All About Greek Superstitions

This week it’s all about Greek superstitions, many of which are shared in different forms among other world cultures.  

Though I don’t consider myself superstitious, permit me a moment to say ftou, ftou, ftou, representing the Greek superstition of spitting three times to chase the devil and misfortune away whenever you talk about bad things.  Such as failing to properly thank a Greek god for sparing you from contracting more than a bad cold after flying from London to Athens to Mykonos.  

On that segue here are some of the basic Greek superstitions, for which I wish to credit the assistance of
two websites, The Embassy of Greece and Susie Atsaides.

Without question the biggie is the Evil Eye.  In fact, many other Greek superstitions are designed to deal with risks presented by the Evil Eye.  It can strike at any time, and is taken very seriously. Educated, level-headed people believe in it, as does the Greek Orthodox Church (calling it Vaskania), and those with the “gift” for casting it away from those put upon by the Evil Eye are revered.

The process of casting away involves techniques passed down in secret from generation to generation and involves prayers coupled with a lot of yawning by healer and victim.  In these modern days, I’ve seen healers perform the process over cell phones, or respond without any sort of contact with the victim beyond an SMS or email plea for help. 

In a nutshell, the Evil Eye can be put on you, your children, your livestock or your fruit trees by anyone who looks at them with envy and praises them.  Envy is the big villain in this.

The number one defense against the Evil Eye is the little blue eyes ormati sold virtually everywhere in Greece.  Greeks drape them around their necks, wrists, rearview mirrors and in myriads of places in their offices and homes. It is the universal protector. All of which is attributed to the color blue that is said to reflect away evil.  I guess that means the eyes now offered for sale in other, “more fashionable” colors leave you open to being much more than just a fashion victim.

Some Greeks go so far as to say to be aware of blue-eyed people offering compliments, for that could be particularly dangerous.  I wonder if that would deter a Greek from the flattery of a Paul Newman look-alike or the baby blues of a modern day Grace Kelly?  Some how I think they’d simply opt for an extra mati or two and take the risk.:)

Garlic also works to ward off the Evil Eye.  Some carry a clove with them at all times, in their pocket or—as I’ve seen suggested—in their bra.  Garlic, along with onions, is also said to have great healing power if you’re feeling ill—perhaps over losing your shot at Paul and/or Grace to a whiff of your garlic stash.

If you want the evil eye protective quality of the garlic, without the scent, when someone gives you a compliment, mutter skorda(garlic) under your breath and spit on yourself three times. If you want real protection ask the person who gave you the compliment to spit on you too, though that may lead to an immediate reassessment of the person’s original opinion.  A word of caution: some say if a compliment is given to a child in your presence you should spit on the child.  I suggest asking the parents before attempting that kindness.

Another common practice for warding off the Evil Eye is a thorny-spiked cactus close to the front entrance to your home.  Be particularly careful is one if nearby should you choose to spit on someone else’s kid.

Some superstitions offer a conundrum. Bat bones are considered very lucky, but killing a bat (to presumably get the bones) is said to be very bad luck.

Crows, on the other hand are just bad luck period, as omens of bad news, misfortune, and death.  Guess Poe got it right.:)

If a Greek ever asks you for a knife, never hand it directly Put it on the table and let the other pick it up. Otherwise, superstition holds you two will soon be in a fight.

Another sure fight starter is if two people say the same thing at the same time.  Such as “I love NOT DEAD YET.”  The only way to avoid an imminent fight is for each to instantly touch whatever red they can find around them (like the cover of A Vine in the Blood, The Fear Artist or any of Michael Stanley’s covers) and say piase kokkino(touch red).

And never leave your shoes soles up; it’s very bad luck and even an omen of death.  But don’t fear if it should happen to you some day. Just say skorda (remember, it means garlic) and spit three times for good measure and you’ll be fine.

I understand the skorda whisper technique also works to ward off the bad omen of seeing a priest and black cat on the same day. Some say it whenever they see just the priest.

If you sneeze, that means someone is talking about you and there is a way to figure out whom that is.  Frankly, all I’m interested in knowing at such moments is who has a tissue or Claritin.

Greeks also believe money attracts money, so superstition requires you to never completely empty a purse, pocket, wallet or bank account.  I suspect that one’s being sorely tested these days.

But the superstition that I find most telling about the Greek attitude toward life is how they treat Friday the 13th.  Why ruin an otherwise perfectly good weekend with worries about a Friday of bad luck? So, they stick in the middle of the workweek. To Greeks, Tuesday the 13th is the bad luck day…possibly settling on a Tuesday for much for the same reason the US uses it as its election day—to keep the bad news away from spoiling a weekend.

