The Evil Eye

Among my friends in Greece are a number of grandmothers. They are loving, giving, wise, know the customs and foods like no others, and are often funny to the point of being ribald. Among them, Kouina, a widow of many years, probably holds top spot. One day in the village, as I was about to take off with a crowd of young women for a round of St. Irene’s Day visits, Kouina ran up to me and stuffed into my jacket pocket a blue bead and enough garlic to make three bowls of tzatziki. "You must carry this," she said. "You are enviable and you could attract the eye."

"The eye?" I asked. "Whatever is that?" To which I got an immediate and thorough explanation. The eye, sometimes called the evil eye, is what flows into you when someone is jealous of you. It can cause weakness and illness. Babies and healthy farm animals are particularly prone to the malady. Few Greeks give credit to the eye now, but older Greeks strongly believe in it. I didn’t think I was admirable enough to attract the evil eye. Still, it didn’t seem that far-fetched—jealousy is a potent emotion.

Special blue beads ward off the eye, and since time immemorial garlic was thought to protect against evil spirits, as well as the evil eye, and also to cure ailments.

I carried the garlic in my pocket, and when I got home I made tzatziki with it, using what I had at hand—a combination of cucumber and radish. I have to say, of all the beliefs I encountered in Greece, the use of garlic against the evil eye was the easiest for me to swallow.