The evil eye is an ancient, widespread and
deeply held belief in more than one third of the
world’s cultures, but is particularly strongly
feared even today in countries of Mediterranean
origin, and also in Celtic countries. Different
cultures have different ways of dealing with this
nuisance.
In Greece, it is thought that it doesn’t take
much to get the matiasma, or the evil eye. If
anyone so much as admires your shoes, even
from a distance, this envy can put a spell on
you. Anyone with blue eyes is particularly
suspected of being able to cast the evil eye.
It is believed that mothers have a particular
ability to remove it if their son is afflicted.
Though the knowledge is passed from mother
to daughter, a woman will not always learn the
prayers necessary to do this until she becomes
a mother herself. At that time she is prayed for
herself thus, since she is considered vulnerable:
…and with bright, shining Angels enfold and
cherish her, guarding her round about against
every attack of invisible spirits; yea, Lord, from
sickness and infirmity, from jealousy and envy, and
from the evil eye.
A mother can diagnose and then remove an
attack of the evil eye in the following way
