Evil Eye Meaning

Evil Eye Meaning; In Turkey, wherever you look, you’ll meet plenty of evil eyes looking at you. Glass evil eye beads, it is common in the Turkish culture to give a gift of a blue evil eyes (nazar boncuk) or the evil eye bead as it is more widely known. People hang a small evil eye amulet from the rear view mirror of their car, keep several small evil eye beads or evil eye charms on hand to give to guests, hang an evil eye near their door in the home or office. Glass evil eyes are worn, in the form of jewelry; evil eye bracelet, necklace, anklet, gold or silver evil eye charms and pendant, earring – ring and blue evil eye talisman… Here it is a real evil eye bead paradise.

So what does evil eye mean?

The evil eye meaning  is a curse, or hex, believed to be cast upon a person by a malevolent glare, typically when the target is unaware. Westerners’ belief in the evil eye dates back to ancient Greece. However, Western Asians and North Africans trace the evil eye’s roots to Sumeria (modern day Iraq) and ancient Egypt. Pliny the Elder wrote about certain African enchanters (we would call them shamen or, less respectfully, witch doctors) who had the power of the evil eye: “…[they] can even kill those upon whom they fix their gaze.”

While the evil eye meaning vary across cultures and eras, throughout Europe and the Middle East, charms and talismans to ward it off have been found dating back to the first century BC. As a class, these objects are termed apotropaic (Greek: “turns away”) talismans.

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The most common of these are disks or beads having concentric blue and white circles (usually from center outward, dark blue, light blue, white, and dark blue), representing an evil eye. Fight fire with fire, seems to have been the logic of this. This type of talisman is called in Turkish a nazar. In Turkey you will see nazars on houses, in cars, painted on fishing boats, and worn as beads.
I Spanish culture, evil eye meaning is mal de ojo; in Brazil it is mal-olhado; in India it is nazar.

Detail of a 19th-century Anatolian kilim, with rows of crosses (Turkish: Haç) and scattered S-shaped hooks (Turkish: Çengel), both to ward off the evil eye. To adherents of other faiths in the region, the nazar is an attractive decoration

A variety of motifs to ward off the evil eye are commonly woven into tribal kilim rugs. Such motifs include a cross (Turkish: Haç) to divide the evil eye into four, a hook (Turkish: Çengel) to destroy the evil eye, or a human eye (Turkish: Göz) to avert the evil gaze. The shape of a lucky amulet (Turkish: Muska; often, a triangular package containing a sacred verse) is often woven into kilims for the same reason.

The evil eye symbol appeared as early as 5,000 years ago on clay tablets, in cuneiform. The eye symbol can be found in Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures, as well as in Buddhist and Hindu societies. The “evil eye” is a curse believed to be cast by a malevolent glare, usually directed toward a person unaware of it. It is generally believed to cause misfortune or even injury. So evil eye jewelry and talismans were created to protect one from such a curse. The colors of evil eyes talismans have deep significance: dark blue is the traditional color for good karma and positive energy. Sky blue symbolizes truth. Combined, these colors are believed to ward off curses. In Greece, an evil eye talisman is called an “atropaic” amulet, from the Greek apo, “away,” and tropos, “turn.” In Turkey, the most basic form of the amulet is concentric blue and white circles, symbolizing an eye and called a nazar boncuğu, from the Arabic word nazar, evil eye meaning sight, surveillance, or attention, and boncuk meaning bead. Evil eye charms are a persistent tradition. They are given on the occasion of a new baby, new business, or even a new car—any event when good luck is wanted.

April Reed

You can see related products at: Turkish Evil Eyes Collection