Usog

Usog, also called balis, is a Filipino superstition whereby an affliction or psychological disorder, usually in infants and toddlers, is attributed to a stranger's greeting or to an evil eye hex, sometimes called masamang mata in Tagalog, a belief thought to have been influenced by the Spanish colonial-era mal de ojo superstition. Once affected, a child develops fever and sometimes convulsions; the condition is traditionally treated by a stranger touching saliva to the child's abdomen, shoulder, or forehead while saying pwera usog, and protective charms may also be sewn into an infant's clothing to ward off the affliction.