demons

Calling up the Devil in English Folklore

This was easy. You drew a chalk circle and threw your hat in it. You said the Lord's Prayer backwards. There are a number of folktales that
suggest that merely saying "The Devil take it" in a fit of pique might bring him to do so.

Driving Away Evil Spirits

Small windows in some very old British churches are said to have been put there for the benefit of lepers, who not permitted to enter the church,
could look in at divine services, receive alms, or make confessions at these windows. When a funeral was conducted, lamps were placed in these
little windows to drive away evil spirits attracted by the dead. A great deal of incense, at the wake, the arrival of the corpse at the lich gate of the
church, the burial. Even the spirit of the dead was feared, which is why the corpse was carried to the grave with lighted candles and feet first. That
way the corpse would not know the way back to the living.

Proverbial Wisdom about the Devil

The Devil finds work for idle hands.

You would do little for God if the Devil were dead.

The Devil hates holy water.

It is easier to raise the Devil than to lay him.

The Devil paints himself black but we see him rose-colored.

When the priest's away, the Devil will play.

The Devil divides the world between atheism and superstition.

The Devil has three children: Pride, Falsehood, and Envy. The Devil's children have the Devil's luck.

The Devil lurks behind the Cross.

If you are afraid of the Devil you will never be rich.

The Devil comes where money is; where there is no money, he comes twice.

When it rains while the sun shines, the Devil is beating his wife.