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

🇮🇳 IndiaDrishti bommai A fearsome doll hung at homes and vehicles to ward off the evil eye in South India.Charm · Protection Living

🇹🇼 TaiwanYin miao陰廟 Temples for wandering spirits in Taiwanese folk religionTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead 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 🇮🇩 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 🇺🇦 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

🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreGod's eyeOjo de Dios A woven yarn cross believed to grant spiritual sight and protectionCharm · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇻🇳 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

🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreBesomвеник A twig broom used for sweeping, folk magic, and fire responseCharm · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇮🇳 India and 5 moreLock of hair A piece of human hair kept for symbolic, sentimental, or superstitious reasons.Substance · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇷🇺 RussiaAugust curse A Russian belief that severe disasters and national tragedies cluster in the month of August.Belief Living 🇻🇪 VenezuelaDjucu A warm sea nut used as a lucky charm in the CaribbeanCharm · Luck and prosperity Living 🇯🇵 JapanYakudoshi厄年 Traditional Japanese ages believed to bring bad luck and the rituals used to ward them offBelief · Protection Living 🇺🇸 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 🇹🇭 Thailand and 1 moreHae Nang Maewแห่นางแมว (Thai); ពិធីហែនាងម៉ែវ (Khmer) A rainmaking ritual where a cat is paraded through villages to end droughtRite · Luck and prosperity Living 🇦🇲 Armenia and 5 moreSpilling water for luck A folk custom of pouring water to wish a traveler or worker a smooth journeyBelief · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living

🇭🇹 HaitiHaitian CarnivalKanaval A major Caribbean festival of music, dance, and satire leading to Mardi Gras in HaitiTradition · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇳 ChinaDragon turtle龍龜 (Lóngguī) A Chinese mythic creature with a dragon body and turtle shell, used as a Feng Shui charm.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Living 🇯🇲 Jamaica and 1 moreNine-Night A nine-day Caribbean wake rooted in Akan tradition to celebrate the deceased and guide their spirit home.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇪🇸 SpainIndalo A Bronze Age pictograph used as a protective house charm and lucky symbol in Almería, SpainCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇷🇴 Romania and 5 moreMărțișor A red and white string charm worn in early spring to welcome the seasonTradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇯🇵 JapanChīsai-ojisan小さいおじさん A tiny Japanese cryptid said to bring luck when spotted in everyday placesFigure · Luck and prosperity Living

🇹🇭 ThailandPla taphianปลาตะเพียนสาน A woven palm leaf fish mobile hung as a blessing for health and plentyCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇳 ChinaSuperstition in China A broad category for folk beliefs and rituals dismissed as backward by modern Chinese authoritiesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreWedding superstitions Folk beliefs and omens tied to marriage customs across many culturesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇫🇮 Finland and 2 moreSaint Knut's Daytjugondag jul; nuutinpäivä A January festival ending the Christmas season with tree removal and traditional visits.Rite · Cleansing and purification Living

🇵🇱 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

🇵🇱 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

🇺🇸 United StatesMarmot Day An Alaskan holiday celebrating local marmots and frontier culture, replacing Groundhog Day.Tradition · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇮🇳 India and 5 moreSailors' superstitions A global collection of omens, charms and taboos used by mariners to manage the risks of life at seaBelief · Protection · 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.

Kadangot Makkam: Shagil Kannur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Haitian Carnival: User:Doron, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Dragon turtle: Jonathan O'Donnell, CC BY 2.0, source
Morana: Marta Malina Moraczewska, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Marmot Day: Colin Canterbury/USFWS, Public domain, source
Sailors' superstitions: Siren Painter (eponymous vase), Public domain, source
Lock of hair: Unknown author, CC0, source
God's eye: Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Drishti bommai: Chrissy starsi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Yin miao: Outlookxp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Besom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cox_(artist), Public domain, source
Indalo: Ismael Olea, Public domain, source
Pla taphian: Mr.Peerapong Prasutr, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Superstition in China: Gary Todd, CC0, source
Wedding superstitions: Anonymous Unknown 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