The tradition of holy divination by its roots goes back to the distant pagan past. With the adoption of Christianity, enchantment and magic began to be considered a great sin. Playing with fate, trying to penetrate into the future is a dangerous occupation. It may turn out that the prediction is false, but the person believed in it. So life is not broken for long for yourself or someone else. However, there are days in a year when all prohibitions are lifted, and witchcraft does not cause trouble. This, of course, is Christmas time. In essence, any divination is divination by desires. True predictions — good or bad, will soon be forgotten. Perhaps, for this reason, once a year, one can also inquire about fate - to find out the truth and forget.
Christmas time - a time of well-deserved rest and collective entertainment
Fortune telling on cards on desire in Russia was not very practiced. It is much more interesting to know the future in colorful details - from which side the groom will be, what his name is, what he looks like. These are all girlish questions, and older people were interested in crops, cattle fertility, weather in the coming year, and so on. The answers to these questions could be obtained at the time of the day. When does the divine fortune telling begin? You can approach them immediately after the appearance of a star in heaven announcing the Birth of the Savior.
What young lady who enters adulthood does not dream of knowing her fate? Guessing the fulfillment of desire in girls is, first of all, questions about marriage. What lies ahead - prosperity or poverty, will there be children in the family, health and prosperity? All this is very interesting!
Hardworking people have a lot of worries all year round: in spring - sowing, in summer - mowing, stocking up winter supplies for family and cattle, in autumn - harvesting and winter sowing. Christmas time falls on the most serene period - from Christmas to Baptism and Blessing. After spending a year in the labors, in fasting and abstinence Filippovka (Christmas Fast), having defended a long solemn Christmas service in the church, people began to have fun and festivities, which lasted two weeks. In the daytime, hearty and plentiful food was prepared - borscht, jellied meat, pies, pies. They made a lot of pies, because Christmas time is going on a visit, treats, carols. It gets dark early in winter. Traditional gatherings and entertainments come at sunset, when the holy divination begins.
Christmas time as an occasion to make new friends
Each locality had its own experts in the most faithful methods of prediction. They certainly tried to call on to their party, because even the simplest fortune-telling on the fulfillment of a desire would be desirable to color with more precise details. He was lured by a spellbinder by refreshments, he was cajoled with gifts and affectionate words. Experienced fortune tellers were kind of actors. Famous observational prophecies were accompanied by the performance of special tunes, round dances. Girls, going to visit for fortune-telling on a wish at Christmas time, dressed up in the most beautiful dresses, their hair was removed with ribbons and colored scarves - after all, there will always be young men in the company. During such gatherings, young people got acquainted, had fun, got married, and parents sent matchmakers to Maslenitsa to have a wedding on Krasnaya Gorka.
Fortune telling fortune telling
The most colorful and crowded fortune-telling at the Christmas time took place with the participation of the matchmaker and were called observable. At such parties usually gathered a lot of people, there were guys and girls. The guests participating in the action put their rings, earrings or other small personal items into a large dish of water, and the matchmaker, with the appropriate sentence, lowered bread, salt and ash. Youth with a song led a round dance around her. At the end of each verse, the matchmaker with the words "What to be - not to be avoided!" Took out two objects. The owners took their things, and the action continued until the dish remained empty. If a pair of objects belonging to two girls or two boys was taken out, then the matchmaker, at her discretion, could put them back, but she could give them to the owners.
There were other options for obscure fortune telling. In this case, each verse of the obscene song contained a brief description of an event - wedding, travel, childbirth, wealth, poverty, illness, death - all that accompanies a person’s life and stands out as the most significant. For each story noted in the song, an object was taken out of the dish. The prediction was interpreted in accordance with what was heard.
Fortune telling on the cards
Divine fortune-telling is a collective entertainment. It is not interesting to guess on the cards in the company. This is a lesson for two, because a fortuneteller usually for a long time and in detail tells one person about his future, past and present, and those around him may get bored. And yet, the demand for this kind of interpretation of fate in this period is very high. Tarot predictors put people in the queue for a certain hour, because fortune telling on cards in the Tarot deck is not available to many. This is a whole philosophy, but there are simpler ways. The divine fortune-telling on the cards of the French fortune teller Madame Lenormand is much shorter and more accessible. Pictures depicting a ring, road, rats, coffin, a child, the sun, a book, and other objects and phenomena, very clearly demonstrate what the next year has prepared for the questioner.
