Faucets

Fortune telling of the 19th century. Main types of fortune telling

Attempts to see the future using magic go back to ancient times. Mentions of various methods that were used for this are found in ancient manuscripts of Egypt, Greece, and Ancient Rome. But, of course, even in the pre-literate period of human development, the practice of fortune telling was used. And this is evidenced by ancient rock paintings, which depict experiences of primitive magic. Thus, in the very essence of a person lies the desire to find out about one’s own future and, if possible, change it with the help of magical techniques.

Mysteries of the future

It should be noted that the majority of the planet's population at any time had little interest in the fate of the world. From magicians, oracles and priests, ordinary people sought answers to more pressing questions. For example, it was necessary to find out whether there would be a harvest or how soon the men would return from a hike. Thus, fortune telling in the ancient world was more of an applied nature.

The rulers of ancient states were, of course, more interested in global issues, for example, the outcome of a war or their own longevity. And here, it should be noted that not all magicians could count on a prosperous, secure and calm life. The truth, said to the face, might not please the powerful of this world and could be mortally dangerous.

There is a legend about how a fortuneteller predicted the death of lightning for the Emperor of Rome Domitian. And then a counter question followed about how the magician himself would die. The sorcerer said that he would be torn to pieces by dogs. Domitian grinned and ordered the fortuneteller to be killed and his corpse burned. His amazement knew no bounds when the next morning a message arrived that the corpse of a man killed and allegedly burned in the central square of the city was being torn apart by dogs. Everything turned out to be simple, it started to rain and the executioners left without waiting for the fire to burn out. Thus, the prediction came true.

In Ancient Rome

Fortune telling was most popular in Ancient Greece, Rome, Assyria, Egypt and Babylon. Thus, in Ancient Rome, fortune telling was given the rank of state rites, and not a single important event took place without the participation of magicians and sorcerers. In ancient Greece, the power of fortune tellers and priestesses was so great. That they were a huge success in society.

But with the advent of Christianity, the attitude towards fortune telling changed. According to religious dogma, magical predictions were classified as prohibited activities. Sorcerers and fortune tellers became persecuted because, according to the church, they were engaged in sinful activities.

Slavic fortune-telling in Ancient Rus' was distinguished by a special flavor. This is due, first of all, to the fact that in the imagination of the ancient Russians, the world around them was inhabited by a variety of fairy-tale creatures, spirits and deities. All of them were aware of human destinies, and, therefore, it was possible by turning to them to get the desired answer. It is noteworthy that the Orthodox Church secretly accepted pagan rituals. While not encouraging the use of magic, church ministers of the Orthodox Church classify fortune telling as a mystical sphere.

Yuletide fortune telling

The most popular, which have survived even to our times, are Yuletide fortune-telling. Christmastide is two holiday weeks that last from Christmas Eve (January 6) to Epiphany (January 19). It is believed that fortune telling during this period is always reliable.

A huge variety of magical rituals have been invented to help you find out your own destiny at Christmas time. But both in ancient times and today, rituals for the betrothed are the most attractive. The optimal time for fortune telling was at night or early morning, before the sun rose and the roosters crowed.

For all fortune telling, there are special rules that must be followed in order to obtain reliable information:

It is necessary to remove all amulets and the pectoral cross in order to leave the protection of faith;
You should untie all possible knots on your clothes and let your hair down, and in the old days girls often stripped naked before the ceremony.
Choose a secluded place and make sure there are no animals in the room.

Fortune telling with tarot cards also came from antiquity. Introduced in Europe in the 12th century, they were originally used as a game of chance. The first mention of their use as an attribute during fortune telling dates back to 1526. As a rule, nomadic gypsies, who at that time penetrated into Europe, offered fortune telling with tarot cards. Since the origin of this people is often associated with Ancient Egypt, tarot cards have acquired some mystery and interest in them has increased.

Scientists explain the particular popularity of tarot cards as a fortune-telling tool by the fact that they allow a person to escape from the events of the recent past and tune in to the future. In addition, such fortune telling can be useful if used for self-knowledge.

Life does not stand still, and modern magic offers simpler methods instead of complex ancient rituals and ceremonies that require special preparation. As it turned out, you can use any household appliances for this.

Prediction using radio

Prediction using radio is especially popular. To do this, you need to turn on the radio on the first wave and listen to the line of the song that was playing. It is a prediction that needs to be interpreted as applied to a specific day or current situation. This is quite not easy and you will need to use all your imagination. They say that in order not to violate the reliability of such predictions, the procedure should be performed once a day, preferably in the morning.

An ancient Russian custom

Another modern fortune telling is transformed from an ancient ancient Russian custom. It was necessary to walk down the street on Epiphany evening, and the first man you met was your betrothed. Now a walk can be replaced by watching TV. To do this, you need to turn on the TV on Epiphany evening and the first man seen on the TV program represents the prototype of the betrothed. It is the search for such a person that will need to be undertaken next year.

You can also tell fortunes using your phone. To do this, you need to dial any phone number using a random set of numbers:

If there are short beeps, then empty troubles await you in the near future;
If the beeps are long, then you should expect troubles in life associated with illness and loneliness;
If a stranger picks up the phone, then you can expect a hectic life filled with adventures;
If a man's voice is heard on the phone, this portends problems at work or in business.

An original fortune telling, similar to a game, is fortune telling based on gifts. As a rule, it is held on New Year's Day, since this particular holiday is unthinkable without gifts. Choose one of the gifts that has a barcode on it and add up all its numbers until you get a single digit number.

Then look at the result of fortune telling:

1 - cardinal changes in life are possible.
2 – expect new pleasant acquaintances and interesting travels.
3 – you can expect success in the financial sector and career growth.
4 – possible early marriage;
5 – Difficult times may come, but you have enough strength to survive.
6 – all endeavors will be successful.
7 – health problems may arise for you or your relatives.
8 – the dream will come true in the near future.
9 – soon your outlook on life will change.

Internet fortune telling

Fortune telling in the modern world can also be done using the Internet. To do this, you can use many specialized sites. In addition, by analogy with TV, you can ask a question in a search engine, and then interpret the first link received according to the situation.

All modern methods of fortune telling have nothing to do with magic. But on the other hand, they should be treated as a hint, and sometimes even as a guide to action. But more serious types of fortune telling must be treated very carefully. The danger is that you can program yourself for a certain fate, and this is unlikely to be done, because a person always has a choice of life path.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I. MAIN TYPES OF FORTUNE DIVINES

CHAPTER II. Yuletide Fortune Telling

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Russian holiday culture is controversial. The fact is that in the context of historical events, many holiday rituals underwent very strong changes, so Maslenitsa from a pagan cult turned into an Orthodox holiday, which, however, retained many pagan features.

In general, most Russian calendar holidays largely bear the features of pagan rituals. Fortune telling is also one of the elements of pagan culture.

Researcher of Russian culture M. Zabylin provides the following classification among Christmas fortune-telling (more precisely, types of fortune-telling): fortune-telling on things, burying gold, calling passers-by and passers-by, eavesdropping, fortune-telling on chickens, fortune-telling on horses, fortune-telling at the gate, fortune-telling with a shoe, fortune-telling on bulbs , fortune telling with an egg, fortune telling on logs, fortune telling with wax, fortune telling on a collection, fortune telling with a torch, fortune telling on cowhide or cow skin, fortune telling in a frying pan, etc. In my work, I did not set out to list all types of fortune telling, but rather to highlight the most striking ones according to the target sign. This is very interesting, because you can see that when fortune telling was not abolished, they formed a tangible part of the life of the ancient Slavs, and each fortune telling performed very specific functions, answered very specific questions concerning the future life of an individual or group of people. At the moment, you can find a sufficient number of publications devoted to fortune telling, but there is practically no research on the origins of this action.

