Also called malocchio, malocchio cure, togliere il malocchio, xematiasma, ksematiasma, mati removal
A Mediterranean household rite for finding and lifting the evil eye: drops of olive oil are let fall into water while a prayer is said, and how the oil behaves shows whether envy has 'caught' someone.
TraditionSouthern Italian and Greek folk Catholicism and Orthodoxy
RegionSouthern Italy, Sicily, Greece, and their diasporas
EraRecorded from the 19th century; still practiced
Moon◐ Any moon
DayAny
ElementWater
Difficulty●○○ Simple
Time15 minutes
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
The working
Sit with the person who feels 'eyed' (headache, yawning, sudden tiredness after praise are the classic signs), or do this for yourself.
Fill the bowl with water and hold it over or near the person's head.
Dip a fingertip in olive oil and let three drops fall into the water, one at a time, making the sign of the cross over the bowl if that is your faith.
Watch the drops. In many Italian families drops that spread, break up or merge mean the eye is present; drops that stay round mean all is well. Families read this differently, so follow your own if you have one.
If the eye seems present, say a short prayer or blessing over the bowl. The family prayers are traditionally secret, so use your own words, for example asking that envy leave this person and go back to the earth.
Repeat with fresh water and oil until the drops stay whole, usually up to three times.
Pour the water away outside, onto earth or down an outside drain, and wash the bowl.
Take care: Headaches and fatigue have ordinary medical causes; see a doctor if symptoms are strong or keep coming back. Keep oil away from flames, and if you try the clove variant hold the cloves with tongs over a sink.
Versions across time and place
i
Greek xematiasma
Greek Orthodox folk practice · Living tradition
A healer silently recites a secret prayer learned from an older relative of the opposite sex and drops olive oil into a glass of water. Readings differ: in some families sinking or spreading oil confirms mati, in others the reverse. Yawning or tears during the prayer are taken as the eye leaving. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese treats related prayers as a priest's business, so many families keep the rite quiet.
Uses: glass of water, olive oil, secret prayer
Recorded in: Wikipedia, Evil eye; Dartmouth and USC folklore archive entries
ii
Taught on Christmas Eve
Southern Italian and Italian American families · 20th century to present
In many Italian families the words of the malocchio prayer may only be passed on at Christmas Eve, sometimes just before Midnight Mass, by someone who learned them the same way. A Staten Island account in the USC archive describes holy water, oil, hands on the forehead and the sign of the cross.
Uses: holy water, olive oil
Recorded in: USC Digital Folklore Archives, Malocchio; Italian American family accounts
iii
Clove test
Greek and Cypriot households · Living tradition
Instead of oil, cloves are held in a flame one by one while names of suspected envious people are thought of; a clove that pops is taken as the source. The modern version here skips the naming and burns cloves simply as a cleansing incense.
Uses: whole cloves, candle flame
Recorded in: Wikipedia, Evil eye; USC Digital Folklore Archives
History
Belief in the evil eye, a harm caused by envious looking, appears in ancient Greek and Roman writers including Plutarch and Pliny, and Frederick Elworthy's study The Evil Eye of 1895 gathered Italian amulets such as the coral horn and the cimaruta. Church writers like John Chrysostom rejected the idea that a look could harm, yet the household cure carried on under a Christian surface of prayers and signs of the cross.
The oil-in-water diagnosis is the best-known modern form. It is recorded across southern Italy and Greece and among emigrant families in the United States and Australia, where folklore archives at USC and Dartmouth hold many accounts. The details shift from family to family, especially how to read the oil, which shows a truly oral tradition. The rule that the words pass only on Christmas Eve, or only to the opposite sex, keeps the healer's role special.
