Praying to Keep the Devil Away

The informant shared this information at my request. They told me about an exchange they had with their Catholic neighbour.

 

They said that their neighbour told them that if they didn’t pray each night, the devil would come for them. Although their neighbour was four years younger than them, the informant says they were still “young and gullible,” so they prayed for a while and signed crosses over themselves. The informant said they only stopped when they realized they were not religious.

 

I thought it was interesting how they easily accepted their neighbour’s words, even if they were both children.

 

This also connects to vernacular religion; the informant also said they made cross signs before doing arbitrary things for luck.