Includes the two lucky Italian protection charms and necklace chain in black velvet jewelry bag.
MATERIALS
The necklace chain and cornicello charm are made with hypo-allergenic stainless steel. The evil eye is silver plated brass with a amethyst purple cubic zirconia stone.
MEASUREMENTS
The cornicello horn charm is about 1" tall (20mm)
The nazar, little evil eye charm is about .433 tall" across x .512" across (11mm x 13mm)
ABOUT
This powerful combination includes two traditional magical amulets that have been used by humans for hundreds of years:
1. The CORNICELLO - to promote health, fertility and virility.
Cornicello is Italian for "little horn" or "hornlet", is also called "Corno Portafortuna" (Lucky Horn), "Cornetto" (Little horn), "Lucky Corni", Neapolitan charm, or commonly the "Italian Horn"; and some times even called the Italian chile pepper charm.
2. The EVIL EYE - to protect the wearer against malocchio, jealousy, envy, gossip and negative thoughts/energy.
Also called the "Nazar", "Anti evil eye", "evil eye amulet" or "the evil eye".
MANY MORE DETAILS ABOUT...
A CORNICELLO (Italian), cornetto (Italian for "little horn" or "hornlet"), corno (Italian for "horn"), or corno portafortuna (literally "lucky horn" in Italian) is an Italian amulet or talisman worn to protect against the evil eye (or malocchio in Italian) and bad luck in general, and, historically, to promote fertility and virility.
In Neapolitan, it is called curniciello or variants thereof. The amulet is also sometimes referred to as the Italian horn.
A cornicello is a twisted horn-shaped charm. Cornicelli are thought to be modeled after an eland horn, to represent fertility, virility, and strength. The shape of the cornicelli are reminiscent of a chili pepper. The evil eye is believed to harm nursing mothers and their babies, bearing fruit trees, milking animals, and the sperm of men - the forces of generation. In addition to being worn as jewelry, cornicelli are sometimes hung from the rearview mirrors of cars (based on the older custom of using them to protect draft horses), and in houses.
The cornicello is also linked to Greek and Roman mythology. The cornucopia became a symbol of fertility and the earth after Zeus broke a horn from a goat. He filled it with fruit and flowers and gave it to his caretaker. The coral of which it is often made is sacred to Venus, goddess of love, fertility, sex, and prosperity. Silver, of which it is also often made, is sacred to Luna, goddess of the moon. The phallic shape and red color is also a reference to Priapus, a male fertility god.
A regionally popular amulet, they are often worn by Italian men in the region of Campania, as well as Lazio, Marche, Abruzzo, Calabria, Basilicata, Lombardy, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia and elsewhere among descendants of Italian immigrants.
The EVIL EYE is a curse or legend believed to be cast by a malevolent glare, usually given to a person when they are unaware. Many cultures believe that receiving the evil eye will cause misfortune or injury, while others believe it to be a kind of supernatural force that casts or reflects a malevolent gaze back-upon those who wish harm upon others (especially innocents). Talismans or amulets created to protect against the evil eye are also frequently called "evil eyes".
The idea expressed by the term causes many different cultures to pursue protective measures against it. The concept and its significance vary widely among different cultures, but it is especially prominent in the Mediterranean and West Asia. The idea appears multiple times in Jewish rabbinic literature. It was a widely extended belief among many Mediterranean and Asian tribes and cultures. Charms and decorations with eye-like symbols known as nazars, which are used to repel the evil eye, are a common sight across Greece, Portugal, Brazil, Israel, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Turkey, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Nepal, Pakistan, parts of India, Morocco, southern Spain, parts of Mexico, Malta, Romania, Bulgaria, the Balkans, the Levant, Afghanistan, Syria, and Bahrain, and have become a popular choice of souvenir with tourists. Other popular amulets and talismans used to ward off the evil eye include the hamsa, while Italy (especially Southern Italy) employs a variety of other unique charms and gestures to defend against the evil eye, including the cornicello, the cimaruta, and the sign of the horns.
