In describing their ability to deflect the evil eye, Ralph Merrifield described the Roman phallic charm as a "kind of lightning conductor for good luck".Peisistratus hung the figure of a kind of grasshopper before the Acropolis of Athens for protection.Another way for protection from fascination used by the ancient Greeks and Romans was by spitting into the folds of the clothes.Ancient Greeks also had an old custom of dressing boys as girls in order to avert the evil eye. Around the world
Belief in the evil eye is strongest in West Asia, Latin America, East and West Africa, Central America, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean region; it has also spread to areas, including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by European colonists and West Asian immigrants.Belief in the evil eye is found in the Islamic doctrine, based upon the statement of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..." [Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5427]. Authentic practices of warding off the evil eye are also commonly practiced by Muslims: rather than directly expressing appreciation of, for example, a childs beauty, it is customary to say MashaAllah, that is, "God has willed it", or invoking Gods blessings upon the object or person that is being admired.A number of beliefs about the evil eye are also found in folk religion, typically revolving around the use of amulets or talismans as a means of protection.
"Pagans" or non-baptized children are instead assumed to be at risk from bruxas (witches), that have malignant intention themselves rather than just mau-olhado. It probably reflects the Galician folktales about the meigas or Portuguese magas, (witches), as Colonial Brazil was primarily settled by Portuguese people, in numbers greater than all Europeans to settle pre-independence United States. Those bruxas are interpreted to have taken the form of moths, often very dark, that disturb children at night and take away their energy. For that reason, Christian Brazilians often have amulets in the form of crucifixes around, beside or inside beds where children sleep. Nevertheless, older children, especially boys, that fulfill the cultural ideals of behaving extremely well (for example, having no problems whatsoever in eating well a great variety of foods, being obedient and respectful toward adults, kind, polite, studious, and demonstrating no bad blood with other children or their siblings) who unexpectedly turn into problematic adolescents or adults (for example lacking good health habits, extreme laziness or lacking motivation towards their life goals, having eating disorders, or being prone to delinquency), are said to have been victims of mau-olhado coming from parents of children whose behavior was not as admirable. Amulets that protect against mau-olhado tend to be generally resistant, mildly to strongly toxic and dark plants in specific and strategic places of a garden or the entry to a house. Those include comigo-ninguém-pode ("against-me-nobody-can"), Dieffenbachia, espada-de-são-jorge ("St. Georges sword"), Sansevieria trifasciata, and Guiné ("Guinea"), Petiveria alliacea (the guinea henweed).