Which brings me to the final superstition I want to talk about today. Salt.  Greeks sprinkle salt in a new house to chase away any lurking evil.  But that’s not the use of salt I find most intriguing.  It is believed that you can get rid of “unwanted human presence” by sprinkling salt behind them.  I think Americans should bear up arms of salt to cast behind any politician who dares to .... 

That’s all folks. Ftou, ftou, ftou.

Mati also come as cookies, courtesy of the Sparta (NJ) Public Library

Jeff—Saturday

The Fighting Temeraire

We were in London for some important meetings – more about that later….and a garden party that was rather posh.

 

Not as posh as the p(a)lace where these two live, but it was at the bottom of their garden.

Before that we had been in the part of East London which had been regenerated for the London Olympics in 2012, the event we were invited to had its origins in 1974 but again, more of that later. After that celebration, we moved hotel to on in Westminster to be within walking/ staggering distance of the aforesaid drunken merriment.

 

Having a free afternoon in the West End, I decided to pop in to the National Gallery and see one of my favourite paintings; the Fighting Temeraire, painted by J.M.W. Turner in 1839.

It is one of the most celebrated paintings in British art and in British history. It was voted the UK’s most popular painting in a poll in 2005.

 

The boat in the picture, the HMS Temeraire is shown on her final journey, she’s being towed up the Thames by a tugboat on her way to be dismantled.   A sad end for an old lady who had played a crucial role in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).

 

It’s all very symbolic- the age of sail moving to the age of steam, the passage of time, getting old, retiring from work, being flung on the scrapheap… need I go on….

 

Turner was famous for boats and skylines, water and waves. He was also very patriotic, and had a great interest in technology, and the advancement of the ‘machine.

 

So here is the once proud Temeraire, such an important boat in the history of maritime warfare, now dependant on a tug boat. She’s flying a white flag. Not the Union Jack. She’s painted in fading colours with a rather indistinct outline- you would be forgiven for thinking that she’s already a ghost ship. The tug on the other hand, is precisely depicted, clear and very much at the forefront of things.

 

 It's all  against a setting sun, all rather other worldly.

 

The Fighting Temeraire appears on the back of a £20 note with Turner in the foreground, and one of these photographs is me photographing a Japanese tourist holding the note up against the painting.

 

Is Turner’s work is a symbol of the relentless march of progress, or is it a lament for the days gone by.

 

Makes you think. I have a collection of fountain pens and inks, I have 200 notebooks that I think are too good to write in,  I have old typewriter, and a rather nice laptop.

 

Then there’s AI knocking on the door.

 

Book Problems

 Wendall -- every other Thursday

 I’ve got a book problem. I have too many.

I have more books than bookshelves and more bookshelves than we can really fit in our apartment. 

  

Obviously not organized in any way.

At all.

 

I have books from childhood, beloved school reads, tons of college textbooks and tomes (with all my notes), as many books as I’ve been able to afford by my wonderful friends in the mystery community, research books for all my scripts and Cyd Redondo novels, and as I’ve posted before, a significant stack of particularly precious and ancient paperbacks held together with rubber bands.

 

Yes, that's a Bunyip.

 

 

 

For many years I’ve tucked books into strange places, added a few “front facing” copies, or “extended” the shelves I have with tall stacks of books on one side, topped with some kitschy object or other, to make it look intentional. Though the tops/pages don’t get as dusty this way, it still breaks my heart to have them on the floor.

 

 

 

For my husband, the solution is easy. Get rid of them! Horrors. Whenever he suggests a “clear out,” I just remind him that we could easily have physical copies of the 647 titles on my Kindle, so he should be grateful.

 

But, when a recent trip to Josh Spencer’s new Studio City branch of The Last Bookstore yielded a few particularly huge non-fiction beauties, I knew I had to find another way to handle books.

 

And I found it. Pottery Barn pedestal shelves – on the floor!

 

 

 

The pictures above only constitute some of the books in our living and dining room. Don’t even let me get started on our bedroom or our office. . .

 

I’ve talked about physical media before and how much it means to me and I feel the same way about the books. I realize I am probably part of the last generation that will ever have a house rammed with books and CDs and DVDs and albums this way. And I know from culling my albums six years ago, no one will really want this stuff when I am gone.

 

But for now, having books I can see and touch is one of the few things that makes me hopeful in a time of upheaval for all of us. I’m grateful we have a house full of knowledge and solace and inspiration and will, as long as we have any floor space left.

