Between Faith and Superstition

This article examines the limits of "magic" as an analytical category through the example of protective practices in nineteenth-century Polish folk culture. Drawing on ethnographic and historical sources, it discusses practices associated with the evil eye, healing and protection, apotropaic objects and symbols, and the ritual organization of domestic space. The analysis demonstrates that practices later classified as magic or superstition were often embedded in everyday religious life and combined inherited local customs with Christian prayers, sacramentals, and ritual forms. Rather than constituting a domain clearly separated from religion, they provided practical means of responding to illness, danger, and misfortune. This article argues that the category of magic therefore requires careful contextualization, particularly when scholarly or ecclesiastical classifications diverge from practitioners' own understandings of ritual efficacy.

19th-century Poland · Christian prayer · domestic ritual · evil eye · Folk culture · healing practices · Lived religion · protective magic · ritual efficacy · sacramentals · Superstition · Cultural and Sociopolitical Studies · European Linguistics and Anthropology · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies