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.
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 morePunxsutawney Phil
A groundhog who serves as the central figure in an annual American weather prediction festival.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesFolk healer
An unlicensed community member who provides healing care using local plants and traditional knowledge.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreGroundhog DayGrund'sau d氓k
A North American custom using a burrowing rodent to forecast the end of winterTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 4 moreRainmaking
Efforts to induce rain through technology, ritual, or prayer.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 2 moreJack-o'-lantern
A hollowed vegetable carved with a face and lit from within, worn as a Halloween symbolCharm 路 Protection 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 2 moreS茅ance
A gathering to communicate with spirits, ranging from religious services to stage performances.Rite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 3 moreSandpainting
A ritual art of pouring colored sand to create temporary images for healing or spiritual teachingTradition 路 Healing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 2 moreRabbit's foot
A charm carried for luck, often linked to graveyards and strict folk rulesCharm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚚馃嚘 Canada and 1 moreTotemdoodem
A spirit or symbol linking a group to nature, from Ojibwe clan systems to Australian kinshipBelief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreFriday the 13th
A Western superstition marking a specific calendar date as unlucky.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesHex sign
Pennsylvania Dutch barn symbols that range from folk art to talismansCharm 路 Protection 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesRing shout
A sacred circle dance of African American origin using rhythmic movement and call-and-response singingRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 2 moreSpiritualism
A nineteenth-century religious movement focused on communicating with the dead.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesBloody Mary
A mirror ritual to summon a spirit that reveals the future or brings harmBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreBarnstar
A painted or carved star used to decorate barns in parts of the United States and Canada.Charm 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesCurse of the Bambino
A sports superstition linking a long championship drought to a player saleBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreJinx
A curse or attribute believed to attract bad luckBelief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesLemon pig
A carved fruit figure made for amusement and later linked to New Year luckCharm 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesThe Gray Man
A coastal ghost from South Carolina said to warn of hurricanesBeing 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreFriday the 13th
A Western superstition that a specific calendar alignment brings misfortuneBelief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 4 moreTooth fairy
A childhood figure who exchanges lost baby teeth for gifts or coins.Figure 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 2 moreBlack Hebrew Israelites
A religious movement claiming African Americans are descendants of ancient IsraelitesTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesAshtar
A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreSpiritualist church
A worship service led by a medium to communicate with the deceasedTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesNew England vampire panic
A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreDianism
A 19th-century American practice of sexual contact without ejaculationTradition 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesCurse of Rocky Colavito
A baseball superstition linking a 1960 player trade to decades of team failureBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚡馃嚨 Japan and 1 moreChain letterFukou no Tegami
A message that demands copying and forwarding to avoid bad luck or gain fortuneBelief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesMarmot Day
An Alaskan holiday celebrating local marmots and frontier culture, replacing Groundhog Day.Tradition 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesStamping
A childhood gesture believed to capture luck from specific animals or objectsBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesJewett City vampires
A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief 路 Protection Historical
馃嚥馃嚱 Mexico and 1 moreGod's eyeOjo de Dios
A woven yarn cross believed to grant spiritual sight and protectionCharm 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 3 more11:11
A clock time believed to signal spiritual alignment or synchronicity in numerology and New Age thoughtBelief 路 Wonder and entertainment 路 Power and authority Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Barnstar: Una Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Folk healer: calliopejen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Curse of the Bambino: National Photo Company, Public domain, source
- Rainmaking: George Catlin, Public domain, source
- Halloween: Toby Ord, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- S茅ance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Sandpainting: Mnolf, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Friday the 13th: Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, source
- Rabbit's foot: Sobebunny, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Totem: Jami430, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lemon pig: GenesisNZ, CC0, source
- Hex sign: Smallbones, CC0, source
- Ring shout: Attributed to John Rose, Public domain, source
- Spiritualism: Rossington, W. W. and Garrett, J. Ellwood, Public domain, source
- Punxsutawney Phil: Anthony Quintano, CC BY 2.0, source
- Black Hebrew Israelites: Elvert Barnes, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Tooth fairy: Eden, CC BY 2.0, source
- Dianism: Guillaume Seignac, Public domain, source
- Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
- Chain letter: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Marmot Day: Colin Canterbury/USFWS, Public domain, source
- God's eye: Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- The Gray Man: Phoebe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Groundhog Day: Anthony Quintano, CC BY 2.0, source
- Spiritualist church: Jim.henderson, CC0, source
- New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source