Belief in the evil eye dates back to Greek Classical antiquity. It is referenced by Hesiod, Callimachus, Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Theocritus, Plutarch, Heliodorus, Pliny the Elder, and Aulus Gellius. Peter Walcot's Envy and the Greeks (1978) listed more than one hundred works by these and other authors mentioning the evil eye.
Belief in the evil eye is strongest in West Asia, Latin America, East and West Africa, Central America, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean region; it has also spread to areas, including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by European colonists and West Asian immigrants.
Belief in the evil eye is found in the Islamic doctrine, based upon the statement of Prophet Muhammad, "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..." (Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5427). Authentic practices of warding off the evil eye are also commonly practiced by Muslims: rather than directly expressing appreciation of, for example, a child's beauty, it is customary to say Masha'Allah, that is, "God has willed it", or invoking God's blessings upon the object or person that is being admired. A number of beliefs about the evil eye are also found in folk religion, typically revolving around the use of amulets or talismans as a means of protection.
In the Aegean Region and other areas where light-colored eyes are relatively rare, people with green eyes, and especially blue eyes, are thought to bestow the curse, intentionally or unintentionally. Thus, in Greece and Turkey amulets against the evil eye take the form of blue eyes, and in the painting by John Phillip, below, we witness the culture-clash experienced by a woman who suspects that the artist's gaze implies that he is looking at her with the evil eye.
Attempts to ward off the curse of the evil eye have resulted in a number of talismans in many cultures. As a class, they are called "apotropaic" (Greek for "prophylactic"or "protective", literally: "turns away") talismans, meaning that they turn away or turn back harm.
Disks or balls, consisting of concentric blue and white circles (usually, from inside to outside, dark blue, light blue, white, and dark blue) representing an evil eye are common apotropaic talismans in West Asia, found on the prows of Mediterranean boats and elsewhere; in some forms of the folklore, the staring eyes are supposed to bend the malicious gaze back to the sorcerer.
Known as nazar (Turkish: nazar boncugu or nazarlik), this talisman is most frequently seen in Turkey, found in or on houses and vehicles or worn as beads.
The evil eye is mentioned several times in the classic Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers). In Chapter II, five disciples of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai give advice on how to follow the good path in life and avoid the bad. Rabbi Eliezer says an evil eye is worse than a bad friend, a bad neighbor, or an evil heart.
Judaism believes that a "good eye" designates an attitude of good will and kindness towards others. Someone who has this attitude in life will rejoice when his fellow man prospers; he will wish everyone well. An "evil eye" denotes the opposite attitude. A man with "an evil eye" will not only feel no joy but experience actual distress when others prosper, and will rejoice when others suffer. A person of this character represents a great danger to our moral purity.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook explained that the evil eye is "an example of how one soul may affect another through unseen connections between them. We are all influenced by our environment.... The evil eye is the venomous impact from malignant feelings of jealousy and envy of those around us."
Many Observant Jews avoid talking about valuable items they own, good luck that has come to them and, in particular, their children. If any of these are mentioned, the speaker and/or listener will say b'li ayin hara (Hebrew), meaning "without an evil eye", or kein eina hara (Yiddish; often shortened to kennahara), "no evil eye". Another way to ward off the evil eye is to spit three times (or pretend to). Romans call this custom "despuere malum," to spit at evil. It has also been suggested the 10th Commandment: "Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor" is a law against bestowing the evil eye on another person.
A typical nazar is made of handmade glass featuring concentric circles or teardrop shapes in dark blue, white, light blue and black.
Cultures that have nazars or some variation include, Turkey, Romania, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Armenia, Iran, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Azerbaijan, where the nazar is often hung in homes, offices, cars, children's clothing, or incorporated in jewellery and ornaments. They are a popular choice of souvenir with tourists.
The cornicello, "little horn", also called the cornetto ("little horn", plural cornetti), is a long, gently twisted horn-shaped amulet. Cornicelli are usually carved out of red coral or made from gold or silver. The type of horn they are intended to copy is not a curled-over sheep horn or goat horn but rather like the twisted horn of an African eland or a chili pepper.
