Magic for everyday use

Everyday magic is the small habits kept at home: the horseshoe, salt over the shoulder, knocking on wood, the evil-eye bead, a lucky number, a morning prayer, the red thread, a bowl of water at the door, a charm in the car. People keep them without making much of them. This page looks at what these habits are, why they last and where they fit alongside religion and science. It is the commonest magic of all.

What it looks like

Daily practice is ordinary. In India, a lemon and chillies hang at shops, and a rangoli drawn at a doorstep welcomes luck. In Turkey, a nazar hangs near the door. In Britain, people say touch wood. In Japan, a lucky cat sits in the shop window, and in Mexico an egg may be rolled over a child. Many of these customs use cheap, available things. Many habits are older than the people who keep them, and nobody can say who started them.

Why people keep them

Researchers describe such habits as low-cost ways to cope with uncertainty. They give a feeling of control, mark boundaries and bring people together at little risk. Studies of lucky charms show they can raise confidence. Most people hold small customs with a light touch, half serious and half playful, and would not say they believe in them. Practices come in several types: some are protective, some bring luck, some help the household keep track of time and weather, and some are no more than a habit of speech.

Names, religion and class

Customs are shared across religions with different explanations. The evil eye is feared by Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus in the Mediterranean and beyond. Religious reformers often attack such customs, and educated people sometimes mock them as rural. Women do most of the work of keeping them going, within the home. The home is also where these customs meet money, since shops sell everything needed, and some of the items on sale are made far from their cultural homes.

Shops and screens

Ordinary habits are now a market of charms, apps, horoscopes and online readers. Small purchases are harmless, but large payments for luck or protection are a warning sign of fraud. The customs also spread online, where they can lose their origin. Whether or not they work, they remain a way people say that they care about each other. In the end, the most common magic in the world is neither dramatic nor secret, and it is practised by people who have no wish to be called magicians.

Photo credits on this page

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

Haitian Vodou: Sam Fentress, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Midsummer: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Pentagram: Tomruen, Attribution, source

Folk saint: Sergio Serrano, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Day of the Dead: RubeHM, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Pilgrimage: Ali Mansuri, CC BY-SA 2.5, source

Folk Catholicism: Calvin Hennick, for WBUR Boston, CC BY 3.0, source

Snake worship: Alexandermcnabb, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Santo Daime: Tonelada, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Holy well: The Speckled Bird, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

May Day: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0, source

Spiritual Baptist: N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Rachel's Tomb: Lane-Poole, Stanley, Public domain, source

Spiritualist church: Jim.henderson, CC0, source

Santería: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Everyday use: practices that mark them