The evil eye is centered on the belief that jealousy, envy, or praise can inflict all kinds of misfortune. The penetrating look is believed to cause illness, injury, or death upon its intentional or unintentional target. Those most susceptible to the evil eye are women, children, crops and domestic animals. Women are believed to be at greatest risk as new brides, during pregnancy, and at childbirth. A woman s risk increases in proportion to her beauty.
Children are at highest risk at birth and before either baptism or circumcision.
Domestic animals who supposedly are the most likely to come under the spell of the evil eye are cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, horses, mules and camels. Belief in the evil eye is ancient. Reference to the evil eye is found on Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian clay tablets. It is also found in the writings of Greeks and Romans and in the Bible and Talmud. The belief is prevalent in almost every region.