The evil eye a cultural practice

The evil eye is a belief found in many parts of the world, and it plays a significant role in many cultural contexts. The evil eye could be either a human, animal or a god that has malicious intentions of destroying other people out of jealous. I was born and raised in the Middle East, and during my years as a young person, I encountered the belief of the evil eye amongst my people. According to my culture then, when somebody is looked at with an "evil eye" it will bring about bad luck or cause harm and suffering to them. This might be a look given a look given to the receivers either out of jealousy, anger or just out of malice. Similarly, I could not share the news of my dad buying me a new bicycle with others.

The superstition was so strong, and no one wanted the consequences to befall them. The belief was extended to social media where no one wants to post a picture of their new car or home with the fear that someone might look at them with the evil eye. As the belief of the evil eye spans across different cultures, there are measures taken by these people to protect themselves from the outcomes of the ‘evil eye' look. For example, in my culture, new mothers kept objects under their pillows and sewed others on the clothes of the children with the belief that they would protect their children. In other words, they out here to ensure no Christian enters the place where they had fallen from. Several accounts are recorded both in the present and in the past of people who have been tormented by evil possessions (Apostolides and Dreyer 1026).

Thus the evil eye and its association with the demonic influence is the widely recognized and accepted phenomenon in the Greek Church. Satan is regarded as an experienced person, and the teachings of the church say that evil cannot be explained, but instead, it has to be faced and fought. Thus from the teaching, Satan is the worldly enemy of the Christians, and the relationship between God and Satan is one that cannot be explained easily and therefore it's the work of Christians to shun and fight evil the rest is the work of God. My perspective about the evil eye has been changing; I no longer believe that by someone looking at you they will bring bad luck to you or will harm you. I will easily walk about and post my pictures on social media without thinking that someone with an evil eye will harm me in any way.

Nevertheless, I still hold dear to my culture, once in a while I usually think that the beliefs were true and still hold meaning. The evil eye is a strong phenomenon though it can be explained through science. The people around me remind me that we are living in an evil world and not everyone that is happy for you mean well for you. The Greek evil eye, African witchcraft, and Western ethnocentrism. Department of Practical Theology, University of Pretoria, 2008.