Belief in the power of the evil eye dates back to the earliest civilizations and references to it can be found aplenty in the writings of ancient Greek and Roman poets and philosophers including Aristophanes, Plutarch and Pliny the Elder. Put simply, it refers to the belief that those who possess the evil eye (sometimes described as a jealous spirit) can put a curse on others, usually unintentionally, by gazing at them enviously. The evil eye is usually developed in a person by their coveting of the good fortune of another. Biblical references also exist; Proverbs 23:6 reads ‘Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meat.’
The effects of the curse vary slightly between cultures but the late American Professor of Folklore and Evil Eye expert Alan Dundes wrote that while belief in its powers spread through the Middle East, Africa and Europe – especially the Mediterranean region (with many variations in the methods used to avert it) – the feared effects of being given the evil eye tended to be similar: diseases related to dehydration, such as vomiting, wasting or shrivelling, sometimes resulting in death.
Young children are believed to be at greatest risk of the evil eye, perhaps since their beauty and innocence is most likely to attract envious glances. Praising the appearance of a child is also believed to attract the evil eye, so in many countries where belief in the curse is strong, it is customary to touch a child immediately after praising it in order to remove the curse. In Bangladesh, mothers of young women who are particularly likely to attract the envy of others through their beauty put a black kohl mark behind their daughter’s ear to counter ill effects. In the Middle East and in some Mediterranean countries, glass amulets showing a blue eye are worn on jewellery or hung over doorways to repel the eye’s power. Blue eyes are regarded as evil in these countries because they aren’t usually found within the local population, and the belief is likely to have been underlined by the propensity of blue-eyed tourists to these areas for failing to recognize that photographing or cooing over children is frowned upon.
Jewish tradition protects children from the eye by tying a piece of red string around their wrists. In Italy, where the curse is also believed to affect men and cause impotence, a hand gesture that uses the fingers as horns is used to counter it. These days, such preventive measures are usually judged to be effective, though in past times the prevalence of diseases causing dehydration in young children meant that many deaths were put down to the influence of the evil eye.