Christmas time can be safely called the most beloved Christian holiday in Rus'. They are celebrated from 6 to 19 January. It was believed that it was at this time that the souls of the dead and evil spirits appeared on earth. Therefore, these January days are the best time to look into the future. The Church never approved of these actions. Nevertheless, in Rus', young girls annually tried to find out their fate with the help of Christmas divination. Having decided to tell fortunes, remember that the result may not be exactly what you hope for.
Christmas divination
Divination with a bow.
On January 6, the girl planted onions in a bowl of water. If the onion sprouted before January 19, the girl will be married soon, if not, then it’s not destiny.
Divination with a cat.
Young girls went out into the street and carefully looked to see if the cat would appear. If you managed to see it, then the girl will meet her fate this year, she didn’t see the cat - it means to sit in the girls for a year.
Divination by eggs.
The girls gathered in one hut, each brought a marked egg with her and put it in a basket near the door. When all the eggs were in the basket, the youngest of the blindfolded girls pulled out the eggs one at a time. Whose first egg will get, she will be the first to marry and get out.
Divination with mirrors.
A popular divination in Rus', although the girls were afraid to carry it out. It was necessary to guess alone, in complete silence. Two mirrors were placed opposite each other, two candles were placed on the sides. I had to carefully look in the mirror and say the words “Betrothed - mummers, show yourself” three times, you had to peer until the groom showed up. I had to sit for a long time. Also, an unclean one could appear in the mirror, if he touches the girl's face, she will lose her beauty.
Divination with a ring.
Girls and boys gathered in the hut, each threw his ring on the floor, where fate would roll there. If on the threshold - the girl is married, and the guy - on the road.
Big book of Slavic divination and predictions Dikmar Jan
When and how they guessed in Rus'
When and how they guessed in Rus'
Divination in Rus' was actively engaged in Christmas time, from Christmas to Epiphany. Fortune-telling rites were also held on other holidays of winter and late autumn (on the Introduction, Paraskeva Friday, the day of the martyr Mercury and St. Catherine, St. Nicholas of Winter, etc.). Long dark evenings and impenetrable nights were considered the best time for contacts with spirits - assistants in divination.
They also guessed in the spring-summer period - on the Annunciation, Ascension, St. Nicholas and Egory of the spring, on the Trinity, Spirits Day, on Ivan Kupala and on Peter's Day. In contrast to Christmastide, spring-summer fortune-telling was often included in certain rituals (for example, those associated with field work, baking bread, etc.).
The attributes that were used for divination at different times of the year also differed. In winter (for example, at Christmas time), these could be wardrobe items (shawls, shoes, etc.), jewelry, kitchen utensils, household items (towels, tablecloths, cutlery, mirrors, candles), female labor tools (spinning wheels, spindles, whorls ) and others. In summer, plants were mainly used - flowers and herbs, wreaths, tree branches, brooms, etc. Ordinary objects turned into magical intermediaries between the fortuneteller and otherworldly forces. And if the connection of plants with the world of spirits is understandable (they have their roots in the earth), then clothes, jewelry and household items performed their role as a result of endowing them with a special symbolic meaning (grain - harvest, wealth; ash - disease; earth - death; ring - marriage; a dish with objects - a receptacle of human destinies). In different areas, the same signs could be interpreted in different ways.
For example, such fortune-telling was very popular. The girls gathered together, and each of them poured a handful of grain onto the floor. Then a rooster was brought into the hut and looked to which of the heaps it would fit. It was believed that the lucky woman, whose grain the rooster began to peck first of all, would be the first to marry.
Other domestic animals were also used for divination. For example, a girl went to a barn and, blindfolded, caught one of the sheep. If the sheep turned out to be white, it predicted a blond groom. The black sheep promised a brunette groom. In other cases, a chicken, cat or dog was released into the yard. If the animal went to the gate, the girl could count on the arrival of matchmakers, but if it sat down or stomped on the spot, the wedding should not have been expected this year.
