Tag Archives: evil eye

Evil Eye Superstitions

Nationality: Greek
Age: 50s
Occupation: Software Designer
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/15/11
Primary Language: English

The informant is a male in his 50s. He was born to two Greek parents in New York. He was brought up in the Greek Orthodox Church. He lived in the Bronx for most of his youth before moving to the suburbs in Connecticut. He has worked as a journalist for most of his life, a job in which he spent a good deal of time in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent. He now lives in Southern California as a software developer. He is divorced with three children.

The informant’s family, his parents, grandparents, etc. believe in the Evil Eye, called Matia in Greek. The evil eye affects mainly children. It causes sickness, accidents, misfortunes, and other such bad occurrences. It is caused by the jealousy of other people towards a child, especially an attractive or beautiful one. His family believed that people, especially those unable to conceive or without children, will see a baby or child and lust after it. This jealousy causes the Evil Eye to be put upon the child. To ward off the jealousy induced evil eye, parents will hang charms on baby carriages and cots, mostly shaped like eyes. The parents also avoid invite jealousy of their children. They do not brag about their children and if any one ever pays their child a complement, they will spit on the kid or ground and say something disparaging to negate the complement. By doing this, the informant says they are not only trying to ward off the jealousy of other people, but also of God.

Analysis: The Matia for Greeks is a peculiar cultural phenomenon, when placed in the context of American culture. Americans place a lot emphasis on physical appearance, especially the beauty of babies and children. This is evidenced by the prevalence of child pageants and other such programs. For the Greeks, however, because of the belief in the evil eye, emphasizing a child’s physical appearance is considered dangerous because it can incite jealousy. This fear is so strong that the parents will even spit on their child. The belief in the Matia is so strong that they will go against the cultural structure of the country they live in to stop their children falling to the evil eye.

Folk Speech/Protection – Evil Eye – Persian

Nationality: American, Persian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

Folk Speech/Protection – Evil Eye – Persian

“Some Persians believe if you use a word like ‘scissors,” ‘knife,’ or ‘needle,’ it’s as if you are putting that sharp object in the evil eye of the person you’re saying it to, insinuating that person is evil eyeing you. So instead of saying, ‘pass the salt’ or ‘pass the knife,’ you would say, ‘pass that which cannot be named’ or ‘pass that which is far from your soul.’ This can be viewed as a sign of respect when speaking to people you don’t know well, and it also avoids offending somebody if you’re not sure if they believe this tradition. Lots of people have gotten in fights over this… and even families have been broken apart. It’s really ridiculous.”

The informant described a couple of instances in which this affected her. One was when a woman was asking her to pass some salt at the dinner table, and the woman refused to say the word “salt” because it is corrosive and was afraid the informant would be offended. She also gave the example of, when suspicious of a person’s intentions when addressing you, you can make statements like, “I have a toothache,” “today I had to get an injection,” or “my bones ache.” All of these statements are believed to ward of the negative energy associated with the evil eye, because they are “sharp” and can pierce the evil eye. Another instance that this affected the informant was through her friend. When this friend visited her sister-in-law’s house in Beverly Hills for the first time, the sister-in-law immediately brought her to the tapestries hanging on the wall and stated something like, “look at the delicate needle-work on this tapestry.” The friend of the informant was extremely offended and stormed out of the house, thinking her sister-in-law was accusing her of jealousy. This confrontation resulted in cutting off relations with her sister-in-law. This example exemplifies how strong evil eye superstitions continue to be, even in a modern city like Los Angeles.
According the informant, the evil eye superstition, along with this method of protection, began when potential theft was an issue in Iran. People often worried about theft of their cattle or other belongings that were crucial to their survival, so this was a method of protecting themselves. Furthermore, the evil eye superstition exists all over the world, especially in the Middle East, in both Islam and Judaism. Therefore, it only makes sense that such a widespread superstition would endure.
I agree with the informant’s analysis, but I think there is another level to its relevance in modern usage. The informant’s community is predominantly Persian and Jewish, and mostly upper class residents of Beverly Hills. Therefore, it would make sense that these perceived notion of envy would endure in this community, both internally and externally, and they would continue to try to protect themselves from it.

Ritual— Iran

Nationality: Iranian. Self-Identified Ethnicity: Persian.
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/26/11
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

The practice as described by Tara:  “If you feel like the evil eye is near you, you burn this weed called esfand (laughs).  It’s different in other parts of Iran but my mom’s Turkish so she has to say this prayer thing in Turkish.  And you let the smell of the weed take over the house, and it kills the evil eye.”

Tara said she learned this tradition from her mother, who burns esfand often.  She said that most people she knows do this in Iran on important occasions like on the date that their children are being circumcised or if their children are sick.  However, her mother does it for more common occasions.  For instance, if someone gives Tara or her mother a lot of compliments, they burn the weed because it seems like someone is really interested in them and they might be getting jinxed.  Tara’s family moved from Iran to the United States almost ten years ago, but they still perform this ritual in their house in Los Angeles.

