Kara Çalmak: A Way Of Protection Against Evil Spirits

Kara çalmak in Turkish folk life was based on the idea of protecting especially beautiful, striking, delicate, or sick children by placing a dark mark on their faces. From the outside, it may look like an attempt to make the child ugly, but the logic behind it is the exact opposite: not to degrade the child, but to hide them from harmful attention.

The Issue Was Not Only The Evil Eye

The first part of this practice was, of course, the evil eye. Among Turks, a beautiful child, a baby who was constantly praised, or a face that drew attention was believed to be more exposed to the evil eye. For this reason, putting black on the child’s face meant veiling that beauty to some extent. But the logic of kara çalmak did not stop there. In academic studies examining Old Turkish vocabulary, the word ägit in Mahmud al-Kashgari’s dictionary is described as “a substance applied to babies’ faces in order to drive away demonic possession and the evil eye.” This is important, because it shows that both the evil eye and demonic affliction were understood together.

A baby from Niğde, 1937: An early example of "Kara Çalmak"

Why Was A Beautiful Child Considered At Risk?

In this old protective logic, beauty was not simply an admired quality. It was also something that could attract invisible harm. A very beautiful child drew more eyes. More eyes meant more risk. That is why the black mark was not applied to erase beauty, but to disturb it slightly and hide the child from visible danger. In the Turkish folk mindset, this was not an insult, but a language of protection.

To Prevent Evil Spirits From Attaching Themselves

The second part of kara çalmak concerned evil spirits. In the old Turkish world of belief, illness was not seen only as a bodily disorder. At times, it was also explained through the approach of unseen beings, ominous influences, or evil spirits. Kam figures, in other words shamanic figures, were the ones who dealt with these invisible forces. Shamans had the function of driving out evil spirits and healing the afflicted, and for this reason kara çalmak could be practiced almost like a sacred ritual. Because of this, kara çalmak can be understood not only as a mark that confuses the evil eye, but also as a defense mechanism whose ugliness and frightening quality drove evil spirits away.

Siberian Tatar Shaman in Regalia With Drum and Mask

Why Was It Applied More Often To Sick Children?

Because a sick child was already considered weak. And the weak were seen as more open both to the evil eye and to spiritual affliction. In other words, if the child was ill, then in the old way of thinking not only the body but also fortune and spiritual defense had been shaken. That is why kara çalmak became most important in such moments. A healthy and beautiful child had to be protected, but a sick and beautiful child had to be protected twice over. This is exactly why the black mark was used more often: to make the child less noticeable and at the same time to keep evil spirits away. The fact that the protective substance placed on a baby’s face was used both against the evil eye and against what we would now call demonic possession clearly supports this double logic.

The Question Of Shamanic Origins

Kara çalmak may look like a small folk custom today, but beneath it lies a much older world. Even though Islam prohibited such customs, they never truly disappeared among the people. Religion may have changed, words may have changed, and explanations may have shifted over time, but the logic of marking the child in order to protect them from unseen harm could not be torn out of folk life. That is exactly why kara çalmak is one of the harshest and oldest surviving pre-Islamic customs among Turks. The shamanic protective logic of the old Turks was never completely erased after Islamization. It continued to live on among the people, in everyday behavior, in that tiny black mark placed on a child’s face. For this reason, kara çalmak is not just an ordinary stain, but a surviving sign of an old fear and an old desire to protect.