Fortune-telling rituals differed in the method of predicting fate and were divided into two groups - fortune-telling-interpretation and fortune-telling-witchcraft. The first were based on signs that did not depend on people (the behavior of birds, the location of the stars in the sky, the fall of the first snow, etc.). In this case, the person was just an observer. Divinations of the second group were magical manipulations performed with the help of representatives of the other world. Participation in divination-witchcraft required a person to be more active, as well as to follow special rules to protect themselves from danger.
Regardless of which category divination belonged to, in order for it to be successful, a person had to create conditions under which the ritual would be performed at the right time and in the right place. Therefore, divination was timed to coincide with certain days, and during the day they chose a special time, which was considered the moment of the greatest activity of the spirits. Such times were midnight and noon, which were most suitable for the concept of a border, a transition.
In space, a place was chosen that was a communication channel between the world of people and the world of spirits. In the house it could be a window, a stove, a mirror, a threshold, and outside the house - a gate, a garden, a fence, a well, a bathhouse, a barn, etc. But the most dangerous places were considered remote not only from the house, but also from the village - for example, outskirts, church, cemetery, forest, field, river.
For fortune-telling to be successful, a person had to get closer to his natural state. To do this, it was necessary to remove jewelry, a belt, part of clothing, and sometimes completely undress. Letting her hair down, the girl, as it were, approached those whose help she counted on - kikimors, bannits, mermaids, wood goblins.
Divination also required unusual behavior. Looking in the mirror, they tried not to blink in order to see a prophetic dream, they went to bed in clothes. Some movements were done the other way around: they spun not as usual, but from left to right, threaded the thread into the needle, turning it upside down, and walked backwards. Before the start of divination, prayers were read “on the contrary” (“God is not in power”, “Christ do not bless”, etc.).
The most important topics for divination by Russian peasants were the harvest, prosperity, well-being of the family and the entire village community, as well as the fate of the individual. During fortune-telling, people tried to find out what was important to them - marriage, the number of children, the time of death.
Based on the topic of divination, the composition of the participants in the ritual was also determined. Divination could be solitary, family, group or collective, in which the entire village community often participated. Girls who dreamed of marriage most often resorted to solitary. A much rarer occurrence was a guy guessing about his future. Divination by dreams also belonged to the solitary.
Family divination was arranged by members of the same family. They wondered about the harvest, prosperity, well-being of their economy. On holy days, many families performed fortune-telling rituals to find out the fate of each household member in the new year.
Group divination was united according to age or gender and age principle. In the Russian week, for example, companies of "marriageable" girls participated in them. During Christmas divination, boys often joined the girls. Often, an experienced elderly woman took part in girlish fortune-telling rites, who led them and monitored the observance of the rules. And in some regions of Russia, only old people, elected for this purpose by a community gathering, participated in fortune-telling for the harvest.
An example of collective rites is fortune-telling, in which the entire village community could participate.
Many divinations were based on the use of the senses (one or more). To listen at the crossroads, at the church door, under other people's windows, one had to strain one's ears. Fortune telling on a mirror or at an ice hole required the mobilization of vision. And the sense of touch was used when divining for a betrothed in a bathhouse or a barn, when a girl with fear and hope expected the unclean hand to touch the naked body.
Some divination, on the contrary, required the rejection of the usual perception of reality with the help of the senses. Guessing about marriage, the girls put a pot or bread squash on their heads and blindly walked to the gate.
Many fortune-telling rites for the future or betrothed are based on counting - feeding a chicken with a counted grain, counting the steps of a ladder or planks in a fence while simultaneously pronouncing the words “old man, widower, well done” or “bastard, bag” (rich or poor).
Divination "even or odd" was common (for example, when counting straws in a bunch), which made it possible to determine whether a girl would marry or she would have to wait until next year. To find out the number of members of their future family or the number of children not yet born, they counted numerous reflections of the month in the mirror, knots in a log, pits and tubercles on water frozen in a glass.
