El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-12

,Ievil eve; and IN the new houses which
are now going up they are putting hands
over the windows. and also at the front
doors They tie bags Of charms over
each door. which contains an egg, piece.
of alum. some garlic and a large blue
bead.
How Satan Hates Blue.
Blue is believed to be a color which
frightens the devil. These people think
that anything blue viii ward off the
evil eve, and for this reason horses, don
KEYS and camels have strings of blue
beads round their necks. Every horse
and donkey | have ridden since 1 set
foot in the Holy Land has been decor
ated with beads, and in a carriage trip l
recently took across country, changing
nv teams several times, every horse of
the three we drove had a blue necklace.
One was a 3yearold colt, which was live
lv and skittish He wore several strands
of blue beads, each as bio as the nail OF
nv thumb. As he jumDed about he
broke the string and the heads fell off
and were lost. The driver went back to
look for them and hunted in vain. He
was troubled during the rest of the day,
and. when toward evening the colt got a
stone in his foot and went lame. he said
it was the evil eve, which might have
been kept off had the beads remained on.
[ see many children here wearing blue
beatls. and they have some Leads which
are of the shape of an eve There is one
special kind made in Hebron, which is
very effective. 1t is bead of blue glass
of the shape of hand with five fingers.
1t Is worn as a charm.
Some of the children are clad in blue
gowns with white circles stamped on
them Every store has some blue inside
nd -, ci1x1or hand &c hI1r7o
up on the walls. The bride wears blue
beads at her wedding, and in wedding
professions salt, rice and sugar plums
are thrown at the bride and bridegroom
to keep off the evil eye and bring luck.
Alum and Other Charms.
have been warned that I should al
ways have some alum in my pocket.
This is a charm which will keep off
the witches, and it is usually carried
along with the beads. Some beads are
made with a small piece of alum inside
them, and people who are ashamed to
show their belief in the beads often
carry alum in their pockets. If a child
goes without charms the mother is
greatly alarmed, and if she thinks that
some one has cast an evil eye on it, she
takes a bit OF the child's clothes and
burns it with incense and small piece
of alum. She first prays over the child,
waving this about as she does so. She
then throws the charm into an open fire
and holds the child over 1t. AS the
alum burns it gives off a smoke which
takes certain shapes and the mother
believes that by looking at them she
can learn who has cast the evil eye on
her child. This same process is gone
through with by pretty girls VINO feel
Ill on coming home from a call They
work this charm to find out who has
cast a spell on them.
One Of the most common guards
against the evil eye is a text from the
Bible or the Koran. One from the lat
ter is some Arabic words which mean
Break down the spell of the eye and
another which is by the blessings of
Cod" These phrases are written and
framed and hung up in many of the
houses. They are carved upon furni-
ture. For the same reason it is Gus
tomary TO use the name of God at the
beginning of every sentence which
contains the name of ones friend.
The Jews carry about texts of the
Scriptures. The Christians have relics
of saints, and some Of the natives here
think they have pieces of the true
cross.
No Compliments wanted.
The people of Palestine do not like
to have themselves compIimented with