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.
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomChained Oak
A Staffordshire oak bound in chains by a local legend of a curse and an earl.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandJack O'The Lantern
An Irish folktale about a deceitful man condemned to wander with a carved lanternFigure 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayTycho Brahe daysTycho Brahes-dage
Scandinavian folklore dates believed to be unlucky for magic and businessBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚫 IcelandDj谩kninn 谩 Myrk谩
An Icelandic ghost story about a dead deacon who returns for his bride on Christmas EveFigure 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 France and 4 moreEctoplasm
A substance said to be excreted by mediums during s茅ances, later exposed as common household materials.Substance 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreMaternal impression
A discredited theory that a mother's shock or thoughts can mark her unborn childBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 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 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚨馃嚤 Poland and 1 moreKarze艂ek小泻邪褉斜薪懈泻, 袣谢邪写械薪械褑
A Slavic mine spirit that guards treasures and guides miners.Being 路 Protection 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreKlabautermann
A North Sea ship kobold that aids sailors and signals a vessel's doom.Being 路 Protection 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 5 moreFiredrakeognennyi zmei
A European dragon myth born from sightings of shooting stars and will-o'-the-wispsBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreBogle
A Northumbrian and Scots household spirit or ghost known for perplexing people.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLantern man
A ghost light of the English fens said to lure victims into the marshesBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomBuccabocka
A Cornish sea-spirit and mine-dweller who receives fish offerings from coastal communities.Being 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomBarddas
A 19th-century book presenting Welsh bardic and druidic theology as ancient traditionText 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi
A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy艢uri饜寫饜寲饜寷饜墿 (Etruscan)
An ancient Etruscan deity of volcanic fire, the underworld, and healingBeing 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyFeldgeist
German folk creatures tied to crops, weather and harvest ritualsBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceTempestarii
Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical
馃嚚馃嚟 SwitzerlandSegen
A German term for blessing, charm, or spell rooted in Christian and folk traditions.Belief 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreDried cat
A dried feline body hidden in walls to protect a home from harmCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 1 moreFrog coffin
A Finnish folk magic burial of a frog in a tiny coffin to steal luck or reflect harmRite 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceMagonia
A cloud realm of aerial sailors blamed for hail and stolen grain in medieval EuropeBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLazy Laurence
A mischievous English pixie who makes orchard workers lazy and gives them indigestionBeing 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayBergen rune charm
A four-sided wooden stick with runic verses for love and protection from medieval Norway.Charm 路 Love and attraction 路 Protection Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomFairy FlagA' Bhratach Sh矛th
A tattered silk heirloom of Clan MacLeod, said to hold fairy magic and ancient power.Charm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreElder Mother
A guardian spirit of elder trees in English and Scandinavian folkloreBeing 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚫馃嚜 Sweden and 4 moreSun cross
A cross inside a circle found in prehistoric art and modern political symbolsBelief 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚫馃嚜 SwedenSigtuna rib
A runic bone amulet from medieval Sweden bearing a spell against diseaseCharm 路 Healing Historical
馃嚫馃嚜 Sweden脜rsg氓ng
An archaic Swedish divination ritual performed on Christmas Eve to glimpse the coming year.Rite 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 2 moreFavomancy
Divination by throwing beans and reading the patterns they form on the groundOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomQueen of Elphame
The elfin queen of Faerie from Lowland Scotland and Northern England folkloreFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Healing Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomTam Lin
A Scottish ballad about a fairy knight rescued by his mortal lover on Hallowe'enFigure 路 Love and attraction 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreCromniomancy
Divination by onions to reveal health, love, weather and distant newsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Love and attraction Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 RussiaVolkhovnik袙芯谢褏芯胁薪懈泻
A lost Old Russian divination book of omens and signsText 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomThe Cheltenham Ghost
A late nineteenth century English haunting investigated by the Society for Psychical ResearchBelief Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomHobgoblin
A household spirit from English folklore known for chores and mischiefBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyUR Group
An Italian esoteric circle studying magic and traditional philosophy in the late 1920s.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Historical
馃嚪馃嚧 RomaniaUria葯
Giants in Romanian folklore, known by regional names and linked to landscape features.Being Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanySuhl card reader case
A 1956 East German trial of a psychic for favorable forecasts about leaving the countryBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomMadgy Figgy's Chair
A granite rock in Cornwall linked to a legendary witch and her storm conjuringFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomCain bairns
A Scottish folk belief that witches took children as a tax to the DevilBelief Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreDrude
A Germanic nightmare spirit and the pentagram charm used to keep it outBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 2 moreTiet盲j盲
A traditional Finnic healer and sage whose power came from memorised spells and deep knowledge.Figure 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚪馃嚫 Serbia and 3 moreBo啪i膰袘芯卸懈褯
A Slavic figure linked to the new year and spring, whose name now marks ChristmasFigure 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- 艢uri: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public domain, source
- Mediumship: Harvey Metcalfe, Public domain, source
- Hobgoblin: Herbert Railton, Public domain, source
- Feldgeist: Zwoelefant, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bucca: Frederick Whymper, Public domain, source
- Klabautermann: Anton von Werner, Public domain, source
- Karze艂ek: Krystian Hasterok, CC BY 2.5, source
- Tiet盲j盲: Robert Wilhelm Ekman, Public domain, source
- Drude: Ramessos, Public domain, source
- Madgy Figgy's Chair: Jim Champion, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- UR Group: Gruppo di Ur, Public domain, source
- Chained Oak: Gary Rogers, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Jack O'The Lantern: Bodrugan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dj谩kninn 谩 Myrk谩: Th茅odore Meyer-Heine / Jules Worms, Public domain, source
- Petit Albert: Albertus Parvus Lucius, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Firedrake: Ramesh Kumar R, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Dried cat: The Voice of Hassocks, CC0, source
- Bergen rune charm: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
- Fairy Flag: Otter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sun cross: National Museum of Denmark, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sigtuna rib: Swedish National Heritage Board, CC BY 4.0, source
- Tam Lin: Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0, source