Zapped

From a blog post written 

Friday 31 March 2017

Have you suffered from the evil eye?  I have. Sometimes it is a feeling of illness, other times it maybe some sort of accident. 

 Once, all dressed up for a wedding, I was told I looked radiant.  I stepped out onto the road and fell flat on my face.  All was well with the wedding outfit but not my face.  No-one noticed how 'radiant' I was looking because all they saw was a big red scab on the end of my nose. 

The evil eye can also be sent by thoughts of envy or just plain nastiness or even unconsciously by someone with blue or green eyes.  If looks could kill.  The laser-like rays of some glances can cause disaster.

Soon after we bought our house we came one evening to clean up after the builders and as usual it turned into a semi-party with the arrival of children and grandchildren.  As we left we had to pull over  to allow our next door neighbour to pass in her car.   We still hadn't formally met her though of course she knew who we were and we knew her by name.

As our cars passed, in convoy, on the narrow lane she gave  us a penetrating stare.  Lo, but the first car knocked off its wing mirror turning the first corner onto the main road.  Our own car developed an oil leak and we only just managed to make it home.  As we walked into our old house the hot water pipe burst flooding the kitchen.

She was also the one who walked into the house just as I took a cake out of the oven. It had risen nicely ...... until a few minutes after she left. The middle of the cake collapsed. It looked like a darn volcanic crater.

She is such a nice lady but we are always careful now and furtively spit three times when in her presence and 'turn us all about'.

So have a good day and I spit on you!

Evil Eyes

 Eyes have deadly rays that can bring harm to others said ancient Greek writer Plutarch. 

The evil eye is a big part of Greek culture. Even the Greek church acknowledges it and has a special prayer to cure those suffering. 

You are afflicted by the evil eye when someone gives you a false compliment, thinks envious thoughts or sends ill wishes.  

In our house, the car,  we have blue eye symbols to avert the curse. You can also wear an item of clothing inside out. 

Spitting 3 times after giving a compliment will confuse the devil and keep the evil eye away. It also tells the person you're admiring that you're genuine in your feelings.

What happens when you're stricken? K will start non-stop yawning and he might get a headache and feel nauseous. You just feel unwell and weak.

When I first arrived in Greece many moons ago all the taxis had blue eye amulets and beads hanging over the dashboard and every donkey had blue beads hanging over it's head or around it's ears.

If you do receive  negative energy and start excessive yawning then the answer is to phone an aged aunt who knows how to remove the curse. They may know a special prayer or use appropriate words over a glass of water with a drop of oil. Another way is to cross your arms, hands under your armpits, and say the Lord's Prayer 3 times.

Either way, spit on yourself 3 times when you're finished and shake yourself to send the evil eye away. 

Here are some of the blue eyes and beads we have around us

From the baptism of a friend's baby. Sugared almonds in a blue bag with the eye to keep the baby safe

Blue beads and a small eye on my quad bike keys. Along with a kiwi 

A crocheted eye given to us by a friend

Garlic and fish net hanging over our gate. To stop visitors with ill intent entering....so they say. 

An evil eye charm for the car key ring. Not quite sure what the elephant has to do with it

A new wine brand with the eye on it's label 

Not cheap! Guarantee of a good vintage? Perhaps

A Terrible Tart and the Evil Eye

Sorry, the tart is the edible sort.... boring

I've seen a couple of summer tart recipes on blogs this week so decided to make one of my own.

Homemade pastry of course, which turned out so tough I had to slice it with a carving knife, hoping not to slice off a finger as well.  Then a smothering of chilli mustard over the pastry, a layer of fried onions, a layer of fried zucchini slices, some grated feta.  The feta had been sitting in the fridge awhile and was rather dry so it grated easily.  

A layer of sliced tomatoes, mostly homegrown, salt, pepper, a sprinkling of freshly rubbed dried oregano.  See the oregano on the right in the photo above.  It had just been rubbed finely by hand and the pungent smell of oregano was incredible.

Grated yellow cheese, regatto in this case, an Irish cheese which melts perfectly.  And into the oven. 

So what went wrong besides the rock hard pastry?

Next time, if there is ever another time, I would sprinkle a little sugar over the tomatoes.  They were far too acidic.  I would skip the zucchini, double the mustard and the onions and add some sliced spicy sausage.  Oh and I would definitely leave out the feta.  That strong cheese taste was just too much for the vegetables.  It just needs a little grated regatto or gouda, something to make it soft and gooey.  

