Lebanese folk belief is documented in sharply different settings, including Frederick Sessions’s 1897 field notes from Mount Lebanon and later ethnographic work in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon. The older record describes evil-eye defenses, bread taboos, child-protection customs, jinn stories, animal omens, and sacred-place beliefs, but it is a historical collection rather than a survey of present-day Lebanon.[1]
A 2024 American University of Beirut thesis, based on fieldwork carried out in Bint Jbeil from 2021 to 2022, documents tobsir bil ahweh—coffee divination—as a living social practice with a detailed vocabulary of shapes, numbers, positions, and signs. It also notes that interpretations vary between readers and that many women take part for social or playful reasons as well as for divination.[2] Taken together, the sources support 70 distinct Lebanese folk beliefs, omens, protective customs, and divinatory signs presented here. Many are local, historical, community-specific, or variable between families; they should not be read as beliefs held by all Lebanese people.
Evil-Eye Defenses Recorded in Mount Lebanon
Naming God When Praising a Newborn
In late-nineteenth-century Mount Lebanon accounts, praise of a newborn was often paired with a phrase invoking God. Leaving out the protective wording was feared to expose the child to the evil eye, showing how admiration itself could be treated as spiritually risky.
Protective Praise in Silkworm Sheds
The same protective habit was recorded when visitors entered rooms where silkworms were being raised. Admiring the worms without invoking God could be viewed as exposing the valuable crop to envy or harmful influence.
Blue Eyes in an Old Evil-Eye Belief
One historical Mount Lebanon source records a fear that blue-eyed people, especially women, could cast the evil eye. This reflects an old prejudice within the folklore record, not a trait of blue-eyed people and not a belief that should be treated as fact.
Blue Beads on Horses
Blue beads were tied around a horse’s neck or worked into the mane or tail as protection from an envious gaze. The animal’s value and visibility made it a natural target for evil-eye precautions in the historical record.
Shell and Blue-Bead House Charms
Some Christian households were described as hanging strings of shells or blue beads as protective objects. Their purpose was to turn away the evil eye rather than decorate the home alone.
Protective Handprints on Beirut Doorways
Painted handprints appeared on doors, shutters, and doorposts in Beirut and other coastal towns. In the old account, the hand mark served as a household defense against harmful influence entering from outside.
Handprints on Flour Boxes for Luck
After whitewashing, some households marked flour boxes and other surfaces with a handprint. The same historical source links the mark both with protection from the February chill and with hopes that the household’s flour supply would remain fortunate.
White Stones and Animal Bones as Charms
Small white stones and pieces of animal bone were recorded as objects worn around the neck. They were treated as protective charms rather than ordinary ornaments, especially in the wider cluster of beliefs surrounding the evil eye.
Mercury Capsules on Children’s Caps
A nineteenth-century account describes tiny cylinders containing mercury attached to children’s caps as an evil-eye charm. This is a historical practice only: mercury is toxic, and such an object should not be handled or used as child protection.
Reliquary Amulet Boxes
Small round amulet boxes containing material identified as relics of martyrs were worn for protection against the evil eye and illness. The record sits at the boundary between popular devotion and folk protection, so it should not be treated as a rule of formal religion.
Leather Charm Packets for Sleep and Protection
Leather packets containing written or prepared charms were carried against the evil eye, sickness, nightmares, and children crying in their sleep. The contents and religious language could vary, making this a folk-protective practice rather than one uniform custom.
Wolf-Bone Child Talisman
A piece of wolf bone was historically used as a talisman for children who startled in sleep or suffered an illness described in the source with a wolf-related name. Such charms belong to folk medicine and are not a substitute for medical care.
Frog-and-Scissors Throat Charm
The same historical collection describes an iron charm combining male and female frog forms with tiny scissors for throat complaints in children. It documents a protective folk object, not an effective medical treatment.
Children, Naming, and Reversal Customs
Rocking an Empty Cradle
An empty cradle could be regarded as unlucky. The warning belongs to a broader set of child-centered household rules in which ordinary actions around a baby’s sleeping place were thought capable of attracting harm.
A Child’s Cap Stepped On
If a child’s cap fell to the floor and someone stepped on or over it, the child was said to risk becoming ill. The danger was attached to the symbolic crossing of something closely connected with the child.
Undoing a Stepping-Over Spell
One reversal custom placed the child’s clothes above a doorway and had the person who caused the problem pass underneath. The action was meant to undo the harmful effect created by stepping over the child or the child’s belongings.
Passing Between an Adult’s Legs
A child passing between an adult’s legs was treated as unlucky in the old Mount Lebanon record. The remedy was a reversal: the child was made to pass back the other way, restoring the action to its starting point.
