In Spanish, “deer’s eye”: a seed hung on red thread with a small black fist. One bought at the market in Toluca, Mexico, in 1958 is now in the Hearst Museum, recorded as a charm against the evil eye.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
The Hearst Museum of the University of California holds an ojo de venado collected at the market in Toluca in 1958. It is made of a seed and red thread with a small jet fist, and is recorded as a charm against the evil eye.
To verify: The museum’s own words and the object number
The small black fist is of jet, azabache in Spanish. Parents in Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic use a jet fist against mal de ojo, the evil eye.
To verify: Whether makers in Mexico call the fist azabache too
Some of these charms also carry a small religious picture. We would show only the seed, the thread and the fist, and make no claim that any of it turns envy away. Nothing we make is for babies to wear.
