But good-luck tokens are displayed, and sold, at the Sponge Docks. They're pinned to babies' clothing, hung from necks and ears, and used as key chains. Despite all the protection, evil-eye spells are cast and women who remove them are sought, even though priests consider the layperson's ritual a type of witchcraft. My headache goes away. Tsangaris learned the water and oil ritual 37 years ago from an old woman on the Greek isle of Kalymnos.
Some Greek women burn cloves instead.
The secret incantations can be passed on from one woman to another only through a male. But many Greek men don't believe in the evil eye. If I feel sick, it's natural. I don't think it's the evil eye. All the old people are superstitious.