Ancient Traditions

 

Ancient Traditions

Meet Punxsutawney Phil

      A snowy wintery season is upon us.  The below-freezing temperatures outside confirm this for at least some of us.  When it rains in the forest where we
live, we call it “the woods in the wet.”  We’ve nothing comparable when it snows other than vanishing to some warm clime or taking vitamin D.  Fortunately, days have already grown longer, so there is hope the white stuff will be short-lived, and we can retire our snowblower for another season.  Exactly when I should prepare to do this or otherwise ensure I have enough gas to continue blowing snow for additional weeks does not depend on the Old Farmer’s Almanac or the US National Weather Service. Instead, I rely on the USA’s one and only living and breathing groundhog weather barometer, Punxsutawney Phil.  According to a tradition extending back to 1887, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his underground burrow, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather.   However, if Phil does not see his shadow, he is telegraphing an early spring.¹  On a recent gloomy February day, Maria Elena and I heaved a sigh of relief when Phil confirmed winter just about in the rearview mirror.  

Prophecies like this extend beyond a Pennsylvania rodent's prognostications.  The many that have been promulgated around the globe and have existed since ancient times have not been binary in their predictive convictions.  Less conclusive, they offer more leeway to interpretation than simple “yes or no,” “long or short (as in winters),” or “rain or shine” decrees.

In the earlier world of ancient Rome, a method of divination heavily reliant on interpretation called haruspicy was practiced.  Haruspicy was a form of communication with the gods that relied on inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals.  For example, examining a liver could assess the god’s approval or disapproval.⁴  Rather than predicting future events, this form of divination allowed humans to discern the will of the gods before engaging in a specific activity or making important decisions.  Through divination, Roman behavior maintained harmony between men and Mount Olympus deities.  Punxsutawney Phil has no idea how lucky he is that his shadow has replaced a fatal examination of his viscera. 

Modern Italians have seen these practices abolished but still retain a quasi-relationship with the whimsical nature of fate and chance, if not destiny.  Each year, for example, beginning at the stroke of midnight, cultural quirks renew themselves on New Year's Day.  Because the shape of lentils resembles ancient gold coins, symbolic of prosperity, eating them at midnight is deemed to promote good luck throughout the coming year.²  Although I love lentils, this hasn’t worked for me.  But then, I’ve never been in Italy on New Year's Eve, which may be key to their magic.  

Along with these legumes, eating twelve grapes (one for each month of the new year) or their equivalent dried version, raisins, will ensure Lady Luck is with you.²  When these antics conclude, in keeping with another Roman custom, you’re expected to don something red (usually underwear) to fend off negativity and invite happiness and love into your life.²  The color red is essential because it is associated with passion, energy, and, here again, prosperity.  It may all be for commercial reasons, but for it to work, you can’t cheat by wearing old red pajamas or lingerie.  Au contraire, your red underwear must be new and a gift from someone.  Buying them for yourself is cheating and just might be behind the enigma of Victoria’s Secret.  No wonder I get so many red jammies, with or without penguins, each Christmas!  

In parts of Italy, throwing old crockery out the window symbolizes purging yourself of what is useless.²  By ridding yourself of unnecessary items accumulated during the year, it is believed that you free yourself of burdens and avail yourself of a fresh start, in a way mindful of a New Year’s resolution.  But, look out below! 

If you are fortunate to make it outside safely (without head injury) that first day of the new year, ancient customs require that you closely observe the first person you meet on the street.  If it is an elderly person or, better yet, a hunchback, the new year will be full of great surprises.  If you meet a baby, a priest, or a doctor, according to this tradition, there might be some bad luck around the corner.

Moving on from New Year's, the search for happiness and love continues.  Geoffrey Chaucer, in a 1375 poem in reference to Saint Valentine’s Day, wrote:

“For this was on seynt Valentynes day, / Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make.”

