Hamsa amulet

Hamsa - an amulet that guards against the malevolent evil eye

There are symbols that, despite the passage of centuries, do not lose their relevance at all. It happens not infrequently that the most vigorous ones migrate in time and space - they leave their family nests to start a new life somewhere, on the other side of the globe. Khamsa is a popular amulet in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, which since ancient times was supposed to effectively guard against the ominous evil eye. Today the sign is making an international career. It is fondly worn by Kabbalah-inspired American celebrities, used by designers, artists and jewelers.

In Arabic, khamsa means five, like the five pillars of Islam; in Judaism, hamesh symbolizes the hand of God. This, however, is only one possible translation - for there is often a significant female figure hiding quietly behind the image of a wide-spreading right hand. Mesopotamian Ishtar, Phoenician Tanit or Roman Venus, Muslim Fatima or Jewish Miriam.... These mythological or historical hands, enchanted in thousands of amulets carved in stone or metal, regardless of the place, were supposed to guard and take care of, were to provide a due measure of security for those over whom it was necessary to exercise special guardianship.

Fear of the evil eye is a truly universal phenomenon. Wherever anger, jealousy or envy could be born, there was a danger that a person possessed by these destructive feelings could harm the world around him. A single malevolent glance was enough to bring on a fever or nausea, one glare could bring death or cause a miscarriage. Pregnant and postpartum women, infants and young children, domesticated animals and ripening crops - they were the ones who primarily caused envy by becoming easy victims of this charm.

Thus, Khamsa gained its recognition as a kind of guarantee of safety - in this role, in the form of medals, it was hung around necks or painted over the thresholds of houses with the blood of sacrificial animals. But it didn't stop there! In a matter as murky as a spell cast by a sinister eye, one has to grasp numerous means of defense at once. On the one hand, the symbol of the hand itself is a powerful weapon, on the other hand, it is, after all, a completely basic remedy, the power of which can be intensified by appropriately added decorations, selected colors or the material from which the hand was made. The color blue and red, the emblem of an eye or an embedded fish.... Just as the latter is protected from the evil eye by the tightly wrapped sea waters, so all these attached nuances, already in themselves, guard against the consequences of a surreptitiously cast charm. The hand of Fatima or Miriam decorated according to the rules of defensive art is therefore a significantly increased chance of successful defense!

Khamsa, in the form of a small medallion worn around the neck, was customarily made of silver. As one can easily guess, and this choice did not remain a mere artistic phantasmagoria or an involuntary work of chance. From time immemorial silver was regarded as a metal not only precious, but also endowed with considerable magical power. In folklore it was the metal that was supposed to protect from the attack of a vampire, werewolf or other evil powers, it was used to make magic mirrors, it transformed ordinary water into a life-giving, healing drink. The metal represented innocence, purity and clarity - silver jugs stored water for the longest time so that it was fit to drink, silver vessels discolored under the influence of poison secretly added to a meal. Silver therefore protected and saved lives every time, and was additionally associated with the moon, which in turn was associated with femininity, with significant female figures and deities. No wonder, then, that the protecting hand of Fatima or Miriam was precisely in silver that could best fulfill the mission entrusted to it.

In the traditional edition, the khamsa is usually an amulet meticulously crafted according to superior laws and rules. Ethnic jewelry, after all, is not only to meet aesthetic criteria, first of all, it has to properly fulfill its assigned, very practical functions. In modern versions, the motif of the caring hand not infrequently appears in new, more fine variations - but many of those who wear these medallions still believe in the caring power enchanted in them.