Turkish Evil Eye - Glass Charm

Some cultures, especially Middle Eastern and Mediterranean area, believe that envy of others can cause harm, whether intentionally or not. To protect from negativity and physical harm, "evil eye" protective amulets (Nazar Boncuk in Turkish) dangle from car bumpers, are pinned to babies' clothes, are built into the foundations of modern buildings, and guard the doorways of most of the shops.

The evil eye belief traces back in Sumerian time as early as the 3rd millennium BCE. The evil eye is also mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures: "A man with an evil eye hastens after wealth and does not know that want will come upon him" (Proverbs 28:22). In modern Greece and Turkey, the most common form of apotropaic charm is the blue glass eye charm, which "mirrors back" the blue of the evil eye and thus "confounds" it. Anatolian artisans have created blue glass "eyes" that "look" straight back at the spell-caster.