There were many divinations, during which it was necessary to determine whether the state, the position of objects left for the night, had changed or remained. They observed whether the braid woven from the ears on the field fell apart, whether the wreath “curled” on the birch withered, whether the flowers inserted into the gaps between the logs of the hut dried up, whether the weight of the bread loaf placed under the icons increased or remained the same.
Everything that came first was important in many fortune-telling rituals - the name of the first person you met when divining for your betrothed, the first log that came across from the woodpile, by which the character of the future husband was determined, the object to which the rooster first approached (ring, coal, grain ) during fortune telling.
Many Russian fortune-telling was based on the ancient Slavic tradition of drawing lots, which made it possible to find out one's fate, to predict the future. It is to this category that popular fortune-telling in Rus' belongs.
Whatever type fortune-telling is, it excludes such a thing as chance. Any accident, considered as such in everyday life, acquires a different meaning in a fortune-telling ritual. However, for this, all the conditions for the ceremony must be met: time and place, necessary requirements and rules. Otherwise, the results of divination will be incorrect.
Fortune teller's advice
In some divination based on witchcraft, all kinds of prohibitions apply: you can not laugh or talk; leaving, you should not look back; you can not move or, conversely, stop. Most of the prohibitions are associated with the fear of falling under the power of evil spirits during the performance of the ritual. To avoid this danger, it is very important to complete the ceremony in accordance with all the rules: run away, cross yourself, knock over the mirror on the table or cover it with a scarf, ward off, unwind, etc. Such actions allow you to break the connection with otherworldly spirits. An important rule of divination is an odd number of participants. If an even number of fortune-tellers participate in the ritual, the result of fortune-telling will be unsuccessful or, even worse, misfortune may happen to the fortune-tellers.
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Christmas time two weeks of winter holidays are called, from Christmas Eve, which falls on January 6, to Epiphany, celebrated on January 19. Fortune telling at Christmas is considered to be the most truthful. Holy with their roots divination go back to the times of pagan Rus'. It was fortune-telling during the winter solstice (and this is the period of Christmas time) that was given special importance in pagan times. It was believed that it was on these days that otherworldly forces were most active, and the boundaries between the worlds were thinner, which contributed to a more truthful result of New Year's, Christmas and Christmas fortune-telling.
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Having decided to guess for Christmas, remember that the result of fortune-telling may not meet your expectations, so is it worth spoiling your holidays ...
There were a lot of ways of Christmas fortune-telling in Rus', but the main theme of all Christmas fortune-telling is fortune-telling for the betrothed ( groom). This is understandable, because in ancient times, the fate of a girl depended entirely on how well she would come out. married .
Fortune telling (with felt boots) on the "side" in which you will marry
This is the most famous and widespread type of divination. The girls alternately throw the felt boots over their backs onto the road and, in the direction of the toe of the fallen felt boots, recognize the direction in which they will get married.
Divination with mirrors
This fortune-telling is well known from literature and is now popular with brave girls.
Mirrors in the old days were attributed magical properties. The custom of closing mirrors if there is a dead person in the house also reflects this attitude of our ancestors to the magic of mirrors.
Divination is carried out in an empty and quiet room. There should be no one and no sound. The fortune-telling girl should let her hair down and fully concentrate. She should sit in the dark near two opposite mirrors. The picture of Novikov shows this position of the girl. At midnight, the girl lights two candles, placed on the sides of the mirrors, and says: "My betrothed, mummers, show yourself to me" and begins to peer into the gallery of reflections, hoping to see her fiancé. You can sit in front of mirrors for a long time, or you can see your betrothed right away.
Divination in a new house
You can guess only in the house where you spend the night for the first time. Only then is the divination considered correct. Before going to bed, you should cross yourself three times and go to bed with the words: "I'm sleeping in a new place, dream of the bridegroom." The man you dream of will be your fiancé.