My work is divided into two main parts. The first part talks about some of the individual reasons for fortune telling. The second examines fortune telling directly related to Christmas holidays.

CHAPTER I.

MAIN TYPES OF FORTUNE DIVINES

Dream fortune telling is one of the most common types of fortune telling, based on traditional ideas that a person’s soul leaves his body in a dream and travels through heaven or hell. If in other types of fortune-telling a person only approaches the border between “this” and the other worlds, then during sleep his immortal part, according to legend, the soul, has the opportunity to gain knowledge directly in the “other” world, where only the dead can penetrate. In this regard, it is significant that in popular ideas, sleep and death appear as one-order, one-natural (for comparison, there are sayings: “The dream of death brother” or “The dream of death”) and even as identical (you can compare popular definitions: “Death is eternal sleep”, “You will fall asleep that you will die”, “Sleepy that you are dead”, “A person is sleeping - not alive”, etc.). The relationship between sleep and death is also evidenced by linguistic material: rest (sleep) - rest (die), bedroom - tomb, sleeping - dormition, sleeping - deceased, etc.

The motif of sleep as a way of getting into the “other” world (hell, heaven, the thirtieth kingdom) is widespread in narrative folklore genres: legends, tales, extinctions, fairy tales - in which every time, returning to “one’s” world from the “other”, the hero acquires the knowledge that is significant and relevant for him in his life situation. The same can be said about a fortune-telling subject.

The identification of sleep and death in folklore and poetic texts is reinforced by folk ideas about the fragility of the boundary between the real state of sleep and death: so, according to legend, the one who sleeps with his shirt collar buttoned will sleep his soul, that is, die. Close to this belief is the widespread prohibition among Russians to abruptly wake up a sleeping person, because his soul, which is outside the body, will not have time to return and the person will die.

The attitude towards dreams (visions) as information-knowledge, a sign received from the “other” world, where everything is known, knowable, “written” in advance, led to belief in prophetic dreams (dreams are predictions of the future). In the practice of fortune telling, dreams that coincided with certain time points that had the significance of a milestone were considered prophetic. Within the calendar year, dream fortune-telling was performed on the Feast of the Entry, on Ivan Kupala and some others. But the brightest and most varied cycle of these fortune-telling occurred during Christmas time.

Dream fortune telling is usually single. Usually they were carried out by girls who had reached marriageable age, their mothers or relatives. Knowledge could be obtained both from a girl’s dream (either the girl told fortunes herself, or her mother or relative did fortune-telling, and the girl herself might not know about it), and from the dream of a fortune-telling mother (the daughter put objects related to fortune-telling in her mother’s bed, and the mother might not know about it).

For fortune-telling, objects were prepared for sleep (a bridge made of twigs, a well of splinters, a mirror, a key with a lock, etc.), which were placed in a place associated with the bed (under a pillow, under a mattress, under a bed), or actions preceding fortune-telling were performed ( they put a stocking on one leg, closed a real well or a bucket of water, went outside to the ninth milestone and, taking a branch there, returned home, etc.). When going to bed, they cast an imperative spell: either an appeal to the “betrothed-mummer” with a request to come and perform this or that action (give him a drink, take off his shoes, take him across a bridge, etc.) or to an object used in fortune telling (a belt, a cockroach and etc.) so that they show where the “betrothed-mummer” lives. Sometimes spells were cast without preliminary actions and without any objects.

As in other types of divination, when fortune-telling a dream, they did not read a prayer, removed the cross, and let their hair down. It is significant that they went to bed dressed, which likened the fortune teller to a dead person. This circumstance also indicates that the dream involved a journey, and therefore it was necessary to be dressed.

Objects used in dream fortune telling or objects created by the fortuneteller directly or indirectly correlate with the symbolism of marriage and the wedding ceremony. Thus, a comb, soap, a mirror, which the girl put under the pillow with the words: “Betrothed-mummer, come comb my hair and wash me!” - are often a gift from the groom to the bride at various stages of the wedding ceremony. The meaning of a rod from a broom (“The betrothed-mummer, come to me to take a steam bath!”), a stocking on one leg (“The betrothed-mummer, come take off my shoes!”), a broom (“The betrothed-mummer, come with me for revenge!”) , frying pans and a frying pan (the daughter puts them under the mattress or at the head of the mother’s bed - feed the groom pancakes), etc., are also elements from the wedding ceremony.

The image of a bridge over which a guy takes a girl (from the twigs of a broom they made a bridge over a cup of water and placed it under the bed: “Betrothed, take me across the bridge!”) is characteristic of wedding lyrics and symbolizes marriage.

The motive of thirst in the widespread fortune telling is “oversalting” (they ate something salty at night or mixed a thimble of salt with a thimble of water and drank, saying: “Betrothed-mummer, come give me a drink!”) and the motive of locking-unlocking (the girl locked a well in the yard, a bucket of water, and the key was placed under the pillow: “The betrothed-mummer, come ask for the key, water the horse!”; a mother or relative locked the girl’s braid - a symbol of girlhood, her shirt, belt, bed) in traditional culture. have fairly transparent erotic symbolism.

Fortune-telling with a branch taken from the ninth milestone (“Ninth milestone, show the groom!”), or with a belt (they whipped it three times against the rope of someone else’s house and each time they said: “Vereya, vereya, show my groom. Belt, belt, show me betrothed train”; when they went to bed, they spread the belt across the bed and slept on it) are associated with the idea of the significance of “border” objects (landmark, gate post) and the motif of the road along which the “betrothed” can pass by these objects.

The idea of the path from the girl’s house to the groom’s house is related to fortune telling with a cockroach, which in the ritual acts as a guide: a cockroach taken from a neighbor’s house was placed under the pillow and they said three times: “Cockroach, cockroach, take me to the gate where the betrothed lives "or "Cockroach, cockroach, take me around the cities, show me where my betrothed lives."

In dream fortune telling, as in other types of fortune telling, the traditional idea of the magical meaning of everything first was used. So, the fortuneteller put the first piece of dinner under the pillow and invited her “betrothed” to a meal. If a girl happened to spend the night in a new place on New Year’s Eve, before going to bed she would say: “I’m sleeping in a new place, the bridegroom will dream of the bride!”

The next morning the fortuneteller recalled the dream and interpreted it. To prevent the dream from being forgotten, according to popular belief, it was impossible to get out of bed and immediately look out the window. In order for the dream, which was considered prophetic, not to come true, the person who saw it had to go to the well before 12 o’clock in the afternoon and wash with water from it, that is, “wash off the dream.”

Fortune telling about the harvest. One of the main themes of fortune telling in traditional Russian culture. In ethnographic sources of the 19th-20th centuries. fortune telling about the harvest constitutes a much smaller volume compared to fortune telling about fate. Nevertheless, their significance in folk culture is undeniable, despite the fact that the main occupation of its bearers was agriculture.