Naming a Child After a Living Relative
Calling a child after a living relative could be interpreted as wishing for that relative’s death so the child might take the person’s place or inheritance. The source records this as a historical naming taboo, not a universal Lebanese rule.
The Sacred Root for Childbirth and Aches
A tree or exposed root in old Beirut attracted rags and visits from people seeking relief from rheumatic pain or easier childbirth by passing beneath it. This was folk healing attached to a sacred place, not medical evidence.
The Withered-Arm Warning
A story linked to the same Beirut tree said that a man who cut one of its branches suffered a withered arm. The tale reinforced the idea that damaging a locally sacred tree could bring bodily punishment.
Bread, Vines, and Household Fortune
Red Ribbon, Bone, or Half a Cow’s Shoe on Vines
Vines could be fitted with a red ribbon, a bone, or half of a cow’s shoe to protect grapes from harmful influence. The charm connected crop protection with the same concern about envy and unseen damage found in household evil-eye customs.
Epiphany Trees Bowing
A Mount Lebanon tradition recorded for Epiphany said that fruit trees bowed their heads during the holy night. The belief gave the natural world a special response to the date rather than treating it as an ordinary winter night.
Epiphany Dough Rising on a Branch
Women were described as wrapping dough in cloth and hanging it from a tree branch on Epiphany night. By morning it was expected to have risen in a way that, according to the belief, would not happen on other nights.
Tear Bread, Don’t Cut It
Thin flat loaves were traditionally torn by hand, while cutting bread with a knife could be regarded as unlucky. The rule reflects the respect given to bread in the historical Beirut and Mount Lebanon material.
Stepping Over Dough
During breadmaking, stepping over dough was avoided because the action was thought to pass a harmful influence into it. The warning turned the baking area into a space where bodily movement carried symbolic consequences.
The Christmas Dough-and-Coin Prosperity Bundle
One Christmas-season custom placed unleavened dough, money, and cyclamen roots in cloth, hung the bundle on a tree, and dipped it in pure spring water during the Twelve Days. The money was expected to prosper or increase through the rite.
Threads Wound Around a Church for Blessing
A long thread or group of threads could be wound around a church as a way of securing blessing. The practice belongs to popular devotional custom, where a physical object was used to carry or retain hoped-for protection.
Hidden Treasure Guarded by Jinn
Buried treasure was sometimes imagined as being guarded by jinn. Historical stories describe treasure seekers consulting people credited with occult knowledge, reflecting a belief that wealth hidden underground could have supernatural guardians.
Animals, Moonlight, and Seasonal Timing
Spoiling a Bird’s Nest Brings Fever
Children were warned that disturbing or destroying a bird’s nest could bring a recurring fever. The connection is a moralized animal omen in the historical record, not a medical cause of fever.
Two Ravens for Luck, One for Misfortune
A pair of ravens crossing the path could be read as good luck, while a single raven or another odd number could be taken as unfavorable. The omen depended on the count of the birds rather than the raven alone.
An Owl Near a Sick Person
Hearing an owl near someone who was ill could be interpreted as an omen of death. This is a cultural warning sign from an old folklore record, not a prediction of a person’s medical outcome.
Avoid Cutting Trees During a Waning Moon
Trees were said not to be cut while the moon was waning. The timing rule tied work with timber to the lunar cycle, making the moon’s phase part of deciding when an ordinary task was auspicious.
Pointing at or Counting Stars Brings Warts
Children were warned not to point at or count stars because doing so was said to cause warts. The belief linked an easily policed childhood behavior with a memorable bodily consequence.
Good Friday as an Auspicious Day to Die
One historical Mount Lebanon note says that dying on Good Friday could be regarded as especially fortunate for the soul. This is a folk interpretation of sacred timing, not a prediction or a teaching shared by every Christian community.
Mulberry Trees and Spring Crop Blessings
Spring festivals in the historical Mount Lebanon record included blessings for crops and trees, with mulberry trees receiving special attention where silkworm raising mattered. This is best understood as a seasonal folk-religious custom tied to agricultural fortune rather than a rule shared by all communities.
Jinn, Sacred Places, and Folk Divination
Ain Jin After Dark
A spring at Brummana known historically as Ain Jin was associated with jinn stories, and people were said to avoid approaching it alone at night. Later naming and local use changed, but the older folklore attached danger to the place after dark.
The Four Sacred Stones of Mar Sesin
Four stones at Mar Sesin were said to have once been wood transformed into stone after a saint rested on them. Visitors could kneel or kiss the stones, while sick people were historically placed upon them seeking relief. This is devotional folk healing, not medical treatment.
