Since yesterday, Christmastide has come to us. The ancestors were sure that Christmas time was the best time to find out the future. On any of these days, fortune telling is considered the most accurate and prophetic. Girls usually get into fortune telling, trying to find out something about their upcoming marriage. But if this question is no longer relevant for you, you can tell fortunes for good luck, prosperity, or something that worries us. The best thing to do is treat this as a game and play fortune telling with your children.
Here are examples of the most interesting fortune telling for children that will add variety to Christmas evenings. In addition, many fortune tellings are also useful for children - they develop imagination, as well as the ability to count and read.
Christmas fortune telling with rice grains
Fill the bowl with rice. Ask yourself a question or make a wish and place your palm in the dish. Count how many grains of rice stick to your palm. An even number is a negative answer, an odd number is a positive answer.
Christmas fortune telling with tangerines
For this fortune telling, you will need as many tangerines as people want to know the future. Each child makes a wish or asks a question that can only be answered with “yes” or “no.” After this, everyone peels their fruit and counts the number of slices. If there is an even number of them, it means that the wish will come true; an odd number means that the wish will come true after some time.
Christmas fortune telling using the Holy Book
For this fortune telling, you need to take a book and, without opening it, say out loud the page number and the line at the top or bottom. Then you should open the page and read the text on the hidden line - it is the Christmas prophecy. If the line bears little resemblance to a mystical prediction, parents will have to come up with what it really means. After all, the baby should not remain upset.
Christmas fortune telling with walnut shells
Prepare a wide bowl and pour water into it. Attach the words written on pieces of paper to the edges of the bowl: “luck”, “happiness”, “wealth”, “unexpected acquaintance”, “travel”, “changes in life”, “pleasant surprise”, “winning”. Walnut shells are set afloat according to the number of participants. To differentiate between the shells, you can place different colored cake candles in them. After all the shells are on the water, the participants carefully begin to blow on them, trying not to knock them over. Turned over shells are eliminated from fortune telling. Whichever inscription the boat attaches to is what will happen to the child in the coming year.
Christmas fortune telling for the future using ice
You need to pour water into a bowl or saucer and put it out in the cold on Christmas night. When the morning comes, carefully study the ice with your child: if it has risen, the coming year will be good; if it has frozen evenly, the year will be calm; if it has moved in waves, there will be both happiness and minor troubles.
Fortune telling with wax for a brownie
This fortune telling is suitable for the little ones. First you need to show the children pictures of the brownie and tell about his character. Tell us about the traditions: they cajoled the brownie by putting out food for him at night, and when moving to another home, they lured him into an old shoe to take him with him, because this creature has long been considered the protector of the house.
For fortune telling, you need to take a small saucer, pour milk or water into it and place it near the threshold. Then you should melt a candle in a metal bowl, saying: “Brownie, dear master, come quickly, drink milk, talk about fate.” Melted wax needs to be poured into cold milk, and then determined what shape is obtained. Each figure can be assigned some hidden meaning: stars - for interesting events and holidays, a cross - for sadness, a flower - for joy, an animal - for the appearance of a new friend, lines - for travel. Wax grapes mean good luck and happiness in the coming year, a mushroom predicts health and longevity, a dragon predicts the fulfillment of desires and the achievement of all goals. The silhouette of the month predicts profit, the bell - good news, the leaf warns of envious people and ill-wishers.
Remember that during Christmas and Christmas fortune-telling with children, you need to look for only positive meaning in all predictions.
Christmas time. Scenario for younger students
Gatherings for school-age children “Yuletide fortune-telling for Christmas” - history and traditions
Churepkina Valentina Petrovna, teacher at the Regional Children's Sanatorium for Tuberculosis Patients, Berezovsky, Barzas, Kemerovo Region.The night from January 6 to 7 is Christmas Eve. This is not only a major Orthodox holiday, but also a time for Christmas fortune-telling, lasting until January 19 (Epiphany). You can treat this ancient Russian tradition as a game and have fun with your friends, or you can get serious. Few people refrain from fortune telling on these magical and mysterious days.
Once on Epiphany evening
The girls wondered:
A shoe behind the gate,
Having taken it off the leg, they threw it... (V. Zhukovsky “Svetlana”)
Description: This material will be useful to primary school teachers, preschool teachers, as well as children and parents who are interested in Yule fortune telling, their traditions and customs.
Target: appeal to the spiritual and moral traditions and values of one’s people.
Tasks:
to form cognitive needs and interests, activity;
enrich the child’s experience, saturate this experience with new knowledge and information about the environment, expand and deepen the opportunities for the emergence and consolidation of stable cognitive interests;
cultivate love for the traditions of the Russian people and their culture.
Preliminary work: the day before, children are given tasks: learn from their parents, grandmothers, and friends about 1-2 rituals of Christmas fortune-telling and prepare the necessary attributes; write wishes on 13 pieces of paper; instruct the children to find out and notice the following of the main natural phenomena at Christmas: the presence of snow, air temperature, the presence of wind, or even a blizzard, the number of stars in the sky, etc.
Material: necessary attributes for fortune telling; a bag containing all kinds of souvenirs and sweets.
Progress: Christmas melodies are playing.
Teacher: Today we will talk about Christmas fortune telling. Christmas fortune-telling is an ancient, pagan tradition. Christmastide - falls on two weeks from January 6 to Epiphany (that is, until January 19). And this is the best time for fortune telling.
Most of all, young girls were looking forward to fortune telling in order to find out their future and find out the name of their betrothed, but few people refrain from fortune telling on these magical and mysterious days. Folk signs in fortune telling are very diverse: they are carried out on things, on money, on coffee and mirrors, they tell fortunes by candles, snow, wax, watches and rings, and so on.
They usually told fortunes in the evenings when they were getting ready for gatherings. Now, however, the winter day is in full swing, but let us still tell fortunes together! You ask how? Today we will take a closer look at the simplest, most popular and unexpected Christmas fortune telling.
The teacher shows a picture of the Brownie.
