Superstitions and remedies
“There are some superstitious customs on Paxos which have become so generalized amongst the people that they no longer seem such, resembling, instead, standard behaviour.
On Saturday of Holy Week, when the Easter lamb is slaughtered and everything has to be white, the owner of the home, whether a man or a woman, paints a cross on the door with the blood of the animal. In the morning on Easter Sunday, the shells of Easter eggs are stuck on the door with a paste made of bread and always dyed red.
On May 1st, the owner of the home hangs a branch on the door which remains there almost all year. If you cross paths with a cripple or a poor man on the first of the new year, you’ll have bad luck. When fishermen set out to fish, they tend to say: ‘Good people we have met’ if they first come across well-to-do people.
In Agii Apostoli Church near Gay ( Gaios), people take earth from under the altar, lifting up a stone, because it’s supposed that Saint Gaius is buried there. The earth is then put in water, and people drink it over three days. This protects against snakes.
Wild boar teeth are hung around children to protect them against eye pain. In other cases, if the eye is red, they place a piece of white bread soaked in wine and wrapped in a handkerchief on top. For toothaches, crushed garlic is placed on the left arm if the left side hurts, on the right arm if the right side hurts. The garlic goes under the arm if the top teeth hurt and on the top side of the arm if the bottom teeth hurt.”
