The evil eye is served as the most common protector against evil powers and mystical forces. Around the world, the eye figure is believed to protect whoever bears it.
To understand why these charms were shaped like the human eye, we must understand the correlation between the eye and the evil thoughts. The eye, which is the window of the person opening to the world, is accepted as the first starting point of all kinds of good and bad thoughts. This is why most of the charms around the world have shape of the eye.
Some believe that the eye is a curse in terms of the person who looks at it. For example, in an old Polish fairy tale, a man who removes his own eyes so that his loved ones wouldn’t get hurt by them.
Evil Eye in History
Making eye-shaped charms as in the example of the eye is not an original Anatolian tradition it goes way back much further to Ancient Egypt. Eye of The Horus or The Moon Eye is accepted as some sort of protector and drawn almost everywhere around the country.
This belief has existed between generations as well as between cultures. Frederick Thomas Elworthy’s research on the evil eye shows that the symbol is found in Irish tales as well as in the Greeks, and despite the pagan context, it is included in religious books such as the Bible and the Qur’an.
How To Make The Evil Eye
To make an evil eye bead in Anatolian culture you supposed to have a special hearth only for glass bead making. The materials must be melted in a place with a protective spirit. After then it is pretty much about combining opal, zinc, and cobalt then shaping them.
The deep blue color of the symbol has many reasons. One of them is copper and cobalt mixed clay turns blue when baked which is how Egyptians made their evil eye. Turkish people probably accepted it because of the Tengrism. The Tengri was a sky god so the color blue was fitting their belief system.
Also, there’s another belief that “sky eyed” people which means people with blue eyes has evil eyes. But this belief is common in the Mediterranean region where blue-eyed people are the majority. So it explains a lot.
Evil Eye In The Modern World
The evil eye is not only found in Istanbul markets, but also on the exterior of planes and in comic books.
Recently, the symbol has entered the fashion world. While Kim Kardashian was displayed many times with evil eye beaded jewelry, the model Gigi Hadid announced last year that she will produce “Eye” themed shoe models.
Some forms of use, such as the use of amulet, especially in the field of fashion, have increased concerns recently. Yet it shows us evil eye was an important part of our daily lives in the past and remains that way. To protect your loved ones from the harmful look of the other you can reach evil eye beads from here.
