Hilarious Historical Greek Beliefs and Traditions

Hilarious Historical Greek Beliefs and Traditions

Evil Eye, ancient greek tradition
Among the all the many Greek beliefs and traditions, the Evil Eye is the most typical. Credit history: Dramagirl/CC BY-NC-ND 2.

Greeks are regarded to be philosophers and innovators. However, there is one more aspect to the Greeks: the side the place regular beliefs, quite a few of which are rooted in historical moments, overtake all sense of reason.

Funniest and weirdest Greek beliefs and traditions

1. Sneezing stops you from having pregnant

This isn’t just some old wives’ tale, you see. Soranus, an ancient Greek medical professional, really considered that women of all ages sneezing would act as a type of contraception, consequently stopping being pregnant. Following making enjoy, he instructed women of all ages to squat, sneeze, and rinse.

2. Ancient Greece’s “Plan B”

If the sneezing technique didn’t do the trick, Soranus suggested ladies to attempt “Plan B” the up coming time all over: rubbing cedar resin or honey above their genitals. For evident causes (like the fact that it was a mess, and, of program, that it did not function), Greek women of all ages no lengthier usually stick to these types of advice!

3. Magical sweat was a treatment-all

Ancient Greeks admired their athletes and observed them as superstars of a form. Not only have been they revered, they had been also imagined to have magical sweat.

How it worked: The athletes all executed naked and were being rubbed with olive oil, and the sweat which they expelled for the duration of competitions was viewed as to have magical therapeutic powers.

Slaves would scrape the sweaty pores and skin of athletes soon after competitions. This sweat/oil mixture was termed “gloios.” The gloios was in flip bottled and bought as an all-healing ointment for aches and pains.

4. There is evil in the air

There is one particular historical Greek superstition that is even now entirely interwoven into the modern society of modern-day Greece. Generations upon generations have passed down the perception of the evil eye, or “mati.”

There is evidence of the evil eye obtaining impact in the traditions of Greek modern society as much again as the 6th century BC, when it usually appeared on consuming vessels.

It is believed that another person can solid the evil eye on to yet another human being out of envy (either good or poor) and jealousy.

You are reported to be “matiasmenos” (hexed with the evil eye) if you are dizzy or if you have a headache and yawn a lot. The great news is that you can have the “spell” damaged by a person who is aware how to carry out a distinctive ritual involving oil, water and prayers.

5. Spitting for fantastic luck

There are unquestionably some out of the regular superstitions in which Greeks choose aspect. Along with the ancient tradition and perception in the evil eye, a further historic exercise nonetheless noticed in Greece right now is none other than spitting.

In simple fact, spitting had a healthcare and superstitious spot in ancient modern society, as historic Greeks considered that troubles with one’s eyesight could be healed by rubbing the eyes with the spit of a person who had been fasting.

Today, Greeks still apply the historic perception that spitting on an individual is a way of diminishing any form of evil electricity or presence. It’s basically extra of a seem outcome than an expulsion of saliva, just a gentle “FTOO, FTOO, FTOO,” so be thankful for that.

Greeks apply the spitting superstition at weddings as very well. If a person compliments the bride’s dress they should spit out “ftoo” 3 times to ward off any unfavorable forces that may possibly be at do the job. In reality, it is not unusual to listen to a chorus of “ftoo, ftoo, ftoo!” as the lovely bride glides down the aisle.

6. The party island of Mykonos is a breeding ground for vampires

In advance of the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century, there ended up creatures endemic in Greek folklore who have been considered to be perilous. These “walking dead” creatures had been referred to as vrykolakes.

As the legend goes, vrykolakes would leave their graves at night and knock on the doors of their presumptive victims, indicating their names aloud. If there was no response soon after the 1st knock, no damage came to the innocent.

Nevertheless, if men and women ended up unlucky adequate to answer, they would die just after a couple of days and would then be transformed into vrykolakes themselves.

Understandably, this is why until this day in a lot of Greek villages there is a superstition that you should never answer the door on the initial knock!

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