(For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, / When every fowl comes to choose his mate.) ³

Chaucer appears to have been referring to an earlier origin of the holiday, once again thought to have ancient Roman roots well before Saint Valentine or red pajamas.  Every year on February 15, Roman priests gathered at the sacred Lupercal cave on the Palatine Hill, where Romulus and Remus were allegedly born (circa 771 BC) to sacrifice a goat and dog.  This ritual was performed to bless mothers with fertility in the coming year.  Not to take away from modern reality TV series like The Bachelor and Love is Blind, the legend also describes how single women placed their names in an urn.  Unmarried men would then draw to be paired with these women for the year, which often resulted in marriage.³

A Cornicello Neckless

There is also a very popular and plentiful horn-shaped Italian trinket known as a cornicello, which for millennia was considered the best, most powerful of good luck charms.  On the spectrum of fortune and protection, the common American practice of carrying a rabbit’s foot doesn’t approach the persistent worldwide mania for wearing a cornicello.  Made of red coral, a cornicello offers protection from the ill intentions of the evil eye, a malevolent gaze that some cast to cause bad things to happen.  This concept is deeply rooted in ancient beliefs and continues to hold significance to this day.  Across cultures around the world, the evil eye plays a formidable role.  For example, it’s known as el Ojo Maledicto (‘the cursed eye’) in Latin America.  While I’ll not attempt to write it in Hanzi characters, it’s called the ‘jinxed eye’ in China.  Protective evil eye pendants are thought to have originated with the Greeks and Ancient Romans some 3,000 years ago as a defense against a shared threat: the evil eye curse.¹¹  Casting the evil eye bestows a curse intended to bring harm, misfortune, accidents, or negative influences on someone.  In addition to the cornicello, there are other amulets designed to ward off evil spirits, and variations of evil intentions.  I have an eye-shaped amulet myself

My Metaphysical Eye Bead
Desktop Security System

purchased in what better place than Olympia,  Greece.  Referred to as a nazar (‘to be coveted’), this large eye-shaped bead is made of glass.  Its circular shape featuring four colored concentric circles dangles above my desk in case of some metaphysical, counter-curse emergency.  It has the advantage of zero power consumption, and lacking the need for renewal, it offers 24/7 protection.  

For Added Protection
Some Use Both

     The benefits of a cornicello include blessings, fortune, positive outcomes in various aspects of life, and, as always, prosperity.  It is often worn by individuals of Italian descent to reflect their Italian heritage.  While it may look like a pepper, don’t be fooled.  It doesn’t symbolize a hot pepperoncino pepper, it clearly resembles.  It is something entirely different.  For ancient Romans, the male organ was
regarded as a talisman of fertility and prosperity.  Thus, this Italian protective pendant usually takes the form of a phallus.  A cornicello is also believed to enhance one's emotional connections, strengthen relationships, and ignite passion in romantic partnerships.  It extends to promoting good health, emotional protection, vitality, and

A Cornicello Resembles a Hot
Pepperoncino Pepper

courage, as well as providing protection from negative energies.  Not stopping there, its properties are believed to enhance energy levels, boost the immune system, improve overall well-being, and bolster determination. 

In 77 AD, Pliny the Elder wrote in depth about red coral in his early version of an encyclopedia, Naturalis Historia.  Thought to possess powers capable of warding off danger, Pliny went so far as to have recommended coral to protect against lightning strikes and, for those with this problem, a means to counter temptresses.⁶  He describes the most valued coral as the reddest and branchiest.  It was also viewed as a thing of beauty and powerfully religious.  While he expressed his belief in its protective powers, he’d likely agree that it would be useless against what, at the time, was believed to be the foremost practitioner of the evil eye, mythological Medusa.  A self-initiated gaze at Medusa saw the ‘voyeur’ turn to stone.  Absent Medusa, in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, where blue eyes are relatively rare, the ancients believed that people, especially those with blue eyes, could cast the evil eye with just a glance, unfortunately marking me as a potential transmitter.¹⁰

Coral amulets are also given to children for protection.  In many paintings of the 1300 - 1500s, you will find children with a small coral horn or branch.  One in particular by Piero della Francesca hung in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, portrays the infant Jesus wearing a red coral stem.  Another example,

