How in Russia they predicted the future and looked for answers to difficult questions: Peasant fortune-telling

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

People always dream of knowing their future in order to make the right decision. Today, despite a fairly high cultural level in the world, many go to fortune tellers, asking questions and trying to get important answers. There are many different fortune-telling, special computer programs are created, books are printed. In old Russia, the peasants used fortune-telling in order to build their lives correctly, to hedge against crop failures, to avoid illness or grief. Read why young peasant women ran to their neighbors and eavesdropped on their conversations, why the peasants were hiding under sail, and what different sounds in the night darkness could tell people.

Dangerous fortune-telling, what to ask the evil spirits, why it is necessary to guess in an abandoned house or bathhouse, and how to feed the devil

To find answers to exciting questions, the peasants in Russia resorted to fortune telling. It was believed that this attracts evil spirits, which know a lot and can share with a person. So that the dark forces could not harm, during the fortune-telling they took off their pectoral crosses, let their hair down, before the action they tried not to cross themselves, and even the icons were turned upside down against the wall. Such serious measures were taken because of evil spirits, which could harm a person and even drag him to another world.

The rituals were performed in silence, you could not look around, laugh. To prevent evil spirits from abducting a person, the peasants held each other with their little fingers. You could also use the protective circle by drawing it on the ground. The correct completion of the ritual was also important: one had to cross and quickly run away, or say several times: “Chur me,” that is, fool around.

The correct timing of the fortune-telling mattered. Evening or night was best suited, that is, part of the day when the sun had already set. Very often they used to guess before big church holidays, because they believed that evil spirits were afraid of the festive service. Therefore, it was necessary to ask her in advance about everything that interests.

As for the places for the ritual, the so-called unclean places were chosen. It could be an abandoned hut, a basement or a barn, an attic, a certain place near the fence. Some peasants tried to move away from the hut, went to the cemetery, to the well forgotten by people, to the crossroads. A separate place in fortune-telling was occupied by the bathhouse, according to popular beliefs there were kikimors and devils in it, as well as an evil bannik, a representative of the dark force. For fortune telling, they used wax, molten metal, and special books.

Questions were asked about the harvest, the health of the family, whether to wait for good or bad weather, whether someone can get rich, what happened to the missing people, the husband or wife is faithful, where to look for the missing cow, and so on.

In order for the evil spirits to properly perform their functions during the ritual, it was recommended to feed them. The table could offer a bowl of porridge, pancakes or bread. People believed that the well-fed dark forces would definitely give some kind of sign and were ready to accept and decipher them. It could be some sounds, silhouettes of shadows from objects, the shape that melted wax took, dreams, and even the behavior of pets.

As on Christmastide, the peasants guessed by the sounds, and what the candle said to the girls

Sounds were of great importance in divination. On Christmastide in the villages, they went out into the streets after the sun went down and listened to see if heaven would give a sign. For example, if a dog barking or bizarre singing was heard, this could be perceived as a possible wedding in the near future. The trampling of horses was heard - a difficult and long road. There were bad signs that could have triggered illness, death, or another misfortune - the gagging of an ax or a bell ringing.

The peasants listened to other people's words and made their own conclusions. For example, the girls approached the neighbor's hut and overheard what they were talking about: they heard “sit” or “stay” - that means to sit in the girls for a long time. "Take" or "go" - to be a wedding. Girls on Christmastide lit wax candles and watched the light burn. If he was bright and did not tremble, then everything in life would be quiet and smooth, but if the candle cracked, the fire shook, one could expect grief.

We looked at whose candle would burn longer: the most persistent meant that life would be long. Unlucky, if the light went out, then life will be short. There was an interesting Christmas divination on things. Young people gathered in the house, took a dish and poured water into it. Ash, bread, coal were thrown there, they could put a little salt or some kind of decoration. The container was covered with a handkerchief. The so-called sub-dish songs were performed, which were a kind of predictions. During their execution, objects were blindly taken out of the dish and the prediction had to come true for the one whose thing was taken out.

Knife and sail - what the peasants learned from them about the future harvest

It was very important for the peasants what the future harvest would be. There was a fortune-telling that helped to find out: before the New Year, taking with them a sail and a sharp knife, the peasants went to the threshing floor. It was necessary to sit in the center, outline the protection with a knife, and then stick it into the ground, and cover ourselves with the sail. Having done this, people listened: they heard the sound of threshing - it was worth waiting for a rich harvest. Silence was considered a sign of a hungry year. This fortune-telling was especially popular in the Arkhangelsk region. It was important to comply with this condition: the desired sound was heard - sit and wait until it dies down. If you leave the outlined circle earlier, then the evil spirits could stab the hurry with a knife.

The betrothed, appear: the most famous methods of fortune-telling about the future spouse, and what could be learned about him in advance

The girls, of course, were very interested in guessing at their future husband. They used a torch: it had to be ignited and stuck into a dry log. After that, it was necessary to look where the ashes would fall - he indicated from where, from which side to wait for the betrothed. They dipped the torch into the water and tried to light it - if the fire went on quickly, then the marriage is expected to be strong.

They used pets, for example, they laid out grain in the house and brought chicken from the street. Whose seed the bird picks up in the first place, she will be a happy bride. Young peasant women walked to the river, took water in their mouths and ran back to the house. If you managed to do this without spilling a drop, you can wait for the groom. If you can't keep the water in your mouth, you can forget about the groom. The lucky woman who was the first to return to the hut should be the first to get married.

Christmas divination on mirrors was very popular, but it was considered dangerous, because very young girls were not allowed to do it. Two mirrors were placed opposite each other, candles between them and looked into this mesmerizing mirror tunnel. A silhouette of the future husband appeared in him, the appearance of which, according to ancient beliefs, the evil spirits took. Therefore, such an important fortune-telling required a non-girl's courage.

Fortune-telling books: gromnik, lunar, divination by the psalter

For fortune-telling, they used special fortune-telling books that were brought in the Middle Ages from Byzantium and other countries. Each book was intended for divination by some phenomenon. For example, a thunderbolt. He told how to determine by thunder what will happen: thunder in April - wait for the death of wheat, thunder in autumn - to be an internecine war, but a warm winter.

There were moon explorers who could predict the weather and even human destiny by the phase of the moon. Such books contained indications of good and bad months, as well as predictions for those who were born or sick on a particular day. Subsequently, the thunderbolts and lunarists were replaced by popular prints. For divination by them, they took sticks with serifs or dice. It was necessary to drop these objects, and the number of serifs or dots showed which prediction number in the book would answer the question asked. The psalter was also used. They opened it at random and saw what phrase came across - that was the prediction.

Oddly enough, not only women, but also men were engaged in fortune-telling. The latter are even professional. They were called the Magi. Peter the First executed them, because these fortune-telling were very popular.