"May the Devil Take Your Head and Brain": The Curses of Karpathos, Greece, Social Counterstructures, and the Management of Social Relations

Abstract

This article examines the nature of curses and their function by using specific ethnographic examples from the Greek island of Karpathos. In addition, curses are discussed as an interesting means of studying local worldview. Every society's main care is to safeguard its cultural capital, perceptions, and social relations as well as its daily and ritual behaviors, which guarantee its cohesion and facilitate its reproduction.