Teacher: What have you heard or know about the brownie? What is its character and features? Sample stories from children: The little housekeeper protects a person’s home; contributes in every possible way to a comfortable life and prosperity, etc.
Teacher: How should one appease a brownie who guards a house and lives side by side with a person? (children's answers)
“Tell fortunes on the brownie’s lap”
So, fortune telling itself will include the following steps:You need to take a small saucer or a lid from a jar, pour fresh milk into it and place an improvised plate closer to the threshold of the front door.
While the milk is standing near the door, you need to melt all the candle stubs in the house in a metal vessel, while saying into the vessel:
My little house, dear master,
Come quickly and drink some milk,
Talk about fate.
When the wax is melted, you need to pour it into cold milk and fix the shapes that will appear when it hardens in the liquid.
It can be interpreted as follows: stars - to many interesting events; cross - to sadness and illness; flower - joy; animals are new friends; lines – travel; roads, people - many new characters in fate, etc.
The teacher summarizes: You can place pieces of food and a couple of spoons of milk at the window for him at night. A brownie “fed” in this way may well help with fortune-telling, becoming kinder to the people with whom he lives and whose house he serves.
“The future is through folk signs”
Teacher: So, the day before, you guys were tasked with learning and noticing the following of the main natural phenomena at Christmas:Presence of snow. If there is a lot of snow on Christmas Day, this means a successful and good year.
Air temperature. If the day is generally warm and fine, then the harvest will be sound and good, the wheat fields will be full of grain.
The presence of wind, or even a snowstorm. If there is a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, there will be a lot of honey due to the abundance of bees.
The number of stars in the sky. If there are many stars in the sky, then there will be a lot of peas in the harvest.
Children can even keep a specific diary of fortune telling on natural phenomena, where they can write down, or even sketch, their observations, noting the signs associated with them.
“Fortune telling on beans (cereals)”
Teacher: Fortune telling by beans is fortune telling for the fulfillment of a wish.The teacher gives instructions, and several willing children begin to carry them out:
You need to sit down with a jar of cereal or beans, make a wish and say it out loud. Take a handful of cereal out of the jar, and once again make a wish out loud, scatter it on the table. Count the number of grains; if there are an even number, the wish will come true; if there is an odd number, unfortunately, not.
Game for Christmas “Gifts of the Magi”
Everyone present takes turns putting their hand into a bag containing all kinds of souvenirs and sweets, and trying to guess what kind of item is in their hand; After this, the item is taken out of the bag. If the participant guessed correctly, then he takes this item for himself.
"Fortune telling with plates"
The teacher gives instructions, and several willing children begin to carry them out:I have several plates, and in them: bread, garlic, sugar, salt, a ring and a coin. Then, everyone present closes their eyes, and everyone chooses a plate for themselves. Whoever has a plate of bread is a sign of prosperity, with sugar is a sign of a fun pastime, salt is a sign of misfortune, garlic is a sign of tears and troubles, a coin is a sign of wealth, and a ring is a sign of early marriage.
“If there are a lot of books in the house”
Teacher: Fortune telling is carried out directly as follows:First, a specific question is asked that worries the fortuneteller. You need to ask it to the book on which they are telling fortunes, mentally repeating it to yourself several times.
After the task has been formulated, you need to open the book in the first place you come across, setting a certain line, from which the answer corresponding to the question will be read. (Several people can participate in fortune telling with a book if desired.)
"Cup-spoons-ladles"
Teacher: A good fortune telling at Christmas can be “Cups, Spoons, Ladles”, in which all the salt lies in the distribution of the so-called “cups of fate”. So what does it take?The teacher gives instructions, and several willing children begin to carry them out:
everyone should take exactly the same mugs (preferably deep ones and definitely according to the number of fortune tellers).
Then you need to scatter various objects in these circles in random order that you can find in the kitchen or in your mother’s boxes. For example, these could be coins, beads, pieces of bread, sugar cubes, seeds, onions, salt, pebbles and other small things.
The items at the bottom of the improvised “cups of fate” are filled with black tea (so that the contents are not visible) and then offered to fortune-tellers to choose from.
Each participant must choose a cup for himself and take an object from its bottom.
The decoding is done approximately as follows: if you got an onion - to sadness and disappointment, if you got a pebble - to solve difficult life problems, at the bottom there was sugar or candy - life will be sweet and beautiful, a coin - promises wealth and luxury, a bead - interesting meetings, seeds - a lot of new friends, but if there is nothing in the circle, it means that life next year will not bring any special changes.
Dynamic pause with elements of fortune telling "Round Dance"
Everyone lines up in a large round dance and slowly walks in a circle. The driver (a girl or a boy in turn) is blindfolded and given a beautiful handkerchief. He walks in a circle in the opposite direction to the round dance and chooses who to give the handkerchief to, i.e. whom to choose, and the chosen one becomes the driver.
The round dance sings:
Walk, walk, round dance,
Not back, but forward! I'll go in circles
Yes, I will find my destiny! Choose, choose
Just make sure you don’t make a mistake!”
Note: if the driver is a girl, the boys come forward in the circle and vice versa.
The driver answers with the words:
Everyone is good
I choose for the soul! (hands the handkerchief to the selected person)
"Fortune telling for wish fulfillment"
In advance, the children were given the task of writing wishes on 13 pieces of paper. Children put them in a bowl and pour water, the first one that floats up will come true. (Several willing children take part in fortune telling on pieces of paper.)
"Divination with dice"
Teacher: For fortune telling you will need two dice. The participant rolls the dice. If a double is rolled, he receives a prediction. You can roll the dice six times. If in six throws there is no double, it means that the time for fortune telling has not yet come for this participant, and fate does not want him to look into the future. Doubles value:
Two units - failure in business;
Two deuces - quarrels with friends and loved ones;
Two threes - travel, new acquaintances;
Two fours - success in business;
Two A's - material well-being;
Two sixes are great love.
