02.10.2010

Protective Charm
Performance (17h local time, duration: 55 minutes)
Villnachern - CH
Transmitted via Skype to
Rakel Sverrisdòttir
as part of her Open Studio, 

Lyngás 7, 

210 Garðabær (Gardabaer)

Hafnarfjördur,

Iceland


Photographs curtesy Rakel Sverrisdòttir

The performance is based on the current research by The Red Earth Society on the common

and subjective elements in various folk beliefs regarding evil manifestations and measures 

to be taken against such manifestations.

Based on the folk beliefs outlined in the following source:

http://thetextileblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/slave-use-of-red-threads-in-embroidery.html

“Most human cultures across the planet, including that of the Slavic, tend to use red for the same basic and original intention. Red is the same colour of blood and therefore since the beginning of human culture it has come to be associated literally with the lifeblood and through association, with that of the lifeforce.”

“In the broad geographical and cultural area that made up the homeland of the Slavs, red was very much used in the tradition of protection, particularly against various human diseases and ailments. Clothing very often contained borders at collar, sleeve and ankle areas which were often heavily embroidered, with red being the predominant colour. This was originally believed to stop, or at least give partial protection, against evil spirits in the shape of some of the most rampant and vociferous diseases that regularly swept through Europe. The borders were meant to stop these malevolent spirit diseases from entering the body at what were considered particularly vulnerable points, mainly at the extremities of the body.”

...

“One of the interesting added uses of red in Western Slavic culture as opposed to that of Russian Slavs, while still following the general idea of protection against illness and misfortune, dealt with some of the more specific details of protection against individual witches and witchcraft in general.”