Fortune telling on straw
Guessing on straw is most interesting when there are many people present. Exactly at midnight, gather in one room, light a candle and start guessing. To find out the name of your betrothed, put straw on the table, knocked into a ball, put a frying pan on this lump, put a stone in the frying pan and pour some water. Then each of the girls should slowly pull out a straw, and the name of the betrothed should be heard from the sounds made by the stone when it vibrates in the pan. During divination, the room should be absolute silence.
Fortune telling (with burning the thread) on the speed and order of getting married
A simple and visual fortune-telling, which is popular in our time. It lies in the fact that the girls cut the threads of the same length (it is better to take thicker threads) and set them on fire at the same time. The threads must be held at one end, the other - lowered down and must be set on fire. Whoever burns out the thread ahead will be the first to be married. The sequence of burning threads in the hands of girls will show the order of their marriage. If someone's thread went out immediately or the thread burned out by less than half, then this girl will not marry.
Fortune telling (with a ring or a needle) on the gender of the unborn child
Certain actions are performed with a ring or a needle: the ring is lowered into a glass of water, a woolen fabric is pierced with a needle, then, suspended on a hair or thread, they are slowly lowered near the hand of the one they are guessing at. If the object (ring, needle) begins to make circular movements, a girl will be born (less often - a boy), if pendulum-shaped - a boy (less often - a girl), if the object does not move, there will be no children.
Divination (with the choice of subject) on the "quality" of life
Objects are hidden in a bag, cup or felt boot, then the girls choose their felt boot or bag. The choice of an object symbolizes life in the coming year: ash - a bad life, sugar - a sweet life, a ring - getting married, an onion - to tears, a glass - drunkenness, a golden ring - a rich life, etc., you can invent and refine fortune-telling with your own options .
Fortune telling with a rooster for a betrothed
Several plates or bowls are taken, grain (or money) is poured into one plate, water is poured into another, a mirror is placed next to it, sometimes a chicken is brought. A rooster approaching a mirror symbolizes the beauty and tenderness of the future groom, approaching grain or money - his wealth, water - a tendency to drunkenness, if a rooster approaches a chicken, then the groom will be a "womanizer".
Divination with matches
Two matches are inserted on the sides of the matchbox and set on fire. If the burnt heads are facing each other, then the "conceived" guy and girl will be together. If the match heads look in different directions or fall off, then no.
Fortune telling (by barking dogs) about the age of the groom
At midnight, take a knife, go out into the street, go up to the snowdrift and start cutting the snow with a knife, saying: “Damn, damn, don’t be silent, damn, damn, tell me what kind of husband will I get, will I have to laugh or cry?”.
After saying the words of the spell, shut up and listen carefully to the barking of dogs.
- If an angry, sharp bark is heard, it means that the future husband will be strict and gloomy;
- hoarse barking promises an old groom;
- shrill barking - the groom will have a bad temper;
- sonorous barking - young;
- if the dogs bark cheerfully and loudly, then the husband will also be cheerful and kind;
- it is very bad if a dog howl is heard during fortune-telling. This suggests that the marriage will be short-lived and very quickly the young wife will become a widow.
Fortune telling "Well"
To conduct this divination, you need a well. If a girl lives in a village and has a well with a lockable roof, then this is ideal. If there is no such well at your disposal, then you should make a symbolic well. To do this, you can use matches, toothpicks, other sticks. Building a well is quite simple. Make a square out of the sticks, laying the sticks on top of each other, and so make several rows. Take a thimble, pour some water into it and place it next to the well. In the villages, girls can pour water into a bucket and put it near a real well. Lock a real well with a real key, “lock” one made of sticks with any key, making the appropriate movement with your hand, and put the key under your pillow. Going to bed, say: "Narrowed-mummer, come to me to the well of water to drink, ask me for a key." A betrothed will come to you in a dream to drink water from your well.
Divination of fate by the shadows
This type of fortune-telling, due to its simplicity and clarity, is very common in the modern girlish environment. The girl sets fire to a paper sheet crumpled by her hand, and then examines the shadow of the burning paper on the wall - this is the first stage of divination, even at this stage quite clear images can arise.
