The evil eye is the old belief that an envious look, or even too much praise, can bring bad luck to the person, child or thing it falls on. To turn that look away, people from the Mediterranean to the Middle East and South Asia wear a charm shaped like an eye, most often in deep blue glass.
An ancient belief
Greek and Roman writers took the evil eye seriously enough to argue about it. In his Table Talk Plutarch asked why some people seem to harm others just by looking at them. The belief appears in the Bible and in Islamic tradition, and it lives on in Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, the Middle East, India and Latin America. In many of these places a compliment to a baby is followed by a blessing, such as the Turkish maşallah, "God has willed it," so that the praise does no harm.
The blue nazar
The charm most people picture is the Turkish nazar boncuğu. Nazar comes from the Arabic word for sight. The bead is a disc of handmade blue glass with rings of white and light blue around a dark center, so that it looks back at the world like an eye. Turks hang it at front doors, in cars and shops, and beside newborn babies.
One explanation for the blue is that light eyes were rare around the Mediterranean, so a blue-eyed stranger's stare was the one people feared most. The charm meets that stare with a blue eye of its own.
When a charm breaks
In Turkish custom a nazar that cracks has done its job: it took a blow meant for its owner, and it is replaced with a new one right away. Chinese tradition tells the same of a jade bangle that breaks in a fall.
The hamsa and other eyes
The evil eye often sits in the palm of the hamsa, an open hand known as the Hand of Fatima in Muslim tradition and the Hand of Miriam in Jewish tradition. The Eye of Horus is a separate symbol from ancient Egypt, where it stood for protection and good health. In Tibet the eyes on dzi beads were also said to guard against the evil eye.
How to wear an evil eye
Folk belief holds that the first glance is the strongest, so the charm should be easy to see and catch that glance before it reaches you. That is why it is worn on a bracelet, a pendant or a ring rather than hidden away. On a red string it joins two old symbols of protection.
Evil eye charms at Buddha.store
- Evil Eye Seven Knot Red String Bracelet
- Hamsa Hand Evil Eye Protection Bracelet
- Peridot Evil Eye Abundance Bracelet
- Evil Eye Protection Blessing Copper Ring
- Evil Eye Huggie Hoop Earrings with Zircon
- Eye of Horus Protection Adjustable Ring
See every piece in our Evil Eye collection.