"Candle Fortune Telling"
Teacher: Candle fortune telling is fortune telling. You need to take a large, wide candle and light it. (The teacher carries out all actions with a burning candle himself.) Wait until a sufficient amount of wax has accumulated in the hole and pour it into a container with cold water. Look at the figures that form on the water; if the droplets are small and neat, then good luck awaits you in business, and if the figures are large, bulky and ugly, then expect conflicts and troubles, financial problems are possible.
To summarize:
At the end of the Yuletide fortune-telling, everyone is invited to the table. You can serve surprise cookies with tea. Each cookie has a fortune paper baked inside. The pieces of paper must be wrapped in food foil. Predictions must be good, kind, for example:
1.
If you don't shed tears,
There will be a whole lot of money.
2.
Your destiny is not so simple,
Career growth awaits you.
3.
Oh, miracle, fate will have a surprise in store,
Pack your bags and go on a cruise.
4.
Just a little time left to wait,
Joy will soon come into your home.
5.
A sharp turn awaits you soon,
Great love awaits you this year.
Teacher: And lastly, rely on fortune telling - don’t make a mistake yourself. Girls, you don’t need to rely only on fate and wait for the prince without doing anything to meet him. Try to arrange your life the way you see it in your dreams - you will definitely succeed, because the main thing is to be confident in your happiness.
Be healthy and happy, dear guys! May God give you all the brightest and most beautiful things! Enjoy the holidays and take care of each other!
Note: While drinking tea, the teacher maintains a casual conversation on the topic of Christmas fortune-telling (exchange of experience).
The teacher copies all the records of Christmas fortune-telling that the children learned the day before and wrote down. And he always gives it to children so that the children can tell fortunes at home.
Ksenia Golubeva
"Christmas Fortune Telling" Holiday scenario for children of senior preschool age
"Christmas Fortune Telling" Holiday scenario for children of senior preschool age with a rural library.
Target: To promote the spiritual development of children through gaining knowledge about the Orthodox faith, to introduce children to the history of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, and to form an idea of the Christmastide. Develop interest in Orthodox holidays, cultivate a love for Russian folk culture.
Progress of the event:
Dressed up carolers (rural library workers) enter the hall and congratulate everyone on the holiday.
1 Librarian: I sow, I sow
Happy New Year!
To be healthy
We lived for many years!
2 Librarian: Open the chest
Give me a piglet,
Damn it,
At least the fat wedge!
1 Librarian:
Do you know, kids, that since ancient times many peoples had fun holidays that they celebrated in winter. For example, our ancestors, grandparents, solemnly celebrated the day of the winter solstice. Cheerful, noisy holidays were supposed to return warmth, light, and spring to people.
All these customs have survived to this day; you and I also celebrate many different winter holidays.
When I was little, my grandmother told me a story, I remember it well, listen.
I remember the first time as a child
I heard a story about Christmas.
I was moved to tears -
After all, little Christ was born
Not in a rich eminent house
And he was not lying in a lush cradle,
And in a remote cave on straw,
The angels bending over him sang.
Children sing a song: (“Christmas carol”, music by A. Shidlovskaya, folk lyrics.)
1st child: In the manger I slept on fresh hay
Quiet tiny Christ.
The moon has emerged from the shadows
I stroked the flax of his hair.
A bull breathed on a baby's face
And, rustling like straw,
On an elastic knee
I looked at it, barely breathing.
2nd child: Sparrows through the roof poles
They flocked to the manger,
And the bull, clinging to the niche,
He crumpled the blanket with his lip.
The dog sneaked up to the warm leg,
Licked her secretly.
The cat was the most comfortable of all
Warm a child sideways in a manger… .
3rd child: Subdued white goat
I breathed on his forehead,
Just a stupid gray donkey
He pushed everyone helplessly.
I'd like to look at the child
Just a minute for me too!
And he cried loudly
In the pre-dawn silence...
And Christ opened his eyes,
Suddenly the circle of animals moved apart
And with a smile full of affection,
He whispered: “Look quickly!”
Librarian: The word Christmas is always associated with the words “tree”, “gifts”, “fortune telling”, “games”. We always celebrate Christmas in January, when the New Year tree is still decorated at home. Let's play a little. Do you agree?
Game: "Who is faster?"
(2 pairs of felt boots tied together, two children take part in the game, they run in felt boots around the Christmas tree, who will run to the place faster).
Game: "Rider"
(two teams of 6 people, two balls, poles, music).
Librarian: At Christmas they not only gave gifts, played, had fun, but also told fortunes. Christmas fortune-telling is the name given to fortune-telling performed during the Christmas season. Christmas time is a wonderful two weeks of magical holidays, snow and hope, which begins on Christmas Eve on January 6, and ends on Epiphany on January 19.
Fortune telling during this period is considered the most reliable and most often comes true, because Christmas fortune telling takes place on holy days, and according to legend, good spirits and angels help people.
Fortune telling at Christmas is one of the most famous and interesting Russian traditions, which has come down to us from time immemorial. As a rule, fortune telling was done by girls and women, but there are some types of fortune telling for children. Listen here:
First fortune telling: “Fortune telling on a bow.”
Let's try to tell fortunes with onions today. We cut the bulbs into 12 slices and leave them overnight; in the morning we will come to the kindergarten and see what weather awaits us every month. Let's start a competition to see who can cut the onion into 12 slices the fastest.
Second fortune telling “Fortune telling with the help of books.”
First, a specific question is asked that worries the fortuneteller. You need to ask it to the book on which they are telling fortunes, mentally repeating it to yourself several times.
After the task has been formulated, you need to open the book in the first place you come across, setting a certain line, from which the answer corresponding to the question will be read.
Fortune telling experts confirm that a correctly formulated question is already half the battle, and books never lie if you approach them with an open heart.
(Fortune telling is carried out).
Third fortune telling “Fortune telling by other people’s windows”
On the night before Christmas, several fortune-tellers go to a street they know (maybe one next to their own) and, having made a wish for a specific house, go to its windows to see what is happening there.
