In his book "The Evil Eye", author "Fredrick Thomas Elworthy", writes about the origins and use of these superstitions, as practiced, throughout the world. Interestingly, a good portion of his book is focused on the superstitions and beliefs of Calabria. He furthur indicates that Many of these beliefs, can be traced back to ancient Egyptian, Greek and other pre Christian periods and gives the following translation... "Facina" ( Facina or Facinata, Facination in English. which is of the eyes, 1- to stare, 2- cant take your eyes off of something)
In the small Italian, comunity, where I grew up in upstate New York, the population was comprised, mostly of southern Italians, from Calabria and Sicily. My mother, as were most others, was superstious and a strong believer in the Facina. There were many versions that were used in healing that were performed there by the Calabrians, Sicilians, and most other Italians. The Sicilians used "Malocchia" (In English means, Bad or Evil Eye) Both Facina and Malocchio were performed with a series of prayers that were supposed to ward off the illness caused by the evil eye. To acquire the power to perform the Facina, One had to be thought by someone, who already had the gift and it could be passed, only on Christmas Eve. When my mother was ill, she would often send one of us to my aunt Marys, with a piece of her hair, overwhich our aunt would chant a series of prayers, until she recived the sign, which was usually a yawn, or a sneeze, ect. If I remember right, it always worked, because our mom would always seem to feel better immeaditaly, afterwards.
NOW A TRUE STORY:One day my mother wasnt feeling well and asked my sister Marie to run accross the street, to Aunt Marys for the Facina. A short time later Marie returned and said that Our Aunt wasnt at home and so she wasnt able to get it. So mom sent her back out, this time to one of the Sicilian neighbors for "Malochia". the Malochio was done in a wash basin with water and oil, when she was done performing, she told My sister, that in order to complete the ritiual she must go to the nearest places, where the roads make a cross and slowly pour out the water and oil mixture in the center of the crossroad, while at the same time she must say 3 "Hail Mary's". Now Marie being in her late teens, wasnt going to have anyone see her standing in the middle of the Franfort and Second ave, which were the closest cross streets, dumping the water and praying. So leaving the ladies house Marie came stright home, stopping only long enough to dump the water, on the front lawn of our next door neighbor house. That afternoon our mother, who was feeling much better, was in our back yard hanging clothes when she spotted the neighbor. "Hello Leo"! she greeted "How are you doing today" "Not too good Rose"! he replied, "I've had this terrible head ach all afternoon".
True Srory!
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