In Greece, there are beliefs that are so woven into daily life that many Greeks who hold them don’t think of them as superstitions—they’re just how things are done. You’ll see blue eye charms hanging in cars and homes. You’ll hear people spit (metaphorically or actually) when someone compliments you. You’ll notice that people refuse to hand you a knife directly. And you’ll definitely celebrate your name day, which might be a bigger deal than your birthday.
These aren’t quaint old traditions that only elderly Greeks follow. These are actively practiced beliefs that shape how contemporary Greeks navigate the world. Understanding them isn’t just about learning folklore—it’s about understanding how Greeks see reality, how they manage risk, and how they interact with each other.
Name Days: More Important Than Birthdays
Here’s something that surprises visitors: in Greece, your name day (onomastiki yiorti) is often more important than your birthday.
Every name in Greece is associated with a saint. If you’re named Giorgos, you celebrate on the feast day of Saint George. If you’re Maria, you celebrate on the feast day of the Virgin Mary. That’s your name day. It’s the day when everyone with your name celebrates together.
How is it celebrated? Traditionally, your home is open house. People stop by to congratulate you (they say “Chronia polla!”—many years!). You serve coffee and sweets to visitors, just like if you were having a birthday party, except the guests just drop in throughout the day. There’s no party planning—it’s just an open invitation.
The name day is considered more significant than the birthday for several reasons:
- It’s connected to religious tradition (the saint’s feast day)
- It’s shared with everyone who has that name, creating a community aspect
- It’s not about aging (the person doesn’t have a birthday associated with it), it’s about continuity
For visitors, this is useful to know: if you’re staying with Greeks and you learn someone’s name day is coming up, wishing them “Chronia polla!” on that day is appropriate and appreciated.
Modern Greeks still observe name days, though the open-house tradition has been modified. Now you might get a call or text from friends saying “Chronia polla!” You might go to a restaurant with family. But it’s still observed, and it’s still significant. In many families, the name day is celebrated more elaborately than the birthday.
The Evil Eye (To Mati): The Fear and The Protection
The evil eye—to mati—is a belief that certain people, through jealousy or malice, can cause harm to others just by looking at them or complimenting them excessively. The idea is ancient and found across Mediterranean cultures, but it’s particularly strong in Greece.
The visible protection against the evil eye is the mati charm—a blue eye amulet, usually made of glass or ceramic, with concentric circles of blue, white, and sometimes black. You’ll see these:
The mati charm is called a “mati eye” in English. Greeks often don’t think of it as a superstition—they think of it as practical protection, like a seatbelt.
Why blue? There are various explanations, but one is that blue is the color of protection in many Mediterranean traditions. Another is that evil eye is believed to be less effective against blue. Whatever the reason, the association is strong.
Do modern Greeks seriously believe in the evil eye? The answer is complicated. Older Greeks and rural Greeks are more likely to express genuine belief. Younger, urban Greeks are more likely to say they don’t believe but still hang a mati in their car “just in case.” It’s a cultural practice with varying degrees of literal belief.
The protection is cultural as much as supernatural: if you wear or display a mati, you’re showing that you’re conscious of the belief, you’re part of the cultural tradition, you’re protected by community awareness.
The Spitting Ritual: “Ftou Ftou Ftou”
If someone compliments you in Greece—”You’re so beautiful,” “Your hair looks great,” “You got the job!”—there’s a specific response: “Ftou ftou ftou.” It’s a fake spitting sound (you don’t actually spit, usually), meant to ward off the evil eye and jinx that the compliment might bring.
The logic is: excessive admiration can attract the evil eye. By spitting, you’re protecting the person who’s been complimented. It’s a ritual that both the complimenter and the person being complimented might do.
You’ll hear this constantly in Greece: “Ftou ftou ftou” when someone mentions their child is healthy, when they mention a goal they want to achieve, when they talk about good fortune. It’s a quick, reflex action that’s deeply embedded in the culture.
For visitors, you don’t need to do this, but hearing it and understanding its purpose is helpful. If someone says “ftou ftou ftou” after complimenting you, they’re not wishing you harm—they’re wishing you protection.
The Knife Superstition: Never Hand Directly
There’s a belief that you should never hand someone a knife directly. Instead, you should place it on the table or on a surface for them to pick up. If you hand a knife directly to someone, it’s believed to cause conflict or bad fortune between you.
This belief is so strong that even non-superstitious Greeks will often follow it out of habit or respect for the tradition. You’ll see it in homes, in restaurants, in shops. The knife doesn’t get handed; it gets placed.