 

Because, in the end, can you ever really have too many books?

 

~ Wendall

 

 

 

Trump’s Racist “Evidence” Exposed: No, There Is No White Genocide in South Africa

 Kwei--Wed

President Trump meets President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office

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1. The Myth Exploded: MeidasTouch Investigation

According to a May 2025 exclusive from the MeidasTouch Network, Donald Trump handed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a racist printout during their Oval Office meeting—a screenshot from a fringe Facebook page run by South African flat-earther and white supremacist Paul Hattingh.

👉 Read the full exposé: MeidasTouch Exclusive

Hattingh’s page is a cesspool of AI-generated images portraying Black South Africans as apes and glorifying Trump as a white savior. This is the “source” Trump relied on to accuse South Africa of “white genocide.” It’s not just misinformation. It’s disinformation weaponized for political gain.

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2. A Quick Historical Primer

Historical land-grabs 1652-1806

• 1652–1806: Dutch VOC settlers (later called Afrikaners or Boers) establish the Cape Colony.

• 1806–1910: British imperial forces take control, later integrating Boer republics into the Union of South Africa after brutal wars.

• 1913–1994: From the Natives Land Act to full-scale Apartheid, the state entrenches racial dispossession.

Apartheid signs at a rail station in South Africa (Wikimedia Commons)

      

• 1994–Present: Democracy is restored under Nelson Mandela, and land reform begins—but very slowly.

Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, Gauteng, on 13 May 2008 (South Africa The Good News / www.sagoodnews.co.za)

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3. Land Ownership and the Seizure Lie

White South Africans, who make up approximately 7% of the population, still own about 72% of the commercial farmland.

The 2025 Expropriation Act allows for the government seizure of only unused or abandoned land, and no commercial farms have been taken without compensation as of this writing (Reuters, Al Jazeera, 2025).

This reform is a legal, measured process—not mob confiscation, and certainly not racial revenge.

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4. Are White Farmers Being Killed in a Genocidal Campaign?

Let’s look at the actual numbers:

Year	Farm Murders	% of Total Homicides (±27,500/yr)
2023	50	< 0.2%
2024	32	≈ 0.1%

Most of these murders are robbery-motivated, not racially targeted. Both white farmers and Black farm workers have been victims. The violence is tragic, but calling it genocide is dishonest and irresponsible.

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5. The Hypocrisy: Who Gets to Be a Refugee?

Trump’s administration has fast-tracked dozens of white Afrikaners under a “persecution” narrative. At the same time, over 150,000 Afghan interpreters and allies remain in limbo, abandoned after risking their lives for U.S. forces.

This isn’t humanitarianism. It’s a white preference policy.

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6. Why the Lie Persists

The “white genocide” myth is a staple of far-right messaging around the world. It animates xenophobia, feeds algorithmic outrage, and gives political figures like Trump an easy villain: nonwhite South Africans seeking economic justice.

It’s not new. It’s just being recycled—this time from a bigot’s Facebook feed into the Oval Office.

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Conclusion: Truth Matters

South Africa is still recovering from the scars of apartheid. Yes, there is crime. Yes, land reform is overdue. But there is no campaign—state-sponsored or otherwise—to exterminate white South Africans.

Weaponizing a fake genocide narrative disrespects actual victims of genocide around the world and undermines serious global discourse.

Crime Fiction: Why Read It, Why Write it

Annamaria on Monday

The two questions in my title today are closely linked.

From the readers point of view, there is a commonly cited answer.  Critics and scholars mostly attribute the enormous popularity of crime fiction to the fact that, unlike real life, the stories provide closure and deliver justice.  In addition, mysteries provoke moral questions: What is right? What is wrong?  How should people deal with the wrong?  When, if ever, is it permissible to break the law or the commandments in order to rectify a societal ill? Etc.  Etc.

From a writer's point of view, these latter questions and other similar conundrums seem to provide real answers to why we choose to write the kind of stories we do.  

We create fictional worlds where people are having to live in unfair, lawless, or even out-and-out life threatening circumstances.  How are ordinary people supposed to cope?  Who might be helpful?  Who might make things worse? How can we tell the difference?  What does it take to survive.

 I don't mean to say that an author always makes these decisions consciously.  Many of us begin with a premise and characters that we think we know and let them loose in a place, and listen to what they have to tell us.  But we all know that we have to put our imaginary friends into trouble.  And to make it get worse before they can make it better.  The most important thing in any story for me - mine or anybody else's - is that the character(s) have to be changed by their experiences.  

