Sandra Morales Composition 13 Nov. 2001 El Mal de Ojo "I like that dress mami. I know it is too fancy for school, pero it makes me look so pretty." "Esta bueno, Sandrita. I'll buy it for you," my mom replies. "I can't wait to wear it to school tomorrow and be complimented all day long." "Ay Sandra, si sigues asi, alguien te va hacer ojo," my mom says. "Whatever, mom! That's an old wives' tale. I don't believe in it, and if I don't believe in it, it won't happen." "Oh Sandra, you look so nice today. Let me touch your dress, so I won't make you ojo," my friend says. " Dude, I wish everyone would shut up with their ojo thing. It's pure nonsense." Three o'clock comes around, and I have the most excruciating headache ever. I take some aspirin that I luckily had in my purse; the pain does not diminish even a bit. I could not wait for school to be dismissed. Those were the longest forty minutes of my entire life. As soon as I get home, I call out for my mother and tell her my head hurts, and the aspirin I took had not helped. "Ya vez. Te dije que alguien te iba hacer ojo. Pues, ni modo. Dejame trayer el huevo para curate. Hay gente que hasta se han muerto de ojo." Only until then did I begin to believe the evil eye did exist, and I quickly learned how it could be cured. The common egg we usually mixed with bacon for breakfast was the key to getting rid of my evil eye. The technique was passed down from my abuelita to my mother. The single most important element of this technique involved reciting a prayer while sweeping the egg over the entire body. It didn't really matter what prayer you used as long as the last thing you said was, "Que con este huevo si te aleje el mal de ojo y encuentre al que te lo dio." After the prayer and sweep are done, you pour half-a-glass of water. You carefully crack the egg in a cross formation, first the top, then the bottom, then side to side. After this is done you completely split open the egg and put it into the water. If you had evil eye, the egg will start to resemble an eye with its socket. After the formation is complete, you throw the egg in the toilet and flush it. El mal de ojo is a very bad ailment. If not cured evil eye can mean many excruciating headaches and in severe cases death. With the ancient cure I have passed on to you, this can be avoided. Of course, you have to be willing to give up one of your breakfast eggs. |