Evil look
Evil eye is a term used to describe the idea that the gaze of a person who possesses magical powers can cause harm to another person, come to death or damage their property. This popular belief in a form of magic magic was known in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt , it is widespread in the Orient , in Western countries, from Africa to India to China and among the North American Indians and in South America.
Cultural phenomenon
The fear of the evil eye is widespread worldwide and can be found in many cultures. This phenomenon has often developed similarly in cultures that are not spatially connected. In Europe, the evil eye was mostly attributed to women, who were often subjected to persecution and exclusion as a result of this defamation . In most countries, rare eye colors are associated with the evil eye.
The “evil eye” also played a role in other areas of popular belief. People have feared the eyes of the newly deceased since ancient times and into the early 20th century. These had to be closed immediately under all circumstances because it was believed that indefinable but dangerous vital forces were still at work in the corpse.
These ideas belonged to the popular belief in "living corpses" and are therefore very closely related to the belief in vampires . It was generally feared that the dead could look around through the open eye for a victim, which he would then “drag” into the grave after him. Therefore, this type of harmful undead is popularly referred to as after-eaters . In order to protect himself from the damage spell of the dead or undead, the person who closed his eyes on the corpse had to avoid looking into the face if possible. Often the eyes were closed with coins or potsherds with a crucifix carved into them.
origin
Of all forms of popular belief, that of the evil eye is probably the most widespread and oldest. The belief in the ominous power of the evil eye occurs in many cultures and probably dates back to prehistoric times. Belief in it probably originated in the Orient and has spread from there, because most of the written traditions come from the Sumerians and Babylonians . There are cuneiform tablets found that v to the year 3000th On which the word "IG-HUL" is to be read. Literally the Sumerian word IG-HUL means : "evil eye".
Many magical works from earlier times in our history speak of a "little man" in the eyes (actually a reflection) when you look into someone else's eyes. This "little man" was seen as powerful and, in many cases, the power behind the evil eye. For the scholars of yesteryear, the eye and its activity, seeing, the gaze, was an insoluble riddle.
Usually, the practice of the evil eye should be closely related to the ability to see. But there are exceptions. The closed eyes of a sleeper, a one-eyed person, the blind and even the dead could still send out the evil eye. The looks of those who were led to their execution were also feared. Therefore, their eyes were blindfolded so that they could not cast an angry glance at the audience.
Mark of the Evil Eye
Plutarch developed a theory of the evil eye, which says that feelings such as envy irritate the constitution of the body, which then develops harmful vapors. These vapors should mainly escape through the eyes. In his opinion, some people feel envious so often that they have already practiced the evil eye, so to speak. According to the Hamburg ophthalmologist Siegfried Seligmann (1870–1926), to whom the phenomenon of the evil eye as a concept in cultural studies can be traced back, this theory persisted into the 16th and 17th centuries and was given various additions by later scholars.
According to Galenos , a "visual pneuma " emerging from the eyes creates the visual process. Like Plutarch's theory, according to Haage, such a transmission of pneuma to humoral-pathological views of antiquity and the Middle Ages, which also have their origins in Plato's theory of emanation , can be reconciled with the concept of the "evil eye", the opposite of which is also based on the brain imagined “loving look” as the cause ( fascinatio ) of the love between man and woman.
Various properties are mentioned in the literature that made up the evil eye. Sanfo speaks of the fact that every time someone thinks badly of another, the evil eye is exercised. The look to which this power is ascribed often has very characteristic properties: it is negative, hateful, furious, piercing, penetrating, piercing, also envious. The effect of this gaze is therefore often dependent on the will of the person who sends it.
Like Bächtold-Stäubli, Seligmann differentiates between two groups of people who have the power to harm by looking: those who do so consciously and those whose gaze is perishable without their knowledge. So both speak of the fact that those who do harm by their gaze have some marks, a physical defect, or something strange about them that can be used to recognize them. Seligmann calls this “marked”.