One idea that the ribald suggestions made by sexual symbols distract the witch from the mental effort needed to successfully bestow the curse. Another is that since the effect of the eye was to dry up liquids, the drying of the phallus (resulting in male impotence) would be averted by seeking refuge in the moist female genitals. Among the ancient Romans and their cultural descendants in the Mediterranean nations, those who were not fortified with phallic charms had to make use of sexual gestures to avoid the eye. Such gestures include scratching one's testicles (for men), as well as the mano cornuta gesture and the fig sign; a fist with the thumb pressed between the index and middle fingers, representing the phallus within the vagina. In addition to the phallic talismans, statues of hands in these gestures, or covered with magical symbols, were carried by the Romans as talismans. In Latin America, carvings of the fist with the thumb pressed between the index and middle fingers continue to be carried as good luck charms.
The wielder of the evil eye, the jettatore, is described as having a striking facial appearance, high arching brows with a stark stare that leaps from his black eyes. He often has a reputation for clandestine involvement with dark powers and is the object of gossip about dealings in magic and other forbidden practices. Successful men having tremendous personal magnetism quickly gain notoriety as jettatori. Pope Pius IX was dreaded for his evil eye, and a whole cycle of stories about the disasters that happened in his wake were current in Rome during the latter decades of the 19th century. Public figures of every type, from poets to gangsters, have had their specialized abilities attributed to the power of their eyes.
The evil eye or 'Mal de Ojo' has been deeply embedded in Spanish popular culture throughout its history and Spain is the origin of this superstition in Latin America.
In Mexico and Central America, infants are considered at special risk for the evil eye (see mal de ojo, above) and are often given an amulet bracelet as protection, typically with an eye-like spot painted on the amulet. Another preventive measure is allowing admirers to touch the infant or child; in a similar manner, a person wearing an item of clothing that might induce envy may suggest to others that they touch it or some other way dispel envy.
One traditional cure in rural Mexico involves a curandero (folk healer) sweeping a raw chicken egg over the body of a victim to absorb the power of the person with the evil eye. The egg is later broken into a glass with water and placed under the bed of the patient near the head. Sometimes it is checked immediately because the egg appears as if it has been cooked. When this happens it means that the patient did have Mal De Ojo. Somehow the Mal De Ojo has transferred to the egg and the patient immediately gets well. (Fever, pain and diarrhea, nausea/vomiting goes away instantly) In the traditional Hispanic culture of the Southwestern United States and some parts of Mexico, the egg may be passed over the patient in a cross-shaped pattern all over the body, while reciting The Lord's Prayer. The egg is also placed in a glass with water, under the bed and near the head, sometimes it is examined right away or in the morning and if the egg looks like it has been cooked then it means that they did have Mal de Ojo and the patient will start feeling better. Sometimes if the patient starts getting ill and someone knows that they had stared at the patient, usually a child, if the person who stared goes to the child and touches them, the child's illness goes away immediately so the Mal De Ojo energy is released.
In some parts of South America the act of ojear, which could be translated as to give someone the evil eye, is an involuntary act. Someone may ojear babies, animals and inanimate objects just by staring and admiring them. This may produce illness, discomfort or possibly death on babies or animals and failures on inanimate objects like cars or houses. It's a common belief that since this is an involuntary act made by people with the heavy look, the proper way of protection is by attaching a red ribbon to the animal, baby or object, in order to attract the gaze to the ribbon rather than to the object intended to be protected.
Names in various languages
In most languages, the name translates literally into English as "bad eye", "evil eye", "evil look", or just "the Eye". Some variants on this general pattern from around the world are:
In Albanian it is known as "syri i keq" (Standard and Tosk), or as "syni keq" (Gheg) meaning "bad eye". Also "mësysh" is used commonly, meaning "cast an evil eye".
In Arabic, "the eye of envy" is also used, literally translating to "hot eye".
In Armenian, char atchk "evil eye" or "bad eye". Regarding the act of giving an evil gaze, it is said (directly translated), "to give with the eye" or in Armenian, "atchkov tal".
In Azerbaijani, "Göz deymesi" – translating as being struck by an eye
In Chinese it is called xié è zhi yan, literally "evil eye" or simply xié yan.
