MB Meets World

During the tour of street art there was a small mask that I had seen on a building the day before. I learned it was to scare away The Evil Eye.

Our tour guide and the other young woman on our tour explained the belief and how it plays out in customs. If someone gets sick or has a piece of bad luck, some Hindu folks believe it is due to someone giving them The Evil Eye. It sounded to my novice ears like a curse. The Evil Eye works particularly well on people who are too perfect or beautiful. In order to ward off The Evil Eye, people will do things to make them, their loved ones, or their property less attractive. Examples given by the young women included: putting paint dots on babies’ forehead and cheeks, doing a burning around teenagers returning from a dance where they would have received praise (like a sage burning, not burning at the stake) or putting out the ugly mask on the outside of a home. Our tour guide opined that she didn’t like the custom because it felt like constant criticism. The other woman stated younger generations of Hindus tend not to believe in this teaching, but respect it for the sake of their grandparents.

I was thinking in Catholicism we use a sign of the cross and holy water as symbolism of washing away sin and demonstrating faith. I suppose to a non-Catholic it might seem like a superstitious ritual.

What kind of traditions do you have in your culture or religion that might serve as a prayer or wish against bad luck?