“ These characteristics are: rolling, restless, rapid or constant trembling of the eyes; squint; striking eye color; deformed pupils; all forms of eye diseases, large protruding eyes; small deep set eyes; Eyes of different color, shape and size; One-eyedness (according to Seligmann, the inhabitants of Cairo said: "If you see a one-eyed man walking past you, turn a stone over"); fused eyebrows; noticeable blue vein between the eyebrows. Physical defects such as deformities and infirmities; fully hairy; lean body; sagging withered skin; tremble; shaking head when walking; shaggy, uncombed hair (especially if it is red), bearded women, etc. "
But there should also be whole peoples and professional classes (clergy, scholars, midwives, prostitutes, doctors) to whom the evil eye clings.
A number of famous people have also been accused of having the evil eye: the English poet Lord Byron , the Spanish King Alfonso XIII. , the French Emperor Napoleon III. , Pope Pius IX. and his successor Pope Leo XIII. The latter was accused of having the evil eye because many cardinals died during his tenure.
There are various answers in the literature to the question of how the evil eye is acquired. One could already be born with it, if the child was put back to the breast after weaning, through envy, through the sight of ghosts, if one eats dirt, if one has not washed one's feet or if one gets eye problems.
Victim
According to popular belief, children, especially newborns, were considered to be particularly at risk. Girls during the bridal period are also affected and women during pregnancy and childbirth . Apart from that, cattle (especially dairy cattle and horses ), grain , milk , but also activities such as cooking, baking, brewing, buttering and pottery are affected.
If the presented "evil rays", which would be caused by envy, hit beings or things, according to popular belief they penetrate into them and cause damage or illness. If you were to praise yourself at the same time, you would determine the person or thing concerned at the same time, if it wasn't knocked under the table three times. The custom of knocking wood three times and saying Toi Toi Toi may be from this. The saying "toi, toi, toi" was created as an onomatopoeic substitute for spitting out three times, which should avert disaster. Toi could also mean a short form for " devil " , according to other opinions .
Effects
Even today there is still the opinion in many places that the eye emits a magic that affects another eye and has such power that those who feel it cannot escape it. He is mainly held responsible for the appearance of symptoms of the disease.
The view that illness and death were something extremely unnatural and that they could only come about through the action of hostile powers was equally widespread among all peoples. The common man, who never went to school and knew nothing of the causes of diseases such as viruses , bacteria or amoebas , was inclined to ascribe all disaster to a supernatural power. Even if he knows about it today, the belief in the evil eye is still deep. Even today, headache, fainting, fever, insomnia, nausea, impotence, infertility, weight loss, anemia, paralysis, mental derangement, nervousness, streaks of bad luck and even death are ascribed to the evil eye. According to Chevallier, the prevailing belief among Muslims is: “ Le mauvais œil est cause, dit-on, de la mort d'une moitié de l'humanité. Le mauvais œil vide les maisons et remplit les tombes »(German:" The evil eye, it is said, is the reason for the death of half humanity. It empties the houses and fills the graves "). In Latin America, psychosomatic illnesses are sometimes attributed to the evil eye and treated accordingly.
Protection and defense spells
Due to the wide spread of this popular belief, the methodology to ward off the evil eye is diverse. According to popular belief, defense can be done through apotropaic actions :
In Europe:
- most effective by avoiding contact with the evil eye
- through defense gestures:
- Horseshoes on the front doors, mostly stable doors
- Put on items of clothing (undershirt) inside out
- wear a pin in your clothes (for example, put it in your lapel)
- carry the hoof of an elk
In the Middle East and North Africa:
- After praising or admiring a person or an object, the inhabitants of Near East and North Africa say the Arabic phrase Maschallah , which can mean something like "God protect you".
- “Protective Surahs” or “Protective Verses”: In the Qur'an there are two so-called “Protective Surahs”, which are said for self-protection after one is praised or admired or has the feeling of having been struck by the evil eye. These are al-Falaq and al-Nas . The "Four Promises" and another passage in the Koran have protective powers against the evil eye.
