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IF LOOKS COULD KILL-THE STORY OF THE EVIL EYE "Espand balaa band This is espand, it banishes the evil eye The blessing of King Naqshband Eye of nothing, Eye of relatives Eye of friends, Eye of enemies Whoever is bad should burn in this glowing fire If you are Afghan at some point in your life you have heard this little "poem", or a more obscene version of it, being recited most likely by the mother figure in the family as they burned some mysterious fragrant black seeds and told you that now the evil eye of that aunt that was just over your house will not touch you. I know my mother does it each time all her children are together in front of her eyes fearing that their happiness, health and general well being maybe tampered by some evil eye including hers. WHAT IS THE EVIL EYE? The evil eye is the name for a sickness or misfortune transmitted, usually without intention, by someone who is envious, jealous, or covetous. The evil eye is known as ayin harsha in Arabic, ayin horeh in Hebrew, droch shuil in Scotland, mauvais oeil in France, bösen blick in Germany, mal occhio in Italy, mal ojo or el ojo in Spain and was known as oculus malus among the classical Romans. In Dari and Pashto it is called Nazar. The evil eye belief is that a person, otherwise not evil in any way, can harm you, your children, your house, your health and so on by looking at you with envy and/or praising you. The evil eye or Nazar can be done out of love and unintentionally so it does not always have "evil" intentions attached to it. . The cultures that believe in this superstition all blame the eye as the source of this kind of "evil." Most researchers in this field believe that the eye was chosen because of its intrusive nature. It is said to be the windows to the soul so not only is the act of seeing an intrusion by itself but also the eye itself becomes a way to look into a person. In the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean region, especially throughout Greece and up into Turkey, there is a strong tendency to view blue- eyed people as bearers of the evil eye, probably because few locally- born people have blue eyes and those who do, such as tourists, are always praising and cooing over babies, who are thought to be most at risk from the eye. HISTORY AND ORIGINThe most thought-provoking academic essay found on the psychology and the distribution of this belief in world cultures is "Wet and Dry: The Evil Eye" by Professor Alan Dundes, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. The article can be found in two of his books, "Interpreting Folklore" and "The Evil Eye: A Casebook." Dundes theorizes that the evil eye, which has a Middle-Eastern, Mediterranean, and Indo-European distribution pattern and was unknown in the Americas, Pacific Islands, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa or Australia until the introduction of European culture, is based upon underlying beliefs about water equating to life and dryness equating to death. He describes that the true "evil" done by the evil eye is that it causes living beings to "dry up", notably babies, milking animals, young fruit trees, and nursing mothers. The harm caused by "overlooking" consists of sudden vomiting or diarrhea in children, drying up of milk in nursing mothers or livestock, withering of fruit on orchard trees, and loss of potency in men. In short, the envious eye "dries up liquids," according to Professor Alan Dundes, a fact that he contends demonstrates its Middle Eastern desert origins. The evil eye belief is geographically spread out in a radiating ring from ancient Sumer, where it apparently got its start. The belief extends eastward to India, westward to Spain and Portugal, northward to Scandinavia and Britain, and southward into North Africa. Although many people of European descent think it is universal, in fact China has no evil eye belief, nor does Korea, Burma, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Sumatra, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Australia (aborigine), New Zealand (aborigine), North America (native), South America (native), or any of Africa south of the Sahara. It is generally referred to by scholars as a Semitic and Indo-European belief. THE ART OF AVERSION Now that an evil eye has looked upon you and your family how do you avert it? In some countries, if a person feels moved to praise a child, fruit tree, or dairy animal, he or she follows the praise by spitting, under the mother's or owner's approving gaze, to remove the taint of the praise (spitting may sound crude but it is the application of a liquid to perhaps counteract the dryness caused by the evil eye). In other areas, praise of a child can be safely mediated by immediately touching the child, to "take off the eye," or in places such as Afghanistan by attaching a blue or red stone somewhere on the child or by looking at ones nails immediately following the praise again to "take off the eye." In Italy, the evil eye is said to affect men as well as children, nursing mothers, fruit trees, and dairy animals. It brings on impotence, through a drying up of the semen. Typical protective aversions of this problem include making the gestures called the mano fico (fig hand) and mano cornuto (horned hand). In Sicily a lemon (a liquid-filled, eye-shaped fruit) may be pierced with nine nails and placed above doorway to prevent a jettatore (evil eye) from entering. In Mexico a large brown legume seed that resembles an eye, is hung from a red cord and outfitted with a fluffy red tassel and a holy print of a saint. It can be worn on the person, hung over the baby's crib, or dangled from the rear-view mirror of a car to ward off the evil eye Jews may spit three times or say "peh-peh-peh", or throw salt, when they feel threatened by the evil eye. They may also make a particular hand gesture, placing the right thumb in the left palm and the left thumb in the right palm and closing their fingers over the thumbs. In Turkey and Greece many still use blue-glass "eye" brooches to ward off the gruesome gaze. Wearing