Turkish Evil Eyes

Known as nazar (Turkish: nazar boncugu or nazarlik), this talisman is most frequently seen in Turkey, found in or on houses and vehicles or worn as beads.

Apart from seeing evil eye talismans for sale in every tourist shop we walked by, we found ourselves spotting them throughout Turkey. Our rental van had two on the bumper. Restaurants displayed them. Even our plane from Ankara to Izmir had one (or so Chloe says).

We couldn’t escape the lore nor the lure. We came home with evil eye bracelets, prayer beads, turtles, pendants, magnets and more. I’d say we’re pretty well protected from “malicious gazes” now.

Here’s at evil eye talisman we spotted at the first restaurant we ate at in Istanbul (near Taksim Squre):

This is an entry for Delicious Baby’s Photo Friday.

2 comments