The main questions of fortune telling about the harvest are whether the grain will be good; which of the grain and garden crops will give the best harvest in the new year and which, therefore, needs to be sown more; what are the best times for sowing? Which member of the household should start sowing.

A larger number of fortune telling about the harvest was made during Christmastide, which began a new cycle of the solar calendar. At Christmas, during the meal, straws were pulled out of a sheaf of rye placed in a red corner and the future harvest was judged by the ear. In the Great Russian regions bordering the Belarusian and Ukrainian regions, straws were pulled from under the tablecloth, since here it was customary to put hay or straw on the table on Christmas Eve.

The main Christmas fortune-telling about the harvest took place on New Year's Eve. Fortune telling was widespread, involving the search for grain under the table the morning after the New Year's meal: the grain found promised a harvest and wealth. In the Vologda province, this fortune telling was timed to coincide with Epiphany Christmas Eve. In the Penza province, on New Year's Eve, they specially baked a loaf of bread, which they left at the icons overnight, and in the morning they looked to see whether the weight of the bread had increased or decreased: in the first case, they waited for a good year and ate the loaf of bread with the whole family, in the second, they assumed a bad harvest, and the bread was given to livestock, so that he does not suffer from hunger during the lack of food.

If during Christmas time the peasant was mainly concerned with the fundamental question: whether the year would be fruitful, then in the spring he asked himself more specific problems. Thus, in Sredokrestye, which signifies the middle of Lent and is at the same time interpreted in the popular consciousness as one of the calendar milestones associated with the approach of sowing work, they wondered about the “best hand”, “lucky hand”, that is, about who should start sowing, so that the harvest was greater. On the Annunciation, immediately preceding the sowing period, the peasants wondered about a better time to begin work. So, in Siberia, on this holiday, the first three eggs laid by a young hen were weighed; the greater weight of the first egg indicated that it was better for the harvest to be sown in the “first” sowing (at the end of April until May 1). If the second egg is heavier, you should sow from the middle of sowing time (from Nikola Veshny), and if the third is the heaviest, you need to start sowing in the last dates, that is, from May 15 to 20. The Angara people had a similar fortune-telling based on the thickness of the “maxa” (milt) of the pike of the first catch.

The last fortune telling of the year about the harvest was carried out on the night of Ivan Kupala, on a holiday associated with the summer solstice, that is, the final half of the year, during which the peasant did everything to ensure a good harvest, but now everything depended only on nature itself. In the Yenisei province, this fortune-telling consisted of hanging a soaked rag in the yard on the night of Ivan the Dome, and in the morning they looked: if the rag was dry, the summer would be warm and the bread would be born well, and if it froze, it would be cold in the summer and the bread would freeze. A similar fortune-telling was performed on the Angara on the night of the Annunciation.

All members of the household took part in fortune telling about the harvest within the family, and often the leading role was given to the owner of the house. But the whole community could guess about the well-being of the harvest. Thus, in the Penza province, society chose 12 old people (according to the number of months in the year), who were distinguished by their exemplary lives. Around midnight on New Year's Eve, the old people went to the church and placed sheaves of various grain crops and potatoes behind the church fence near the porch. The next morning, the same old people returned to the church and noted: which of the sheaves has more frost on it, that is the bread that needs to be sown.

The material used for fortune telling about the harvest is distinguished by its homogeneity, both within the set of objects itself (sheaf - ear - grain - bread), and in comparison with what they are trying to find out (harvest). The subject line “ear - grain - bread” reflects the stages of harvest processing, which gradually turns from a natural phenomenon (plant) into a cultural object (bread). All these objects in traditional culture acquire a symbolic meaning of harvest and fertility. The same can be said about eggs and pike milk (caviar): their use in G. about u. due to the fact that in mythopoetic representations they have the same meaning as grain, the latter - at the level of the plant code, and egg and milk - at the level of the animal code.

Grain, ears of corn and bread were widely used materials in fortune telling. Here they served as a sign of prosperity in the future life or promised the girl a rich, prosperous groom. Some fortune-telling about the harvest and about fate were identical in form: for example, in both the Penza and Nizhny Novgorod provinces on Christmastide it was customary to pull out ears of corn from a haystack with your teeth. The quality of the spikelet (full or empty, without grains) indicated in one fortune-telling a future harvest or crop failure, in another - a rich or poor groom. The pattern of parallelism of the symbolism of grain (ear, bread) - harvest and wealth - is quite transparent and once again indicates the interrelation of agricultural and family rituals.

Objects used in fortune telling for the harvest (grain found under the table; a baked cross in the middle) were preserved until the first sowing as having a productive power and were placed in a seeder with seeds or consumed as ritual food when they began to sow the field.

Fortune telling about the harvest is closely related to signs, the main object of observation of which is the weather, which affects the life of plants. New Year's signs (frost, frost, snow cover, etc.) were based on many years of peasant observations of the dependence of the harvest not only on summer, but also on winter weather.

Heat and cold, humidity and drought are the main regulators of soil fertility. Hence the use of water, taking into account its “behavior” in conditions of heat or cold in the above-mentioned fortune-telling for Epiphany.

The main bearer of the harvest, according to the peasant, was the earth, which in mythopoetic ideas is assigned the role of the source of all living things; therefore, in oral literature, in ritual practice, and even in everyday life, she was called mother-raw earth. This attitude towards the land naturally leads to turning to it in fortune-telling about the harvest. On Christmas Day, after Matins, they went to the crossroads, drew a cross on the ground with a stick or finger and put their ear to this place, listening: if they heard that a sleigh was traveling with a load, there would be a harvest, if it was empty, there would be a shortage of crops.

CHAPTER II.

Yuletide Fortune Telling

Christmastide, i.e. holy days - twelve days after the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, before the Feast of the Epiphany. They are also called St. in the evenings, perhaps in memory of the events of the Nativity and baptism of the Savior, which took place at night or in the evening. The church began to sanctify the twelve days after the Feast of the Nativity of Christ in ancient times. An indication of this can be the 13 conversations of St. Ephraim the Syrian, spoken by him from December 25 to January 6, as well as the “words” of St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Gregory of Nyssa. The ancient twelve-day celebration of Christmastide (dwdecahmern) is confirmed by the church charter of the Monk Sava the Sanctified (d. 530), according to which on the days of S. “there is no fasting, there is no kneeling, lower in the church, lower in the cells,” and it is forbidden to perform the sacrament of marriage. This is also confirmed by the Code of Justinian, published in 535. The Second Council of Turon, in 567, called all days from the Nativity of Christ to Epiphany holidays. Meanwhile, the sanctity of these days and evenings was in many places violated by fortune telling and other superstitious customs that survived from the pagan festivals of the same time of year. By the way, Rules 61 and 62 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council are directed against this. The law in force in our country prohibits “on the eve of the Nativity of Christ and throughout the Christmastide, according to ancient idolatrous legends, starting games and, dressing up in idolatrous robes, performing dances in the streets and singing seductive songs” (St. Zak. XIV, part 4, 33 - 34).

Christmas fortune-telling is the largest, most diverse and vibrant complex of fortune-telling within the calendar year. Its timing specifically at Christmas time is due to the specifics of this time period as the main one within the annual cycle of transition from old to new. A feature of this period is the vagueness of the time boundary (a kind of timelessness - a gap in which the signs of old and new, past and beginning are not identified) and the disappearance of “spatial” boundaries between “worlds” (living and dead, people and creatures of non-human nature - unclean forces) - create the possibility of human contact with the “other” world, where, according to popular beliefs, people’s destinies are written.