Depending on what they see there, they can interpret their fate: they will see tightly curtained windows - life will flow peacefully, without change; spy on someone else's feast - the year will be cheerful, kind and eventful; they will see dark windows - they won’t see happiness in the near future, etc.
The fourth fortune-telling “The future is through folk signs.”
Presence of snow. If there is a lot of snow on Christmas Day, this means a successful and good year.
Air temperature. If the day is generally warm and fine, then the harvest will be sound and good, the wheat fields will be full of grain.
The presence of wind, or even a snowstorm. If there is a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, there will be a lot of honey due to the abundance of bees.
The number of stars in the sky. If there are many stars in the sky, then there will be a lot of peas in the harvest.
Children can even keep a specific diary of fortune telling on natural phenomena, where they can write down, or even sketch, their observations, noting the signs associated with them.
(Fortune telling is carried out).
Fifth fortune telling: “Tell fortunes on the brownie’s lap.”
(In addition to serious, almost scientific observations of weather and nature, on Christmas Eve it is proposed to entertain the kids with stories about a kind house-house who protects a person’s home, in every possible way contributing to his free life and prosperity. To do this, you need to show the children in advance pictures of the house-house, tell about his abilities and character, and also teach kids to respect the forces that keep the house and live in it side by side with a person. As part of this practice, it is proposed to teach children to feed the brownie - by placing pieces of food and a couple of spoons of milk at the window for him at night. “Fed” in this way like a brownie, he may well help with fortune-telling, becoming kinder to the people with whom he lives and whose house he serves.)
Sixth fortune telling: “Train fortune telling on cats.”
Traditionally, in rural magic, representatives of the cat family are considered the most mystical animal, which can bring on its paws the truth about a person’s future. It is better if the animal is black or tricolor, but other colors are also suitable. You need to do the following:
Come up with and formulate to yourself or, on the contrary, out loud, a certain desire related to future affairs or events.
Then you need to call your pet by name an odd number of times. Call until the cat deigns to run into the room where the fortune tellers are sitting.
At the moment when the cat crosses the threshold, you need to record the fact which paw will be transferred through it first.
Fortune telling is interpreted very simply: if the left paw goes ahead of the right, then the plan is destined to come true, but if the cat turns out to be right-handed, then it is better to forget about that wish as unrealistic.
Librarian: Now you know what Christmastide and Christmas are and how our ancestors have long celebrated this holiday.
Child: I sow this wind,
Happy New Year
With cattle with a belly,
With little kids,
Happy little ones!
How many twigs are there on a bush,
I wish you had so many children!
Child: I sow I sow
Happy New Year!
New year, new happiness
Be born wheat,
Peas, lentils!
There are heaps of heaps on the field,
Pies on the table!
Happy new year, happy new happiness, master and hostess.
Christmas song: "Christmas song" music. S. Podshibyakina, lyrics. E. Matvienko.
Child: New Year has come
The old one stole
Showed yourself!
Go people
To welcome the sun.
Drive away the frost!
Game: "Tug of War."
(two teams and a rope). Happy New Year. Music, fun.
On the eve of the Bright Feast of the Nativity of Christ, all Christians, young and old, prepare for this solemn day: they cook kutya and the prescribed dishes for the festive table, come up with entertainment for guests, clean their own homes, create small Christmas installations, etc. In this pre-holiday chaos, children often have almost no work to do; they disturb parents and adults, constantly getting into trouble. But giving little girls and boys an interesting and responsible task is very simple. It’s enough to tell them about what Christmas fortune telling for children there are.
Among the people, children were not given a special role in the process of fortune-telling; they were almost always with their parents or left to their own devices, so initially no specific practices created for the purpose of finding out their fate were developed for them. However, in ancient books and collections of folklore, the fact that children have no place in the process of fortune telling is not clearly indicated. Therefore, here we offer the most adequate fortune telling for children, which they can do on their own.
If there are a lot of books in the house
It is interesting to tell fortunes with children at Christmas using books, and in this case any kind of literature can be taken. This fortune telling is suitable for children of all ages: kindergarteners, schoolchildren, and teenagers. In addition, you can change books from year to year, depending on the state of mind, erudition and emotional state of the children. For Christmas, it is better to take appropriate books: the Bible, Psalms, appropriate prayers and parables. Fortune telling is carried out directly as follows:
- First, a specific question is asked that worries the fortuneteller. You need to ask it to the book on which they are telling fortunes, mentally repeating it to yourself several times.
- After the task has been formulated, you need to open the book in the first place you come across, setting a certain line, from which the answer corresponding to the question will be read.
- Fortune telling experts confirm that a correctly formulated question is already half the battle, and books never lie if you approach them with an open heart.
Fortune telling by other people's windows
If the children are not completely tomboys and they can be entrusted with the difficult task of spying on strangers, then you can entertain them on Christmas Eve with the following fortune telling:
- On the night before Christmas, several fortune-tellers go to a street they know (maybe one next to their own) and, having made a wish for a specific house, go to its windows to see what is happening there.
- Depending on what they see there, they can interpret their fate: they will see tightly curtained windows - life will flow peacefully, without change; spy on someone else's feast - the year will be cheerful, kind and eventful; they will see dark windows - they won’t see happiness in the near future, etc.
In this fortune-telling, the age and gender of those people who flash outside the windows of the mysterious house also matter: young people - for joy and carelessness, old people - for serious events and wisdom, middle-aged people - for stability and well-being.
The future is through folk signs
In the old days, it was mainly older people who could come up with a good fortune-telling for Christmas for children, who instructed the tomboys to follow the signs: the weather, animals and birds, the sky and precipitation, trees, etc. The kids put all their diligence and concentration so as not to miss the smallest hints that nature gave. To the point that all the days around Christmas were planned out in detail. Based on the analysis of each of them, it was possible to say what the weather would be like in the coming year. So, instruct your child to learn and notice the following of the main natural phenomena at Christmas:
- Presence of snow. If there is a lot of snow on Christmas Day, this means a successful and good year.
