The fig hand
Mano fica; higa
- Known today as
- A hand with the thumb thrust between the first two fingers, made as a gesture or carved as a charm.
- Kind
- Amulet, in 1 older authority
- Earliest authority here
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914)
Revised October 3, 2026: An authority added from a text read in full. Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 28, 2026.
The fig hand: what was it used for?
Worn and made against the evil eye, whose gaze the obscene sign was meant to catch and turn away.
The fig hand: what does modern science say?
Still sold in jet at Santiago de Compostela, renamed the “figa de Compostela.”
What Medicine Makes of It
- The Evil EyeEnvy, the glance, and the anthropology of misfortune.
The fig hand: what lore surrounds it?
The Romans knew the gesture, as Elworthy shows, and bronze charms of the hand in this position are found in Italy; in his day a silver one was the regular christening gift hung on a Roman child’s neck. In Spain the higa was carved in jet; sixteenth-century guild records at Santiago de Compostela name jet figures that join the apostle and the higa against the evil eye, and a little jet fist, the azabache, is still put on Hispanic babies against the evil eye.
The fig hand: what did the older authorities say?
- The Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Catholic Encyclopedia states that “the power of the evil eye (fascinatio) has been believed in for a long time, and is still dreaded in many countries,” and lists among superstitions “the evil eye, spells, incantations, ordeals.” Pliny asks in the Natural History why, “to counteract fascinations, do we Romans observe a peculiar form of adoration, in invoking the Nemesis of the Greeks; whose statue, for this reason, has been placed in the Capitol at Rome,” and says of spittle that “in a similar manner, too, we repel fascinations, and the evil presages attendant upon meeting a person who is lame in the right leg.”
Sources
- Elworthy, F. T. (1895). The Evil Eye. London: John Murray. Read in part · the text read
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Superstition.” newadvent.org/cathen/14339a.htm Read in full · the text read
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 28.5, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Read in part · the text read
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 28.7, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Read in part · the text read
- Menéndez Menéndez, A. (2026). Azabache en tránsito en el Camino de Santiago. Eikón Imago 15: e104319. Read in full · the text read
- Tabor, E. (2023). A Hispanic amulet against disease in infants. Hektoen International. Read in full · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026
- Passes
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)
- Sources
- 6 cited: 3 read in full, 3 read in part.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 28, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026
- Chicago
“The fig hand.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/mano-fico.
- MLA
“The fig hand.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/mano-fico. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
The fig hand. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/mano-fico
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See Also
Also in The Catholic Encyclopedia
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh in The Catholic Encyclopedia · The eye bead in The Catholic Encyclopedia · Hagstone in The Catholic Encyclopedia · The exorcists’ manuals in The Catholic Encyclopedia · everything The Catholic Encyclopedia names →
Drawing on the same sources: Elworthy
Nearby in the alphabet
Fly agaric (white-spotted toadstool of fairy tales, of birch and pine woods) · Fig (Ficus carica) · Foetid pills · Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) · Fool’s webcap (A tawny webcap of European woods) · Fern seed (mistaken for seed) · Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) · Fennel (seed and water)
Historical description, not medical advice.