Unlike fortune-telling of other annual periods, Yuletide fortune-telling is independent in nature: it is isolated from other ritual complexes performed during these periods.

In Yuletide fortune-telling, two main topics of concern to the peasant are developed with equal significance: the future harvest and fate (prospective events in life) within the next year. Both topics affect the interests of each individual person, the individual family, and the entire community as a whole.

During the Yuletide period, fortune telling could be done on any day, but most of the fortune telling, considered by the people to be “true”, was carried out on Christmas Eve, Christmas and Epiphany, and on the eve of Vasily’s Day (New Year’s Eve), that is, on dates more specifically marked with a milestone sign .

Fortune-telling within the family about the fate of each of its members can be considered as a special group; the greatest variability of these fortune-telling, mainly due to the variety of objects used, is presented during the Christmastide period. Family fortune-telling about life and death was usually timed to coincide with New Year's Eve. They are characterized by a single composition of participants (family) and a single structure: identical objects, each of which symbolizes one or another family member, are left overnight, and on the morning of the New Year, life or death is judged by their condition. It is noteworthy that the objects used are parts of something whole (pieces of bread - bread; twigs - branch; logs - tree trunk), symbolizing, in turn, the family. A change in the state of the object (a twig in the snow or a log near the wall fell, a piece of bread in the entryway disappeared) foreshadows the death of the one in the family to whom the object was assigned. Only in the case when the missing piece of bread was the girl’s, it was believed that she would get married, but still leave the family. Close to those noted, fortune telling with spoons: after dinner, according to the number of people in the family, they were placed in a large frying pan, filled with water and taken out into the cold. In the morning they looked: if the water froze into a hole, it meant the death of the one whose spoon it was.

Among all the Christmas fortune-telling, maiden ones are distinguished by the greatest variety: they are built on a variety of principles and answer questions of both a general nature and quite specific ones; Moreover, some of the fortune-telling provide information of the highest degree of accuracy and exhaustiveness.

The most general (about fate in general), but nevertheless widespread everywhere, include fortune telling based on the transformation of a particular material (substance) with the help of fire and water. This is the casting of wax, tin, and lead, which are first melted and then poured into water, where the substances take on a new form. They examine either this form or its shadow on the wall and try to interpret the resulting pattern or silhouette in accordance with traditional ideas. The choice of material for casting is not accidental. In addition to the fact that these materials are convenient in their physical properties (they melt and harden easily), they are associated with images of creatures that have an otherworldly nature and perform intermediary functions in mythopoetic texts and in ritual practice. Thus, wax, naturally, is associated with a bee (for the image of a bee, see Kutya), and metals, especially tin, according to popular beliefs, are associated with the image of a snake (in fairy tales, for example, the snake, that is, “other,” kingdom is characterized as tin ). The correlation of these materials with intermediary creatures, as well as with the “other” world, determines their predictive function and use in fortune telling, magic, and folk medicine.

Fortune-telling using casting is complemented by fortune-telling involving releasing an egg: white or yolk, into a glass of warm water, as well as burning or soaking crumpled paper.

The general question about fate is answered by fortune-telling based on drawing lots, for example, fortune-telling. Fortune telling can also be attributed to this type, when a girl puts a woman’s headdress, a piece of bread and a piece of wood into a pot, and then, closing her eyes, pulls out her “fate” in the new year: marriage, continuation of girlhood, or death. The structure of fortune telling with a zhirovka (a rectangular board) is similar in structure, only there are not one, but four girls telling fortunes. Bread, coal, pechina (a piece of clay from the oven) and a ring were placed on the corners of the fat stove; They covered everything with a tablecloth and sang: “I’m burying the fat for the holy evening, for St. Basil’s. The fat is small, the windows are large, slanted, slatted, the flea couldn’t jump, the goat jumped, took away the horns, and twisted its tail. You take your corner!” They opened the tablecloth and looked at who got what: bread - to live richly, coal - to death, stove - to live in sadness, a ring - to marriage.

The largest number of fortune telling methods is associated with a topical question for girls of marriageable age - will marriage take place in the new year? Listening under other people’s windows was also used here (a girl knocked on the window with a spoon: if a man’s voice responded, she would get married, a woman’s voice - “stay at home”), on the gateway (during Epiphany mass, the fortuneteller, opening the front and back gates, covered herself with a tablecloth, she sat on the porch of the front gate and waited: if a train with bells and bells passed through the yard - for marriage, but if nothing was heard - to remain “in the girls”), and the drawing of lots (several pots were placed in the hut, under one of them they were placed warrior - a female headdress: whichever girl chooses this pot will marry; or for one girl two pots were placed on the bench: under one - a scarf, under the other - a warrior; the choice of the first pot promised the continuation of girlhood, the second - marriage), and monitoring the change in the condition of the object (the towel was hung for an hour in the canopy or at night outside the window with the words: “Mummer, come dry yourself!” - if the towel became wet, the girl would be married in the new year). Fortune telling was also popular based on counting grain (they counted grains before and after giving it to a chicken to peck), straws from a handful of straw taken from a barn or something else (a paired remainder foreshadowed marriage), as well as on measuring a hut or yard a stick, a yoke, a piece of wood, one’s own body, etc.: if the object does not fit into the measured space or the girl, when rolling around the yard, ends up facing the street, this portends marriage. In fortune-telling about marriage, they were guided by who would be the first to enter the house (on Christmas Eve, the girl hit the matitsa, a cross beam on the ceiling, with a rolling pin, and in the morning she noticed: if someone who was married was the first to enter the house, then her fate was to get married). Fortune-telling related to the search for an object hidden in the snow (searching for a kneading bowl using a churning stick or a stick for stirring dough) or unhindered entry into the street through a gate, provided that the girl was wearing a kneading bowl on her head, as well as falling into a trough or kneading bowl were widespread. , to which you need to go “backward” and not miss. One of the reasons for the diversity of girls' fortune-telling about marriage is the specification of issues related to this topic. Guessing about who would get married first, the girls each threw their cake to the dog or let the rooster approach the handfuls of grain, each of which contained a ring from one or another fortuneteller, and looked: whose cake the dog would eat first or whose handful of grain the rooster would peck. For the same purpose, the girls took the stubs of the first torches lit in the morning, walked with them to the ice hole and lowered the lit torches into the water; returning home, they tried to light them again: the girl who managed to do this the fastest was supposed to get married before the others.

Fortune-telling related to the question of where the girl will marry and, accordingly, where to wait for the groom, were most often based on listening (at a crossroads, near a fence, in an attic and in other places: where will the barking of a dog be heard or the sounds of the gospel during Epiphany mass), on determining the direction where the smoke from the lit shavings will go, where the ignited splinter stuck into a crack in the floor will turn, in which direction the cow will lie in the morning with its horns tied with a girl’s belt in the evening. Most often, fortune telling on this topic was based on throwing, sometimes with closed eyes, various objects: a whorl, a poker, a shoe from the left foot (it was thrown over a hut, a gate, a well, a haystack, a woodpile), rolled up into a ball and unfolded in flying belt.

