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Archiver > GEN-ITALIAN > 1998-10 > 0907953621


From: Anthony Galt< >
Subject: Re: [COI] Need info on talisman against the "Evil Eye"
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1998 17:20:21 GMT


I am an anthropologist who has studied the evil eye and other magical systems in
the field in Southern Italy. I have published two articles from this work that
can be found as follows:

1982 The Evil Eye as a Synthetic Image and its Meanings on the Island of
Pantelleria, Italy. American Ethnologist 9: 664 681.

1991 Magical Misfortune in Locorotondo. The American Ethnologist 18: 735 750.

The journal The American Ethnologist should be available at any decent college
library.

The two articles address matters of theoretical interest to anthropologists, but
also contain a great deal of information on customs and practices in the two
places studied. Their bibliographies also cite most of the previous literature
on the subject for Italy. Although some aspects of evil eye beliefs are
widespread in Italy, others (some of which people have mentioned in other posts)
are quite localized and can't be generalized to all of Italy, all of southern
Italy, or even to all of a single region or province.

Let me make a few observations:

1)Witchcraft (stregoneria) and evil-eye are not necessarily connected with each
other, although streghe may in some places have magic that can be used to cure
it. Often evil-eye is seen as a no-fault thing. Those who pass it on are not
necessarily evil. One might involuntarily envy someone else, or their property,
and cause harm. A witch is more likely to have obtained powers to do harmful
magic through the classic pact with the devil scenario. For some reason
Benevento is associated with witches, although I'm not sure which came first,
Liquore Strega (which is made there), or the association. In other words, maybe
the town is associated with witches because of the liquore.

2)The oil and water cure mentioned in one post is quite common in southern
Italy, as are amulets such as horns, keys, mani cornute, tiny pouches with
various objects in them, and the like.

3)If you can read Italian, something you might look at if you are interested is
a book by Ernesto de Martino called Sud e Magia.

4)There are a variety of other ways to get harmed magically, many of which I
treat in the second article above. Among them: curses, evil omens and bad
fortune, visits by naughty incubi, and fated disaster.

In any case, it is a fascinating area (if you know Italian that is a pun
relevant to the topic).

Tony Galt
Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin--Green Bay

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