Red Coral Necklace on Infant Jesus

the “Virgin and Child with Angles,” by Allegretto Nuzi, hung in the Musee du Petit Palais in Avignon, France, portrays a similar scene with red coral prominently visible on the child.  If the child is too small to wear an amulet safely, there are alternative approaches to ensure protection.  For instance, my Florentine friend, Christina, recounts how her mother-in-law sewed a piece of coral to Christina’s infant son’s bassinet to ward off malocchio (‘evil eye’) misfortune.  Other parents tie a red thread around a baby’s hands.  Our former neighbor, JoAnn, related how, as a child, when she complained of a headache, a zia (aunt) or nonna (grandmother) would take her aside and make a sign of the cross three times with her right thumb in the center of her forehead to the accompaniment of a prayerful incantation over her (the words vary from region to region) followed by spitting three times.  She would then move to one side of JoAnn’s forehead, make the signs once more there three times, spit again, only to cycle through this sequence one last time on the other side of the forehead’s center.  The spitting mimics a superstition where a Greek yaiyai (grandmother)

Virgin & Child by Nuzi

will quickly spit at a newborn three times, ‘tou, tou, tou,’ to ward off the evil eye.  This follows another Greek custom whereby if someone makes a ‘tou’ spitting sound at you three times, accompanied by the flick of their hand, that person is not expressing disapproval at all.  Instead, they are paying you a compliment.  It means you are worthy of envy, so giving you what appears to be a negative gesture (spitting) wards off the potential for the evil eye due to jealousy.  Next, JoAnne’s relative would add a drop of oil to each of three small white bowls filled with water.  In keeping with their version of the tradition, if the oil burst out quickly into the water as if it had exploded (some claim the drop must sink), it meant you were the victim of an evil eye perpetrator.  If, however, the droplet didn’t separate and remained in a circle, not to worry, you only had a headache.  Today, contemporary events call a similar procedure to detect an analogous form of evil a take-home COVID Test! 

Beyond protection against the evil eye, a blue-colored amulet projects positive energies such as creativity, motivation, and commitment, which symbolize good karma.¹¹  What I particularly like, although when I purchased my blue bead, I hadn’t a clue, is that it fosters calmness, a smooth flow of communication, serenity, and relaxation in its owner—a veritable tranquilizing, non-prescription form of Valium if ever there was one.  In addition to blue, evil eye beads are available in various colors.  While each color offers protection against evil curses that might lead to misfortune, depending on their color, they are also said to promote such things as freedom, happiness, imagination, success, relief from exhaustion, wealth, secure friendships, and more.¹¹  There are evidently colors available for every concern.  The classic color scheme is deep blue with white circles to symbolize the human eye.  An eye bead talisman like mine is believed to possess a supernatural force that reflects a

... Just About Everywhere Indeed

malevolent gaze back upon its source—those who wish harm upon others. 

To muddle things further, it’s believed that a curse can be triggered involuntarily by someone unaware they can cast an evil eye.  A folktale tells of a man whose gaze was such a potent transmitter that, knowing this, he resorted to cutting out his own eyes rather than continuing to spread misfortune, especially to his loved ones.¹²  Under circumstances like these, it could be just about everywhere. 

 The twin tyrannies, jealousy, and envy are thought to be the dominant motives that trigger evil eye curses.  The recipient must believe that receiving the evil eye will cause misfortune or injury for it to be effective.  A potent glare, a simple glance, or even a negative comment that one person might give another, founded on intense jealousy or envy, are reportedly all it takes.  To shield against such acts, an urge to suppress envy and snuff out jealousy grew to become ... Just Abiut Everywherso widespread that people went to great lengths to not show pride in their status, flaunt excess, and eliminate any form of behavior that might foster envy, loathing, or resentment in others.  They dressed down, lived simply, wore old shoes, watched what they said in public so as not to boast or appear overly intelligent, and did anything to avoid highlighting themselves.  It is mindful of the public response to that famous purge of luxuries (Bonfire of the Vanities) by Savonarola in 1497 Florence.

