Nazarboncuk Turkish Apotrop eye DSCN8621

A nazar (from

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

, word deriving from Arabic, meaning ''sight'', ''surveillance'', ''attention'', and other related concepts) is an eye-shaped

amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

believed to protect against the evil eye. The term is also used in Azerbaijani, Bengali,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been d ...

, Kurdish,

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Punjabi, Turkish,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

In Turkey, it is known by the name nazar boncuğu (the latter word being a derivative of ''boncuk'', "bead" in Turkic, and the former borrowed from Arabic), in Greece is known as mati ( the evil eye). In Persian and Afghan folklore, it is called a cheshm nazar ( fa, چشم نظر) or nazar qurbāni ( fa, نظرقربانی, links=no). In India and Pakistan, the Hindi-Urdu slogan '' Chashm-e-Baddoor'' is used to ward off the evil eye. In the Indian subcontinent, the phrase "Nazar lag gai" is used to indicate that one has been affected by the evil eye. It is commonly believed that the evil eye can be given in the guise of a compliment, signifying its connection to the destructive power of envy (for one’s wealth, beauty etc.). Amulets such as the Nazar are used in accordance with common sayings such as "an eye for an eye", where another eye can be used to protect the recipient of the malefic gaze. The evil eye causes its victim to become unwell the next day, unless a protective phrase such as "With the will of God" ("Masha'llah" in Arabic) is recited. Among adherents of Hinduism and Islam in South Asia, when a mother observes that her child is being excessively complimented, it is common for them to attempt to neutralize the effects of the evil eye (''nazar utarna'') by "holding red chilies in one hand and circling the child's head a few times, then burning the chilies." It originated in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

and was first brought to Mediterranean countries through trade. The nazar was added to

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, whic ...

as in 2018.

Amulet

A typical nazar is made of handmade glass featuring concentric circles or teardrop shapes in dark blue, white, light blue and black, occasionally with a yellow/gold edge.''Lonely Planet Middle East.''Lonely Planet; 6 edition, 2009, p. 559.

Eye bead

The Turkish ''boncuk'' (sometimes called a ''göz boncuğu'' or eye bead) is a glass bead characterized by a blue glass field with a blue or black dot superimposed on a white or yellow center. Historically old, the blue bead has gained importance as an item of popular culture in Modern Turkey. The bead probably originated in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and is associated with the development of glass making. Written documents and extant beads date as early as the 16th century BC. Glass beads were made and widely used throughout the ancient world: from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, from

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

and

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histo ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and throughout the

Roman imperial period The Roman imperial period is the expansion of political and cultural influence of the Roman Empire. The period begins with the reign of Augustus (), and it is taken to end variously between the late 3rd and the late 4th century, with the beginning ...

Gallery

File:Nazar Amulet in Turkey.jpg, Nazar Amulet File:Evil Eye Beads.jpg, Turkish Nazar Eye Beads File:Nazar.jpg, Nazar-inspired sculpture in the Netherlands. File:Evil eye.jpg, Nazar evil eye charms. File:Cheshm-Nazar.JPG, A Persian ''cheshm nazar''. File:Nazar on the door.jpg, Nazar on a newborn baby's hospital room door in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. File:Jewish Amulets.jpg, A selection of Jewish amulets, an ''ayin mazal'' is visible next to the

hamsa The ''hamsa'' ( ar, خمسة, khamsa) is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout North Africa and in the Middle East and commonly used in jewellery and wall hangings.Bernasek et al., 2008p. 12Sonbol, 2005pp. 355–359 Depicting the open right h ...

References

Sources

External links