- There are also magic signs. Arabic sayings or the signs can be written on a board and ceremonially made invisible (wiped away), attached to clothing or sewn into a piece of leather as an amulet. They can also be put in a small box made of gold or silver and worn as a pendant on a necklace.
- In the Middle East, the Caucasus and partly in the Balkans, by carrying the so-called “blue eye” or Nazar amulet to avert “evil looks”. The origin of the “blue eye” lies with the Turkic peoples and was spread throughout the entire area of influence by the Seljuks and Ottomans. Such special amulets have the shape of an eye, often made of turquoise or blue glass. The eye is sold in a wide variety of designs and shapes (as a pendant, key ring, bracelet, ring) millions of times on the markets of the Orient. It is called the eye of Fatima , Turkish nazar boncuğu (literally "gaze pearl"), Armenian achki hulung ( achki ulunk ) and Greek mati ("eye"). This blue eye is also used as a compound symbol in the hand of Fatima . The effectiveness should also depend on the material used. There are particularly suitable types of leather for amulets, the hand of Fatima should best be made of silver, the eye always blue. Silver finger rings are also often engraved against the Evil Eye.
- by saying avoidance statements at the right time.
In South America:
- Red ribbons are tied around the wrists of the newborn immediately after birth.
- Newborns are only shown from a certain age. Until then they will be covered.
- Garments are put on upside down.
India:
- The evil eye is called Dishti or Najar in India . The swastika is a widely used symbol as a defense spell.
- The shells of the cowrie shells are valued as amulets.
- North Indian farmers protect their grain by hanging a black clay pot (a symbol of Kali ) in their fields.
- Attaching mirrors to clothing because they throw your eyes back.
- In the textbook on occult powers Prashnamarggam in Kerala , the evil eye ( dishti ) belongs to a series with sinister spirits such as bhutas , rakshasas , gandharvas and yakshas . If a person admires a certain thing too much, they can unconsciously release the evil eye. The antidote in all cases is a ritual that evokes an even stronger otherworldly power, or the ritual establishment of the evil forces (nailing to a tree).
Natural basis of the evil eye phenomenon
In the search for the apparently mysterious causes for the emergence, meaning and cross-cultural all-time occurrence of the evil eye phenomenon and its individual and collective effect, brain research over the last few years has been able to contribute to understanding. The social psychological analysis alone and the endless collections of examples had not completely clarified the conditions of belief in the evil eye.
Test examinations on people with borderline syndrome have found an increased sensitivity and a sharper vision for feelings of other people from their facial expressions. Background signals also led to stronger neural potentials. Particularly in a test that only shows someone else's eye area as a photo ('Reading the mind in the eyes' test, RMET), it became clear how important eye expressions alone are for the social and emotional processing of a counterpart, their motives and attitudes and have interests (Fertuck, EA et al., Psychological Medicine 39 (2009)). Based on these results, fMRI examinations in borderline patients have demonstrated a stronger activation of the temporal pole on the right, i.e. a visual area of a higher order, and its connections compared to healthy people . This revealed more extensive internal ways of processing the different signals from other eyes.
With such a physically demonstrable increased response and increased vigilance to eye-focused social stimuli in some people, there is a clear natural basis for the evil-eye phenomenon and its worldwide persistence . This form of heightened inner resonance is a cult sector that is subversively visually excited. He caused anxiety and delusional symptoms with all the diverse cultural forms of customs, the so-called magic and damage spell . There are actually people who see too much. However, it can also result in a job as a police investigator or as a magician for ' mind reading ' among the few isolated, healthy individuals who are gifted with it today (Ernst, Wolfgang: Brain and Magic, Frankfurt / M. Et al. 2013, p. 121). The social interpersonal, political and pseudo-religious instrumentalizations (e.g. esoteric business; e.g. Lord Sauron-Augen-Verbot Moscow 2014) of the phenomenon must be differentiated from these natural conditions.
literature
- Walter Andritzky: Shamanism and ritual healing in ancient Peru . Edition Zerling, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-88468-041-2 .
