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- Scary fun: what they believed in, what they were afraid of and how to fortune-tell on Christmas Eve
Scary fun: what they believed in, what they were afraid of and how to fortune-tell on Christmas Eve
We have long been on vacation according to the production calendar, but our ancestors had days in which it was absolutely forbidden to work - Svyatki. It was believed that those who did not observe these rules would face diseases, losses, bad harvests, unfruitful livestock, in general, all sorts of misfortunes. About traditions, beliefs and the essence of the holiday "Izvestia" told the researcher of the department of ethnography of the Russian people of the Russian Ethnographic Museum Tatyana Zimina.
The birth of the sun and scary evenings
In the XIX-XX centuries Svyatki were the main winter holiday, which lasted almost two weeks. The special place of Svyatki in the agricultural calendar was due to archaic ideas about the "life of the sun". From December 25 the sun, according to peasants, began to "grow" and "turn to summer", this day was called "Solstice".
- In the popular understanding it was the time of the "birth" of the sun, with which they associated the end of the old year and all that is associated with it, and the onset of a new circle of life. The transition period from the old to the new was called Svyatki," explains Tatiana Zimina.
On how people would meet and spend this holiday, how correctly the customs and rules of behavior would be observed, depended on how successful and prosperous the coming year would be for the community and for each person individually. The world order, broken with the departure of the old year, was created again, and the fate of all living things was predetermined during these days.
- Svyatki were full of various ritual actions, in which the whole population participated. The most important of them include house rounds by groups of children, teenagers, young people, as well as adult members of the community with good wishes, youth festivities and "disorderly conduct"; dressing up; fortune-telling, - says the ethnographer.
According to her, from the point of view of Christian tradition, the time of the Holy Days is also considered transitional: Jesus Christ was born, but not yet baptized, and therefore the people called Holy Days the time "without the cross".
- People believed that the representatives of the otherworld were very active, and they should have been especially wary of them during the "terrible evenings". It was on these days, according to the belief, that sorcerers turned into dogs or pigs at night and in this form penetrated peasant farmsteads to do some damage. It was also said that in the evening one could meet shilikuns in the street - so in some places demons in the form of people with iron heads and pointed hats were called. It was also believed that they had fire coming from their mouths, and in their hands they held a hook, which they used to rake up children who were out of the house at off-hours. Or svyatochnitsa - ugly, hair-covered spirits, singing and dancing in bathhouses and unsanctified huts, - says Tatiana Zimina.
Once on Epiphany evening, the girls were fortune-telling
In Russian tradition there are several types of fortune-telling, one of them is the subblyudnoe. All villagers could take part in it, regardless of gender and age. Such fortune-telling can be carried out even now, in companies.
- In the dish each participant of the ritual should put a ring, earring, brooch, cufflink, button or belt. Then the dish was closed with a handkerchief or a napkin. The girls sang short songs that foretold this or that fate and, without looking, pulled out of the dish an object. The one whose property was taken out was destined for the fate predicted by the song: a long maidenhood or a quick marriage, wealth or poverty, a bountiful harvest, happiness, a long road or death, - says the ethnographer.
We sing to whom we will sing - and to that good,
To whom we will sing, to whom we will do well.
To whom it will be all right, it will not pass away.
The widespread fortune-telling included throwing a shoe through the gate and listening at the crossroads.
- When they threw a shoe through the gate, they looked in which direction its toe would point when it fell: if towards home, the girl would not get married during the next year, if away from home, she would be married," Zimina explains.
To see your soulmate, you guessed at a dream.
- To do this it was necessary to go to bed, without undressing, without praying, under the pillow or under the bed put some object, for which the words invited to come to the soulmate. For example, under the bed put a well made of wood chips and said: "Suzheny-ryazheny, come to water the horse. And they believed that after that the girl would see in her dreams the groom who brought his horse to the watering hole," says the ethnographer.
The most dangerous was considered fortune-telling in a bathhouse, which took place at midnight. Only the most courageous dared to dare such entertainment.
- In the bath, a girl set two mirrors against each other so that one of them formed a corridor, and lit candles. After that she, without blinking, looked into the mirrored corridor, saying: "Suzheny-ryazheny, appear." Tradition prescribed that as soon as you see the image of the soulmate, you should immediately turn the mirror reflection downward and "dibs" - immediately say: "Dibs on me!" three times.
Celebration of Youth
On Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day, people prepared for the holiday: they cleaned the house, decorated the front corner, where icons hung, and the walls with festive towels, the table with fresh tablecloths, prepared dishes for the festive meal.
- The observance of a strict fast was considered obligatory on Christmas Eve. The usual meal was sochivo (fasting porridge) or sochni - so called cakes on hemp oil or baked goods with stuffing on top; hence the widespread name "Christmas Eve". Pious elderly peasants often gave up food entirely until the festive supper at midnight, or until the first star. On the eve of Epiphany the peasants thoroughly washed the huts and swept out into the street the garbage in which, according to the beliefs, a devil could hide. The dinner on the eve of Epiphany was also fasting and consisted of a memorial kutya, pancakes and oatmeal, so it was called "hungry kutya". After the meal, the pancakes were taken to the stable and left there for the houseboy to help the cattle," says the ethnographer.
Festive meals were held on Christmas and Epiphany, and sometimes on New Year's Day. They were characterized by an abundance of meat and dairy dishes.
- Russian people believed that a large amount of food on the table on this day would cause an abundance of food throughout the year. In a number of localities for the Christmas meal hostesses baked special cookies "kozuli" in the form of figures of domestic animals - cows, sheep, horses. It was given as a gift to children, teenagers and young people, who from the morning of Christmas Day went around the homes of peasants with greetings and wishes for a good harvest, - says Tatiana Zimina.
Christmas Eve was considered the holiday of youth. Boys and girls went to the festivities in their best clothes.
- On Christmas Day and Epiphany in many places they organized bride parties, which, of course, dressed up in the most beautiful dresses, and often changed them during the parties. The ethnographer adds, "And during festive gatherings on Christmas Eve and Epiphany, girls could also change into clothes taken from home to show the material prosperity of their families.
