Households and ordinary people
Grandmothers, parents and neighbours doing the small things: the knot, the salt, the red thread.
Households and ordinary people do most of the world's magic: the grandmother who ties a thread on a baby's wrist, the neighbour who throws salt, the shopkeeper who hangs a lemon and chillies, the family that burns incense before a photograph. These people are not specialists and often do not call it magic. This page looks at the domestic side of the subject, which is the commonest and least written about.
Everyday customs
Household practice is woven into daily life: sweeping at new year, a bead on a cradle, a horseshoe over a door, a charm in a car. It tends to be practical, brief and handed down within the family. Many people say they do it because their mother did, or to be safe. It rarely needs a priest, a text or a fee. The hands that do it are those of mothers and grandmothers, who also cook, clean and care, so the magic is part of the labour of the home.
Women and the home
Women are the principal keepers of household custom in many societies, as mothers, grandmothers and aunts. Their knowledge covers birth, child care, food, illness, marriage and death. That knowledge is often undervalued by the formal religion and by scholars, and was also the source of accusations in the witch trials, in which women who were midwives or healers were prominent. A household custom is learned by watching and may never be explained, since the practitioner does not see it as special.
Faith and the home
Religious leaders have seen household custom as faith, as superstition or as a nuisance. Reformers in Protestant Europe, Salafi Islam and some Hindu and Buddhist movements have told people to give up such practices. Many people keep them regardless. In the diaspora, the home customs are sometimes the part of heritage that lasts longest, and are carried to new countries in suitcases. In cities, small shrines, protective charms and everyday rituals often survive in apartments, taxis and shops.
Why scholars care
Anthropologists of everyday religion and folklorists record these customs as evidence of how people manage risk. They show how belief and practice differ, since people may say they do not believe and still knock on wood. Household magic is also the easiest to commercialise, in shops selling charms and kits that detach customs from their homes. A new student or visitor may find that families who say they do not believe still follow such customs carefully, and this gap is one of the more interesting findings.
Households and ordinary people on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreCapnomancy
Divination by reading the shapes and movements of smoke from fires or incenseOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 4 moreNeed-fireNotfeuer
A ritual fire lit by friction to protect livestock and people from disease and witchcraftRite 路 Protection 路 Cleansing and purification Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 3 moreSaturnalia
An ancient Roman winter festival of role reversal and feasting in honor of SaturnTradition 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 4 moreKallikantzaros魏伪位喂魏维谓蟿味伪蟻慰蟼
A malevolent goblin that dwells underground and surfaces during the twelve days of Christmas.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 2 moreLecanomancy
Divination using a dish or bowl of water to read the futureOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚮馃嚦 Vietnam and 2 moreVietnamese numismatic charmsB霉a Vi峄噒 Nam
Coin-shaped charms used for protection, luck, and ritual in Vietnamese cultureCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚫馃嚠 Slovenia and 5 moreVesna袙械褋薪邪
A Slavic personification of spring and youth, known in myth and languageFigure 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyFeldgeist
German folk creatures tied to crops, weather and harvest ritualsBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 IranF膩l-g奴sh賮丕賱诏賵卮
A Persian divination custom of listening to strangers' words for omensRite 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kallikantzaros: Katolophyromai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Need-fire: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lecanomancy: Author Robert Burns Translator Alexander Smith Illustrator C. A. Vande, Public domain, source
- Capnomancy: Tigerzeng, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Saturnalia: Themadchopper, Antoine-Fran莽ois Callet, CC0, source
- Vietnamese numismatic charms: Jean-Michel Moullec, CC BY 2.0, source
- Vesna: Viktor Vasnetsov, Public domain, source
- Feldgeist: Zwoelefant, CC BY-SA 3.0, source