Tara said that she doesn’t understand the practice exactly but she likes to burn the weed because it smells really good.  She also said that people probably do this because it’s a tradition and gives you a true sense of comfort.  She said that she does believe in the evil eye even though she knows it’s illogical.  She says it might sound stupid to other people (this is why she laughed in embarrassment while explaining the tradition, which she did in a room filled with Americans uninformed about the evil eye), but she still likes burning esfand because it makes her feel good.

Tara’s analysis seems accurate.  Even though many people believe that the evil eye couldn’t logically exist, they still fear its power because they grew up learning about it.  The evil eye is a common fear among many nations and groups of people, so this seems like yet another way to prevent it from causing harm.  Superstitions like this one have been a part of Tara’s life since she was growing up, so the practice of burning esfand provides a consistent sense of comfort.

Folk Belief – Greek

Nationality: Greek, Native-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Moorpark, CA
Performance Date: March 30, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Greek: Mati

English:  Evil Eye

The Mati is known as the Evil Eye in Greek culture. This belief can also be found in Volume 8, No. 3 of the American Ethnologist. Nichelle’s interpretation states, “You would use this term when you want to explain an unknown disease, the bad luck of somebody, jealousy, or envy. If I said Oh Britt you look so pretty today” but I really didn’t mean to give that comment, I would inadvertently be giving you the evil eye. Children and teenagers are especially prone to this. In order to ward off the evil eye you make a sound of spitting: ‘too soo too soo too soo’ three times because of the importance of the trinity in Greek Orthodox religion (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). Spitting three times negates the praise of something bad. To ward of the evil eye from babies a pin that is shaped like an eye with a solid circle in the middle and a circle in the outside as shown in Figure 1 is pinned to the clothing. Other times people will make crosses of dirt. In order to find out if you have the evil eye you take a cup of water and pour three drops of olive oil into the cup of water. If drops mix with the water then you have the evil eye. Getting rid of the evil eye is a recognized phenomenon by the church. The priest takes a communion and prayers. Witch doctors are also used to rid a person from the evil eye. However, priests look down upon witch doctors because they believe that the Mati is a form of witchcraft that has originated from witch doctor practices.”

I do agree with the interpretation of Nichelle’s analysis of this certain Greek belief. This superstitious belief in the evil can be traced back to 300 B.C. Folklorist have claimed its origination to be in Sumeria. I do agree that the origin of its roots comes from social concerns of other people or from a fear of strangers. The “Mati” is a polygenetic piece of folklore. The evil eye is known to a variety of cultures. For example, the evil eye is known as ayin horeh in Hebrew; ayin harsha in Arabic, droch shuil in Scotland, mauvais oeil in France, bösen Blick in Germany, mal occhio in Italy and was known as oculus malus among the classical Romans. Each culture shares similar and different characteristics of warding off the evil eye. In Muslim tradition the evil eye will be warded off by quoting scriptures from the Koran, while in France the evil eye can be warded off by throwing dirt on a child who is praised.

I believe the evil eye can be used as a code of identity, showing who is and isn’t a part of a particular culture or who doesn’t fall within the acceptance of a particular individual. By identifying someone with the evil eye, I believe that you have branded that individual as someone who is not a part of the group and who must go through a certain process to become a part of the group.

Annotation

Herzfeld, Michael. Meaning and Morality: A Semiotic Approach to Evil Eye Accusations in a Greek Village. American Ethnologist, Vol. 8, No. 3, Symbolism and Cognition (Aug., 1981).pp 560-574. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of American Anthropological Association.

Protection – Tehran, Iran

Nationality: Iranian-American
Age: 53
Occupation: Executive
Residence: Calabasas, CA
Performance Date: April 22, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

“In order to keep the “evil eye” away, we wear jewelry with blue, glass eyes or have them hanging from a wall or something.  It takes away the bad energy that somebody else could be giving you.”

My mother first introduced me to this idea and she said that it is very popular in old cultures.  Everybody in Iran, and in most other cultures, have theories of the “evil eye” and how to keep it away.  This was not something somebody taught my mother; rather, it is something she grew up with.  Many people think that the “evil eye” is a superstition whereas some other people believe in it.  In order to keep the “evil eye” and bad energy away, my mom put blue, glass eyes all over our house.  For example, if somebody pays a compliment, he or she may be sending bad energy by through jinxes, intentionally or even unintentionally.

Belief in the “evil eye” is routed back to the Muslim religion and the Koran.  It is very popular in Middle Eastern countries, the Mediterranean area, and some parts of Asia.  Everybody in my family, including me, believes in this tradition.  I always wear this bracelet my mom gave me when I was very young.  It is gold and has three blue, glass eyes on it.  Whenever I am not wearing it, I feel uncomfortable that something bad will happen.  For example, when my dog died a couple of years ago, my mom and my aunts believed that somebody “gave him the eye.”  They did not believe that was the reason that caused his death because he was already very old, but they did believe it had a part to do with it.  After that incident, she told me to wear the bracelet she gave me all the time and even gave me a glass eye to hang on the rear view window of my car.

My mom also has other precautions of keeping the bad energy away.  Other than the glass eyes, she also knocks on wood and also burns seeds of “esfand” (or aspand) on charcoal so that the smoke can waft through the house.  I know that these all count as superstitions but I do believe that they have some sort of power.  It may just be a sense of comfort and security but it is a theory that dates back many years and has become a custom and tradition.