Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/27

 hope that the laws which govern the tradition and modification of customs and beliefs may be found to be hardly less definite than the laws of language.

But comparative folklore is outside my present purpose. I assume only, without much fear of contradiction, that many of the popular superstitions and customs and magical practices still prevalent in the world date from a period far more remote than any age on which Greek history or archaeology can throw even a glimmering of light. If then I can show that among the Greek folk of to-day there still survive in full vigour such examples of primaeval superstition as the belief in 'the evil eye' and the practice of magic, I shall have established at least an antecedent probability that there may exist also vestiges of the religious beliefs and practices of the historical era.

The fear of 'the evil eye' ([Greek: to kako mati], or simply [Greek: to mati] ,) is universal among the Greek peasantry, and fairly common though not so frankly avowed among the more educated classes. The old words [Greek: baskainô] and [Greek: baskania] are still in use, but [Greek: matiazô] and [Greek: mat[i(]agma], direct formations from the word [Greek: mati], are more frequently heard. It would be difficult to say on what grounds this power of 'overlooking,' if I may use a popular English equivalent, is usually imputed to anyone. Old women are most generally credited with it, but not so much owing to any menacing appearance as because they are the chief exponents of witchcraft and it is only fitting that the wise woman of a village should possess the power of exercising the evil eye at will. These form therefore quite a distinct class from those persons whose eyes are suspected of exerting naturally and involuntarily a baneful influence. In the neighbourhood of Mount Hymettus it appears that blue eyes fall most commonly under suspicion: and this is the more curious because in Attica, with its large proportion of Albanian inhabitants, blue eyes are by no means rare. Possibly, however, it was the native Greeks' suspicion of the strangers who settled among them, which first caused this particular development of the belief in this district. Myself possessing eyes of the objectionable colour, I have more than once been somewhat taken aback at having my ordinary salutation ([Greek: 'ge[i(]a sou], 'health to you,') to some passing, diminutive of [Greek: omma].]a], a word whose origin I cannot trace.]