To find out your future - what awaits in the new year, whether wishes will come true, whether a child will be born, whether there will be a wedding, etc. - many would probably like to know. Perhaps the best time for divination is the last day of Christmas time - Epiphany. Or rather, the night before this holiday. At this time, a variety of divination was carried out. True predictions could be obtained using a variety of items: candles, rings, matches, coins, etc. And of course, very often they took Epiphany water for divination at Epiphany.
A bit of history
The night of Epiphany in past centuries was considered special in Russian villages. The old year was already gone, and the new one was just beginning, the future was dark and uncertain. Through the rituals of divination, people tried to bring clarity to their lives.
Of course, the Christian Church never approved of such rituals. Divination before Baptism, just like at any other time, was considered a sin. Therefore, our ancestors, beforeto start performing any actions related to the prediction, they usually took off the cross and removed all the icons from the room. After the ritual, a person must necessarily wash himself with baptismal water. Thus, he, as it were, took off himself, albeit a small one, but still a sin.
Some Epiphany divination was considered quite harmless. Others were classified as "terrible", so not everyone decided to conduct them.
Where and when to guess at Epiphany
Usually all rites of divination were performed on January 18, late in the evening or at night. Such divination conditions made it possible to create an appropriate calm and at the same time mysterious atmosphere. In some cases, the ceremony should have begun only at 12 o'clock at night. In others, the exact time didn't really matter. The main thing is that it was already dark outside.
Sometimes divination rituals were performed outside. At the same time, the fortuneteller should have gone somewhere: to the crossroads, to the cemetery, beyond the outskirts, to the river, etc. Other rituals were performed right in the house: in the upper room, in the porch or in the bedroom. So, how did our ancestors predict their fate for a year on the night before Epiphany? Next, consider the most interesting rituals, many of which are still popular today.
Divination on the mirror
This divination ritual is considered one of the most dangerous. Of course, many have heard of him. After spending it, the girl can see her future groom. For this divination, you need to prepare two mirrors and two candles in advance. Five minutes to twelveon the night of Epiphany, you should put one mirror in front of you, and the second behind your back so that in the reflection you get a corridor stretching into the distance. Near the first mirror you need to place two candles. You should also prepare matches and a piece of white cloth.
Fortune-telling is carried out on the mirror as follows. Exactly at 12 at night the candles are lit. With the strike of the clock, the fortuneteller begins to peer into the mirror "corridor", trying to see her betrothed there. Sometimes at the same time a conspiracy is pronounced, usually beginning with the words: "My betrothed, dressed up, come to me dressed up …".
With the last word, a shadow supposedly should appear in the mirror, gradually taking on the outlines of a male figure. The girl who saw the face of the newcomer should immediately put out the candles and throw a white cloth over the mirror. Otherwise, something bad could happen to her. It was believed that in the image of the betrothed in the mirrors, none other than the devil appears. It was also forbidden to look back during the ritual, and even more so to look in the mirror located behind the back.
Divination with a candle and water
This ceremony used to be performed in order to find out your fate for the next year. For divination in this case, it was necessary to prepare a candle and a wide low bowl. It was also necessary to collect clean snow from the roof and melt it. It was allowed to replace such water with church, holy water. At midnight on Epiphany, they poured it into a bowl and set it in front of them. Then they lit a candle, waited for the appearance of molten wax and poured it into the water. According to what figureformed in a bowl, and determined their fate for the coming year.
Wax "signs" in the water could be very different:
- asterisks meant success in business and study;
- ovals and drops - we alth;
- heart - love";
- flowers - marriage, etc.
Some young people carry out similar divination with a candle in our time, simplifying the ritual a bit. In this case, not wax is used, but a regular sheet of paper. A wish is written on it, after which it is set on fire from a candle. Ash residues are placed in a cup with low sides. By lighting them with a candle so that shadows lie on the wall, you can determine your fate for the next year.
Fortune telling on rings
This type of prediction was also very common in the old days. Fortune telling on the ring was usually carried out in order to find out how long it would take to walk in girls. On the night of Epiphany, several girls gathered in one room, spread a piece of black velvet on the table and lit candles. Then each removed a ring from her finger and rolled it over the fabric. Where it stopped and fell, a mark was made. The girl whose ring rolled the farthest should have been the last to marry.
Through such a ritual as divination on the ring, they also found out how many years the wedding would take place. For the ceremony, the glass was filled with water by 2/3. A married friend was asked for a wedding ring for a while. They hung it on their hair and carefully lowered it into the water. Then just as carefullypulled out, trying to move the hand as smoothly as possible. At the same time, the ring on the hair began to sway. By how many times it hit the walls of the glass, they counted the years remaining before the wedding. Modern girls with short haircuts can be replaced with a regular thread.