- The people of the jaguar .
- Viracocha, savior of the Andes .
- Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli : Concise dictionary of German superstition . Directmedia Publishing, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89853-545-2 (1 CD-ROM, Berlin 1927 edition).
- Hans Bonnet : Evil Eye. In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 122.
- Jean J. Chevallier: Dictionaire des symbols. Mythes, rêves, coutumes, gestes, formes, figures, couleurs, nombres . Laffont, Paris 1982, ISBN 2-221-50319-8 .
- Wolfgang Ernst : Brain and Magic, Frankfurt / M. et al. 2013, ISBN 978-3-631-64591-8 (print); E-book: E- ISBN 978-3-653-03833-0
- Carina Frick et al .: Hypersensitivity in Borderline Personality Disorder during mindreading . PLoS One, 2012, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone0041650 .
- Migene Gonzáles Wippler: Talismans and Amulets. the magical world of lucky charms and protective symbols Verlag Kailash, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7205-2231-8 .
- Thomas Hauschild : The Evil Eye. Studies in the history of ideas and social psychology . Verlag Mensch und Leben, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-88911-001-0 .
- Gerda Grober-Glück: The deceased as after-eater. In: Matthias Zender (Ed.): Atlas of German Folklore. New episode. Elwert, Marburg 1966/82, explanations 2, pp. 427–456.
- Otto Koenig : The original eye motif. Newly discovered features of human behavior . Piper, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-492-02154-9 .
- Hans Belting : Florence and Baghdad: A West-Eastern History of the Look. CH Beck, 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-63273-0 .
- Thede Kahl: The Evil Eye. A common element in the popular beliefs of Christians and Muslims. In: Thomas Wünsch (Hrsg.): Religion and Magic in East Central Europe. Scope for theological standardization processes in the late Middle Ages and early modern times . Lit-Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9273-5 , pp. 321–336 ( Religious and cultural history in East Central and Southeast Europe 8).
- Amica Lykiardopoulos: The Evil Eye: Towards an Exhaustive Study. In: Folklore. Vol. 92, no. 2, 1981, pp. 221-230.
- Siegfried Seligmann: The Evil Eye and Related. A contribution to the history of superstition of all times and peoples . Olms, Hildesheim 1985, ISBN 3-487-07665-9 (repr. Of the Berlin 1910 edition).
- Siegfried Seligmann: The fear of the look. In: Journal of Ophthalmology. Volume 31, 1914, ZDB -ID 200031-3 , pp. 341-347, 513-519.
- Siegfried Seligmann: The magical power of the eye and calling. A chapter in the history of superstition . Couvreur Verlag, The Hague 1980 (repr. Of the Hamburg edition 1922).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernard D. Haage: Selvons 'visio'. In: Dominik Groß , Monika Reininger: Medicine in History, Philology and Ethnology: Festschrift for Gundolf Keil. Königshausen & Neumann, 2003. ISBN 978-3-8260-2176-3 , pp. 245-255.
- ^ Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer, Hanns Baechtold-Staeubli (ed.): Concise dictionary of German superstition . Volume C women wear . De Gruyter, Berlin 2000, p. 777 ( Google Books )
- ↑ Gilles Tarabout: “Passions” in the Discourses on Witchcraft in Kerala. (PDF; 589 kB) In: Journal of Indian Philosophy , 28, 2000, pp. 651–664.
- ↑ Wolfgang Ernst : Brain and magic spell. Frankfurt u. a. 2013. pp. 115–123.
- ↑ Thomas Hauschild: The Evil Eye. Berlin 1982. p. 3, p. 6 and p. 180f
- ^ Carina Frick et al .: Hypersensitivity in Borderline Personality Disorder during mindreading. PLoS One 2012, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone0041650