And puff pastry

Traditional people did not like this tart.  I didn't like it either but I ate my piece with a smile on my face so I didn't get any flak about terrible tarts and a waste of time and money.  Now half the tart is waiting for me in the fridge to eat for lunch for the next few days,  I will surreptitiously slice off  as much as possible and hope the cats will eat it.

Pizza stuck to the pizza tray

Having written this I just realised this is one of three food disasters today.  And guess what, our neighbour popped in early this morning and again tonight.  This is the neighbour who leaves a trail of bad luck behind her.  I've had flat cakes, broken vases, an oil leak in the car, a ruptured water pipe and many more catastrophies, all following a 'friendly' visit.  She's  the best of neighbours, always friendly , always with time for a chat but the garlic over the front gate and spirited spitting  does not dispel that 'evil eye'.

We started off with an inedible tart, K followed up this evening with fried fish that broke up in the frying pan and now poor grandson found his 'giga' pizza only just fitted into an ordinary  sized pizza pan and it stuck so hard and fast we had to leave half of it behind and soak the pan to remove the crust.

So that terrible tart wasn't my fault after all!!!

another ps

We always keep a couple of frozen pizzas in the freezer in case starving teenage grandson pops in.  This one not only stuck to the pan but it was bloody horrible and even he couldn't eat the soggy, gummy filling.  Unfortunately we have another two of them. 

 He'll have to fill up on icecream instead.  Poor kid!

I'm off outside to fill up the cats bowl.  The wild cats will eat anything.  They'll love the fish, wonder if the pie and pizza will get tthe same attention

I'm watching you!

The curse of the evil eye

The evil eye can be planted on you by someone who makes you a compliment and forgets to spit  ftoo ftoo ftoo, three times.  If you praise someone too much they become puffed up with pride and may become ill. The spitting  brings them back to earth.

Have you suffered from the evil eye?  I have. Sometimes it is a feeling of illness, other times it maybe some sort of accident. 
 Once, all dressed up for a wedding, I was told I looked just radiant.  I stepped out onto the road and fell flat on my face.  All was well except for my nose.  No-one noticed how 'radiant' I was looking because all they saw was a big red scab on the end of my nose.  

You can give yourself the evil eye too so forget the preening and be humble or just spit on your clothes and shake yourself about.  Ftoo ftoo ftoo get thee behind me Satan.

The evil eye can also be sent by thoughts of envy or just plain nastiness or even unconsciously by someone with blue or green eyes.  If looks could kill.  The laser-like rays of some glances can cause disaster.

Soon after we bought our house we came one evening to clean up after the builders and as usual it turned into a semi-party with the arrival of children and grandchildren.  As we left we had to pull over  to allow our next door neighbour to pass in her car.   We still hadn't formally met her though of course she knew who we were and we knew her.

As our cars passed, in convoy, on the narrow lane she gave  us a penetrating stare.  Lo, but the first car knocked off its wing mirror turning the first corner onto the main road.  Our car developed an oil leak and we only just managed to make it home.  As we walked into our old house the hot water pipe burst flooding the kitchen.

She is such a nice lady but we are always careful now and furtively spit three times when in her presence and 'turn us all about'.

The blue eye is a lucky charm to ward off the evil  and send the malicious glare back from whence it came.   A clove of garlic also defends against the evil eye as does a piece of fishnet or wearing your underwear inside out. 

You'll find blue eyes hanging on babie's pushchairs or  around the neck of the family donkey. We have a head of garlic hanging in a piece of fishing net over our front gate.

We have blue stones on the car's key ring and a blue talisman hanging above the dashboard

If you have been 'cursed' you'll probably get a headache soon afterwards and maybe feel nauseous, dizzy or just plain 'lifeless'.  The 'eye' can be exorcised in several ways.

You can do it yourself by crossing your arms, hands under the armpits, and saying the Lord's prayer three times, and then spitting.

A special charm can be chanted, a charm which can only be handed down from male to female.  Or a drop of water in a glass of oil will confirm whether you have the 'mati' (eye) and a prayer and the sign of the cross will remove it.

It doesn't matter how far you are away from your grandmother, aunt, or my sister-in-law for instance, as the curse can be reversed long distance.  You should start yawning as the curse is expelled from your body.  The exorcist will start yawning too and if really bad will end up with tears in their eyes and an aching jaw.

So have a good day and I spit on you all.