The views of modern students on “evil eye” and forms of ritual protection against it

The article discusses the perception of the “evil eye” phenomenon by students living in the Russian cities. The sample of respondents is explained by the problematization of the study. The “evil eye” as a magical ability has been studied in detail on folklore and ethnographic materials related to the traditional culture of rural societies. It seems important to the authors to identify the existence of ideas about the evil eye and related rituals in the urban environment. The surveyed students represent a category of informants living outside the rural environment, they convey ideas about the negative magical effects, gleaned from the media and family communication. The main purpose of the work is to identify the knowledge of informants about rituals and deterrents that protect against the evil eye. Ritual practices are considered by the authors as a communicative model consisting of subject, chromatic, action, and verbal codes. The conclusions made mainly on the basis of quantitative data supplemented by extended comments of informants. The authors of the article proceed from semiotic and communicative approaches to ritual culture.

1. Baiburin, A.K. and Toporkov, A.L. (1990), U istokov etiketa. Etnograficheskie ocherki [At the origins of etiquette. Ethnographic essays], Nauka, Leningrad, Russia.

2. Balkute, R. (2013), “Evil Eye in Lithuanian Traditional Culture”, Traditional culture, vol. 14, no. 1 (49), pp. 50–59.

3. Coss, R. (1992), “Reflection on the Evil Eye”, in Dundes, A. (ed.), The Evil Eye: A Case Book, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Londres, USA, pp. 181–191.

4. Dolgorukova, M.Yu. (2011), “Superstitions as a form of everyday knowledge”, Russian Scientific Journal, no. 3 (22), pp. 203–208.

5. Foster, G.M. (1965), “Peasant society and the image of limited good”, American Anthropologist, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 293–315.

6. Galt, A.H. (1982), “The Evil Eye as Synthetic Image and Its Meanings on the Island of Pantelleria, Italy”, American Ethnologist, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 664–681.

7. Garrison, V. and Arensberg, C. (1976), “The Evil Eye: Envy or Risk of Seizure? Paranoia or Patronal Dependency?”, in Maloney, C. (ed.), The Evil Eye, Columbia University Press, New York, USA, pp. 286–328.

8. Herzfeld, M. (1981), “Meaning and morality: A semiotic approach to evil eye accusations in a Greek village”, American Ethnologist, vol. 8, no. 3, Special issue “Symbolism and cognition”, pp. 560–574.

9. Ivleva, L.M. (2004), Predstavleniya vostochnykh slavyan o nechistoi sile i kontaktakh s nei: Materialy polevoi i arkhivnoi kollektsii L.M. Ivlevoi [Ideas about Evil Spirits and Contacts with Them: Materials from the Field and Archive Collections of L.M. Ivleva], Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

10. Kharitonova, V.I. (1995), Traditsionnaya magiko-meditsinskaya praktika i sovremennoe tselitel’stvo. Stat’i i materialy [Traditional magical and medical practice and modern agriculture. Statistics and materials], Institut etnologii i antropologii im. N.N. Mikluho-Maklaya Rossiiskoi akademii nauk, Moscow, Russia.

11. Khristoforova, O.B. (1998), Logika tolkovanii: Fol’klor i modelirovanie povedeniya v arkhaicheskikh kul’turakh [The logic of Interpretation: Analysis and modeling of behavior in Archaic Cultures], RGGU, Moscow, Russia.

12. Khristoforova, O.B. (2010), Kolduny i zhertvy: Antropologiya koldovstva v sovremennoi Rossii [Witches and victims: The anthropology of witchcraft in modern Russia], RGGU, O.G.I., Moscow, Russia.

13. Levkievskaya, E.E. (2002), Slavyanskii obereg. Semantika i struktura [Slavic amulet. Semantics and structure], Indrik, Moscow, Russia.

14. Luhrmann, T.M. (1989), Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft: Ritual Magic in England. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.

15. Mazalova, N.E. (2024), Tainoe znanie v traditsionnoi russkoi kul’ture: ved’my, kolduny, znahari (konets XIX – nachalo XXI v.) [Secret Knowledge in Traditional Russian Culture: wizard, witches, healers (late 19th – early 21st centuries)], Evraziya, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

16. Maloney, C. (1974), The Evil Eye, Columbia University Press, New York, USA.

17. Novik, E.S. (1994), “Arkhaicheskie verovaniya v svete mezhlichnostnoi kommunikatsii”, Istoriko-etnograficheskie issledovaniya po fol’kloru: Sbornik statei pamyati S.A. Tokareva [Historical and Ethnographic Research on Folklore: A Collection of Articles in Memory of S.A. Tokarev], Vostochnaya literatura, Moscow, Russia, pp. 110–164.

18. Novik, E.S. (2019), “ ‘Thing-Sign’ and ‘Thing-Gesture’: Towards a Semiotic Interpretation of Fetishes”, in O.B. Khristoforova (ed.), Mif i ritual narodov Sibiri: izbrannye stat’i [Myth and ritual of the peoples of Siberia: selected articles], RGGU, Moscow, Russia, pp. 194–215.

19. Novikov, Yu.A. and Trimakas, R. (2001), “Superstitions as a variant of everyday knowledge Beliefs and mythological tales about ‘volkhvits’ (sorcerers)”, Russkii fol’klor. Materialy i issledovaniya, vol. 31, Nauka, Saint Petersburg, Russia, pp. 305–333.

20. Panyukov, A.V. (2024), “Oral Stories of Komi-Zyryans about the Curse-Evil Eyes: Cognitive Aspect”, Yearbook of Finno-Ugric Studies, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 360–369.

21. Petrov, N.V. (2014), “The Evil Eye: Tradition, Modernity, and the Internet”, in Antonov, D.I. (ed.), Sila vzglyada: glaza v mifologii i ikonografii [The Power of Glance: Eyes in Mythology and Iconography], RGGU, Moscow, Russia, pp. 317– 355.

22. Quamar, A.H. (2016), “Belief in the Evil Eye and Early Childcare in Rural Punjab, Pakistan”, Asian Ethnology, vol. 75, no. 2, pp. 397–418.

23. Radenkovich, L. (2005), “The Evil Eye in Slavic Folklore”, Zhivaya starina [Living Antiquity], no. 3, pp. 33–35.

24. Reminick, R.A. (1974), “The Evil Eye Belief among the Amhara of Ethiopia”, Ethnology, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 279–291.

25. Roussou, E. (2021), Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion: The Evil Eye in Greece, Bloomsbury, London, UK.

26. Schoeck, H. (1992), “The Evil Eye: Forms and Dynamics of a Universal Superstition”, in Dundes, A. (ed.), The Evil Eye: A Case Book, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Londres, USA, pp. 192–200.

27. Wellman, R. and Kavadias, D. (2021), “A Theory of Relational Affliction and Healing: Evil Eye in Iran and Greece”, The Jugaad Project, 28 October 2021, available at: www.thejugaadproject.pub/relational-affliction (Accessed 15 January 2026).

28. Yasinskaya, M.V. (2015), “Mythological ideas about eyes and vision among the Slavs”, in Chelovek: Obraz i sushchnost’. Gumanitarnye aspekty [Man: Image and essence. Humanitarian aspects], no. 1 (26): Chelovek oshchushchayushchii: Perceptsiya v sovremennom gumanitarnom znanii [A Sentient Person: Perception in Modern Humanitarian Knowledge], INION RAS, Moscow, Russia, pp. 115–123.