L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 6 " Ciao, what are you up to?" Flavia says while looking at me and check- ing if I have any white hair, if my dress is this season's or a couple of years old, and whether I have gained weight or not. "Nothing much, and you? How are you all?" I reply, while checking basically the same things. "So and so, we keep going," she answers. An Italian will never say "I am fine" or "Things are fantastic." An Italian is afraid of jealousy and that the person in front may look at her/him evil-ly, with an evil eye, a malocchio. Malocchio is a superstition we find especially in the Mediter- ranean and Near Eastern coun- tries, since ancient times. It is a form of curse transmitted by one's eyes, believed by many cultures to cause injury or bad luck to the person at whom it is directed. As a curse, the evil eye is most commonly attributed to envy, and is usually cast by staring at or excessively praising. The origin of the evil eye can be traced back at least three thou- sand years to the region of Sumer in Mesopotamia, but probably has much older origins. It was mentioned by such scholars as Hesiod and Plato, and Plutarch postulated it was the manifesta- tion of deadly rays that sprang like darts from the inner recesses of the body.  Belief in the evil eye was brought to the East, as far as India, by Alexander the Great, and to the South and the North by the Roman Empire. Today, belief in the evil eye is widespread across the Middle East, West Africa, South Ameri- ca, Mexico, Central Asia and many parts of Europe, especially the Mediterranean. In Islamic culture, Muham- mad stated "the influence of an evil eye is a fact," while in Judaism the evil eye is men- tioned several times in classical texts including the Old Testa- ment. In Spain it is called mal de ojo, in Persia "salty eye," in the Jewish culture ayin ha'ra. In Italy, it is malocchio. I believe it derives from a close-knit society, whose members know every- thing about one another; from comparisons, jealousy and envy; from believing in the strength of negative energy. A person's for- tunes, job, gifted children can all become good reasons to unchain envy and desire by others: mal- occhio could be defined as the negative side of seduction. In Naples, the idea of maloc- chio or bad luck-bringing, jet- tatura, was strengthened in the 18 th century when Andrea De Jorio, an archaeologist who was believe to be a jinx, arrived at the court of Ferdinand the Second. The king worried about him and died the day after his arrival. Even though they are often considered connected, jettatura and malocchio are actually two very different concepts. The first, which we find in Pirandello's short story La Patente, is more of a natural characteristic of a person who brings bad luck without meaning it. Malocchio, on the contrary, implicates a will to cause bad luck. There are many instruments and methods considered amulets against malocchio: horns, horse shoes, garlic, hot chili peppers, or throwing salt behind one's back. In Sicily, houses were purified with salt put in sachets inside closets or in little mounds along their perimeter, or at least at its corners. There are also prayers and rhymes like  "Aglio (garlic), fravaglie (small fish, symbol of Christ), fatture ca nun quaglie (the magic will not hap- pen), corna (horns), bicorna (double horns), cape 'e alice (sar- dines heads) e cape d'aglio (gar- lic heads)." According to ancient tradi- tions, malocchio causes persis- tent headaches, nausea and loss of strength. When someone believes to be suffering from unexplainable strikes of bad luck and has the above mentioned symptoms, he or she will try to have a "diagnosis." Usually an old lady who, as per tradition, would have received this wisdom by the fire on Christmas night, takes a dish with water and drops three drops of oil. If the oil almost fragments and mixes with water, the person is a victim of malocchio; if instead the oil widens over the dish, there is no curse. In the first case, a ritual accompanied by prayers is car- ried out to free the victim: it usu- ally includes the use of milk or herbs like rue, which apparently has amazing properties. The ritu- al ends with a prayer and the marking of the "victim" with a cross traced seven times with an oiled finger. The use of herbs against malocchio could be found also in Ancient Rome where basil was used while in Cyprus, even today, olive leaves are burnt. In Sardinia, malocchio is fought with the use of a peculiar piece of jewelry called so kokku or sabe- gia, depending on the area. It is made with a stone - usually obsidian, but coral and onyx are also common - set between two silver decorations. The stone is supposed to absorb what in Sar- dinia is called s'ogu malu or mazzinas, malocchio, and to pro- tect the person wearing it. When the decorations fall off, it means the stone is saturated with bad energy and it must be changed with a new and pure one. This jewel was usually gifted by mothers, godmothers and grand- mothers to brides or pregnant women, and it was worn near the heart or, in case of pregnancy, near the belly to protect the unborn child. Malocchio is so much part of Italian culture that a comedy film was made in 1983 with Lino Banfi and Johnny Dorelli. Enti- tled Occhio, Malocchio, Prezze- molo e Finocchio (eye, evil eye, parsley and fennel), it makes fun of superstitions. But malocchio is not only a superstition, but a big business. According to statistics, the commerce surrounding super- stitions and evil magic is worth billions. In Italy, Codacons tells us, there are over 160.000 people who operate in this field and 13 million Italians (one out of four) asks for their help. This is a quest for help that makes no difference among age, class or sex. Forty percent are between the ages of 35 and 55, ten percent are teenagers. There is even an Ital- ian website where there is a price list for all magic spells: here we learn that sending a malocchio costs $1200, while removing it costs $900. In reality, costs are always much higher and it is common knowledge that some people have been fooled into paying hundreds of thousands of euros to so called witches and wizards. It is healthier to shield oneself from negative energies imagining to be like a mirror that sends them back to the maker, and reli- gion is always there to help: an old Sicilian saying reminds us to pray when we think to be looked at with the evil eye, supra ri tia, ca supra ri mia ci sta Gesu', Giuseppe e Maria (on you, because on me I have Jesus, Joseph and Mary), followed by the sign of the Cross. Some also add the symbol of horns, made with pointed index and pinky fin- gers. But the best method of all is just to laugh and walk away! Occhio malocchio: Italy and the old tradition of the evil eye Horse shoes are among the most common instruments to keep the evil eye at bay The origin of malocchio can be traced as far back as 3000 years ago LIFE PEOPLE PLACES TRADITIONS DONATELLA POLIZZI

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