Everyone takes a blank sheet of paper, crumple it, put it on a dish or on a large flat plate and set it on fire. When the sheet burns out or almost burns out, it is displayed on the wall with the help of a candle - this is the second and main stage. Carefully examining the shadows, they try to find out their future from the images of the shadows.
Fortune telling with a ring to evoke the image of the future groom
Take an ordinary glass with smooth walls, a flat bottom and without a pattern, pour water into it to 3/4 of the volume and carefully lower the wedding ring to the middle of the bottom. The ring must be pre-washed in running water so that it does not bear the information of its owner. Looking closely at the very center of the ring, saying the words: "My betrothed, mummers come to me," you can see the betrothed. To see it, you may have to look into the ring for quite some time.
Fortune telling with inducing sleep about the betrothed
We write the name of the young man on a piece of paper, put it on a small mirror and under the pillow, or put three bay leaves under the pillow. On one they write - "Ananias", on the other - "Azarius" and on the third - "Misail" and cast a spell: "From Monday to Tuesday, I look at the windowsill, whoever dreams of me, let me dream."
Guessing in the night from Monday to Tuesday. A sprig of spruce is taken, placed at the head of the head for the night. At the same time they say: "I lie down on Monday, I put a spruce tree at the head, dream of the one who thinks about me." Whoever dreams, he loves you.
Guessing in the night from Thursday to Friday. Going to bed, they say: "Thursday with Wednesday, Tuesday with Monday, Sunday with Saturday. Friday is alone and I am young, alone. I am lying on the Zion mountains, three angels in my head: one sees. Another will say, the third destiny indicate."
Girls wonder if they go to bed where they didn’t have to before. Before sleep say: "In a new place, dream groom to bride." In a dream you will see her fiancé.
Card reading
Before going to bed put under the pillow four kings and they say: "Who is my betrothed, who is my mummer, that dream to me in a dream." If you dream of a king of spades, the groom will be an old man and jealous, a red king means young and rich, a cross king means wait for matchmakers from a military or businessman, and a tambourine one from the desired one.
Divination by relatives
They go to look out the windows of their neighbors during dinner. If they see the heads of those sitting at the table, they foretell to themselves that future relatives will all be alive; if they don’t see the heads, then misfortune should happen to relatives.
Divination on wax
Melt the wax in a mug, pour milk in a saucer and place it at the threshold of an apartment or house. Say the following words: "Brownie, my master, come under the threshold to drink milk, eat wax." With the last words, pour the melted wax into the milk. Now watch closely what is happening.
- If you see a frozen cross, some kind of illness awaits you in the new year.
- If the cross only appears, then in the coming year your financial affairs will not go too well, and in your personal life troubles will overcome, but not too serious.
- If a flower blooms - get married, get married or find a loved one.
- If the beast appears, be careful: you will have some kind of enemy.
- If the wax flows in strips, you will have roads, crossings.
- Lie down with stars - expect good luck in the service, in your studies.
- If a human figure is formed, you will gain a friend.
- House - soon acquiring a new household; for a girl, this is primarily due to her marriage.
- Shapeless ruins - misfortune in the near future.
- A pit, a small cave or a grotto is the most undesirable figure, since it symbolizes the burial place and predicts a serious illness or close death .
- Trees - they can be interpreted in different ways: the upward branches of a tree promise quick joy, drooping - sadness, longing and boredom.
- A ring or a candle definitely predicts a quick wedding.
- A pancake that has sunk to the bottom, on the contrary, promises a long girlhood.
On bulbs
Take several bulbs and label each one. These bulbs are planted in the ground: whoever sprouts first, that girl will marry ahead of others.
around the ring
In an ordinary glass glass with a flat bottom, without any patterns, pour 3/4 of water and carefully lower the wedding ring to the middle of the bottom. Then they look through the water into the middle of the ring, where the image of the betrothed should appear.
