“Undoing” magic spells with spoken charms is a traditional remedy in many cultural settings and involves a folk healer drawing the imagined evil (cast by an evil eye) out of the body of the “victim”. The capacity to erase the power of the person with the evil eye is applied through the narrative power of a verbal format (historiola) that uses performative language and speech actions. This essay focuses on the traditional culture of Abruzzi (Italy) and analyses folk documentation collated in 1965–70 and in present time. Anthropological records mention the popular belief that the evil eye produces illness, discomfort, and bad luck. The best way to save victims is to eliminate the evil eye by using “professional charms”, which are still practiced and handed down to new generations of charmers. Anthropological records also mention that this technique is practiced above all by elderly women within their family group and they do not charge for their work. These women enhance their prestige in their social in-group through skills in removing the evil eye. By performing a caring act for a person, based on protection and interdependence between older and younger generations, evil eye ideology is handed down and is still very much alive.
WORDS TO ANSWER THE SUFFERANCE. A FOLK DOCUMENTATION
Lia Giancristofaro
2025-01-01
Abstract
“Undoing” magic spells with spoken charms is a traditional remedy in many cultural settings and involves a folk healer drawing the imagined evil (cast by an evil eye) out of the body of the “victim”. The capacity to erase the power of the person with the evil eye is applied through the narrative power of a verbal format (historiola) that uses performative language and speech actions. This essay focuses on the traditional culture of Abruzzi (Italy) and analyses folk documentation collated in 1965–70 and in present time. Anthropological records mention the popular belief that the evil eye produces illness, discomfort, and bad luck. The best way to save victims is to eliminate the evil eye by using “professional charms”, which are still practiced and handed down to new generations of charmers. Anthropological records also mention that this technique is practiced above all by elderly women within their family group and they do not charge for their work. These women enhance their prestige in their social in-group through skills in removing the evil eye. By performing a caring act for a person, based on protection and interdependence between older and younger generations, evil eye ideology is handed down and is still very much alive.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