Prediction for the year
You can also find out your fate for the next 365 days with the help of ordinary glasses. As our ancestors believed, this is a fairly accurate fortune-telling. Plus, it's also pretty fun. In addition to glasses or some other small vessels, for the ceremony you need to prepare a small handful of s alt, a lump of sugar, a match or a stick, a ring, a coin and a piece of bread. After that, you should wait for the night.
Such fortune-telling is carried out for a year as follows:
- As soon as it gets dark outside, you should put some of the prepared items in each glass.
- Next, those who wish to tell fortunes are blindfolded.
- Someone of the free participants of the rite then swaps the glasses several times.
- Then, the blindfolded contestant walks up to the table and takes the first one they see.
Such fortune-telling on a person allows you to know the fate most accurately. Bread in this rite means a well-fed life, a coin - a big profit, a match - the appearance of a child, a ring - marriage or marriage, s alt - hard times, sugar - good luck.
Church Prediction
Divination for a year with water and a candle, glasses, etc. was considered quite accurate. However, the most truthful to our ancestors seemed to be allstill "terrible" rites of divination. For example, divination at the gates of the church.
Wishing to know his fate for the year, at 12 o'clock on the night of Epiphany, he had to go to the closed doors of the church and begin to listen. Of course, there could be no physical sounds inside at that time. However, the fortuneteller's subconscious mysteriously reacted to the unusual situation. As a result, the performer of the ritual began to hear some otherworldly sounds. If it was the "noise" of the wedding, then soon it was worth expecting the appearance of the second half in life. If the sounds of a funeral service were heard outside the door of the church, this was a harbinger of the fact that someone would die in the family of a fortuneteller during the year. The same thing awaited a person who decided on such a fortune-telling, and in the event that a dull knock was heard from behind the door. The wedding, in addition to the cheerful noise, was also predicted by the ringing of bells. This is actually scary, but it was believed to be accurate fortune telling.
Prediction from other people's conversations
This method of divination was very common among most Slavic peoples. On the night of Epiphany, girls and boys approached the windows or doors of other people's houses and eavesdropped on conversations. Fortune-telling in this way was also considered very truthful. Everything about him was important. If a person was angry, this predicted future quarrels and scandals in the family. If they were having fun in the house, this meant upcoming good events. It was also possible to make a prediction by the first phrase heard. In approximately the same way, our contemporaries, who trust various kinds of fortune-telling, recognize theirfate along the lines in the book.
Dream prediction
Our ancestors had many ways of such divination. Very interesting is the ceremony, which is also carried out using a mirror. This is a very simple and not at all scary fortune-telling. The prediction in this case makes a small mirror - an object that has long been considered mysterious and enigmatic. In the evening, he was taken out into the street and left there for a while. In addition, some spruce branches were cut. Before going to bed, they brought a mirror into the house, wrote their desire on it with their finger and placed it under the bed with the reflective layer up. Then it was covered with spruce branches. In the morning they took out the mirror and checked whether the inscription was preserved on it. If not, then the wish should have come true soon.
Another common way to get information about the future in a dream was to use four card kings. Thus, divination was carried out on her husband. In order to find out what the future spouse will be, the cards were placed on the evening of January 19 under the pillow. The dreaming king of spades meant a quick marriage with a person older than the fortuneteller; king of clubs - a wedding with a business man or a military man; tambourine - marriage with a friend; hearts - a successful marriage with a rich man.
Such a fortune-telling about a person who should later become a husband is quite true. However, sometimes the girl did not dream of any of the kings at all. In this case, in the morning she simply put her hand under the pillow and pulled out the first card that came across. The meaning of hersolved exactly as described above.
Once upon a time in the villages there was another method of divination in a dream. The girl who wanted to see the future groom did not comb her hair at night and put a comb next to the pillow. At the same time, before going to bed, she had to repeat the following phrase several times: “Come to me, narrowed one, comb my hair.” Sometimes such divination before Baptism was carried out in a different way. The girl ate some s alt and did not drink water all evening. Before going to bed, she said: “Come to me, betrothed, give me water to drink.”
Bean predictions
Very often in the villages in ancient times such rather interesting fortune-telling was carried out. True predictions in this case were "made" by an ordinary domestic rooster. The owners, who wanted to know their fate for the next year, simply scattered grain on the floor and launched a bird into the house. Next, we looked at exactly how the rooster would behave. If he pecked all the grains, it means that luck awaited the family in the coming year. If you haven’t touched a single one, poverty and misfortune are coming.
Several fortune-telling for the future husband
It was possible to get any information about the betrothed in other ways. For example, in order to find out where he lives, it was necessary to go outside the village on Epiphany night, take off the felt boots or boots and throw them away in front of you. Then you had to go up to him and see where the sock was pointing. On the other hand, matchmakers should have been expected. If the sock pointed back to the village, no wedding was to be expected this year.
