The Holy Land and Syria

by Frank G. Carpenter

Many learned Jews come to end their days in the Holy City. The raggedest man may be the greatest scholar. Some of them have returned from America whence their successful sons send funds for their support in the land of their fathers

The Tower of David was standing here when Christ walked in Zion. Jerusalem, like other ancient cities, was surrounded by walls for its defence, with towers here and there along their course

CHAPTER XI
THE EVIL EYE

The Evil Eye is abroad in the Holy Land, and a glance from it will bring you misfortune. It will lame your horse, cow, or camel, and it may cause your child to sicken or die. It can ruin your health or your business, and it may even send your soul to eternal damnation. Those who possess the evil eye are devils incarnate, but you cannot tell who they are. They go about in the shape of innocent-looking men, women, and children, so you will not realize that their spells have been cast upon you until misfortune comes.

The belief exists throughout Palestine and is common all over this part of the world. Every house in Jerusalem, whether Jew, Moslem, or Christian, contains charms to ward off such spells. Every man, woman, and child carries a talisman to keep off the witches. Some of these charms are in the shape of a hand, because of an old Jewish saying that the hand of God will arrest all disasters, and a Mohammedan habit of calling upon the hand of Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, to guard the Faithful from evil. Silver hands are sold as charms, and the wealthier classes wear hands of gold inside the necks of their gowns. Every Jerusalem house has a painting or carving of a hand on its front door to keep off the evil eye; and even in the new houses which are now going up they are putting hands over the windows as well as at the front doors. Over their doors hang bags of charms containing an egg, a piece of alum, some garlic, and a large blue bead.

Blue is believed to be a colour which frightens the devil. These people think that anything blue will ward off the evil eye, and for this reason horses, donkeys, and camels have strings of blue beads round their necks. Every horse and donkey that I have ridden since I set foot in the Holy Land has been decorated with beads, and in a carriage trip that I recently took across country, changing my teams three times, every horse we drove had a blue necklace. One was a three-year-old colt, which was lively and skittish. He wore several strands of blue beads, each as big as the nail of my thumb. As he jumped about he broke the string and the beads fell off and were lost. The driver went back to look for them, but hunted in vain, and was troubled during the rest of the day. When toward evening the colt got a stone in his foot and went lame, he said it was the evil eye, which might have been kept off had the beads not been lost.

I see many children here wearing blue beads, some of which are the shape of an eye. There is one special kind made in Hebron which is considered most effective. It is a bead of blue glass of the shape of a hand with five fingers. It is worn as a charm. Some of the children are clad in blue gowns with white circles stamped on them. Every store has some blue inside it, and in some a silver hand is hung up on the walls. Every bride wears blue beads at her wedding, and in wedding processions salt, rice, and sugar plums are thrown at the bride and bridegroom to keep off the evil eye and bring luck.

I have been warned that I should always have some alum in my pocket, for this is a charm which will keep away witches. It is usually carried along with the beads. Some beads are made with a small piece of alum inside them, and people who are ashamed to show their belief in the beads often carry alum in their pockets. If a child goes out without charms the mother is greatly alarmed, and if she thinks that someone has cast an evil eye on it she burns a bit of the child’s clothes with incense and a small piece of alum. She first prays over the child, waving the bit of stuff and the alum about as she does so. She then throws the charm into an open fire and holds the child over it. As the alum burns it gives off a smoke which takes certain shapes, and the mother believes that by looking at them she can learn who has cast the evil eye on her child. The same rite is gone through with by pretty girls who feel ill on coming home from a call. They work this charm to find out who has cast a spell on them.