- Air temperature. If the day is generally warm and fine, then the harvest will be sound and good, the wheat fields will be full of grain.
- The presence of wind, or even a snowstorm. If there is a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, there will be a lot of honey due to the abundance of bees.
- The number of stars in the sky. If there are many stars in the sky, then there will be a lot of peas in the harvest.
- Children can even keep a specific diary of fortune telling on natural phenomena, where they can write down, or even sketch, their observations, noting the signs associated with them.
Tell fortunes on the brownie's lap
In addition to serious, almost scientific observations of weather and nature, on Christmas Eve it is proposed to entertain children with stories about a kind housekeeper who guards a person’s home, contributing in every possible way to his free life and prosperity. To do this, you need to show the children pictures of the house-elf in advance, tell them about his abilities and character, and also teach the kids to respect the forces that guard the house and live in it side by side with the person. As part of this practice, it is proposed to teach children to feed the brownie by placing pieces of food and a couple of spoons of milk at the window for him at night. A brownie “fed” in this way may well help with fortune-telling, becoming kinder to the people with whom he lives and whose house he serves. So, fortune telling itself will include the following steps:
- You need to take a small saucer or a lid from a jar, pour fresh milk into it and place an improvised plate closer to the threshold of the front door.
- While the milk is standing near the door, you need to melt all the candle stubs in the house in a metal vessel, while saying to the vessel: “My little house, dear master, come quickly, drink milk, talk about fate.”
- When the wax is melted, you need to pour it into cold milk and fix the shapes that will appear when it hardens in the liquid.
- It’s not always easy to figure out what happened as a result of fortune telling, but kids like this stage the most. It can be interpreted as follows: stars - for many interesting events, a cross - for sadness and illness, a flower - joy, animals - new friends, lines - travel, roads, people - many new characters in fate, etc.
Practice guessing on cats
You can diversify children's fortune telling at Christmas by involving pets in fortune telling. Hamsters, guinea pigs, dogs and cats are suitable for this purpose. But traditionally in rural magic, a representative of the cat family is considered the most mystical animal that can bring on its paws the truth about a person’s future. It is better if the animal is black or tricolor, but other colors are also suitable. You need to do the following:
- Come up with and formulate to yourself or, on the contrary, out loud a certain desire related to future affairs or events.
- Then you need to call your pet by name an odd number of times. Call until the cat deigns to run into the room where the fortune tellers are sitting.
- At the moment when the cat crosses the threshold, you need to record the fact which paw will be transferred through it first.
- Fortune telling is interpreted very simply: if the left paw goes ahead of the right, then the plan is destined to come true, but if the cat turns out to be right-handed, then it is better to forget about that wish as unrealistic.
Cups-spoons-ladles
A good fortune telling at Christmas for children who really want to “be like adults” may be one in which the whole point lies in the distribution of the so-called “cups of fate.” So what does it take?
- Take absolutely identical mugs, preferably deep ones and always according to the number of fortune tellers, then rinse them well (to remove foreign energy).
- Then you need to scatter various objects in these circles in random order that you can find in the kitchen or in your mother’s boxes. For example, these could be coins, beads, pieces of bread, sugar cubes, seeds, onions, salt, pebbles and other small things.
- The items at the bottom of the improvised “cups of fate” are filled with black tea (so that the contents are not visible) and then offered to fortune-tellers to choose from.
- Each participant must choose a cup for himself and take an object from its bottom.
- The decoding is done approximately as follows: if you got an onion - to sadness and disappointment, if you got a pebble - to solve difficult life problems, at the bottom there was sugar or candy - life will be sweet and beautiful, a coin - promises wealth and luxury, a bead - interesting meetings, seeds - a lot of new friends, but if there is nothing in the circle, it means that life next year will not bring any special changes.
Perhaps you can pick up fortune telling for older children in this video:
Christmas gatherings
(Christmas game "Carols")
*Preface.
Target activities - to introduce children to the history and customs of celebrating Christmas in Rus', using various types of folklore (games, fortune telling, riddles, proverbs and sayings), as well as episodes from literary works.
Form - gatherings.
Participants:
1. Presenter – Solokha (for costume, see “The Night Before Christmas”)
2. Group “Good fellows”
3.Group “Pretty Maidens”
4. Mummers (costumes: gypsy, old man, priest, beggar, Baba Yaga, animal masks, etc.
5. Dancers
6. Chastushechniki
7. Musical accompaniment - any Russian dance music
*From the history of the holiday
The Nativity of Christ in Russia is placed second in importance after Easter and is called “the mother of all holidays.” It is celebrated on January 7th. The basis of God's holiday is the legend of the birth of the Virgin Mary of the son of God, the savior of the world, Jesus Christ. People in Rus' have always been reverent about the Christmas holidays and celebrated them beautifully and brightly. Gatherings were held with songs and caroling. Preparations began long before the holiday itself. It was preceded by a forty-day Nativity fast. In the minds of the Russian people, this post was imprinted on a special day before Christmas - Christmas Eve. A day of strict abstinence, it ended with a rare dish - sochiv. This whole day is painfully joyful... In the morning there is rushing around houses, slamming doors, delicious smells of meat dishes forgotten during Lent, which are being prepared for tomorrow. And today, on Christmas Eve, you can’t eat anything until the first star. The sun is setting and the sky is slowly darkening. And finally, a barely visible diamond spark timidly peeked through the thickening blue. The kids are the first messengers of the Christmas star. They are also the first eaters of sochiv, prepared in large dishes for all households, big and small.
Children who are hungry during the day are more than happy to swallow sweet wheat grains steamed in honey and choose berries from the holiday treat: dried cherries, plums, strawberries, raspberries for future use.
And how distant summer is remembered on a frosty evening, in the blue twilight of Christmas Eve, in the approaching Christmas night.
Note : Sochivo – grains of barley or wheat steamed in honey. (Rice with raisins)
*Progress of the “Gatherings” event
1. Guests in Solokha’s hut. They sing ditties or folk songs, ask each other riddles, etc.
The sounds of an approaching festive crowd can be heard: cheerful laughter, singing, the sounds of folk instruments, the voice of one of the guests: “The carol has arrived, open the gate!” There is a knock.