Many Christmas fortune tellings were aimed at recognizing the various characteristics of the groom: young or old, boyfriend or widower, poor or rich, handsome or ugly, kind or evil

In order to find out what color the groom's hair was, they took a handful of snow in the gateway and looked for a hair or hair in it and judged it by its color; or, having combed their hair, they lowered the comb underground on a thread at night, and in the morning they checked which hair the betrothed had “combed.”

Fortune telling about the name of the groom was most often based on asking him from the first person he met and on listening under other people's windows, in his house under the mat, or on the interpretation of the sounds heard when grinding grain with millstones, when turning a whorl in an ice hole, when swinging a tree, when creaking snow under feet.

The specific face and appearance of the betrothed was recognized through dream fortune-telling and so-called “terrible” fortune-telling.

In addition to the person of the groom, the girls were interested in many issues of family life, for example, the composition of the future family (they wondered about it by looking at the number of reflections of the month in the mirror), the disposition of the mother-in-law (they brought water from an ice hole in their mouth and poured it into a frying pan, a twisted piece of tow was placed on the water and set it on fire: boiling water promised an evil mother-in-law, and the calmness of the water when the tow was burning - peaceful), how many children there would be in the marriage (by the number of knots - on the first log pulled out of the woodshed or by the number of tubercles (boys) and holes (girls) in the one taken out in the cold glass of water). Fortune telling also helped to find out who would dominate the new family (they tied a rooster and a chicken with their tails, put them under a sieve and watched which bird would win the other), whether life would be good in marriage (spun “napak”, that is, from left to right, two threads, symbolizing the bride and groom, were lowered into water in a frying pan and watched over: if the threads come together, then life with your husband will be fine).

fortune telling yuletide future

CONCLUSION

With all the variety of Christmas fortune-telling, it should be noted that the principles of their construction are similar: compliance with the spatio-temporal conditions for carrying out the action, the use of various household objects taking into account their symbolic meanings in traditional culture, pronouncing formulas of an imperative-incantatory nature, protective measures: at the verbal level - zachuraniya, at the action level - the sign of the cross, tracing and marking with the use of objects that, according to popular beliefs, have magical powers (a grip, a knife, a poker, a frying pan made of metal, a set fire torch, etc.).

In the case of Yuletide fortune-telling, it is especially obvious that the phenomenon of fortune-telling is a kind of dialogue between a person, a specific subject, with “other” forces, with the “other” world and, more broadly, with nature, the cosmos. This is evidenced by the strict confinement of fortune-telling to a specific significant place and time, as well as the appeal of fortune-tellers during the ritual to creatures of a “different” nature: representatives of demonology - the goblin, the bannik (fortune-telling in the bathhouse), the “most,” that is, the unclean, devils and devils , as well as to the forces of nature themselves: to the earth (listening to the earth), to the month (“The month, the clear month, show us the suitors!”), to the water in a well or ice hole (listening to what name the water “says”). In a girl's fortune-telling about her betrothed, the “answer” can be given by a star: in which direction on Christmastide the star will fall, the groom will be on that side. In this regard, it is significant to use in fortune-telling the properties of the elements of fire and water, sometimes combined within the framework of one fortune-telling action, for example, in the ritual of casting wax and tin. A manifestation of contact in the process of fortune telling with ancestors living in the “other” world is an appeal even to the very first ancestors of the human race. “There is a devil on the snow, like Adam’s head, tell the truth, the truth. “Eva’s head is like a snowy line, tell the truth,” the girl said, making an imprint with her body in the snow at night, which she then examined in the morning: a clear imprint promised happiness for a year, and a cracked one overnight, on the contrary, foreshadowed an unhappy life.

Yuletide fortune-telling, as an extremely striking phenomenon of traditional culture, associated with one of the fundamental issues in human life - the question of fate, fate, was the basis of plots or episodes important for the narrative of literary works of Russian writers, among whom can be named V.A. Zhukovsky, A.S. Pushkina, M.P. Pogodina, P. Bazhova and others.

Until now, Christmas fortune-telling, although it has lost its magical meaning in the minds of modern people, remains one of the exciting entertainments in the transition period to the New Year.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anonicheva T., Sukhanova L. Winter calendar rituals and songs accompanying them. // Song traditions of the Volga region M., 1996.

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Blinova. - M.: MGUK, 1997. - 90 p.: ill.

Vlasova Z.I. Buffoons and calendar-ritual folklore / Z.I. Vlasova // Russian folklore: (Materials and research) T.27: Interethnic connections. - St. Petersburg, 1993. p. 148 - 164.

Ivanova A.A. Fortune telling for winter holidays / A.A. Ivanova // Rus. literature. - 1995. - No. 1. - P. 3 - 7.

Calendar in the culture of the peoples of the world: Sat. Art. - M.: Nauka, 1993. - 272 p.

Konovich A.A. Theatrical holidays and rituals in the USSR. - M., 1990. - 208 p.

9. Kostomarov N.I. Home life and morals of the Great Russian people. - M., 1993. - 399 p.

Lotman Yu.M. Conversations about Russian culture: Life and traditions of the Russian nobility (18th - 19th centuries). - St. Petersburg, 1994, p. 415.

Youth stage. - special Issue No. 3., 1999.

Christmas time has arrived. This is joy // Science and religion. - 1994. - No. 1.-s. 12 - 14.

Ritual dressing // Living antiquity. - 1995. - No. 2. - p. - 28 - 44.

Orlov O.L. Festive culture of Russia St. Petersburg, 2001, 162 p.

Pankeev I.A. Russian holidays / I.A. Pankeev. - M., 1998. - 254 p.

16. Orthodox holidays. - St. Petersburg: Timoshka, 1999., 233 p.

Christmas holiday. - M., 1998. - 495 p.

Entertaining culture of Russia in the 18th - 19th centuries: Essays on history and theory. - St. Petersburg, D. Bulanin, 2000. - 522 p.
Russian people. Its customs, rituals, superstitions and poetry. - Collection M. Zabylin., M., 1880.
Christmastide // Snegirev I.M. Russian common holidays and superstitious rituals. Part 1., - M., 1990.
Social functions of calendar customs and rituals // Minenko N.A., - 1991., p. 201 - 220.
Traditions in modern society: Study of ethnocultural processes. - M.: Nauka, 1990. - 248 p.

23. Folklore and ethnography: Problem. reconstruction of facts of traditional culture: Sat. scientific tr. / USSR Academy of Sciences. - L.: Nauka, 1990. - 248 p.

Shangina I.I. Russian traditional holidays, St. Petersburg, 1997. -190 p.

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Yagodovskaya A.T. The image of a holiday in Russian literature // Russian artistic culture of the second half of the 19th century: Picture of the world. - M., 1991. - p. 203 - 226.

Tags: Main types of fortune telling Abstract Culturology

We are accustomed to consider fortune telling a superstition, if you like, pampering, fun for adults. But the history of fortune telling dates back thousands of years. How can we explain such amazing longevity? Is it because fortune telling contains a certain rational grain that our ancestors knew and valued?

Fortune telling appeared at the dawn of humanity, probably when a person first thought about what awaited him, what the future had in store for him, and at the same time, whether this future could be changed. In an effort to find support in the future and unravel its mystery, people made pilgrimages to oracles, Pythia, asked priests, shamans, predicted the future by the flight of birds, the entrails of sacrificial animals, coffee grounds, and looked for answers in sacred books and texts.

