Evil Eye Christmas Ornaments: A Turkish Touch for Your Tree

A small blue eye among the lights is an easy way to give a Christmas or New Year tree a Turkish touch. Many Turkish homes already have a nazar boncuğu, the blue evil eye bead, by the front door. Here is what the bead is, why families give it, and how to bring it to your tree.

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What is a nazar boncuğu?

Nazar is the Turkish word for a glance, and boncuk means bead. A nazar boncuğu is a glass bead in rings of dark blue, white, light blue and black, so it looks like an eye. In English it is usually called an evil eye bead. In folk belief, a glance full of envy, or even too much admiration, can bring bad luck, and the blue eye is meant to catch that look first.

It is a folk custom, and families treat it in different ways. Some hang one in every room, some keep a single bead from a grandmother, and some do not use it at all. For a child-friendly answer, read What is a nazar boncuğu?

Nazar değmesin: a wish you can hang

When someone praises a new baby, a new home or a new car, you will often hear Nazar değmesin. It means "may the evil eye not touch it", and people say it so that kind words stay kind. The bead is the same wish in a form you can hold.

That is why a nazar boncuğu is such a common gift. People bring one to a new home, give one when a baby is born or hang one in a friend's new shop. The message is simple: "I care about you and the things you love." Some people even say a bead means more when it comes from someone else.

Evil eye ornaments on a Christmas or New Year tree

In Türkiye, many families put up a tree for New Year's Eve, Yılbaşı. The yılbaşı ağacı, or New Year tree, looks much like a Christmas tree, with lights, baubles and small gifts underneath. For a Turkish family abroad, one tree can do both jobs: Christmas with friends and school, then midnight on 31 December with grandparents on a video call.

An evil eye ornament brings the two together. It is blue and white like a winter tree, a Turkish grandparent will know it at once, and friends who have never seen one will ask about it. If you also hang a real glass bead, keep it high, away from small hands and pets.

Five Turkish tree themes

• Blue and white. White lights, blue and white baubles, paper snowflakes and an evil eye ornament or two as the stars of the tree.
• Tea garden. Red and gold ribbons, tea-glass shapes cut from gold card and ornaments with tea on them, plus a tray of tea glasses beside the tree on New Year's Eve.
• Simit hunt. Cut rings from brown paper, dot them with a white pen for sesame and hang them like little simit. Children can count how many they find.
• Kilim red. Deep red, navy and mustard, with a patterned cloth or a small kilim-style rug as the tree skirt.
• Wish tree. A dilek is a wish. Each person writes one on a paper tag, hangs it on a branch and reads it aloud at midnight.

Giving an evil eye ornament as a gift

An ornament is a small gift that comes back every December. An evil eye tree ornament suits a family's first tree in a new home, a neighbor who loves a bit of color, friends with a new baby, or grandparents who live far away. Add a short line in the card, in Turkish with the English under it:

• Nazar değmesin! "May the evil eye stay away!"
• Yeni yılınız kutlu olsun, nazar değmesin! "May your new year be a happy one, and may the evil eye stay away!"
• Mutlu Noeller ve mutlu yıllar! "Merry Christmas and happy new year!"
• İlk yılbaşın kutlu olsun, minik! "Happy first New Year, little one!"

Evil eye and Turkish Christmas ornaments from Roots & Talks

The evil eye ornament. The Nazar Değmesin Ceramic Ornament shows a smiling blue nazar bead with raised hands, framed by tulips, a crescent moon and a star, above a banner with the words Nazar değmesin. It is glossy ceramic with a white back and a gold-colored string, in a circle, heart, star or snowflake shape. The circle is 2.76 in (7 cm) across.

For the tea garden. On the Simit and Tea Badge Ceramic Ornament, a winking penguin in a red scarf holds a simit and a glass of Turkish tea inside a round red badge with gold tulips. The Çay Bahane, Muhabbet Şahane Ceramic Ornament shows three children, a penguin, a little elephant and a dinosaur having tea. The saying means that tea is only the excuse and the conversation is the real treat.

For the kilim tree. The Elibelinde Ceramic Ornament carries a traditional kilim motif in red, navy and yellow: a figure with its hands on its hips, whose name means "hand on the waist".

For midnight on 31 December. The Yeni Yılınız Kutlu Olsun Ceramic Ornament says "May your new year be a happy one", with three snowflakes and the line Bol muhabbetli bir yıl!, "A year full of good conversation!"

For a baby's first Christmas. The Nazar Değmesin Soft Fleece Baby Blanket shows the same blue bead with tulips, a crescent and a star as one large picture on a cream background, and measures 30 × 40 in (76.2 × 101.6 cm). Hang the matching ornament on the tree and let the blanket wait underneath. Other baby blankets and bodysuits are in Turkish baby gifts.

For the card. The Nazar Değmesin Greeting Cards are a pack of 10 folded cards with the same design. Envelopes are not included.

See every design with the blue bead in the Nazar Değmesin collection, and more in Turkish Christmas Ornaments.

A small blue wish for the year

Whether your tree goes up for Christmas, for Yılbaşı or for both, one blue eye among the lights carries a simple wish for the people around it. For more ideas, see Turkish New Year traditions, Turkish New Year gifts, small gifts for stockings and Secret Santa, cozy Turkish gifts for winter and gifts for a new baby.