You can find out about marriage by the usual playing deck, using court figures taking into account the suit. This holy divination on the cards looks like this. Men are puzzled at kings and jacks. At night, these cards and one lady, indicating the fortuneteller herself, are placed under the pillow. Next, I must say: “I go to sleep on the Zion Mountains, three angels in their heads. One sees, the other will say, the third will tell me fate. All the good will come true, but the bad will not come true and will be forgotten. ” After this, until the very morning you should not talk to anyone. You have to go to bed before midnight. And the next day, immediately after waking up, the first card that comes to hand is taken out. If this is a lady, then in the coming year the girl will not marry.
Fortune telling
There is another common and no less simple fortune-telling about the desire to learn about the groom. A comb is placed under the pillow, this procedure is accompanied by the following words: "Narrowed-dressed, come dressed to me, comb the little head." In the morning, under the pillow on the comb should be hair. By his color, the bride of the groom recognizes.
Unmarried girls hung out a towel over the window for the night and sentenced: “Narrowed-robbed, come to me to wash.” If the towel turns out to be wet in the morning, it means that this year the fortuneteller will meet her future husband, and if she remains dry, then she will have to wait for the next year.
A simple fortune-telling on three tea or coffee cups told whether the girl would get married, get a groom or stay free until next year. Under each cup you need to put a ring, a flower and a ribbon. If the choice falls on the flower, then the girl will get acquainted with the narrowed one, if the ribbon, then it will be a free bird all year, well, but if the ring, then everything is clear.
What did family people guess
Married women, wanting to know which gender the child is born, poured water into a large spoon and froze it. They watched in the morning, and if the ice turned out to be convex, then a boy would be born, if concave it would be a girl, and if it remained level, then there would be no addition to the family yet.
Household people did not forget about their daily bread and made weather forecasts for the whole year for months. To do this, they took 12 bulbs and immediately after the Christmas church service laid them in a row on the windowsill. All vegetables are sequentially designated every month of the year. On January 19th they were examined. Wet meant rainy months, and dry - dry weather. Thus, it was possible to plan work, for example, repairing the roof or planting plants.
Scary fortune-telling
Brave girls went to the bathhouse. There, according to legend, the bathing spirit dwelt, which on holy days could show the girl of her future husband. Bathing fortune-telling wishes at Christmas time were carried out at night, when everyone had already gone to bed. The girl took with herself two mirrors and a white plate filled with water without a picture. Having removed all her clothes except the shirt, untied the knots and removed the pectoral cross from her neck, she, guessing by the light of two candles, set a corridor from the mirrors. After counting twelve reflections, the girl looked at the plate of water and peered at it. As soon as the face appeared there, she had to immediately turn everything around, and, grabbing the cross, run away from the bath. It was a very dangerous occupation, since the bathing spirit could scare the curious to death and even strangle if it lingers. And there have been such cases.
The most desperate went to church. Fortune telling on candles was carried out as follows. The girls lit candles and placed them in front of the altar. By the sequence in which they burned down, they determined the order of marriage. And by the soot and cod of candles, they judged what the marriage would be like.
Fortune telling with fire
Candles were also used for another way of predicting fate. So, they lit a long thin candle and held it firmly, without moving, over a dish with water until a small cinder remained. Dripping, wax created a variety of patterns. Their interpretation required a remarkable imagination. The help of girlfriends should be expected with caution. After all, everyone has their own destiny, and they can see something related to themselves, and not to the one that held the candle, and willy-nilly distort the prediction.
There is a very interesting fortune-telling on paper about the desire to find out the main events of the beginning of the year. The prediction comes in 3D. You will need a clean white wall and a large sheet of paper. The paper must be crumpled into a large soft lump, put on a tin tray and set on fire. Lighting must be turned off, as the image is read by the shadows on the wall that burning paper casts. To make fortune telling, try first holding it with a small sample of paper. When you make sure that the shadows are visible well, you can proceed to the main action. This fortune-telling is accurate, because subconsciously each person knows his fate, only we do not always know how to use our own intuition.