Solokha: And here come the guests with carols. (Guests enter, mokhonosh in front)
Carolers: - Hello, hostess! Let me come into the little room!
Enter the little room and sit on the bench!
Sit on a bench and sing a song!
They sing: Kolyada has come
Christmas Eve
Mistress, dear mother,
Don't be lazy, get up
Give me some pie -
A whole yard of belly!
Won't you serve me the pie?
One chicken leg.
Mistress of the house
Like a pancake covered in honey!
Will you serve the pie?
A whole yard of belly!
Won't you serve me the pie?
One chicken leg.
Kolyada, Kolyada,
It's Christmas Eve!
Good auntie,
The pie is delicious
Don't cut, don't break,
Serve it quickly!
Two, three,
We've been standing for a long time
Let us not stand.
The stove is heating up
I want some pie!
Carolers (one by one):
What will you give us, hostess?
A bag of money or a pot of porridge?
A jug of milk or a piece of pie?
Pennies or candy?
Or hryvnias for gingerbread?
Solokha: Yes, you sang brilliantly,
For fun, for fun.
Mechonosha, where is the bag?
Get some pie
And lambs and candies,
And ten kopecks for gingerbread.
(Solokha and the guests of the gatherings give gifts to the mummers, all this is collected by the mekhonosh)
Carolers: - If you give us gifts, we will praise you!
If you don’t give us a gift, we will reproach you!
Welcome us to a gathering!
(Guests at the gatherings provide a barrier for the mummers, holding hands)
Pay the ransom or get out!
One of the mummers: - We don’t have a lot of money, we borrow it ourselves,
Gingerbread cookies and nuts have a sweet tooth,
But we have no need to grieve - we can solve the riddles.
The guests shout: - Give them riddles!
Solokha (to the mummers): - Oh, you cunning guys, guess the riddles.
(Guests ask riddles to the mummers)
Puzzles.
1. Downhill is a horse, and uphill is a piece of wood. (Sled)
2. Two Broadswords run into the fishing lines, bending their toes. (Skis)
3. One - rest in winter, another - in summer, and the third - neither in winter nor in summer. (Cart, sleigh, horse)
4. Stings ears, stings nose,
Frost creeps into felt boots,
If you splash water, it will fall:
Not water anymore, but ice.
Not even a bird can fly
The bird is freezing from the frost.
The sun has turned to summer,
What month is this, tell me? (January)
5. The wind moves like a carousel.
He twirls and twirls the white fluff,
Howls, whines, moans, cries,
The white fluff hides in the cracks. (Blizzard)
6.Pure and clear, like a diamond,
There are no roads
He was born from his mother,
He gives birth to her himself. (Ice and water)
7. He stood outside the window during the day,
And at night he quietly entered the house.
Covered the glass with patterns,
But the sun rose - everything was glass. (Freezing)
8. Broken during the day, filled up at night. (Ice hole)
9. It has grown, it has grown, it has come out of its beard.
The sun rose - nothing happened. (Icicle)
10. He flew to us from the sky,
He spun around, sat down quietly,
Freezing ground
He put on a white fur coat. (Snow)
Solokha: - well, the guys are smart, they guessed all the riddles. Come in, sit down, be guests. And now, dear guests, you have a new task: think and answer correctly who the author is and what the title of the work of art is. (Groups are offered three excerpts from the books of V. Zhukovsky, L. Tolstoy, A. Pushkin, N. Gogol, H. Andersen, M. Zoshchenko)
1.Once on Epiphany evening
The girls wondered
A shoe behind the gate,
They took it off their feet and threw it away.
Snow was shoveled under the window
Listened: fed
Counted chicken grains;
They burned hot wax... (V. Zhukovsky “Lyudmila”)
2. Tatyana with a curious gaze
He looks at the sunken wax:
He has a wonderfully poured pattern
Something wonderful says to her,
From a dish full of water,
The rings come out in a row,
And her ring bent
To the song of ancient days... (A. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”)
3. The last day before Christmas has passed. A clear winter night has arrived. The stars looked out. The month majestically rose into the sky to shine on good people and the whole world, so that everyone would have fun caroling and praising Christ. It was freezing more than in the morning; but it was so quiet that the creak of frost under a boot could be heard half a mile away. More than one crowd of boys had not yet appeared under the windows of the hut; for a month only one peered into them furtively, as if challenging the girls who were dressing up to go out into the creaking snow as soon as possible. Then smoke fell in clouds through the chimney of one hut and spread like a cloud across the sky, and along with the smoke a witch rose riding on a broom... (N. Gogol “The Night Before Christmas”)
4….Natasha, with the help of Sonya and the maid, found a position in the mirror, her face took on a serious expression, and she fell silent. She sat for a long time, looking at the row of receding candles in the mirrors, assuming that she would see the coffin, that she would see him, Prince Andrei, in this last merging, vague square. (L. Tolstoy
5. The girl lit another match. Now she was sitting in front of a luxurious Christmas tree. This tree was taller and more elegant than the one that the girl saw on Christmas Eve, approaching the house of a rich merchant and looking out the window. Thousands of candles burned on its green branches, and multi-colored pictures, such as those that decorate store windows, looked at the girl. The little one stretched out her hands to them, but the match went out. (H. Andersen)
6………………………………………………………………………..
Solokha (after completing the task)
Well, what kind of guests I have today - each one is more savvy than the other. How many of you know how in the old days they used to tell fortunes and torture their fate? (Solokha explains how they used to tell fortunes in the village in the old days)
See Appendix “Fortune telling at Christmas. Types of fortune telling"
At the crossroads, at the ice hole, at the well (outlining a circle, listening)
“Weeded” the snow (They collected snow into an apron and sowed it, saying: “Snow, snowball, tell me, where is my dear little friend? Where he is, bark the dog” - and listened)
They threw bast shoes into the house,
Shoe out of the gate.
