Evil eye

The concept of an evil eye is almost universal, and it appears in Finnish folklore as well. Anyone could possess an evil eye, whether from birth or through ill intent. Across the board, it was believed that strong feelings of jealousy were the main reason for one to inflict an evil eye unto another. Because of this, the term kade, which in present-day Finnish refers to envious people, used to have the secondary meaning of witch, at least up until the 1900's.

People with eye deficits — be they from birth, or developed later in life — were unfairly thought to have an evil eye, and were often ostracised for it. Sometimes a particularly dark eye colour was also associated with an evil eye, though references to this belief are rare. These people seldom intended to harm others with their cursed gaze, and when visiting others, they would warn their hosts to hide all their precious things, including their children, so that they would not accidentally become tainted.

kisses, arguments / thoughts of crones,
curses of the piss-legged / blood — hate,
the black man's concerns,
whoever would enviously look,
may their eye bleed! / the other eye run like grease!
mother, little holy maiden,
i need an eye / to release, to salvage / the right spirits
— Spell against evil eye from Korpiselkä

it is just the way i am, for i was born backwards
— from a woman born with an evil eye, from Nakkila

the eye of kade has been slashed,
the malevolent fingers cut off,
fortune has returned to my home!
— a spell recited while rubbing salt upon a pair of shears, origin unknown

An evil eye gained in adulthood often had two different origins: either the person eyed you with ill intent, in which case casting an evil eye was a deliberate act, performed at will. People commonly considered impure or unwanted, such as old maids, whores, beggars and cheats, were believed to have an evil eye as a punishment for their way of life.

Rarer still were beliefs of animals possessing an evil eye. There are only a few instances where sheep, with their strange side-ways eyes, were thought to have a cursed gaze which could make other household tasks difficult to complete.

Contracting ill will

Anyone had the capacity to inflict harm with an evil eye, if they so chose. "Eyeing" could cause anything from illness to misfortune, sometimes even death. Less severely, sometimes the ill effect amounted to merely losing sleep. An evil eye extended to not just you, but to those around you: your children may fall ill as well, your cows provide less milk, and so on, as all these things were in the sphere of your personal misfortune.

The best course of preventative action was to conceal one's fortune — that which was not seen, could not be spoiled by malevolence. Babies were considered particularly susceptible to being cursed, and so it was imperative to keep them and their mother hidden from outsiders, until the baby was baptized and the mother "cleansed". If hiding the newborn was not possible, there were a few ways to protect them from an evil eye, such as by covering the child's eyes, or trying to guide the envious person's gaze to something else. Older children were dressed poorly in rags when out and about, as to suggest poverty and therefore protecting them and their family from the envy of others.

Ultimately, the best way to avoid being afflicted by an evil eye was to be a good neighbor. If one treated those around them with hospitality, kindness and care, it was less likely for others to hold ill will in their hearts.

Undoing an accursed gaze

Bathing in a sauna was common practice to not merely cleanse the body, but to wash away illnesses and curses. Bathing alone was seldom enough by itself, often times this ritual cleansing required being cleansed by someone else (usually by whacking the accursed with birch–tree branches), the recital of spell poetry, as well as "measuring", by which the bather could determine whether or not one's body was still in balance.

Alternatively, one could use the methods of backwardness to mislead and lose an evil gaze's hold over its target. Dressing children with their clothes inside out, aiming a gun the wrong way around, or walking backwards, are all recorded methods of "wrong-making" for magical immunity. When the curse was attached to the "wrong", returning back to the "normal" would undo the curse as well.

Objects of power could also be utilized to overpower any curses coming one's way. Interestingly, sharp iron objects were considered especially potent against an evil eye. Hiding a needle, a knife, an axe or a pair of scissors or shears under a child's pillow overnight was thought to protect them, likewise, stabbing a knife into the walls of one's stables and barns would keep the animals safe from unwanted gazes. Blades which had taken life were thought to be especially powerful for this purpose.

Women had an additional trick up their skirts, for the vulva was thought to hold a great power to both protect and ruin. By flashing the person with an evil eye, one could scare away the curse, rending both it and its wielder magically powerless. This is tied to the earlier practice of misguiding an evil gaze, pulling it away from the intended target and meeting it in kind.

As a final note, animals could also be targeted by evil eye, and same as people, had to be cured of it through magical means. Stealing food from the household from which the curse originated, and feeding said food to the animal, was said to nullify the evil eye's effect.

"Eat shit with a woodchip on top"

Alongside casting an evil eye, there are typically mentions of suutelu, "kissing". This does not mean the physical act of kissing, but rather, excessive or suspicious praise, showering the target with empty platitudes. While not as severe as an evil eye, it too had the power to damage one's belongings and take away one's fortune.

Protection from "kissing" was best achieved by crude and surprising remarks towards the "kisser", insulting them in such a way that they couldn't think of anything to say. And should nothing else work, one could always hit them in the face, ending the empty praise then and there.

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Sources

• SKS: Kansanomainen lääkintätietous (1957)

• Toivo Vuorela: Paha silmä suomalaisen perinteen valossa (1960)