In moments of joy, whenever they hope and celebrate, for events both unexpected and small and everyday, people offer wishes; good wishes.

But even when they are afraid, when they feel threatened or whenever they suffer injustice, they offer wishes -though with extremely negative content- because they believe that this way they will restore the injustice.

“For better or for worse,” from the Homeric epics to folk songs, from proverbs and fairy tales to Shadow Theatre, and from local traditions to the works of Papadiamantis, words and expressions, wishes and curses, have been preserved unchanged to this day, with the same significance they held when they first appeared.