We listened at the windows.
The fortune tellers left the hut, the hostess placed various objects under the pots. The girls chose a pot (comb - dandy groom; belt - stern master; candy - sweet life; glass - drunk husband, etc.)
Let's guess too!
A skein of thread was thrown...
With a bottle...
Fortune telling with a book...
Water in a glass... etc. (Use the book by N.D. Konakov “From Christmastide to Christmas Eve, Komi Book Publishing House. 1993)
After the fortune telling, two mummers come out:
We offer a performance that will surprise everyone!
Brother, great!
Brother, great!
Where are you from?
From Tambov.
So is he intact? And they said - he got burned!
Yes, it happened, the water almost burned.
How did that happen?
Two gentlemen were walking, met at a dam, lit a cigarette, and threw matches onto the pond. The water turned brown, caught fire, burned to the bottom, and only the fish remained!
What you? Is this true?
People live in lies, so we won’t burst!
What did you go to the city with?
I went, brother, with oats. Unfortunately, I tied the bag poorly: my oats fell out, but they fell out - the bag turned out to be empty.
It's bad for you!
It’s bad, but not quite: Fomka is fishing in the swamp, he lost his oats - he gained some wheat!
Good job!
Okay, but not really: some wheat was stolen from me in the city.
It's bad for you!
It’s bad, but not entirely: I caught up with the thieves and took all the money.
Good job!
Okay, but not quite: the money turned out to be one kopeck and that’s it!
It's bad for you!
It’s bad, but not entirely: he who doesn’t have a shirt is glad to have a rag!
Good job!
Okay, but not quite: I adjusted the penny, climbed onto the fur coat, they beat me, they beat me, they beat me painfully...
It's bad for you!
It’s bad, but not entirely: I’ve become more expensive now - after all, for a beaten person they give two unbeaten ones!
………………………………………………………………………………………
SOLOKHA: You played amazingly! We deserve a treat. (Gives the players bagels and sweets)
And now…
Competition of ditties and dancers
………………………………………………………………………………………
Solokha: We sang, frolicked,
Had a lot of fun.
Merry Christmas to you
And I wish you good health!..
Note : Music sounds between competitions and games - any kind - folk, playful, playful.
Application "Yuletide fortune-telling"
Let us recall the famous excerpt from V. Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana”
Once on Epiphany evening
The girls wondered:
Behindgate shoe ,
Taking it off my feet,threw ,
The snow was cleared , under the window
Listened , fed
Counting chicken grains,
Ardent wax was drowned .
Into the cup with clean water
They laid the ring gold,
The earrings are emerald.
White boards spread out
ANDthey sang in harmony over the bowl
The songs are amazing...
Try to figure out what the girls did on Epiphany evening?
1. “Outside the gate, the shoe was taken off the foot and thrown...” (Fortune telling with a shoe)
The girl takes off the shoe from her left foot and throws it over the gate, watching at the same time where the shoe lands with the toe. Wherever the sock points, go in that direction and get married. If the shoe falls with its nose towards your own gate, live at home this year and not get married. You can also throw other shoes, for example, felt boots.
2. “The snow was shoveled”
Old people remember: on a bright night they gathered in a group and, after waiting for everything around to calm down and everyone to go to bed, they walked out the gate. They picked up handfuls of snow and threw them in the direction from which the wind was blowing. If the snow fell quickly and loudly, then the girl would be married to a young man, but if it fell silently and crookedly, to a deaf old man.
*When performing fortune-telling indoors, you can take a handful of “snowflakes” (small silver shavings) and throw them under a fan. If a “snowball” falls on a dish with a heart drawn on it, love will meet in the new year; if on a dish with a devil’s face on it, it means empty troubles.
3. “We were listening under the window...”
They went to listen/eavesdrop both under other people’s windows and under their own, making plans in advance about their fate. The first thing heard under the window is the clue to fate. In addition, it was possible to eavesdrop at the doors of a locked church or chapel, choosing a clear moonlit night for this. According to legend, girls can hear either a wedding song or a funeral song - who is destined for what this year.
4. “They fed the hen with grain…”
Chickens and roosters often and in different ways acted as diviners. For example, they took a chicken from its roost at night, brought it into the hut and let it peck at the grain scattered on the floor and counted. I pecked everything - one option, something left - another, even or odd of the remainder. The planned figure was all suitable for Christmas conclusions.
The rooster taken from the roost was brought into the room where coal, water, bread, a gold ring, earrings, cereal, a pinch of ash, scissors, etc. were prepared in advance in three places. They let the rooster onto the floor and watched what thing he would peck first. If he pecks at bread or cereal, the girl will be rich; pecks at the scissors - to be behind the tailor (which is also not bad); pounces on the ashes - the husband will be a smoker; drink water - to be a drunkard to your husband. A rooster eats a lot - the husband will be a glutton. Well, if he starts with coal, he’ll sit as a fortune teller as a girl.
Do you want to know what your future husband will be like: blond or brunette, or maybe red-haired? Again, catch a rooster on the roost at midnight and by the color of its feathers you will see the color of your future husband. While the chicken was pecking at the grain, they sang this song: The chicken was rummaging
On the heap,
I dug a ring
Silver.
All right, all right,
Who do we sing to?
We give honor to him.
5. “Ardent wax was drowned”
Yary means white, pure. This is the oldest fortune telling. “Voskoley,” they say, came from the Greeks. Not only wax was used, but also tin, lead, and also, as if in the old days, the rich poured silver and gold. The sacrament is performed before bedtime. Melt the wax, pour it onto a dish or into any other vessel with water and notice what images are cast. The ruins of a city or house are always interpreted in a bad way. I saw a ring - for a wedding... And also, to perform this fortune-telling, they take a candle and, breaking it into small pieces, put it in a metal spoon. Heat the spoon until the wax pieces turn into a molten liquid. And then in one breath they pour its contents into a prepared basin of water. You will get a certain figure. They use it to guess, and fantasy plays a big role here. Some see a car in the frozen wax figure, others see the face of a person: either a girl or an old man, others see a bed (for illness), others see a train, etc.
