“We find in many forms spread far and wide the belief that garlic possesses the magic power of protection against poison and sorcery. This comes, according to Pliny, from the fact that when it is hung up in the open air for a time, it turns black, when it is supposed to attract evil into itself—and, consequently, to withdraw it from the wearer. The ancients believed that the herb which Mercury gave to Ulysses to protect him from the enchantment of Circe, and which Homer calls moly, was the alium nigrum, or garlic, the poison of the witch being a narcotic. Among the modern Greeks and Turks, garlic is regarded as the most powerful charm against evil spirits, magic, and misfortune. For this reason they carry it with them, and hang it up in their houses as a protection against storms and bad weather. So their sailors carry with them a sack of it to avert shipwreck. If any one utters a word of praise with the intention of fascinating or of doing harm, they cry aloud ‘Garlic!’ or utter it three times rapidly. In Aulus Persius Flaccus (Satyr. V.) to bite garlic averts magic and the evils which the gods send to those who are wanting in reverence for them. According to a popular belief the mere pronunciation of ‘Garlic!’ protects one from poison.”
It appears to be generally held among them and the Poles that this word prevents children from “beschreien werden” that is, from being banned, or overlooked, or evil-eyed. And among the Poles garlic is laid under children’s pillows to protect them from devils and witches. (Bratraneck, “Beiträge zur Æsthetik der Pflanzenwelt,” p. 56). The belief in garlic as something sacred appears to have been very widely spread, since the Druids attributed magic virtues to it; hence the reverence for the nearly allied leek, which is attached to King David and so much honoured by the Welsh.
“Tell him I’ll knock his leek about his pate
Upon Saint David’s Day.”—Shakespeare.
The magic virtues of garlic were naturally enough also attributed to onions and leeks, and in a curious Italian work, entitled “Il Libro del Comando,” attributed (falsely) to Cornelius Agrippa, I find the following:—
“Segreto magico d’indovinare, colle cipole, la salute d’una persona lontana. A magic secret to divine with onions the health of a person far distant. Gather onions on the Eve of Christmas and put them on an altar, and under every onion write the name of the persons as to whom one desires to be informed, ancorche non scrivano, even if they do not write.
“The onion (planted) which sprouts the first will clearly announce that the person whose name it bears is well.
“And in the same manner we can learn the name of the husband or wife whom we should choose, and this divination is in use in many cantons of Germany.”
Very much allied to this is the following love charm from an English gypsy:—
“Take an onion, a tulip, or any root of the kind (i.e. a bulbous root?), and plant it in a clean pot never used before; and while you plant it repeat the name of the one whom you love, and every day, morning and evening, say over it:—
“ ‘As this root grows
And as this blossom blows,
May her heart be
Turned unto me!’
“And it will come to pass that every day the one whom you love will be more and more inclined to you, till you get your heart’s desire.”
A similar divination is practised by sowing cress or lettuce seed in the form of names in gardens. If it grows well the one who plants it will win the love of the person indicated.
As regards the use of coals in incantations, Marcellus Burdigalensis,[2] a Latin physician of the third century, who has left us a collection of Latin and Gaelic charms, recommends for a cure for toothache: “Salis granum, panis micam, carbonem mortuum in phœnicio alligabis,” i.e., to carry a grain of salt, a crumb of bread, and a coal, in a red bag.