Fortune telling on her husband was carried out anda little differently. To conduct the ceremony, one should take an ordinary broom and start sweeping the room with it. Waving to the right, it was necessary to say a prayer, to the left - a curse. After sweeping the whole room, one should draw a line across the room with a piece of coal and stand on the right side of it. Next, it was necessary to say: “The betrothed-mummer, appear before me.”
Conspiracies for we alth
If fortune-telling at Epiphany for some reason was disappointing, on the same day you could try to correct the situation. In all sorts of magical ways, our ancestors often, for example, try to fix their money affairs. A simple ritual with a can was very common in the villages of our country.
This ceremony can be carried out even today. In addition to the can, for it you need to prepare a cross made by yourself from sticks, baptismal water, one yellow coin and two white ones (you can vice versa). The can itself must be made of unpainted material. You need to pour water into it and throw coins into it. The cross is hung on a cord or thread on the side.
On Epiphany night, a spell is read over the water with the following content:
“I get up at night, I get church water. Dark night, holy water, cleanse the body and soul. Fly angels, overshadow me with wings, call God to me. I seat God at the table, I treat him with various dishes, I pray to John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. May the saints not leave me, may they free me from spiritual filth, from the sins committed by me. I will enter the Kingdom of Heaven clean! Amen!"
Afterafter the conspiracy is pronounced, you also need to read the prayer to the Epiphany of the Lord over the can with coins.
Divination with water was carried out at Epiphany in ancient times very often. The same applies to rituals with spells. After all, even today, many are sure that on this day absolutely all water becomes holy and acquires special power.
If you wish, at Baptism you can also perform a less complicated ceremony to attract we alth. In this case, you will also need water. In order not to be in need in the coming year, you just need to write a special conspiracy on a piece of paper and read it over a glass. Of course, Epiphany water is first poured into the latter. At the end of the spell, the leaf is burned. His ashes should be thrown into a glass. After that, they drink baptismal water. The plot on a piece of paper is written like this:
“I will get up, the servant of God (such and such), blessed, I will go, crossing myself, to the clear sea on Buyan Island. There lies the Alatyr stone, and the Mother of God sits on the stone, asking and praying to the Lord for our sins. I will ask the Most Pure Virgin to drive away evil and adversity, failure and poverty from me. Key in the sea, tongue in the mouth. Amen!"
Love Conspiracy
Not only divination before Epiphany for the betrothed or fate, but also any other rituals performed on this day have a special power. If you wish, by arranging a certain ceremony, you can, for example, easily attract the attention of a person of the opposite sex you like or return someone's love.
For the ritual that will be described below, you need to prepare a glass of water, a photographa bewitched person, a white, red or pink candle and a box of matches. The ritual begins at 12 noon. The candle is sprinkled with baptismal water and wait until it dries. Then they light it from a match and put the last one next to it. The photo is folded into a tube and taken in the left hand. In the right they hold a glass filled with baptismal water. Thus, you need to stand for a couple of minutes, discarding all unnecessary, negative thoughts. With the words “the kingdom of God to a servant (so-and-so), and to me his love,” the photo is lowered into the water. The glass is then placed back on the table and crossed three times.
Then take the match lying next to it and light it from the candle. As soon as it burns out completely, it is thrown into a glass with the words: “Help me!!!” In this way the spirits of water and fire are invoked. After pronouncing these words, the glass should be covered with a clean sheet of paper and hidden in a secret place for a year.
Epiphany Signs
The old fortune-telling held on this day is considered by many to be especially true today. The same goes for spells. Baptismal conspiracies pronounced with the performance of certain actions have special power. However, you can find out about what events will take place in life in the coming year simply by various signs.
For example, to hear the barking of dogs on Epiphany night - to we alth. It was believed that animals thus call a person to hunt, which promises rich prey. Divination-prediction for Baptism could also be arranged by observing the behavior of a cat. They carried her out into the street and waited untilshe will go back to the house. Good luck and we alth awaited the owners if the cat stepped over the threshold on its left paw.
In the evening on Epiphany, young men and girls went out into the street and watched who they would come across first. If a young man is for fun, we alth and happiness. If old - to disease and poverty. Well, and about the custom of asking the first person you meet, probably everyone knows the name. It was believed that this is one of the surest ways to find out what the name of the future spouse or spouse will be.
It was also considered a good omen to fall under a heavy snowfall on Epiphany night. In this case, happiness and joy awaited a person. For those who dared to swim in the hole at Epiphany, there was another good sign. The year was expected to be successful if a young man plunged into the water in front of the diver.
Someone considers divination before Baptism to be a superstition, someone considers it a sin, and someone believes in them unconditionally. You can treat them however you like. However, as echoes of past beliefs, they are certainly extremely interesting.
