So I don’t really look it, but my mother’s side of my family is Turkish and Armenian and a few other random Middle Eastern ethnicities. The pictures I’ve posted show my background a bit and represent things in my home. The first one is the hamsa, it’s an evil eye in an open right hand. The evil eye wards off evil and envy.
The second picture is a traditional elephant chain with an evil eye at the bottom. The elephant in Turkey is a bringer of good luck, so these are displayed in doorways and sometimes windows to bring good luck into the home. The evil eye at the bottom is to once again protect. In my house we have several of these hanging (although they’re painted blue and white, not silver) in doorways to do just that
http://www.sacredelephants.com/2007/09/7-turkish-elephants-and-1-evil-eye.html
http://galusaustralis.com/2011/08/4954/the-free-jewish-education-movement-has-begun/
The best fish I ever ate was in Turkey. The apple tea was addictive, too. Additionally, I recall every movie there was halted in the middle so folks could skedaddle to the candy counter and stock up.
By the way, for years I had a chain of porcelain elephants hanging in my kitchen, but then one day tragedy stuck, and the herd was wiped out.