Throw the ring on the floor. If it rolls to the door, it means that the girl will soon get married, and the man - on a business trip. Can be interpreted as leaving home.
The call of passers-by
Go outside at midnight and ask the name of the first person you meet. That is what your betrothed will be called, just like that he will be handsome and rich.
Eavesdropping
Climb under the window of the neighbors and, of course, listen. If they have a showdown with breaking dishes, you can expect a "fun" year. If there is silence in the house - and your year will be harmonious. Depending on what is happening in the house of neighbors at the time of eavesdropping, and you will develop the coming year.
Fortune telling on a wooden chip
Pour water into a bowl. Attach along the edges of the pelvis paper strips, on which events are written, for example, a wedding, a trip, receiving money, a new job, etc. (if the fortuneteller is alone), or the names of all those present who want to know their future. In the second case, one event is thought of, in particular, a wedding, an acquaintance with a future spouse, etc.
You need to take a dry chip, preferably a deciduous tree, and fix on it the stub of a candle that burned in the house where fortune-telling takes place. Light a candle and push the "boat" to the middle of the pelvis. From there, the sliver should itself swim up to one of the notes. Which note floats to, the event will happen. If the sliver rolls over or sinks, then the event you envisioned will not happen next year.
Fortune telling on an egg
Take a fresh egg, make a small hole in it and carefully pour the contents into a glass of water. When the squirrel curls up, according to the shape it has taken, you need to guess your future. The type of church means a wedding, a ring means betrothal, a cube means a coffin, a ship means a business trip (for a man) or the return of a husband from a business trip (for a woman). If the squirrel sank to the bottom - be in the house on fire.
Divination on logs
You need to go back to the woodpile and choose a log by touch. If it is even, smooth, without knots, the spouse will come across with an ideal character:
- thick and heavy log - the husband will be wealthy,
- there are many knots - a lot will be born in the family children,
- a crooked log - the husband will be oblique and lame or angry,
- a log is even, with a smooth thin bark - a handsome and young husband,
- thick rough bark - the husband is ugly,
- the bark on the log is peeled off in places or is completely absent - the husband is poor,
- cracked log - the husband will get old, pockmarked, with a physical handicap,
- a big log - a strong, strong husband,
- knotted log - the family will be big: each knot is an unborn child.
Divination with a cat
Make a wish, call your cat. If she crosses the threshold of the room with her left paw, the wish will come true. If it's right, it's not meant to be.
Divination by the book
Best to take book spiritual content, you can, for example, the "Bible", without opening it, guess the page number and line from above or below, then open it and read in a hidden place. They interpret what they read in accordance with what the most fortune-telling person is most interested in.
About Christmas time, carols, fortune-telling ...
It's time for miracles - Christmas Eve, Christmas time,
festivities of mummers in the night
and singing carols,
gates, sweets, rolls… **
And dreams of dawn interpretation,
and candlelight gatherings
and midnight divinations
on maps, wax, mirrors...
The last ... magic is sung,
they are more mysterious, ancient,
their tenacious gaze keeps secrets
births, lives and deaths.
In the depths of the looking glass world,
beyond the thin line of silver
lives, according to holy traditions,
visions of ghostly game.
A story about the past and the future
holds magic glass,
and about the cherished daily day
He knows the whole truth...
But this holy night
when the candle drops a glare,
do not rush with an urgent desire,
look at the native, wonderful face.
You can see in the mirror
the great mystery of the image,
because the world is fragile ... the abode -
your radiant eyes.
They keep all revelations
and all the inheritance of the soul,
fate graceful weaving
and chastity dreams.
They… feed visions…
I dare to guess
that mirrors only reflect
what they are given to reflect.
And therefore, with a pure desire
and a heart full of warmth,
share with them the power of thought,
create the path of your destiny.
Let it penetrate your windows
christmas Magic Light,
let the mirrors tell you
love, wealth, long life.