The first masters of fortune-telling systems were ancient shamans - they predicted what the next year would be like, whether there would be a harvest, whether a sick person would recover or not. Over time, fortune-telling techniques have been improved, and by now we have a whole arsenal of all kinds of methods for predicting the future, from runes and Tarot cards to the I Ching and astrology.

In every community, since ancient times, one can find traces of more or less developed divinatory systems. Mentions of numerous types of fortune telling are found among various monuments of Egypt, Chaldea (Babylon) and ancient Greece.

Among the Slavs, fortune-telling was mainly done by priests, sorcerers, healers, sorcerers, sorcerers and sorcerers. In ancient Rus', fortune telling was especially widespread during the era of chamber seclusion. On long winter evenings, hay girls, boyars and hawthorns whiled away the time and tried to penetrate the realm of mysterious fate and unravel their future.

In general, fortune telling of the ancient world, a significant part of which is still in use today, is divided into several groups.

Aeromancy explains future events based on various meteorological phenomena, falling stars, etc.

Hydromancy is based on predicting the future by the movement and color of water in natural sources (mainly streams and springs).

Gontia is performed by invoking the spirits and shadows of the dead for divinatory purposes.

Dactylomancy- fortune telling performed using a ring (pendulum).

Capnomancy- divination by the smoke from burning sacrificial offerings.

Keromancy represents fortune telling on wax, and the meaning of the figures that were formed by molten wax is interpreted. In Rus', this type of fortune telling was known as “ waxing».

Lecanomancy- fortune telling in which water from natural sources was used. The prediction was made on the basis of the sounds heard in a vessel of water when gold and silver objects were lowered into it.

Lebanonmancy- predictions obtained from smoking fragrant resins and aromatic substances.

Meteoromancy derives predictions from the explanation and interpretation of certain natural phenomena, in particular thunder and lightning.

Myomancy- fortune telling for rats and mice, based on their behavior and habits.

Onychomancy represents fortune telling by marks on the nails.

Tephranomancy allows you to resolve questions about the future with the help of ashes from burnt sacrifices (grain or fruits, a certain type of wood, etc.).

Enontomancy- fortune telling on mirrors, which became widespread in Thessaly - the birthplace of witchcraft.

Naturally, it is impossible to grasp the immensity, so the book contains only folk fortune-telling that is easy to perform and does not require special preparation. Each reader will be able to try to apply them and make sure... but what to make sure is a personal matter for everyone.

On the one hand, we should highlight fortune telling, in which much depends on the intuition and insight of the fortune teller or interpreter. These primarily include the well-known fortune telling on coffee grounds. On the other hand, there is an extensive group of fortune telling for “mass use”. If fortune-telling of the first group was resorted to at almost any moment, turning to a specialist, then fortune-telling of the second group was in use during certain periods favorable for mantic actions. For example, in Rus' this period has always been Christmastide. We will devote a separate chapter of our book to Christmas fortune-telling.

All fortune-telling, as well as change of appearance, i.e. masquerade, at one time, was condemned by the church and was considered an unclean thing. That is why in folk customs the time of fortune-telling was always timed to 12 o'clock at night. The most successful days of fortune-telling are considered to be Christmastide, New Year's night, Epiphany, and in the summer - Ivan Kupala's day.

All peoples of antiquity followed the rules by which fortune-telling rituals were carried out.

Fortune telling rules

1. Before starting fortune-telling rituals, note what state nature is in: is it raining, is the sun shining, etc. Start fortune telling only in clear, windless weather or on a quiet starry night.

2. If you have a personal set of fortune telling tools, do not lend it to anyone, do not leave it in sight unattended, and do not mix it with other things. As a result, objects used for fortune telling may lose their predictive power.

3. Never guess in the presence of a person who is ironic about your activities.

4. Do not tell fortunes to a person if he is frankly unpleasant to you - there is a high probability of a mistake.

5. When telling your loved one’s fortune, remain impartial so as not to cause confusion in the interpretation.

6. There should be as little noise as possible in the room where fortune telling occurs. It is necessary to eliminate any interference - TV, conversations, coughing, car noise outside the window.

7. It is better for both the questioner and the fortuneteller himself not to cross his arms or legs: this leads to a narrowing of the communication channel, and you will have to make an effort to penetrate the “barriers” of crossed arms and legs.

8. A fortuneteller, like a doctor, deals with people who are by no means all right. If you take other people's problems too personally, " sick” for everyone and worrying about the outcome of his life events, you won’t last long.

Therefore, firstly, it is advisable to use at least one of the methods of psychological protection (for example, auto-training); secondly, proportion the volume and severity of the work undertaken to your strengths and capabilities. There are people for whom frequent communication with sick or sad persons is generally contraindicated.

1. After each session, it is recommended to carry out at least a short cleansing cycle. Of the accepted means of cleansing, meditation and cold water are the simplest and most convenient to use. Half an hour of meditation, a cool shower, or simply washing your hands and feet with cold water “erases” a significant part of the information remaining from the fortune-telling session.

2. You can start fortune telling only with pure thoughts.

The desire to know what can be expected from the future and what surprises fate has in store has worried people since ancient times. What are the main types of fortune telling? This will be discussed in the article.

History of origin

It must be said that fortune telling was given great importance. Most often they were carried out by high priests or magicians. This event was full of triumph and mystery, and sacrifices were often carried out. People were looking for answers to questions that worried them, or when making important decisions they tried to enlist the advice of higher powers.

Fortune telling was most developed in Egypt, Rome, Greece, Babylon and Assyria. In addition, they played a huge role in the life of the entire state. There were also various fortune telling books, which were most common in Russia and the West. Such literature was known among the people and had a great influence on various superstitions. The principle of fortune telling, which was described in this literature, is simple - they took grain and threw it onto sheets of paper, where the answer numbers were written.

In more secular societies, fortune telling was also popular, and it was often carried out in special salons. It was kind of fun.

Nowadays, people also often use different types of fortune telling.

When is the best time to guess?

It is believed that the most reliable results of fortune telling will be on the night before Christmas, from December 24 to 25 and from January 6 to 7. Of course, you can guess whenever you want. But the further the date is from this holiday, the less reliable it will be.

There are also favorable days for fortune telling during Christmas time and New Year's Eve, from December 25 to January 19.

The most popular types of fortune telling

There are a lot of them. In principle, you can guess on anything, but the most common are the following:

Folk: fortune telling on wax, coffee grounds, fire, by letters. Such fortune telling is based on emerging images, associations and decoding of these meanings.
Abstract. These are more modern types of fortune telling that predict what will happen in the near future.
Arabic. They will help you find the answer to a clearly posed question and are based on Arabic cabalism.
Fortune telling by oracle, which is based on mahjong, an ancient Chinese version of the game of dominoes.
Short-term. They will help you find out what will happen in the near future.
Card. A very popular type of fortune telling, the ritual on Tarot cards is especially common.
On books. Helps you find answers to your most troubling questions. This is one of the easiest ways in which various literary works are used, including the Bible, the ancient Chinese Book of Changes and others.
Runes. This fortune telling uses ancient magical symbols to help find answers to any questions.
On the numbers. With the help of such fortune-telling, you can determine clues about choosing a life partner, find out the character and aspects of a person, and upcoming events.
Ouija. This type of fortune telling is often used and a special board with magic symbols is used for it.
Palmistry. This type of fortune telling is considered the most reliable.