Stones Cast on a Bad Man’s Grave
At certain graves associated with people remembered badly, passersby were recorded throwing stones while muttering words of disapproval. One example near Brummana had accumulated a visible pile, turning social memory into a repeated physical act.
Molten Tin to Identify the Evil-Eye Caster
A historical divination method read shapes formed from cooled tin to identify a suspected evil-eye caster. The Arabic letter that most resembled the resulting form was taken as the person’s initial; the account documents an old divinatory practice, not a safe activity to reproduce.
Bead Counting to Identify a Culprit
Another divinatory method used counted beads together with spoken descriptions of features such as eye or hair color. The result was interpreted as pointing toward a thief or a person suspected of casting the evil eye.
Door Curses and Household Discord
Historical lore attributed written curses placed on a person’s door with the power to cause madness or hostility between spouses. The record documents fear of harmful writing; it does not establish that such curses cause real psychological or family harm.
The Mar Elias Truth Oath
A person accused of lying could be challenged to approach the altar of Mar Elias and call on the saint to strike them dead if the statement was false. The ordeal made fear of supernatural punishment a test of truthfulness.
The Seventh Son’s Healing Gift
A seventh son was sometimes credited with unusual power to charm away sickness or prepare effective written spells. This is a birth-order belief from the historical folklore record, not evidence of medical or supernatural ability.
Helpful Mountain Jinn
Not every jinn story described a hostile being. Some tales told of jinn appearing as old men of the mountains, helping poor households, multiplying meal, or making a miller’s work move faster.
Breaking a Straw to End a Friendship
Two people ending a friendship could break a straw between them as a visible sign that the relationship was severed. The act worked as a symbolic folk custom, turning an invisible social break into something physical.
Coffee-Cup Omens Recorded in Bint Jbeil
The Bint Jbeil group is kept separate because it comes from a modern, place-specific ethnography rather than the nineteenth-century Mount Lebanon collection. The thesis uses bassara for a female coffee reader and records a local dictionary of signs without claiming that every reader assigns the same meaning.
Tobsir Bil Ahweh
In Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, coffee reading is known as tobsir bil ahweh. A reader examines cooled sediment in the cup to speak about past, present, or future events; the practice may be serious, social, playful, or a mixture depending on the setting.
Snake, Mouse, or Fox Shapes as an Enemy
In one Bint Jbeil coffee-reading dictionary, a snake, mouse, or fox shape can point to an enemy. The grouped animals are read less as literal creatures than as visual signs of a person considered threatening or untrustworthy.
Fish or Sheep Shapes for Good Fortune
A fish or sheep appearing in the coffee residue may be read as good luck or favorable fortune. The interpretation belongs to the local vocabulary documented by an American University of Beirut ethnography.
Dog or Deer Shapes for a Loyal Friend
A dog or deer can represent a friend and, in particular, loyalty. The cup reader connects the animal form with a social relationship rather than treating the image as a forecast about an actual animal.
Bird or Butterfly Shapes for Good News
A bird or butterfly in the cup may be interpreted as good news. Such readings are visual and flexible: the reader first decides what shape the sediment resembles, then attaches a familiar local meaning.
Scorpion, Chameleon, or Cat Shapes for Envy
Scorpion, chameleon, or cat forms can be read as envy or jealousy. In Bint Jbeil coffee reading, these symbols can overlap with wider concerns about hasad, the harmful effects attributed to another person’s envy.
An Eagle for Success
An eagle shape can be read as success. The meaning draws on the bird’s elevated position and strength as interpreted by the reader, but the ethnography also notes that coffee symbols are not read identically by every bassara.
A Suitcase for Travel or an Interview
A suitcase shape may point to travel or an upcoming interview. It is one example of how modern life enters coffee symbolism, alongside older animal, marriage, money, and evil-eye motifs.
Currency for Money and Good Fortune
A shape resembling currency can be interpreted as money or favorable fortune. The reading does not specify a guaranteed financial event; it is part of the symbolic vocabulary used to narrate possibilities around the drinker.
A Wall for an Obstacle
A wall shape can mean an obstacle. Readers may use it to describe something blocking a plan, relationship, or hoped-for development, making the cup a narrative tool for discussing uncertainty rather than a verified forecast.
A Ring for Engagement or Marriage
A ring in the coffee residue can be interpreted as engagement or marriage. The symbol is especially direct because the pictured object already carries a familiar social association with formal commitment.
