History of the evil eye
The Curious Expeditions blog has a concise cultural history of the "evil eye." The short essay has lots of information I didn't know about this particular curse. From the blog post, titled "The Eyes Have It":
Link...The greatest modern protection against the evil eye was made through the work of an unsuspecting Italian American rocker, one Ronnie James Dio. Growing up in an traditional Italian home, Ronnie was accustomed to seeing the horned hands or “mano cornuta” displayed against the evil eye. All crescent shaped objects ward off evil (hence the lucky Horseshoe) and the horned hand (representing pre-Christian minotaur horns, not devil horns) was yet another way of warding off bad luck and the evil eye...
Ronnie James Dio’s grandmother often deployed the horned hands and when Dio became the front man for Black Sabbath, he replaced Ozzy Osborne’s peace symbol with the corna or as most of us know it, the metal hand. From an Interview with Dio at Metal-Rules.com
“It was symbol that I thought was reflective of what that band was supposed to be all about. It’s not the devil’s sign like we’re here with the devil. It’s an Italian thing I got from my Grandmother called the Malocchio. It’s to ward off the Evil Eye”
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Must date back to a time in primate evolution where self-awareness had developed to self-consciousness and loss of erection from being glared at had come along.
I believe the villain Largo in THUNDERBALL gives OO7 the malocchio after he accuses Bond of trying to "give him the evil eye, eh?" at a baccarat table. I never understood what he was doing with his hand until now. I used to think maybe he was using his ring as a kind of shield.
The best protection against Evil is not voting for it!
And yet again, we learn at the knee of Ronnie James Dio. Ah, Dio, what have you for us next?
Also, I thought the best protection against evil eyes was lots of +magic resistance gear...?
Aren't the Bene Gesserits the masters of the Cold Dead Stare? Pretty close to the "evil" eye.
And with lyrics like:
"Ride the tiger you can see his stripes but you know he's clean oh don't you see what I mean"
How can you doubt Ronnie James Dio?
That's strange. I once saw Dio explaining that he held a pick between his ring finger, middle finger, and thumb, so that when he held his hand up to the crowd, he naturally made that gesture. Either way, it's funny that everyone's mom assumed it must be some kind of satan worship thing.
#7 - That was Gene Simmons from Kiss that said that...
There is much more to the symbol than just Dio's version... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corna
and also check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_eye
As with most superstitious symbols, their use can be used by other cultures with totally opposite meanings. For example the Swastika used to be a symbol for good luck.
Hakim Bey quips as only he can on the malocchio here:
http://www.hermetic.com/bey/evil_eye.html
I love the malocchio charms one can find in mediterranean shops and bodegas.
When our daughter was born my wife's relatives (she's a first-gen Greek immigrant) gave us a Mataki or malocchio charm to ward off the evil eye - we were supposed to keep it pinned to the back of the baby swaddling at all times. The really hard-core traditionalists still get pretty bent out of shape if you don't do this. You're also not supposed to cut the baby's hair or even call it by name until the child's baptism, which in the Greek Orthodox Church can be more than a year after birth, lest you invite the evil eye by those ways as well.
The funny thing is that you can buy matakia at Church fairs, right next to the icons and holy water!
I can't believe that a simple hand gesture intended to pay tribute to "Floppy the Banjo Clown", famous rock star got so mis-understood...
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#13:
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Have you ever seen my documentary site about "The Evil Eye Bead - Nazar Boncugu" ? You will find there how "this thousands of years old talisman continues to fight against the evil eye all over the world." How "It gives protection and brings luck to all. "
Since then the people have been attaching this evil eye bead to everything they wished to protect from evil eyes. From the new-born babies to their horses or even to the doors of their homes... Evil eyes - nazar boncugu keychains, evil eye cellphone charms, evil eye jewellery, evil eye - nazar worry beads...
The blue evil eye beads might be looking as if trying to say,
"Don't bother... Everything is all right..."
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