When it comes to the evil eye and curses, I’m also reminded of that magical 1987 movie “Moonstruck.”  When Dean Martin would sing, “When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie - that’s Amore,” he foreshadowed this movie, where the moon may as well have been a character.  It is a portrayal of the workings of a dynamic Italian American family, where when referencing Italians, the word dynamic is steeped in passion.  Cher earned the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in this must-see, fairytale story of love and life that approaches reality.  In the riot of ethnicity that ensues, one Scene at JFK Airport (click/open to watch) reveals a vendetta based on a lifetime accumulation of envy.  In it, as an airliner takes off for Sicily with Cher’s fiancée aboard, an old woman explains why she has placed a curse on the plane for it to crash.  Come to find out, neither of them believes in curses, though Cher cringes and, while no evidence of a cornicello is presented, has her fingers crossed.  

      Another form of expressive protection, a widespread part of everyday life in Il Mezzogiorno (southern Italy), where history runs long, is a gesture called le corna (‘the horn’).  Generally, Italians, expressive as they are, make the sign of the horns when confronted with unfortunate events or simply when harmful events are mentioned.  It is formed by extending the index and pinkie fingers downward while holding the inner remaining fingers closed with the thumb (making this sign with the hand raised takes on a different meaning).

 To this day, the faithful perform certain hand gestures like the sign of the cross and wear religious medals such as a Miraculous Medal or a St. Benedict Medal for divine protection from curses, evil, and diseases.  Others pray to icons for protection, maintain repositories of protective symbols, and wear sacred texts, and charms.  The hamsa, also called the Hand of Fatima and the Hand of Mary is an equally powerful palm-shaped amulet popular from North Africa to the Middle East.  Along with other

Hamsa With an All-Seeing Nazar

symbology, the hamsa features an eye in the middle of an open hand.  As with other evil eye amulets, like the cornicello and nazar, the hamsa is traditionally believed to have talismanic power to provide divine protection.⁹

Like religion, the power of the evil eye is based on belief and faith, making it difficult, if impossible, to verify its validity.  Although scientific evidence does not support the protective powers of amulets, if you believe in the evil eye and the need for protection, it seems best to wear one.  If correct, you have everything to gain.  If you are cynical about these apocryphal beliefs, ask yourself: do I, like grandma, throw a pinch of salt over my shoulder for good luck (thought to blind the devil to stop him from performing evil deeds), pass along chain letters, feel a bit anxious about the number 13 especially Friday the 13th, fear you’ve tempted the Fates by walking under a ladder, break a mirror and anticipate seven years of bad luck, never open an umbrella inside, or knock on wood for luck (gods were thought to inhabit trees)?  If that is the case, acquiring an amulet as an insurance policy on life and limb may be wise just in case these ancient social mores are credible.  You have nothing to lose.  Whichever way you go—nothing to lose, everything to gain—this may explain why so many people worldwide, myself included, possess these protective icons.

 

From That Rogue Tourist, 

Paolo

 

1. Groundhog Day 2020 Guide: Punxsutawney Phil facts, tips for going to Gobbler's Knob and More. Pennlive, 2020-01-28.

2. Studia in Italia, https://www.studiainitalia.com/en/blog/new-year-traditions-italy/#:~:text=Eat%20lentils%20and%20grapes&text=For%20others%2C%20lentils%20are%20a,)%2C%20to%20bring%20you%20luck

3. Valentine’s Day’s Connection with Love was Probably Invented by Chaucer and Other 14th-Century Poets, https://theconversation.com/valentines-days-connection-with-love-was-probably-invented-by-chaucer-and-other-14th-century-poets-199544

4. Haruspex, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruspex

6. Coral and the Grand Tour, https://www.ericaweiner.com/history-lessons/coral-and-the-grand-tour#:~:text=Coral%20in%20jewelry%20in%20Europe,Angels%20by%20Allegretto%20Nuzi%2C%201360.

9. Hamsa, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa

10. Nazar, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar_(amulet)

11. Evil eye Bracelet Meaning and Origins, https://www.iconicjewelry.com/evil-eye-bracelet-meaning-and-origins/

12. The-Strange-Power-of-the-Evil-Eye, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180216-the-strange-power-of-the-evil-eye