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

🇬🇧 United KingdomBuccabocka A Cornish sea-spirit and mine-dweller who receives fish offerings from coastal communities.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBogle A Northumbrian and Scots household spirit or ghost known for perplexing people.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇩🇿 AlgeriaTassili Mushroom Figure Neolithic cave art in Algeria interpreted by some as depicting psychedelic mushroom use.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇨🇳 ChinaChinese sorcery scares A series of moral panics in Imperial China driven by fears of magical harm and hair cuttingBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreKyöpelinvuori A Finnish mountain where dead women are said to gather after deathBelief Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreKlabautermann A North Sea ship kobold that aids sailors and signals a vessel's doom.Being · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇵🇱 Poland and 1 moreKarzełekСкарбник, Кладенец A Slavic mine spirit that guards treasures and guides miners.Being · Protection · Power and authority Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesBelled buzzard A folklore omen of disaster, depicted as a vulture wearing a bellBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇫🇮 Finland and 2 moreTietäjä A traditional Finnic healer and sage whose power came from memorised spells and deep knowledge.Figure · Healing · Protection Historical

🇳🇿 New Zealand and 4 moreFeather cloak A garment of feathers worn by royalty and gods across cultures to signal rank or enable flightCharm · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreDrude A Germanic nightmare spirit and the pentagram charm used to keep it outBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomCain bairns A Scottish folk belief that witches took children as a tax to the DevilBelief 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 🇩🇪 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 🇯🇵 JapanAyakashi妖 Water spirits and ghost lights in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity 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

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDianism A 19th-century American practice of sexual contact without ejaculationTradition · Power and authority Historical 🇷🇴 RomaniaUriaș Giants in Romanian folklore, known by regional names and linked to landscape features.Being Historical 🇯🇵 JapanTōfu-kozō豆腐小僧 A Japanese yōkai depicted as a child carrying a tray of tofu, popular in Edo period literature.Being · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇷🇸 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

🇬🇧 United KingdomCurse of Scotland A nickname for a playing card linked to bad luck and Scottish historyBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreGrim Reaper A hooded skeleton with a scythe, representing death in Western art and story.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomBiast Bhealach Odail A shapeshifting spirit of a Scottish mountain passBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of Rocky Colavito A baseball superstition linking a 1960 player trade to decades of team failureBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreChain letterFukou no Tegami A message that demands copying and forwarding to avoid bad luck or gain fortuneBelief · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomChained Oak A Staffordshire oak bound in chains by a local legend of a curse and an earl.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanHashihime橋姫 A Japanese bridge spirit linked to jealousy and demonic transformation in folklore and Noh theatre.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandJack O'The Lantern An Irish folktale about a deceitful man condemned to wander with a carved lanternFigure · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇯🇵 Japan and 3 moreThoughtography念写 A claimed psychic ability to imprint mental images directly onto photographic film.Belief · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇳🇴 NorwayTycho Brahe daysTycho Brahes-dage Scandinavian folklore dates believed to be unlucky for magic and businessBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇸 IcelandDjákninn á Myrká An Icelandic ghost story about a dead deacon who returns for his bride on Christmas EveFigure · Cursing and harm Historical

🇫🇷 France and 4 moreEctoplasm A substance said to be excreted by mediums during séances, later exposed as common household materials.Substance · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptEgyptian days Medieval calendar days believed to bring bad luck for new ventures and medical proceduresBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMaternal impression A discredited theory that a mother's shock or thoughts can mark her unborn childBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesStamping A childhood gesture believed to capture luck from specific animals or objectsBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇬🇳 Guinea and 2 moreTaboo on rulers Restrictions placed on kings and priests to manage fear and hostilityBelief · Protection Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesJewett City vampires A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief · Protection Historical

🇫🇷 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 · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomLazy Laurence A mischievous English pixie who makes orchard workers lazy and gives them indigestionBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 JapanKamikiri髪切り A Japanese yōkai blamed for the sudden disappearance of human hairBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreFiredrakeognennyi zmei A European dragon myth born from sightings of shooting stars and will-o'-the-wispsBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇨🇳 ChinaMien shiang面相 A Chinese practice of reading character and fate through facial featuresBelief · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan and 3 moreCurse of TimurПроклятие Тамерлана A rumor that disturbing the conqueror's tomb brings invasion and calamity.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇹🇭 Thailand and 2 moreSang Thongสังข์ทอง A Southeast Asian folktale about a prince born in a shell who gains golden skin and magical powers.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Historical

🇻🇳 VietnamNghêNghê (猊) A mythical guardian creature in Vietnamese architecture and art, blending lion and dog traitsFigure · Protection Historical

🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical 🇯🇵 JapanUmi zatō海座頭 A sea yōkai depicted as a giant blind musician that threatens shipsBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Nghê: Phương Huy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Sang Thong: Narisara Nuwattiwong, Public domain, source
Mediumship: Harvey Metcalfe, Public domain, source
Dianism: Guillaume Seignac, Public domain, source
Bucca: Frederick Whymper, Public domain, source
Tassili Mushroom Figure: I redrawn the rock art written by ancient people., Public domain, source
Klabautermann: Anton von Werner, Public domain, source
Karzełek: Krystian Hasterok, CC BY 2.5, source
Belled buzzard: Saturday Evening Post Irvin Cobb Douglas Durr, Public domain, source
Tietäjä: Robert Wilhelm Ekman, Public domain, source
Feather cloak: Lusanaherandraton, CC BY-SA 4.0, 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
Curse of Scotland: James Gillray (died 1815), Public domain, source
Grim Reaper: Jaroslav A. Polák, CC BY 4.0, source
Chain letter: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Chained Oak: Gary Rogers, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Jack O'The Lantern: Bodrugan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Djákninn á Myrká: Théodore Meyer-Heine / Jules Worms, Public domain, source
Egyptian days: Unknown Unknown (Paris scriptorium), Public domain, source
Petit Albert: Albertus Parvus Lucius, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Kamikiri: Sawaki Suushi (佐脇嵩之, Japanese, *1707, †1772), Public domain, source
Firedrake: Ramesh Kumar R, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source