In Corsican it is called "l'Ochju" (The Eye).
In Dutch it is called "het boze oog", literally "the malicious eye" or "the angry eye".
In Esperanto, it is called "malica okulo" (malicious eye).
In French, it is named "le mauvais Œil" (The bad eye)
In Galician, it is called "meigallo", from meiga, "witch" (and maybe -allo, diminutive or aumentative suffix; or contracted with either ollo, "eye"; or allo, "garlic").
In German, it is called "böser Blick", literally "evil gaze".
In Greek, to matiasma (µatiasµa) or mati (µati) someone refers to the act of casting the evil eye (mati being the Greek word for eye); also: vaskania (ßaskavia, the Greek word for jinx)
In Hebrew, áyin ha-rá ,"eye of evil"
In Hindi and other languages of South Asia, (Hindi: nazar, nazar lagna, to be afflicted by the evil eye. (However, it generally has no evil connotations because a doting mother's eye can supposedly also cause harm.)
In Urdu, another variant of Hindustani, nazar "Chashm-é bad"; nazar lagna means to be afflicted by the evil eye.
In Hungarian, gonosz szem means "evil eye", but more widespread is the expression szemmelverés (lit. "beating with eye"), which refers to the supposed/alleged act of harming one by an evil look
In Irish, the term drochshúil is used for the 'evil eye', being a compound of 'droch' (bad, poor, evil, ill) and 'súil (eye). This can also be used to refer to someone with weak eyesight.
In Italian, the word malocchio refers to the evil eye.
In Japanese it is known as "jashi".
In Kannada, it is called "drishti". (But cf. "Drishti (yoga)".)
In Ke/Tz Luo, it is called "Sihoho/Juog wang'".
In Kurdish, it is called "Çav pîs/Chaw pis"
In Malayalam it is known as kannu veykkuka – to cast an evil eye while "kannu peduka" means to be on the receiving end of the malefic influence. "kannu dosham" refers to a bad effect caused by an evil eye.
In Maltese it is known as "l-ghajn". It is a common symbol for warding off evil intentions.
In Neapolitan it is known as "'o mma'uocchje" which translates literally into "the evil/bad/maleficent eye", which afflicts people, especially women and children who are supposedly the most vulnerable, with multiple issues and problems, stemming from pre-natal issues, miscarriages, early childhood death or sickness or death of a mother during birth, as well as afflicting women with infertility, sexual problems, early widowhood, etc., while afflicted men suffer from cancer, laziness, greed, gluttony, and other diseases, disabilities and ailments.
In Persian it is known as (injurious look/eyes causing injury) or (omen eye) "Cheshmeh Hasood", meaning Jealous eye, or "Cheshme Nazar" meaning evil eye.
In Polish it is known as "zle oko" or "zle spojrzenie".
In Portuguese, it is called "mau olhado", ou "olho gordo" (literally "fat eye"). The first expression is used in Portugal and the second one is more common in Brazil.
In Romanian, it is known as "deochi", meaning literally "un-eye".
In Russian (durnoy glaz) means "bad/evil eye"; (sglaz) literally means "from eye".
In Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language, it is called "drishti dosha" meaning malice caused by evil eye. (But cf. "drishti (yoga)".)
In Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin), it is called Urokljivo oko. The first word is an adjective of the word urok, which means spell or curse, and the second word means eye.
In Slovak, it is known as "z ocí", meaning "(coming) from eyes".
In Somali, it is called "il", or "ilaaco" or "sihir" (the first two words literally meaning "eye" and the other word meaning 'black magic')
In Sinhala it is known as (æsvaha).
In Spanish, mal de ojo literally means "evil from the Eye" as the name does not refer to the actual eye but to the evil that supposedly comes from it. Casting the evil eye is then echar mal de ojo, i.e. "to cast evil from the Eye".
In Tamil, (kan padudhal) literally means "casting an eye" (with an intention to cause harm), or (kannooru) "harm from the eye"
In Turkish kem göz means evil eye and the cure is having a "nazar boncugu", the nazar amulet.