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

🇨🇱 ChileCamahueto A one-horned river bull from Chilote folklore that drags people to the seaBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomGwragedd Annwngwraig Annwn Welsh lake fairies linked to the origin of black cattle and the Tylwyth TegBeing Legendary 🇨🇳 ChinaNine-tailed turtle九尾龜 A legendary Chinese creature linked to divination and folkloreBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇭🇺 HungaryLidérc A shape-shifting spirit from Hungarian folklore that brings wealth or illness.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇫🇷 FranceFarfadet Small helpful spirits of French folklore that perform chores for foodBeing · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇵🇱 Poland and 1 morePan Twardowski A Polish sorcerer who bargained with the Devil and ended up on the MoonFigure · Power and authority Legendary 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 1 moreDouen A faceless creature with backwards feet from Trinidad and Tobago folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomMaggy Moulach A Scottish brownie known for her hair and fierce protection of her kinBeing · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesWoman in Black A spectral figure from Appalachian folklore said to punish men for moral failingsBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

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

🇯🇵 JapanYama-uba山姥 A Japanese mountain spirit depicted as either a cannibalistic monster or a benevolent guardian.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇮🇳 IndiaBramrachokh A demon in Kashmiri myth that mimics a light to lead travellers astrayBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanTsuchinokoツチノコ A snake-like cryptid from Japanese folklore said to roll like a wheelBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesMoll Dyer A Maryland folktale about a woman accused of witchcraft and her cursed stoneFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

🇮🇩 IndonesiaBabi ngepet A Javanese myth about a person who turns into a boar to steal wealthBeing · Luck and prosperity · 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

🇪🇸 SpainGuajona A blood-sucking hag from Cantabrian and Asturian legendBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇸🇪 SwedenSjörå A Swedish lake spirit that rewards kindness and drowns the disrespectfulBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇷🇸 SerbiaBaukБаук A bear-like creature from Serbian folklore that lurks in the dark.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreKuma LisaКума Лиса A trickster fox from Slavic folklore who outwits other animalsFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇬🇧 United KingdomTom Thumb A tiny English folk hero who outwits giants and serves King ArthurFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇦🇹 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

🇷🇸 Serbia and 1 moreVampire pumpkins and watermelons A Balkan folk tale about ground fruit that turns into vampires.Belief · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇸🇪 SwedenKnights of Ålleberg Swedish ghost story about sleeping warriors in a mountainFigure · Power and authority Legendary

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreBake-danuki化け狸 A shape-shifting raccoon dog spirit from Japanese folklore known for pranks and illusions.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanNyūdō-bōzu入道坊主 A Japanese yokai that grows taller when stared at and can kill or vanish depending on the responseBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇷🇴 RomaniaMuma Pădurii A forest spirit in Romania who protects nature and punishes those who harm itBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇸🇪 SwedenVittra A forest spirit from northern Sweden linked to livestock and seductionBeing · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Legendary 🇫🇮 FinlandAjatar An evil female spirit of Finnish folklore associated with serpents and diseaseFigure · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇩🇪 GermanyWitte Wiwer Subterranean spirits of Low German folklore known for music and child exchangeBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

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

🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 1 moreIspolinисполин A legendary giant from Bulgarian folklore, said to be the second generation of Earth's inhabitants.Figure Legendary

🇯🇵 JapanShidaidaka次第高 A tall spirit in Japan that grows when you look up and shrinks when you look down.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

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
Huldra: Bernard Evans Ward, Public domain, source
Knights of Ålleberg: Photograph: Nasko, Public domain, source
Camahueto: Rjcastillo, CC BY 4.0, source
Farfadet: User:Mattes, Public domain, source
Pan Twardowski: Pit1233, Public domain, source
Luduan: Gisling, CC BY 2.5, source
Yama-uba: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Moll Dyer: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Babi ngepet: Tropenmuseum, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Amabie: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Guajona: Francisco Goya / Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
Aufhocker: Longbow4u, Public domain, source
Tom Thumb: Leutemann or Offterdinger , photo by Harke, Public domain, source
Salige Frau: various, Public domain, source
Interconnected-arm gibbon: Xuande Emperor, Public domain, source
Vampire pumpkins and watermelons: The original uploader was Ke4roh at English Wikipedia ., Public domain, source
Bake-danuki: Poposhka at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Ispolin: Joshua Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Shidaidaka: by Reggaeman, CC BY-SA 3.0, source