amulets may also ward off the evil eye. This sort of charm is called a repellent talisman or apotropaic charm. The design of these charms varies from one area to another. The simplest are threads or cords, often red. More conspicuous are the amulets, often in the form of an eye, a hand, a horseshoe, or a combination of two elements, such as the popular eye-in-hand and horseshoe and eyes. Among the ancient Egyptians the eye of the god Horus, called the wadjet or udjat eye, was worn for magical protection. Although found in many materials, by far the most numerous are those made of blue- glazed faience or steatite. In the Middle East, turquoise blue faience beads (donkey beads) are used to protect livestock from the evil eye. These beads can be seen dangling from a modern Egyptian luck bringing and apotropaic blue glazed wall plaque in the form of a horseshoe, made in Egypt. Among the Kalbeliya Roma of India (the tribe from whom the European or "Bohemian" Gypsies are descended), the "mirroring back" of the evil eye takes the literal form of fabulously ornate multi-coloured mirror charms, which are crocheted, braided, and wrapped with beads, buttons, and tassels. The practice of crocheting hundreds of tiny mirrors into fancy cloth -- especially wedding garment cloth -- is also widespread in parts of India. In India women draw black lines around their eyes not only to shield themselves from the Evil Eye, but also to ensure that they do not accidentally inflict the evil eye on their friends. Cord charms, strung with a blue bead are also placed on newborn babies; when the cord decays and breaks and the blue bead is lost, the child is considered old enough to have escaped the dangers of the evil eye. In America and England, jewelry-quality charms have been made from cat's eye shells. The eye-like shells are also carried in the pocket for personal magical protection. The use of a horseshoe to represent the lunar crescent is also ancient. Throughout Europe horseshoes are nailed to doors to prevent the evil eye from entering houses and barns. In the days before automobiles came into use, draft horses and donkeys that pulled cabs and wagons in towns, where many people might see and admire them, were protected from the evil eye by apotropaic charms. In Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, people combine an apotropaic approach with a cure. When a child returns home after being among strangers, the parents will light a charcoal disk and burn the seeds of a plant called espand, while reciting a poem, actually an ancient Zoroastrian prayer, against the evil eye and directing the smoke around the child. This is done as a prophylactic measure, whether or not it is suspected that the child has been given the eye. The rite consists of an invocatory prayer to a deceased but historical king of Persia known as Naqshband, while burning espand seeds. The word espand refers to a class of Zoroastrian Archangels. It was common that our Zoroastrian forefathers used to pick a patron angel for their protection, and throughout their lives were observing prayers dedicated to that angel. Today whenever we burn espand grains to "espand" ourselves, it is in fact the invocation of blessing of the archangels (Amahraspand or aspand) that our ancestors observed prayers to. WHAT IS ESPAND? Espand is the common Dari name for Peganum harmala, a perennial shrubby herb in the Zygophyllaceae or Caltrop family. It has finely divided leaves and bears small white five-petaled flowers, followed by seed capsules containing many small, brown triangular-conical seeds. In addition to its use in the espand ritual, the seeds of the plant are used to make a red dye and are used medicinally to alleviate certain skin diseases. Espand seed is the richest natural source of two alkaloids, harmine and harmaline. These alkaloids are members of a class of drugs called Mono Amine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAO Inhibitors or MAO-Is) that have been used in the treatment of clinical depression and, in larger doses, to produce psychotropic effects. In moderate doses, they produce a feeling of well-being and contentment. Perhaps the espand smoke stimulates some portion of the brain that evokes images of Archangels and Holy Kings and that, combined with its anti-depressive activity, is why it is considered a sacred plant that removes the evil eye. IN ISLAM According to Islamic sources the effect of an evil eye exists. Imam al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "The effect of an evil eye is a fact." However, the evil eye can never harm unless Allah wills so. Hence, it shouldn't be a cause of fear or terror to anyone. Thus in Islam when there is praise of something or someone "Mashallah" or what Allah wishes is always repeated after it for good omen i.e. "she is so beautiful, Mashallah." Another way to avert the evil eye in an Islamic manner is to recite Surah Al-Falaq (113) and Surah An-Naas (114). Surah Al Falaq (Pickthall Translation) Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak From the evil of that which He created; From the evil of the darkness when it is intense, And from the evil of malignant witchcraft, And from the evil of the envier when he envieth. Surah An-Naas (Pickthall Translation) Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, The King of mankind, The God of mankind, From the evil of the sneaking whisperer, Who whispereth in the hearts of mankind, Of the jinn and of mankind. CONCLUSION The belief in the evil eye has become almost universal in its appeal and allure. Whether you recite the verses of the holy Qur'an, use a blue stone, spit, espand yourself crazy or simply not look know that these beliefs are deeply rooted in tradition and superstition. So be careful out there, divert your eyes and avert evil, chashme bad door- may the evil eye be far away from you. Sourceshttp://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970425/skinny1.html http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p==life/tools Islamonline.com Dundes, Allen. The Evil Eye: A Casebook (University of Wisconsin Press, 1992). |