The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-13
Copyright, 1910, by Frank G. Carpen-


 l tCopyright. 1910, by Frank G. Carpen- ter.)
 sra. e Jerusalem.
 LAVE you ever heard of the Evil \ ! It is abroad in the Holy
 Land, and glance from it will bring vou misfortune. It will lame your horse, COW or camel, and it may cause your child to sicSen or die. It can rum
 your health or your business, and 1t
 may even send your soul to eternal
 damnation. Those who possess the evil
 eye are devils incarnate, but you can
 not tell who they are. They go about
 In the shape of innocent-looking men, women and children. and you will not 1 realize that thei spells have been cast upon you until misfortune comes. Guarding Against the Evil Eye | This belief exists throughout Pales- | tine and Is common in this part of the world Every house in Jerusalem, whether Jew, Moslem or Christian con- tains charms to ward off such spells, and every man, woman and child car ries a talisman to keep off the witches. Some of these charms are in the shape
 of a hand, coming from an old Jewish belief or saying that the hand of God will arrest all disasters and of a Moham medan one calling upon the hand of Fat | ina. the daugh ter of the Prophet, to | guard them from evil. Silver hands are sold as charms and the better classes | wear hands of gold tied to their necks. Every Jerusalem house has painting or carving of a hand on its front door to keep off the evil eye; and in the new houses which are now going up they are putting hands over the windows land also at the front doors. They tie bags of charms over each door, which contain an egg, piece of alum, some garlic and a large blue bead.
 How Satan Hates BIue
 Blue is believed to be color which frightens the devil. These people think that anything blue will ward off the evil eve, and for this reaso horses, donkeys and camels have strings of blue beads round their necks. Every horse and donkey l havo ridden since set foot in the Holy Land has been decorated with beads, and in a car riage trip I recently took across coun- try changing my teams several times, every horse of the three we drove had a blue necklace. One was a 3-year-old colt. which was lively and skittish. He wore several strands of blue beads, each as big as the nail of my thumb As he jumped about he broke the string and the beads 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 1t was the evil eye. which might have heen kept off had the beads remained on.
 I see many children here wearing blue beads and they have some beads which are of the shape of an eye. There Is one special kind made in Hebron which is very effective It is a bead of blue glass of the shape of a hand with five fingers. It 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 1t. and in some a silver hand is hung up on the walls. The bride wears blue beads
 at her wedding, and in wedding process
 sions salt, rice and sugar plums are thrown at the bride and bridegroom to keen off the evil eye and bring luck. Alum and Other Charms
 I have been warned that I should al- ways have some alum in my pocket. This is a charm which will keep of 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 child goes out with out charms the mother is greatly alarmed, and If she thinks that some one has cast
 childs clothes and burns 1t with incensa