Fortune telling using Tarot cards

Fortune telling with Tarot cards has come to us since ancient Egyptian times, when there lived priests who had knowledge in the fields of alchemy, occultism and astrology. At that time, there was a temple consisting of 22 rooms, on the walls of which symbolic paintings were depicted, which were transferred to Tarot cards. But since the priests were afraid that their secrets would be revealed by the ignorant, all important knowledge was enclosed in the Arcana of the Tarot.

These cards were obtained by the gypsies, and since then, fortune telling with Tarot cards has become widespread among all segments of the population. Maps came to Europe in the 14th century.

Tarot cards consist of 78 arcana, of which 22 are major and 56 are minor. They depict various human states, positive and negative aspects of character, and accidents of fate. The major arcana depict life paths or certain situations.

Fortune telling by candles

Fortune telling by candlelight is one of the very easy and relatively reliable methods. It is important to choose the right candle, maintain silence and tell fortunes alone.

With the help of a candle, you can find out the answers to the most interesting questions: who will be betrothed, the future, and so on. How reliable fortune telling by candlelight will be depends on the day and time of fortune telling.

When choosing a candle, you need to pay special attention to its color. It is recommended to choose light colors, since dark ones can have a negative effect on the fortuneteller.

Depending on the color of the candle, the purpose of fortune telling also differs:

A white candle is used for fortune telling for a betrothed.
Pink - for happiness, love, friendship.
Bright yellow-orange - for a long journey, success.
Blue or green - for dreams and desires.
Red - for doubts in decision making, health.
Dark brown - for solving everyday problems.

In this case, you should choose a candle that is not painted, but completely painted. You can purchase both wax and church ones, but church ones are considered the ideal option, especially if they were used by the fortuneteller himself during Matins.

The shape should be elegant and thin. But if you want to use a candle of some interesting shape, then twisted ones can be used to recognize the future.

Fortune telling on burnt paper

It is believed that fire contains a special power of nature that can reveal many secrets. It is important to correctly formulate questions and interpret answers.

Fortune telling on burnt paper can be done in different ways:

Simple option. For it you will need a regular sheet of paper and matches. Before fortune telling, you need to formulate a question, concentrate and write it on paper. Next, take the sheet vertically, set it on fire on top and wait. If the paper burns completely, the wish will come true; if not, the opposite result will occur.
Fortune telling by shadows. You will also need paper with matches. Take the sheet from below, hold it vertically and set it on fire from above. You need to look at the wall where the shadow will fall. In the shadows on the wall you can see different symbols that need to be deciphered.

Wax fortune telling

This is a very famous type. A wax candle is used for this, but you can also use a paraffin candle.

The value of wax at can be determined in the manner described below. You can insert a candle into a candlestick. When the candle flares up and the wax flows, you need to tilt it over a container of water and let the wax drain. It is not prohibited to perform actions several times. Based on the resulting figures, you can predict luck, happiness, profit, and productivity.

The value of wax when divining on water is determined by the size of the drops, as well as by the figures formed from them.

If you get large figures and small drops, then this is a profit. The image of grapes means luck, prosperity, love and friendship. Seeing a person means friendship, a bell means leading. Something similar to a star - promotion at work or academic success. The image of stripes means crossings and roads. Flowers - for marriage.

Fortune telling on coffee grounds

Fortune telling using coffee grounds for the future is the oldest method. For it you will need: a light white saucer and natural coffee. Brew coffee as usual - add water and bring to a boil.

The prepared coffee is allowed to cool for a few minutes, then it is drunk, leaving about one tablespoon of grounds at the bottom.

Before the fortune telling itself, it is important to formulate a question. It should be clear and simple. You need to drink the drink slowly. Next, the cup is taken with the left hand and several movements are made clockwise. In this case, the grounds should reach the edges of the cup evenly on all sides. After this, quickly turn the cup away from you onto the saucer. In this case, its location should be inclined so that some of the coffee grounds can drain, and fortune telling can be interpreted from the resulting pattern on the walls of the cup. Just a minute will be enough, after which, again, you need to turn the cup over with your left hand and start deciphering.

Taking the cup in your hands, you need to examine the resulting images from different angles. There is no hurry here. The clearest symbols have important significance for interpretation.

It is also necessary to take into account the location of the symbols. Examine them from the edges of the cup to the base. What is located closer to the edge is the present and the future. The closer to the edge of the cup the symbol is located, the faster the events will happen. What is located closer to the middle is the near future. And what is closer to the bottom or at the very bottom is the distant future.

The handle of the cup symbolizes the fortuneteller himself. What is near her is happening in life at the moment.

Card reading

Fortune telling on cards has been known to people since ancient times. Here is one of the simplest ways.

Take a regular deck of 36 cards and make a wish. All cards are laid out in four equal piles. The first pile is turned over and cards up to the Ace are removed. When it appears, they move to the next pile, which is placed face down on the previous one, and the cards are removed again. All this is done with all the stacks. You will get a new deck, which is laid out into three piles and again taken out to the ace. Then into two and one pile. If as a result there are four cards left with an ace, then the wish will come true.

Fortune telling with runes

Many people believe that the most accurate fortune telling is based on runes. The rune itself is a magical or alphabetical sign, which was previously carved on wood, stones, weapons, dishes and other objects.

The first inscriptions that were found in the language of runes date back to the 3rd century BC, but many signs are of even more ancient origin.

Each rune has its own name. Magic using runes is multifaceted. In addition, it is believed that each symbol has a sacred origin, and it acts as a special sign, has magical powers and is able to connect a person with higher powers. Runes together are a kind of magical system that can be used for fortune telling: a combination of symbols will help predict a possible situation.

There are a great number of ways to lay out runes.

Fortune telling by hand lines

Fortune telling by the lines of the hand (palmistry) has been known since the time of Aristotle. And in 1448, the first books describing palmistry appeared in Germany. Moreover, it was once taught at universities. With its help, you can learn about a person’s future achievements, his character, qualities, and destiny. A person's character can be determined by simply examining his hands.

In palmistry there are four main lines:

Hearts - will tell about a person’s emotional stability and romance.
Life is about attitude towards people around you, love of life and self-love.
Fates are not common to everyone.
Heads are about mental abilities.

The lines should be smooth, without flaws or kinks. The more clearly the line is depicted, the fewer branches and breaks there are on it, the more favorable its meaning. It is also worth considering the color of the lines themselves. If they are pale, it means poor health; if they are reddish, they indicate optimism and activity. Yellowish ones can be a sign of certain diseases, and are also often found in introverted people. Dark lines indicate serious life positions and arrogance. Also, lines of this color are often found in people prone to vindictiveness and rancor.

Warning

There is an opinion that using any type of fortune telling, a person can incur undesirable consequences. You can protect yourself from this if you don’t take the results to heart. After all, it happens that what is predicted takes root in a person’s head so much that he himself involuntarily strives to realize it. And so this prediction comes true.

Date of publication: 01/03/2015

From January 6 to January 19, Christmastide began in Rus' - a favorite Christian holiday, when people get together and visit each other or receive guests. January 6th is Christmas evening, it was necessary to observe fasting; you could start eating only when the first star appeared in the sky. For this event, it was necessary to wear everything clean, since “you cannot come to the feast in old clothes.”

There is also such a sign that on the night of January 6-7, deceased relatives come, so you must remember them and put an extra utensil on the table, pour a glass and put some bread. In the church you can light a candle for repose.

