Richard Ford - Gatherings From Spain

Faja; the Hhezum of Cairo. Atrides tightens his sash when preparing for action – Iliad xi. 15. The Roman soldiers kept their money in it. Ibit qui zonam perdidit. – Hor. ii. Ep. 2. 40. The Jews used it for the same purpose – Matthew x. 9; Mark vi. 8. It is loosened at night. “None shall slumber or sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed.” – Isaiah v. 27.

The dread of the fascination of the evil eye, from which Solomon was not exempt (Proverbs xxiii. 6), prevails all over the East; it has not been extirpated from Spain or from Naples, which so long belonged to Spain. The lower classes in the Peninsula hang round the necks of their children and cattle a horn tipped with silver; this is sold as an amulet in the silver-smiths’ shops; the cord by which it is attached ought to be braided from a black mare’s tail. The Spanish gipsies, of whom Borrow has given us so complete an account, thrive by disarming the mal de ojo , “ querelar nasula ,” as they term it. The dread of the “ Ain ara ” exists among all classes of the Moors. The better classes of Spaniards make a joke of it; and often, when you remark that a person has put on or wears something strange about him, the answer is, “ Es para que no me hagan mal de ojo .” Naples is the head-quarters for charms and coral amulets: all the learning has been collected by the Canon Jorio and the Marques Arditi.

The garañon is also called “ burro padre ” ass father, not “ padre burro .” “ Padre ,” the prefix of paternity, is the common title given in Spain to the clergy and the monks. “Father jackass” might in many instances, when applied to the latter, be too morally and physically appropriate, to be consistent with the respect due to the celibate cowl and cassock.