
Household objects that gain a spirit after reaching their hundredth year in Japanese folklore.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaGu蛊
A venom-based poison and black magic practice from south ChinaSubstance · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreCunning folk
European practitioners of folk medicine and helpful magic from the Middle Ages to the twentieth centuryTradition · Protection · Healing Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreSixth and Seventh Books of Moses
A grimoire claiming to reveal the hidden spells of Moses for controlling spirits and natureText · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaUnicorn horn
A legendary object believed to neutralize poison and cure disease, traded as narwhal teeth for centuries.Charm · Healing · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomWitch ball
A glass sphere hung in windows to trap spirits and ward off evilCharm · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreJet
A black gemstone carved into amulets and mourning jewellery for centuriesCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇶 Iraq and 1 moreLibanomancy
Divination by reading the smoke and ash of burning frankincenseOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreHydromancy
Divination using water to reveal the future or judge legitimacy.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceAeromancy
Divination by reading the sky, wind, and cloudsOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreCapnomancy
Divination by reading the shapes and movements of smoke from fires or incenseOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWill-o'-the-wisp
A ghostly light in folklore that guides or misleads travellers over marshes and bogs.Belief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomCornish mythology
The folk tales and legends of Cornwall, shared with Brittany and Wales.Tradition · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇬🇷 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
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreWild Hunt
A spectral chase across Europe led by a mythic figure and ghostly riders.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyAlp
A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇫🇷 France and 3 moreWitches' Sabbath
A legendary gathering of witches described in early modern trial records and folkloreBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇯🇵 JapanKitsunetsuki狐憑き
A Japanese folk belief in which a fox spirit enters and controls a human host.Belief · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇯🇵 JapanKitsunebi狐火
Atmospheric ghost lights in Japanese folklore, often linked to foxes and natural phenomena.Belief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇪 IrelandBodach
A Gaelic trickster figure used to frighten children and warn of deathFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇶 Iraq and 1 morePazuzu𒀭𒅆𒊒𒍪𒍪 (pà.zu.zu)
A Mesopotamian wind demon and protective amulet against child-harming spiritsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇳 China and 2 moreNaming taboo避諱
A cultural rule against speaking or writing the names of rulers and ancestors in East AsiaBelief · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomSt Mark's Eve
An English folk custom to witness omens of death and future marriage on the eve of a saint's feast dayRite · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreRabbit's foot
A charm carried for luck, often linked to graveyards and strict folk rulesCharm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreAugury
A Roman rite of reading bird behavior to learn the will of the godsRite · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreSator Square
A five-word Latin palindrome found in Roman ruins and medieval churchesCharm · Protection · Healing Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreDaniel Dunglas Home
A Scottish physical medium known for levitation and spirit communication during the Victorian era.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreFranz Anton Mesmer
A German physician who proposed a universal fluid of natural energy and founded mesmerism.Tradition · Healing Historical
🇮🇸 IcelandGaldrabók
An Icelandic grimoire of spells and staves from around 1600Text · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Long Lost FriendDer lange verborgene Freund
A Pennsylvania German grimoire of folk remedies and magical charms published in 1820.Text · Healing · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomWitch bottle (sample)
A stoppered bottle set out against curses.Charm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreSpiritualism
A nineteenth-century religious movement focused on communicating with the dead.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇫🇮 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
🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreKallikantzarosκαλικάντζαρος
A malevolent goblin that dwells underground and surfaces during the twelve days of Christmas.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreBulla
A round Roman amulet given to freeborn boys as a mark of status and protectionCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 3 morePig-faced women
A European legend of a woman with the face of a pig, and the charms used to break her curseFigure · Change and initiation Historical
🇷🇺 RussiaBlack magic
Magic used for evil or selfish purposes, and the beliefs surrounding itBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreZduhaćздухаћ
A South Slavic belief in men who fight storms and hail to protect their cropsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇯🇵 JapanCurse of the Colonelカーネルサンダースの呪い
A Japanese sports superstition blaming a baseball team's losses on an offended fast-food mascot.Belief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of the Bambino
A sports superstition linking a long championship drought to a player saleBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEuropean witchcraft
Historical beliefs in harmful magic and the resulting trials across EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇳🇴 NorwayCyprianus
A Scandinavian folk magic grimoire and the tradition of spells it containsText · Healing · Seeing and foretelling 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
- Kallikantzaros: Katolophyromai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Augur: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Rabisu: editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain, source
- Pig-faced women: DubhEire, CC0, source
- Zduhać: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Black magic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eliogarcia/ (nick in flickr:creo que soy, CC BY 2.0, source
- Trial by ordeal: James Sibree, Public domain, source
- Curse of the Colonel: Ogiyoshisan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bulla: Anonymous ( Category:Etruscans ) Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Witch-cult hypothesis: Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
- Alp: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Curse of the Bambino: National Photo Company, Public domain, source
- European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Need-fire: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Church grim: Inès Lee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hob: Jo Turner, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Tsukumogami: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Unicorn horn: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Witch ball: John W. Schulze, CC BY 2.0, source
- Libanomancy: 4174332, CC0, source
- Hydromancy: Roger McLassus, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Aeromancy: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Capnomancy: Tigerzeng, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cornish mythology: waterborough, Public domain, source
- Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Wild Hunt: Peter Nicolai Arbo, Public domain, source
- Kitsunebi: Abasaa, Public domain, source
- Naming taboo: Haruno Akiha, Public domain, source
- Rabbit's foot: Sobebunny, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sator Square: M Disdero, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Daniel Dunglas Home: Nadar, Public domain, source
- Spiritualism: Rossington, W. W. and Garrett, J. Ellwood, Public domain, source
- Jet: Thmsfrst, Public domain, source
- Franz Anton Mesmer: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Will-o'-the-wisp: Hermann Hendrich, Public domain, source