page_title: Evil eye
section_title: Around the world
hierarchical_section_title: Evil eye / Around the world
context_page_description: The evil eye is a curse or legend believed to be cast by a malevolent glare, usually given to a person when one is unaware. Many cultures believe that receiving the evil eye will cause misfortune or injury, while others believe it to be a kind of supernatural force that casts or reflects a malevolent gaze back-upon those who wish harm upon others. Talismans or amulets created to protect against the evil eye are also frequently called "evil eyes".
  The idea expressed by the term causes many different cultures to pursue protective measures against it. The concept and its significance vary widely among different cultures, but it is especially prominent in the Mediterranean and West Asia. The idea appears multiple times in Jewish rabbinic literature. It was a widely extended belief among many Mediterranean and Asian tribes and cultures.
context_section_description: Belief in the evil eye is strongest in West Asia, Latin America, East and West Africa, Central America, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean region; it has also spread to areas, including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by European colonists and West Asian immigrants.
  Belief in the evil eye is found in the Islamic doctrine, based upon the statement of Prophet Muhammad, "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..." [Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5427]. Authentic practices of warding off the evil eye are also commonly practiced by Muslims: rather than directly expressing appreciation of, for example, a child's beauty, it is customary to say Masha'Allah, that is, "God has willed it", or invoking God's blessings upon the object or person that is being admired. A number of beliefs about the evil eye are also found in folk religion, typically revolving around the use of amulets or talismans as a means of protection.
  In the Aegean Region and other areas where light-colored eyes are relatively rare, people with green eyes, and especially blue eyes, are thought to bestow the curse, intentionally or unintentionally. Thus, in Greece and Turkey amulets against the evil eye take the form of blue eyes, and in the painting by John Phillip, below, we witness the culture-clash experienced by a woman who suspects that the artist's gaze implies that he is looking at her with the evil eye.
  Among those who do not take the evil eye literally, either by reason of the culture in which they were raised or because they simply do not believe it, the phrase, "to give someone the evil eye" usually means simply to glare at the person in anger or disgust. The term has entered into common usage within the English language. Within the broadcasting industry it refers to when a presenter signals to the interviewee or co-presenter to stop talking due to a shortage of time.
caption: John Phillip, The Evil Eye (1859), a self-portrait depicting the artist sketching a Spanish gypsy who thinks she is being given the evil eye.
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