Fortune telling with glasses
Events of the year can be determined in yet another way. Take four identical glasses, number and place the four elements in them - a ring, salt, bread and sugar. A girl or a boy, that is, the one who asks the question, closes his eyes. One assistant untwist fortunetellers around the axis, another swaps glasses. Then the questioner is brought to the glasses, and he, without looking, selects one of them. If there is a ring in it, then there will be a wedding or betrothal, if salt is sorrow, bread is a rich life and good work, sugar is a serene and cheerful year. The one who chose the ring can find out when he will have an important event - marriage or engagement. To do this, the glasses are emptied, the person is untwisted again. A glass with the number 1 means January, February or March, with the number 2 - April, May or June, 3 - July, August or September, 4 - October, November or December.
Fortune telling
Pets also took part in the divination. In former times, they loved the so-called bird fortune telling. The desire to come true or not, depended on which paw the chicken or rooster crosses the threshold first: if it’s right, then the conceived will come true, but if it’s left, then it won’t. The bird was frightened by a noisy bunch of strangers, ran away, grains were strewed to it, persuaded to come in.
A company of friends and girlfriends can have a lot of fun if they decide to fortune-telling with a large chest filled with a wide variety of utensils, or a wardrobe. To help fortune-tellers, a child of about five or seven years old is needed, who is not very well versed in things. The youth blindfolded, and the baby takes out various objects from the closet and asks: “Whose is this?” To the one who answers: “Mine,” they untie their eyes and give the chosen item back. When all participants are interviewed and endowed with things, you can do the interpretation of the meaning. Since any divine fortune-telling applies only to the coming year, the main events of this period for each of the actors are determined by subjects. Threads, belts, ties, shoes or a suitcase always portend the road and travels, the key is the purchase of real estate or a car, the trousers inherited by the girl, even if they are women, promise a new acquaintance with the man, if the young man got a skirt, he will have a new girlfriend, glasses and bottles indicate a lot of festive feasts with alcohol, tableware - to communicate with friends and guests, beautiful jewelry and expensive fur - to wealth, socks, slippers, unpresentable things - to poverty, books - to study, weapons symbolize Oina, toys portend a baby or pregnancy, etc.
Book fortune telling
To do this, take six folios of various subjects, for example, the Bible, fairy tales, novels and some reference books. The questions are formulated approximately as follows: “What do I need to do or what should I do to fulfill my desire?”, “What will be the most significant for me this year?”, “How will my professional life develop?”, “What will happen in my personal life?” ? " Without looking, the volume is taken and opened. Further, still not opening his eyes, the finger indicates the place where the prophetic text is written. It must be read and comprehended. The theme of the book indicates the main concerns of the coming year, and the selected text is the answer to a direct question.
Fortune telling
With the transition of the calendar to a new style, new ways of magic appeared, for example, New Year's fortune-telling. A wish is made in advance, and under the battle of the Moscow chimes it is written on a sheet, set on fire and throws itself into a glass of champagne. During volleys of fireworks, everyone clinks glasses, hugs and drinks champagne along with ashes. In order for this New Year's fortune-telling to work, the desire must not only be written and swallowed, it is very important that the paper burns completely, and the ashes do not wake up on the tablecloth. This ritual is usually very animates the feast. Not everyone believes in its effectiveness, therefore they laugh, looking at how their friends scamper about such magic. With this fortune-telling, the residents of the Kaliningrad region were very lucky. Recently, they hear the chimes of the Moscow Kremlin chimes and the President’s speech twice, because the New Year comes to them later than everyone else in Russia. Accordingly, fortune telling on paper is done twice. The second time, they are usually better prepared - and the matches are at hand, and the paper is not very hard and not too light (so that it burns quickly and does not fly apart before it gets into the glass). In general, guessing at every desire can only be done once, otherwise conflicting answers will appear and you can get confused. Although, if you regard this as a joke, a game, a reason to have fun, then why not ...
Christmas traditions and rituals are a great occasion to diversify the routine of everyday life, resume communication with old friends, make new friends. Such traditions must be cherished and cherished. Many will say that any magic is a dangerous occupation, it is not by chance that the church condemns fortune-telling and fortune-telling at Christmas time, but do not take this very seriously and be afraid of such a sin. There are worse things. Take in the games with a bit of humor. Our ancestors, playing with fate at Christmas time, on the night of January 18-19, plunged into the baptismal font, thereby washing away the sins of two festive weeks. After that, ordinary life began with its simple concerns and interests, and the Christmas time remained in memory as a bright and cheerful episode.