Is this because of the obvious danger of handing a sharp object hand-to-hand? Probably that’s part of it, and the superstition has practical roots. But the modern practice persists even when safety isn’t the concern.
Tuesday the 13th: The Unlucky Day
While Western culture fears Friday the 13th, Greece fears Tuesday the 13th. Tuesday is associated with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, which happened on a Tuesday, so Tuesday carries unlucky associations. Add the number 13, and you have a day that many Greeks are genuinely cautious about.
You’ll meet Greeks who avoid starting important things on Tuesday the 13th. Some won’t travel, some won’t make major decisions, some won’t even cut their hair. It’s not universal, but it’s surprisingly common even among younger Greeks.
If you’re planning a trip to Greece, knowing that some infrastructure might have reduced service on Tuesday the 13th (slightly), or that your Greek friends might be cautiously avoiding decisions, is useful context.
New Year’s Pomegranate
On New Year’s Day (January 1st), there’s a tradition of smashing a pomegranate on the doorstep or threshold of your home. The pomegranate is broken, and if the seeds scatter widely, it’s considered a sign of good fortune for the year. If the seeds stay clustered, it’s less auspicious.
The pomegranate is a symbol of prosperity and fertility in Greek culture (and Mediterranean culture generally). The many seeds represent abundance. By breaking it on the doorstep, you’re inviting abundance into your home for the coming year.
This is still practiced in many Greek homes, particularly on the islands and in rural areas. You might see pomegranate residue on doorsteps on January 1st if you’re in Greece then.
Not Handing Things Through Doorways
There’s a belief that you shouldn’t hand things to someone through a doorway—it should be done on the same side of the threshold or fully inside or outside. The reasoning is that the threshold is a liminal space where bad things might happen.
This is less observed than the knife superstition, but it still exists in traditional circles.
Wrapping Someone in the Greek Flag
If someone’s portrait or image is accidentally wrapped in the Greek flag, it’s considered bad luck. The flag is sacred, and wrapping it around a person (even in a photo) is disrespectful and unlucky.
You won’t encounter this much as a tourist, but understanding it explains why Greeks are particular about flag handling and flag displays.
Hospitality and Protection
Many of the superstitions are actually about protection: the mati protects against envy, the spitting ritual protects against jinxing, the name day celebration protects through community acknowledgment. The subtext is that Greek culture has developed a set of practices to protect people from misfortune, envy, and bad luck.
This is rooted in historical experience: Greece has been conquered, occupied, suffered invasions, and experienced instability. These protective practices are ways of maintaining safety, community, and good fortune in an uncertain world.
The Evil Eye and Envy: The Darker Side
There’s a more serious aspect to evil eye belief: the concern about envy. In Greek culture, excessive envy is considered a serious moral failing. If someone has good things and others envy them too much, that envy (expressed through the evil eye) can harm them.
This creates a cultural practice of not bragging, not displaying wealth ostentatiously, and being careful about what you reveal about your good fortune to people who might envy you. It’s not explicitly taught, but it’s absorbed: when good things happen, you’re cautious about talking about them.
This can be mystifying to visitors from cultures where it’s common to share good news and brag about accomplishments. In Greece, there’s more restraint. You might downplay good things that happen to you. This isn’t false modesty exactly—it’s a genuine concern about the effects of envy.
Modern Greeks and Superstitions: The Complexity
Modern Greece is Orthodox Christian, urban, educated, and connected to the wider world. Many younger Greeks are skeptics. But superstitions persist, often in hybrid form.
A young Athenian professional might not literally believe in the evil eye but will still hang a mati in her car. She might say “ftou ftou ftou” out of habit, not conviction. She might avoid making important decisions on Tuesday the 13th “just to be safe,” acknowledging she doesn’t really believe but also not wanting to take chances.
This is not hypocrisy or inconsistency. It’s a pragmatic engagement with cultural traditions. The practices are low-cost (just saying “ftou ftou ftou”), and the potential cost of ignoring them (bad luck, conflict, envy) seems not worth risking. So the traditions persist even among people who intellectually doubt their supernatural basis.
How to Respect the Beliefs
As a visitor, you don’t need to adopt these beliefs. But respecting them is appropriate:
Understanding these beliefs isn’t about whether they’re “true” in a scientific sense. It’s about understanding how Greeks see the world, how they manage uncertainty, and how they maintain community and safety. The superstitions work because they’re believed and practiced collectively. They’re part of the social fabric.
And sometimes, the most important thing about a tradition isn’t whether it works magically—it’s that it works socially, creating connection, shared understanding, and collective agreement about how to navigate the world.
Ftou ftou ftou.
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