As a historical novelist, I also find the tropes of the mystery genre helpful.  I always begin with a time and place that I find fascinating  But I want to weave that history into the story seamlessly. To me it's a huge flaw if a historical novelist treats them as two different topics.  In Gone with the Wind for instance, the reader gets three ages of story and then four pages history and then another page and half of history.  Clunky!  In the extreme!

In writing fiction, I discovered early on that if I pick the right dead body, that weaving comes naturally.  To solve the crime my characters have to think about what life is like then and there.  In Invincible Country for instance, the dead man is a favorite of the dictator Francisco Solano Lopez.  The victim's murderer must be found.  Otherwise an innocent suspect will executed.  To identify the culprit, my characters have to delve into the happenings of that time and place.  In doing so, in their thoughts and in their conversations they tell the reader what life was like in war torn Paraguay in 1886.

Also, for me, writing in a time of war, I can show readers how people of the past stuck together and helped one another they survive.

 

Photo New York Times

Sometimes, I find a hole in the historical record.  That's when the fun really begins for me.  In invincible Country, the missing piece of history is what became of the enormous treasure -gold and jewels - of Paraguay. No one ever found out. There are still people digging around 140 years later, hoping to find it.

My fictional characters not only discover where it was, they learn where it went.

We're Finally Back in Greece!

Home

Jeff—Saturday

It’s been one heck of a week…make that ten days.   Bristol UK and CrimeFest were terrific.  Seeing old friends and hearing of constructive efforts underway to make sure this was NOT CrimeFest’s final hurrah buoyed up the spirits of us longtime fans and supporters.

Bristol

Then it was on to London for a meeting with my publisher, editor, and assistant editor. Talk about buoying up sprits.  I’m one lucky fella to have folk like that on my team. 

Then it was a few days wandering around the shops, museums, shops, restaurants, shops and sights that make London so seductive. 

London Ladies

Then it was on to Athens (via a traditional Heathrow experience), until finally making it back home to Mykonos.

WOW AND YIPPEE, we’re back home.

All that left me dead to the world, and scurrying to find a topic to address in today’s blog.  Then I found it—an opinion piece in Ekathimeri by Tom Ellis, its English-language edition’s editor-in-chief.  

It lends perspective from a venue at the very heart of the machinations of the world’s superpowers—both actual and prospective—that play out non-stop in American media.  I hope you find it interesting, if not instructive:

Piraeus

Greece and its Ports.

As a result of its prime location, which makes it a natural gateway to the European markets in the Eastern Mediterranean, and conflicting interests, stemming from diplomatic alliances on the one front, and commercial partnerships on the other, Greece finds itself at the center of a complex regional puzzle with geopolitical dimensions.

Among its many critical pieces the ports of Piraeus, the country’s largest, as well as Thessaloniki and Alexandroupoli, stand out.

It comes as no surprise that the US is not thrilled with the fact that one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean in terms of throughput, is controlled by the Chinese.

Washington will try to minimize Beijing’s influence in Piraeus, while making a concerted effort to bring the other two of Greece’s major ports under American control.

Thessaloniki, especially, is seen through the wider geopolitical prism of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) for which there is growing interest in the US Congress. In this context the potential closure of the US Consulate in the city is not helping the whole planning.

Athens’ strategic cooperation with New Delhi – and the joint project which includes Cyprus and Israel among other countries – has an additional regional dimension given the traditional tensions between India and Pakistan, the latter being supported by Turkey.

The pressure from different global players is heavy and it will become even more so in the near future, while the present geopolitical volatility and unpredictability make the already complex equation even more difficult to solve.

The Port of Piraeus is operating normally despite a US decision, a few months ago, to blacklist its majority owner, COSCO, after the US Defense Department declared that the latter, China’s largest shipping group, worked with China’s military. 

COSCO, one of the world’s largest shipping groups, stated that none of its units on the list is a military company. The US blacklisting had alarmed Greece given Piraeus’ pivotal commercial role.

Meanwhile, the Greek government is putting pressure on the Chinese side to make the necessary development and infrastructure improvements in the Port of Piraeus it had committed to. The issue was discussed at a meeting last week between newly appointed Shipping Minister Vassilis Kikilias and Chinese Ambassador to Greece Fang Qiu, with the latter noting Beijing’s interest in deepening and expanding the bilateral cooperation in Piraeus and beyond.

One thing is becoming clear: In the months ahead, Greece’s ports will be at the forefront of a wider geopolitical race for control and influence between major players with conflicting goals. 

––Jeff