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.
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreLilith诇执讬诇执讬转
A feminine figure from Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, often depicted as a night demon or spirit.Being 路 Cursing and harm Legendary
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptSham Ennessim卮賲 丕賱賳爻賷賲
An Egyptian spring holiday marked by picnics, colored eggs, and salted fishTradition 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptScrying
A divination practice of gazing into a medium to receive visions or guidance.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptCurse of the pharaohs
A belief that disturbing ancient Egyptian tombs brings illness or death to the living.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚥馃嚘 Morocco and 1 moreGnawa music诃賿賳丕賵丞 or 賰賿賳丕賵丞
Moroccan ritual music blending West African heritage with Islamic practice for healing and tranceTradition 路 Healing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion
Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚬馃嚦 TunisiaStambeli
A Tunisian music and possession rite practiced by Black communities of slave descentTradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Living
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptSoul Collector
A mythical figure said to gather, guide, or judge the spirits of those who have passed away.Being 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptEgyptian days
Medieval calendar days believed to bring bad luck for new ventures and medical proceduresBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚥馃嚘 Morocco and 1 moreZuhri夭賵賴乇賷
A human-djinn hybrid child in North African folklore, sought for treasure ritualsBeing 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Cursing and harm Fading
馃嚛馃嚳 AlgeriaTassili Mushroom Figure
Neolithic cave art in Algeria interpreted by some as depicting psychedelic mushroom use.Belief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 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.
- Curse of the pharaohs: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Stambeli: Youssefbensaad, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sham Ennessim: Ikonact, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Scrying: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Tassili Mushroom Figure: I redrawn the rock art written by ancient people., Public domain, source
- Egyptian days: Unknown Unknown (Paris scriptorium), Public domain, source
- Gnawa music: Lucyin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lilith: Photographs by Ardon Bar Hama, author of original document is unknown., Public domain, source