Also during Christmas time, many girls gathered in the bathhouse, took a steam bath, put on new shirts, unraveled their braids and began to tell fortunes, since fortune telling at Christmas is the most truthful, because on this night otherworldly forces leave their homes and come to people’s houses, thereby contributed to truthful answers to Christmas and Yuletide fortune-telling. They are varied and very interesting.

But most often, Christmas fortune-telling in Rus' was associated with the search for a betrothed groom, because the girl’s happy fate depended on a successful marriage, so the lovely young ladies came up with different ways to find out what the future groom would look like and what his character would be.

Fortune telling with a mirror

This fortune telling has been written about more than once in various literary works, so it is the most widespread, but not all girls dared to use the magic of the mirror; only the brave ones resorted to this method of prediction, since it is carried out alone, by candlelight and in silence. You need to put two mirrors opposite each other, put two candles on the sides of the mirrors and say the words: “Betrothed, come and show yourself.” Then you should look at the “corridor” in the mirror along which the groom should come. This could take a long time, or you could see it right away. Just, the main thing is not to overlook it. By the way, there is also a belief that an evil spirit could appear in the mirror and touch a girl’s face, after which she would lose her beauty every day.

Fortune telling with shoes

The girls who decided to tell fortunes had to take each of their boots and place them from the beginning of the room to the threshold one after another, initially drawing lots to see whose boot would follow whose. To do this, one was blindfolded and a boot was brought to her, and she said, first, second, etc. It is important whose boot is the first at the threshold - she will be the first among the fortune tellers to get married.

Fortune telling by eggs

Each girl must bring an egg and mark it in some way, then each one puts the egg in a basket placed at the entrance. Then one of the girls, preferably the youngest, is placed at the basket, blindfolded, so that she takes turns pulling out the eggs. This way you can find out which of the girls will be the first to get married - whose egg will be the first to be pulled out of the basket.

Divination by rings

It is very important to know what kind of groom you will get from a material point of view. To do this, you need to bring different rings, which you put in a container with grain or some kind of porridge, then each fortuneteller comes up and pulls out a ring. After this, the ring must be returned and mixed in the grain.

Golden - a rich man.
With a pebble - solid and rich.
Silver - average income.
Made from wire - poor thing.
Tin - poor but hardworking.
From a lace - beggar and lazy.

Fortune telling by objects

You need to take several items - an onion, an egg, a ring, sugar, salt, pepper, coins, a paper bill, a candy, a petal. Place them under identical cups and mix them. Then the girl comes up and chooses any one. Whatever object is there will be the groom.

Onion - she will be angry, the girl will cry a lot of tears.
The egg will only love itself.
The ring is for money and wealth.
Sugar - he will speak sugar speeches, but not only to his beloved.
Salt - it will be difficult to live with him because of his character.
Pepper is a jealous groom.
Coins - will be stingy.
A paper bill is wasteful.
Candy - a fun life will be with him.
Petal - will love you.

Fortune telling by onion

On the night of January 6-7, the girl must plant an onion in a glass of water. If it germinates before January 19, then she will meet her soulmate this year, if not, then, alas, it is not her destiny to be loved.

Fortune telling by cards

Although girls were afraid to take cards for fortune telling at Christmas, as they were believed to be from evil spirits, there were still brave young ladies. They took a deck of cards and chose 4 kings, guessing for each one which of the guys would be who. Then they turned the kings face up, and under them they folded the cards into 4 piles of 9, depending on which set was collected - 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen and ace. The one who comes out first is the one who loves.

Fortune telling by cat

There was also such fortune-telling. The girl went out of the gate and looked to see if there was a cat nearby. If he was, then she will meet her soulmate this year. If not, then it is not her destiny to meet her betrothed.

It is important what color the cat is. If he is white, the husband will be blond; if he is black, then he will be brunette; if he is gray or striped, he will be brown-haired; if he is red, he will be red-haired. Often the eyes matched the groom's eye color.

Fortune telling by weather

In addition to fortune telling about the groom, there were also predictions of the future. So, if it snows at night from January 6 to 7 or from January 18 to 19, expect wealth and a decent life; if it rains, tears and troubles; if there is frost on the trees, a pleasant surprise; if it is dry and windy, news; if the weather is calm - quiet flow of life.

Fortune telling by thread braid

You need to weave a braid from different threads - red, blue, green, white, black, grey, yellow, brown and pink. Then the girl closes her eyes, spins around herself three times, approaches the braid and pulls any thread without looking. She will be the answer to what will happen to her next year.

Red - the year will be full of love and romantic dates. Most likely, the girl will meet her soulmate.
Blue - home year. You will make renovations in your apartment or purchase a property that you have long dreamed of.
Green - the year of health and sports. You will change your diet and lifestyle - swimming pool, gym and more. This will have a good effect on your appearance and well-being.
White - a good time promises you the future - calm and peace in your soul and with your surroundings. You will be kind and happy.
Black - some kind of trouble awaits you next year. It can dramatically change your life for the worse.
Gray - fatigue and dissatisfaction with what is happening will become your big problem next year.
Yellow - life filled with positivity.
Brown - some kind of sadness will depress you all next year.
Pink - platonic relationships await you next year.

Bird fortune telling

Very good and truthful fortune telling by birds. Any night from January 6th to January 19th, you should go to bed alone and mentally ask the question: “What lies ahead for me”? As soon as you wake up, look out the window,

if a crow or jackdaw sits on a branch, then sad news awaits you;
if there are sparrows, someone will come to visit;
if the titmouse is good news;
if pigeons are messengers of goodness and peace;
if there is a bullfinch - some kind of joy.

Fortune telling by the hour

You need to ask about your future at midnight from January 6 to 7 and go to bed. During January 7, watch the clock; it will be good if the same numbers appear on the dial.

00:00 - in the future you will be disappointed in your loved one.
01:01 - you should start improving yourself, then in the future you will be able to realize your old dream.
02:02 - when will you stop pleasing everyone, but not yourself. To change the future, love yourself.
03:03 - a difficult time is coming for your family - quarrels and scandals.
04:04 - you better not take risks this year, as it will be unjustified, and you will seriously harm yourself.
05:05 - your loneliness is only good for you - you can achieve a lot without relying on others.
06:06 - a scandalous incident will happen in your life, after which it will change dramatically, but for the better.
07:07 - constant lies on your part can cause quarrels with many close people, change - everything will continue to be consistently good.
08:08 - you owe a lot, it’s time to pay it back, otherwise everything will turn against you.
09:09 - you should finally start giving instead of taking, because they don’t like selfish people.
10:10 - a great time awaits you next year, as they say, dreams come true.
11:11 - soon everything will change for the better, you just have to wait out the dark streak.
12:12 - the past will remind you of itself with pleasant events in the future.
13:13 - a quarrel with a loved one awaits you this year, but you can fix everything.
14:14 - soon, very soon you will realize that you lost a lot when you abandoned family traditions.
15:15 - a love triangle will suddenly appear in your life.
16:16 - luck and joy await you ahead.
17:17 - your friend may ruin the holiday for which you have been preparing for a long time.
18:18 - fortune is on your side.
19:19 - financial difficulties will also affect relationships with friends.
20:20 - have you ever thought that our life is like a boomerang? It's time to think.
21:21 - danger and adventure await you.
22:22 - the death of a loved one will deal a huge blow to you and your well-being.
23:23 - birth of a child.