|
NEW YORK FOLKLORE
Vol. 4, Nos. 1-4, 1978
EVIL EYE BELIEFS COLLECTED IN UTICA, NEW YORK
by Peter Hartman and Karyl McIntosh
For hundreds of years, people all over the world have generated
folklore concerning the struggle between the forces of good and
evil. One of the oldest aspects of this tradition is the lore about
the evil eye, “overlook,” or malocchio. The belief goes back at
least to Biblical times: references to it appear in both the Old and
New Testaments. (1) Greek and Roman literature as well mention
the evil eye. (2) The folklore has withstood much cultural change,
however, and belief in the evil eye has enjoyed a vibrant role in the
folk traditions of immigrant Americans.
For several weeks we collected evil eye beliefs from Italian-Americans living in Utica, New York. Here, in the Italian community,
those believing in the evil eye say that one person can
bring harm and misfortune to another by unfriendly looks and
feelings. Most often the harm comes as a headache or stomachache.
Victims all suspect that jealousy, anger, hatred, greed, and
contempt are causes for the curse to be inflicted. Our twenty
informants all spoke about the evil eye from the standpoint of the
victim, but none indicated that they, too, might have caused someone
else harm.
Previous research in the Utica area indicated that beliefs about
the evil eye had all but disappeared. One folklorist, for example,
had reported over twenty years ago that he could find very few, if
any, cases where the belief was an active part of the folk tradition
among European-Americans living in New York. (3) Other research
around the country, however, indicated quite the opposite. Naff
has found extensive beliefs among Syrian-Lebanese in America. (4)
In 1972 the American Anthropological Association held a symposium
devoted solely to evil eye beliefs. This research led us to
believe that perhaps Utica’s vital Italian community might have a
stronger tradition in the overlook than previously thought. As a
part of a larger survey project of Utica’s Polish- and Italian-
American neighborhoods, we wanted to know if such beliefs
existed locally. We were curious about the role that they might
play in the community’s active folk tradition......
Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. To become a subscriber, join the New York Folklore Society today.
TO PURCHASE A BACK ISSUE of New York Folklore, visit our online book store.
TO PURCHASE THIS ARTICLE from New York Folklore, use the form here.
 BACK TO NEW YORK FOLKLORE.
|
|
New York Folklore
PURCHASE A SINGLE ARTICLE
To order a single article, please enter volume number, issue number, and title of the article you wish and click on an order button below to purchase through Paypal or with your credit card. We will send you a PDF of the article via e-mail upon receipt of your order.
ITEM #603
Single Article $3.00
|
|
|
Member Price $2.00
|
|
|
|
|