The desire to know your future, or at least its key points (marriage, good luck in business) has been inherent in people at all times. In Rus', too, a lot and often guessed. Usually, a special, “sacred” time was chosen for this, when certain magical entities, otherworldly forces could reveal their secrets.
The days of the autumn and spring equinoxes, the summer solstice (Ivan Kupala), ancient pagan, and later Christian festivities (Trinity week, the time from Christmas to Epiphany, Intercession, etc.) were considered such times.
Kupala divination
On the night of Kupala, unmarried girls were guessing at their future betrothed. There were many ways. The most common:
1. Weave a wreath and let it float down the river. It will swim for a long time - soon the owner of this wreath will get married. If she drowns, she will have to spend another year in girls.
2. Jump above all over the fire, which was kindled in the evening on the occasion of the holiday. If it turned out to jump so high that the flames did not touch the legs, then the person will be happy all year and everything will work out for him.
3. Go to the field in the evening and pull out a small plant from the ground along with the root. If the spine is thick and short, the future husband will appear the same. If on the contrary, the husband will be tall and fine. If a lot of land stuck to the root, then a rich groom will marry the girl.
Christmas divination
For Christmas time - Trinity and Christmas holidays - there was a whole collection of all kinds of fortune-telling. Very often they guessed at the Christmas cake. Usually this was done in small groups, because it was more interesting that way. First, the girls baked a pie together, then they took turns leaving the gate with this pie. Seeing the traveler, the girl approached him, treated him to a piece of cake and immediately asked for his name. What name the man called, and according to the belief, the future spouse of this girl should have been called.
In a similar way, they guessed at the betrothed with the help of a boot. The girl had to take off her boot from her foot and throw it over the gate. Where the sock is turned - in that direction the groom lives.
Another method of divination required the use of several items. A group of girls gathered at one of their houses. Various objects were put into a felt boot or a bowl: a ring, a piece of sugar, a small onion, a handful of ash. Then, those participating in fortune-telling had to, closing their eyes, randomly pull out one object from the common heap. Depending on the “catch”, life was also predicted. The ring symbolized imminent marriage, ash - misfortune and poor life, sugar - on the contrary, joyful and sweet, onion - bitter tears.
In this article:
Techniques for predicting the future have been used since ancient times, they have been distributed across all continents and in all countries of the world. Fortune telling in Rus' has also existed for many centuries, on ordinary days the future was predicted by sorcerers and sorcerers, but on Christmas time and other holidays, everyone used this magic.
As guessed in Russia
On winter evenings, many girls in Rus' whiled away the time using various methods of predicting the future, rich and enlightened ladies and hawthorns could use methods common in Europe, for example, fortune telling on cards, and in the Russian outback they used simpler and more affordable folk remedies.
There is a huge number of different ways to predict the future, which have been used for centuries in our country, it is simply impossible to list and describe everything, therefore we will consider only the most popular and interesting from the point of view of a modern person.
Old-fashioned egg divination
This is a simple technique for predicting the future, which is in many ways similar to the old diagnostic tool for the evil eye or damage. To carry out such a fortune-telling, you will need to draw warm water into a clean transparent glass, and then dissolve the egg white in it.
When the squirrel dissolves in the water, it will create various shapes, according to which the future is predicted.
The most common characters in this technique:
- The church is a wedding for a young girl and a quick death for an old lady.
- A ship with sails - the imminent arrival of a husband for a married woman, and for a girl - an imminent marriage to a loved one living in a foreign country.
- It is believed that the most negative future portends a protein that has blossomed to the very bottom of the glass. Such a sign can mean imminent danger, illness, fire or death of a fortuneteller or one of his relatives.
Simple divination with a mitten
This is a simple technique that is more of an entertainment than a serious possibility of predicting the future. At the same time, in the old days, people believed in the veracity of this fortune-telling.
This method is designed to find out who will soon visit the house in which fortune-telling is carried out. To do this, you need to take a mitten from a high shelf and throw it up. It is believed that if the mitten falls with your thumb up, this predicts the imminent appearance of someone who is really expected in this house. If the thumb is down, then either an unexpected visitor will come, or the one who is really expected and wanted to see will not come.