6. “Fortune telling with a rooster”
Grain, previously counted, is scattered on the floor. Then, at exactly 12 o'clock at night, they take the rooster from the perch (preferably black) and let him into the room. The future is assessed by the behavior of the bird: if the rooster pecked all the grains, then this year there will be good luck, and the one who fed will get married. If you peck a certain amount of grains, you can determine how long the event will take place or which of the girls will get married. (Suppose the rooster pecked three grains, it means that the third girl will get married or in three years, which was planned) If the rooster did not touch the grain, this means failure this year.
7. “Calling passers-by and passers-by”
The fortune telling is that at night or in the evening girls leave the house and stand at the gate, asking the men they like: “What is your name?” It is believed that the future groom will have the same name as the one asked, and he will also be handsome. In addition, they also approach women, asking their name. It is believed that the named name will be the name of the betrothed or betrothed.
8. “Fortune telling with an egg”
They take a glass filled with water blessed in the church, into which the white, separated from the yolk, is carefully released. They light a candle and, placing a glass in front of it, look at the image that appears there: what is imagined will come true.
9. “Fortune telling in a frying pan”
The girls put straw knocked into a lump on the table, place a frying pan on this lump, on which they place a stone, and pour a little water. After this, they slowly begin to take straws out of the ball, and from the sound produced by the stone when the pan vibrates, they imagine the name of the future groom.
10. Fulfillment of desires.
Before the clock starts striking on New Year's Day, you need to prepare a small piece of paper and a pencil. After the first strike, you need to have time to write your wish, burn the piece of paper, stir the ashes in a glass of champagne and drink before the clock finishes striking 12 times.
11. “Fortune telling under the window”
At midnight, a girl sits by the window and says: “Mummer, drive past the window!” If she hears the creaking of runners with singing and music, the girl will get married; with crying and lamentation - a bad year: he will lose someone from the family; If she doesn’t hear anything, she will be at home this year.
12. “Shadow Fortune telling”
They put crumpled paper on a flat surface (tray) and look at the shadow-figure (house, person, dog, tree...) Then they set fire to the paper and all the time watch the changing shadow - what will remain in the end?..
13. “Divination by strings”
A thread is pulled horizontally to the backs of the chairs. Threads of the same length are tied to this thread and set on fire, making a wish (Each fortuneteller has her own thread). Whose thread burns out faster, her wish will come true sooner.
14. “Ring Fortune Telling”
Pour clean water into a clean glass glass and place a gold ring. Place a lit candle next to the glass. Say three times: “Betrothed - the mummer come, betrothed - the mummer show yourself” And look carefully at the middle of the ring.
15. “Divination by mirrors”
At midnight, three mirrors (in the shape of a dressing table) and two candles in candlesticks are placed on the table. The girl tells fortunes alone and looks intently at the center of the mirror, saying 3 times: “The betrothed-mummer show yourself, the betrothed-mummer come!” Having seen the figure, having seen it in the mirror, you must quickly cover the vision with a blanket.
16. “Fortune telling with a saucer”
A spirit is summoned through an open window. The saucer is placed in the center of a drawn circle with letters and numbers. The fingertips of the fortune tellers are over the saucer (do not touch!) We ask: “Spirit, are you here?” If the saucer moves, you can ask questions. After finishing the fortune telling, do not forget to thank the spirit for his work, lift the saucer, say: “Spirit, go away” 3 times and close the window.
17. “Fortune telling on a book”
They take any book from the shelf, lovingly stroke it, whisper affectionate and laudatory words to it, then, holding it above their head with both palms, ask it the question: “......?” and call the page and line. Then they open and look at the answer on the named page and line.
18. “Divination by dreams”
You will need a comb and a pillow. Before going to bed, the fortuneteller utters the magic words: “Betrothed, dressed up, come to me dressed up.” After such a spell, the groom must appear to the girl in a dream. Fortune tellers often placed a comb under the pillow so that the groom would come to comb the bride's hair.
19. "Sooo"
For fortune telling you need fresh baked goods.
The girl put the first juice (pancake) that was baked in the morning on her face, having previously made slits for the eyes in the juice. In such a mask, the girl ran out into the street. She asked the first person she met for his name. The name of the first passer-by is the same as the name of the groom.
20. "Slipper"
For fortune-telling you will need your shoes (in the village these were often felt boots)
Fortune tellers went out into the street and threw felt boots behind their backs. Then they ran to see where the felt boots fell with their toes. In which direction the sock points, the groom will come from there. If the sock points towards its home, then this year the girl who threw the felt boot will not get married.
21. “Sub-dish fortune-telling”
You will need a dish with water.
An odd number gathers in the house. Each person puts her own item in a dish of water: a ring, a necklace, an earring, etc. All this is covered with a scarf. And to the accompaniment of special songs, one of the girls takes out one thing at a time. Songs of prediction were different: for a wedding, for death, for soldiering, for wealth or poverty, etc.
As an option: papers with fortunes were attached to the edge of the dish. They put a candle into the water: whichever piece of paper the candle sticks to, the prediction will come true.
NOTE.
If you are planning to tell fortunes, it is important to remember the following:
It is customary to tell fortunes in the period from January 14 to January 19 (popularly this time is called “terrible evenings”) In general, winter Christmastide lasts from January 7 to January 19 (from Christmas to Epiphany), but the first week is called “holy” - and at this time it is not they tell fortunes and sing carols;
The number of fortune tellers in the room must be odd (the magic of the even-odd number is associated with the opposition between death and life);
Fortune tellers must remove their crosses, untie their belts, undo their braids;
Fortune telling on the night of the Old New Year (January 14) and on Epiphany Christmas Eve (January 19) has long been considered the most accurate.
Literature.
1. N.D. Konakov “From Christmastide to Christmas Eve”, Komi Book Publishing House, 1993.
2. Newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda Komi” dated December 2007.
