There is probably no culture in the world, which is free from the clutches of superstition and to counter these superstitions, in every culture you will find people taking recourse to charms and talismans. The Turkish Evil Eye Pendants is the Turkish means of keeping at bay the ills brought on by envious and greedy eyes.The Evil Eye belief says that when someone eyes your good fortune with jealousy or gluttony, bad luck in some form is bound to befall you. It is also widely held that any accolade or praise, however well meaning it may be, is always tinged with a wee bit of greed and spite.The Turks are especially circumspect of people with blue eyes. They believe that blue-eyed people, however enchanting and attractive their eyes may look, essentially harbor negative feelings about others and when this negative energy gets transmitted to others, much harm and distress is caused. The Turks have devised the Evil Eye Pendant to guard themselves from such not-so-well-meaning people with their necessarily evil eyes.

I (as a Turk) think Evil Eye Pendant is just a superstition as you said.

everything showing Nazar sells well in Turkey. Nice souvenirs, etc. etc.

I keep forgeting to ask my bf about this particular charm, so thank you for this story Roswita.

So.... Turkish name for it is nazar?

She is showing us pretty good what evil eye is.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p60BYvEaIlE

In my opinion evil eye is possible but a subject can not save us from evil eyes

Nazar Boncuk


is the Little Magic Stone
that protects one from the
*Evil Eye*

This is a typical item, a specialty of this region you should take home as a souvenir. It´s called the Boncuk (pronounced "bon-dschuk"),the Little Magic Stone that protects one from the *Evil Eye* . You will see this blue glass piece everywhere here in this area. But what is behind this superstition?

In a shortened version we will try to explain. Once upon a time (yes, it starts like in a fairy tale) there was a rock by the sea that, even with the force of a hundred men and a lot of dynamite, couldn´t be moved or cracked. There was also a man in this town by the sea, who was known to carry the evil eye (Nazar). After much effort and endeavor, the town people brought the man to the rock, and the man, upon looking at the rock said, "My! What a big rock this is." The instant he said this, there was a rip and roar and crack and instantly the immense and impossible rock was found to be cracked in two.

The force of the evil eye (or Nazar) is a widely accepted and feared random element in Turkish daily life. The word *Nazar* denotes seeing or looking and is often used in literally translated phrases such as "Nazar touched her," in reference to a young woman, for example, who mysteriously goes blind.

Another typical scenario. A woman gives birth to a healthy child with pink cheeks, all the neighbors come and see the baby. They shower the baby with compliments, commentating especially on how healthy and chubby the baby is. After getting so much attention weeks later the baby is found dead in his crib. No explanation can be found for the death. It is ascribed to Nazar. Compliments made to a specific body part can result in Nazar. That´s why nearly every Turkish mother fixes with a safety pin a small Boncuk on the child´s clothes. Once a Boncuk is found cracked, it means it has done his job and immediately a new one has to replace it.

"nazar" originally is an arabic word. literally means "look ", as far as i know.

I bought one woven into macreme, but not like these