For a while now I've been kind of intrigued by the image of Fatima's hand (Jews call it the hand of Miriam). First, it is interesting that both Jewish and Muslim cultures would share a common "religious symbol" (really more of a good luck charm). And it is interesting to me personally because growing up, my family would occasionally make references to "mal de ojo" or the evil eye (a concept which exists in Muslim, as well as Latino cultures). The idea behind Fatima's hand is that it protects you from the evil eye by "looking back" at the source of the curse. I don't think of myself as superstitious and am not interested in "amulets" but I think I would like to use the image for decoration, maybe on a ring.
3 comments:
Wolf is Sicilian and he often talks of how his grandmother would use the 'evil eye' to protect herself/her kin from bad people. She also threatened to put it on him if he didn't behave.
I'm wondering how prevelant the evil eye is.
You'll also see a lot of six pointed stars in Islamic architecture, too....
Nio, I think Wikipedia says it is prevalent in the Middle East, South Asia and Europe (especially Mediterranean region)
Andrew, the restaurant was just a reminder. I've been thinking about it for much longer.
Leila, yes. When I looked for an image to include I even found some images of the hand with the six-pointed star included as well.
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