A Black Line for Bad News
A dark or black line may be read as death, an accident, or other bad news in the documented Bint Jbeil vocabulary. These are symbolic interpretations within coffee divination and should not be treated as predictions of harm.
A Crescent for Relief or a New Beginning
A crescent shape can signal relief or a new beginning. It belongs to a group of brighter, opening symbols that readers may use when describing movement away from worry or delay.
A Mountain for High Position or Success
A mountain can be interpreted as reaching a high position or achieving success. The image turns upward height into a social or personal metaphor within the cup’s visual language.
The Number Nine for a Wish Coming True
When the number nine appears clearly in a cup, one documented interpretation is that a wish may come true or that favorable opportunities may open. Number meanings can differ between readers, so this is a local reading rather than a fixed rule.
Counting an Ishara as Timing
Readers may count an ishara, or sign, to estimate timing. Three signs, for example, can be narrated as three days, weeks, or months, leaving the time unit open to the reader’s judgment and the surrounding story.
Eyes in the Cup as Envy
An eye shape can indicate that the drinker is being watched with envy or affected by the evil eye. This connects coffee reading with the broader Lebanese and regional vocabulary of hasad and protective concern.
A Heavy Cup as an Evil-Eye Sign
Some Bint Jbeil readers describe an unusually heavy-feeling cup as a sign that the person has been struck by hasad, or the evil eye. The interpretation is folkloric and does not diagnose illness or establish a cause for distress.
Dark Coffee and Bright Coffee
The overall appearance of the residue can matter: dark coffee may be read as bad news, while a brighter cup may be read more favorably. The contrast is part of the reader’s symbolic assessment rather than an objective measure of future events.
Uncooled Sediment as Tears
If the sediment has not cooled after the cup is turned, one Bint Jbeil interpretation connects it with crying. Temperature and appearance become additional signs alongside recognizable shapes and numbers.
The Bottom for Family, the Side for Outsiders
The position of a sign can change its meaning. Material at the bottom of the cup may concern family news, while signs toward the side can be read as news involving people outside the household.
A Larger Cup Means More News
Some readers say a larger coffee cup gives them room to see or predict more news than a smaller one. The belief concerns the reading process itself rather than a particular symbol in the sediment.
Khabar Tayyara: News From Abroad
The expression khabar tayyara refers to news connected with an airplane: news from abroad or the arrival of someone coming from another country. It shows how migration and travel are folded into local coffee-reading language.
Tariq Bayda: The White Road
A tariq bayda, literally a white road, is read as a bright or open future. The phrase gives a local verbal label to a favorable visual path appearing in the coffee residue.
Reading for an Absent Person Through the Maternal Line
A Bint Jbeil reader may read a cup on behalf of someone who is absent by naming that person through the maternal line. The practice reflects the special weight given to the mother-child connection in this local divinatory setting.
What the Lebanese Record Shows Across Time and Place
The material does not describe one fixed national system of superstition. Sessions collected late-nineteenth-century observations in Mount Lebanon and Beirut using the period title “Syrian Folklore,” while the Bint Jbeil study records a much newer and more tightly localized practice. A separate study of first-generation Christian Syrian-Lebanese immigrants in the United States and eastern Canada found that evil-eye beliefs, charms, and protective practices traveled with migration and were already declining or changing by the mid-twentieth century.[3] That history helps explain why a belief may be familiar in one Lebanese family yet unknown, reinterpreted, or treated only as a story in another.
📚 Roots of Belief
- Frederick Sessions, “Some Syrian Folklore Notes Gathered on Mount Lebanon,” Folklore 9 (1898) — Records on-the-spot Mount Lebanon and Beirut material on evil-eye charms, newborn customs, bread rules, jinn, sacred places, animal omens, lunar timing, and seasonal practices used for cards 1–45. (A historical article preserved in the scholarly journal archive JSTOR.)
- American University of Beirut — Ghada Dagher, Coffee Reading and Narrative Healing in Bint Jbeil (2024) — Ethnographic fieldwork in Bint Jbeil documents tobsir bil ahweh, local coffee-reading terms, symbol meanings, cup positions, timing signs, evil-eye readings, and variation between readers used for cards 46–70. (A graduate thesis in AUB’s institutional scholarly repository.)
- Alixa Naff, “Belief in the Evil Eye among the Christian Syrian-Lebanese in America,” Journal of American Folklore 78 (1965) — Based on 1962 interviews with first-generation immigrants, the study documents the migration, prevention, and decline of evil-eye beliefs among Christian Syrian-Lebanese communities in North America. (The record is anthropologically indexed and evaluated by Human Relations Area Files at Yale University.)