***New Year's divination on spoons
This technique was used in almost every house on New Year's Eve. To carry out fortune-telling, each family member needs to take a spoon in his hands, draw water into it and take it to a cold place (preferably to fresh air, for example, to the balcony). It is believed that if the water in the spoon freezes with a slight depression, this is a clear harbinger of trouble (illness, financial difficulties), a flat ice surface means that the new year will pass for a person without major changes. If the water freezes and forms a small tubercle, this is a good sign, meaning that the new year will bring joy and prosperity to a person.
Divination for Kupala
The holiday of Ivan Kupala has been widely celebrated in all cities and towns of Russia since the most ancient times. The celebration has always been accompanied by numerous magical rites and rituals aimed at attracting good luck and prosperity. In addition, numerous methods of predicting the future were carried out at this time. As an example, consider the method with a river and a wreath.
This fortune-telling was carried out by girls in order to find out if they were destined to get married this year. To do this, the girls were divided into small groups and set off at dusk to the nearest river. On the way, they gathered herbs and flowers and wove them into beautiful wreaths. Approaching the river, the girls took turns lowering the freshly woven wreaths into the water.
It was believed that if a wreath made by a girl floats far, then this year she will definitely meet her betrothed and marry him. If the wreath sank, it meant that the girl would remain unmarried for another year.
Ritual with an ax
Russian fortune-telling is very diverse and interesting, it is pleasant to read about them and imagine how our distant ancestors performed these beautiful rituals. In order for the picture of the rituals of predicting the future in our country to be complete, it is necessary to mention one of the most ancient divination.
This technique was used to find out the perpetrator of a particular crime. All the suspects were brought to one place and placed in one circle. A priest came out to the center of the circle, holding an ax in his hands, impaled on a long wooden stake (the stake is needed so that the ax easily rotates on a tree). After that, the priest began to spin the ax in his hands and pronounced aloud the names of all the suspects standing in a circle. It was believed that the ax would begin to twist at the moment when the priest pronounces the name of the really guilty one.
In divination, it is better to use a decorative ax The same prediction technique could be used to answer other questions. In particular, it was also used by young girls who wanted to know which of them was destined to marry first. In this case, the whole procedure was repeated, only instead of the suspects, girls stood in the circle, and the priestess pronounced their names in turn.
How to tell fortunes on a sieve
This tool in Rus' was usually used in cases when some things or livestock disappeared from the house, it was believed that with the help of such fortune-telling it was easy to find out the culprit. It is important to note that this ritual required not an ordinary, but a specially prepared sieve, with which the fortune-tellers sowed snow on winter nights and shook it out in the moonlight.
When the sieve is ready, the head of the family sets it on his index finger, and then extends this hand to the north. After that, he begins to turn clockwise and pronounces the names of all the people who could be involved in the committed atrocity. The whole action must be carefully monitored by fortune-tellers who observe the position of the sieve. When they see that at the same time as pronouncing a certain name, the sieve is constantly moving, that one is the criminals.
Christmas cake
This tool was used by young girls who wanted to know the name of their betrothed. To do this, they took bread or a pie baked at Christmas time, and ran out into the street with it on a dark night. They treated the first man they met to a pie and asked his name. It was believed that their betrothed would be called exactly the same as this random man.
In different parts of the country, there were various options for conducting this simple rite of predicting the future. In some areas, the girl had to run down the street with a pancake on her head, and in others with a stuffed mouth. It is also worth noting that even in those ancient times, they practically did not believe in the effectiveness of this remedy, just the girls, thus, had fun and had a good time in the company of their peers.
Russian fortune telling on cards
As already mentioned, card fortune telling was common in our country only in high society, ordinary girls not only had this tool inaccessible, they simply did not know about it. Such techniques became widespread only during the reign of Empress Catherine II, who was a well-known connoisseur and lover of everything mystical.
