vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #603 / Vladivostok by Braille / Reading article...

Russia is a peculiar nation which manages to cheerfully combine and enjoy the traditions of its unmixable layers of history. As atheism was the way of the land after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, people keep traditions of the Soviet times and meet the New Year with a bottle of champagne. A week later, on January 7, they cheer the religious holiday of Orthodox Christmas but spend the following two weeks participating in carnivals, games and fortune-telling, the latter strictly forbidden by church.

The roots of the contradictory Russian spirit can be traced back to the 10th century when Russia turned from paganism to Christianity. For example, a two-week feast between Orthodox Christmas, celebrated by the Russian church on January 7 in accordance with the old 'Julian' calendar, and Epiphany on January 19 is named Svyatki. The Church disapproves of this festival, but it is popular among the Russian people. Fortune-telling, ethnic songs and dancing, carnivals and games take place at this time.

This year, Vladivostok’s Arseniev Museum on the day of Epiphany offered an insight into Svyatki traditions welcoming visitors with a candle-decorated room for fortune-telling.

“People always want to know their future and we decided to demonstrate how fortune-telling was performed in old Russia,” said on of the museum’s two fortune forecasters, “Natalia Rykunova, who heads the museum’s department for cultural programs. According to her, about 25 people decided to take a chance at the adventure and undergo several fortune-telling tricks.

“There was even a couple, a young woman and a man, who came together and decided to try fortune-telling to find out the names of their future spouses,” she recalled smilingly. One of the simplest techniques used to reveal the name is to stop the first man in the street and ask his name. However, to achieve the best result, this activity should be carried out at midnight on Epiphany. Usually young unmarried girls perform this trick to nose about potential husbands.

Another popular method used to expose the future is taking your chance with one of a few glasses which may be empty, or contain sugar, salt, a coin or a ring. You have to put your hand under the towel and try to fish for money, marriage or just ‘sweet life’. In case you take out an empty glass your life is forecasted to stay unchanged while salty water predicts tears and sadness. However, another fortune teller Ksenia Statsenko philosophically mentioned during the procedure that “tears help clear the soul so they are also sometimes needed.”

Statsenko said that she often practiced fortune telling when she was a student and with other fascinated friends she organized round table discussions with spirits. “We used to call for spirits at night and asked questions,” she shared in a conspirator voice. An old Russian tradition for revealing the secrets of the future is to hold a spiritual conversation with one of the dead people. The essential items include a table, a sheet of paper with letters of the Latin alphabet and a pointer. The lights out, a candle is lit and the group of people is ready for inspiration.

“It was exciting and we received unusual answers but I always suspected that one young man in our company moved the pointer taking upon himself the role of the spirit,” she smiled. “Fun or not, but after such magic-filled conversations I was afraid to sleep in my room,” Statsenko added.

Many comical situations are connected with Russian-style fortune telling when a young girl tries to find her husband by throwing her boot at midnight on Epiphany. It is believed that where the boot lands there the future fate awaits. “My sister once threw the boot and it hit the head of a passing old man. He got very angry but luckily marriage did not follow,” Statsenko giggled.

“The church forbids fortune-telling but Russian people did it, do it and will continue to do it,” she concluded. “Everyone wants to believe in magic which would work wonders in life,” she said.

I decided to try my luck too and went through the suggested fortune telling processes. I was rewarded with predictions of many upcoming adventures, much money, an apartment key and a gold ring – a forecast that everybody dreams of. However, the efforts to ask a name from a passing man failed – the victim of my fortune telling exercises was in a busy rush and evidently attempted to avoid me.

I did not feel disappointed – some people do fortune telling to find out about the fate while others run from it, but in any case it intrigues, puzzles and fascinates us - a miracle of life.