Curses, Charms, Omens, Divinations, Conversions, Proverbs

    Divinations, etc. are the final topic we will study. Much like children’s material, which we had to study as a whole, these topics are not easily classified. They have an oral component, i.e., they are mentifacts; they have a ritual component, i.e., they are sociofacts; they have a material component, i.e., they are artifacts. However, they are included in the mentifact section of the course because they are most often associated with what is said. However, what is said it is not any more important that the other characteristics.
    Despite the fact that divinations, etc. are all distinct genres, they share certain features:
    1) they are all associated with a point of crossing or boundary. These boundaries can be:
    a) between periods in life (divinations and charms at weddings or on birthdays);
    b) between periods in time (at New Year’s, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas);
    2) they are associated with liminal people. For example, the large number of charms, divinations done by children like he loves me, he loves me not or in jump rope rhymes (how many kisses will I get); divinations by Russian unmarried women to find out when they will marry; gypsy fortunetellers; androgynous men and/or women in our culture;
    3) they are associated with unusual or disruptive events. These events can be major, like an eclipse or a war, or minor, like breaking a mirror.

Divination:
    Divination is finding out the future. Divination is most successful when it is performed at transitional times by transitional people. Divination is generally done when it is dark and in isolation, which also helps it succeed.
    Russian examples we have discussed are the various New Year’s divinations to find out what the upcoming year will be like (melting wax and wood to read the forms; baking the cake with various tokens in it; throwing shoes in the; sleeping on a log; putting one’s hand in between the wood of the bathhouse; throwing the wreathes on the water at Semik to find out whether one will marry or die and what direction the husband will come from; leaping the bonfire at Ivan Kupalo to see whether you will marry your partner. If the couple holds hands throughout the jump, they will marry. If they let go, they will not marry; rebraiding the bride’s hair to see who will dominate in the marriage.
    Other Russian divinations include: If they find a piece of thread on their clothes, they wrap it around their finger, saying the alphabet. The letter they end on will be the first letter of their spouse’s name. Also, the color of the thread is important. If it is light, their future spouse will be blonde; if it is dark, their spouse will be brunette.
    One divination that children perform is with flowers, like our He loves me rhyme. They say: Lyubit, Ne lyubit, Plyunit, Potseluyet, K sertsu prizhmet, K chertu poshlet, Dorogoj nazovet “S/He loves, doesn’t love me, Spits on me, Kisses me, Hugs me to his/her heart, Sends me to the devil, Calls me his/her dear one.”

Omens:
    Omens also predict the future, but unlike divinations, omens are not consciously sought. They just happen without any human initiative, and are then interpreted. For example, some omens Russians and Americans share are: spilling salt; breaking mirrors; dropping a fork/spoon; walking under a ladder; having a black cat cross one’s path; eclipses and comets mean great or bad things will happen.
    Some particular to Russia are: if a bird hits the window, someone will die; if a person sit at the corner of a table, it is bad luck; if a person touches a person across the threshold of the house, s/he will not see them again for 7 years; if the cat is cleaning itself, it means company is coming.
    There is a special category that is not really an omen because it is not an event, but it still tells the future. A good example is palm reading. It is based on something beyond human control, but is not really an event. People also read ear lobes and finger length to predict how long one will live.

Conversions:
    Conversion is a means of counteracting a bad omen. For example, if a person spills the salt, s/he can throw some over his/her left shoulder to counteract the bad luck. If a person breaks a mirror, s/he can put the pieces in running water to wash away the bad luck. If a person says the same thing at the same time as someone else, s/he can say jinx or bread and butter to counteract bad luck.

Charms/Cures:
    Conversions are for minor anomalies; charms are for major problems. They are a way to affect the future, not just to find our what the future is. They are most effective, like divinations, if done by transitional people at transitional times of the year. Good examples of charms are:
    blessing the cattle in the fall equinox; lark cookies at Troitsa to make animals and fields more fertile; leading a goat around the village/fields at New Year’s; taking the rusalka out to the fields during Rusalie; decorating and giving eggs at Easter to make sure that everyone is prosperous in the upcoming year; using the blessed water from Epiphany to cure people; ashes from the Ivan Kupalo bonfire to heal or promote animal and human fertility; collecting herbs for healing and other charms at midnight on Ivan Kupalo; rain/anti-rain charms.
    All of these charms benefit the entire group, but there are also charms that affect one person. Many of these are related to physical problems and are actually a type of cure. For example, infertile women rolling in the dew on Ivan Kupalo; love charms; hiccup charms; blood stopping charms; wishing on a falling star.

Curses:
    Curses are similar to charms in that they also affect the future. However, curses do not result in positive effects, but in negative ones. The most effective curses, as you know, are those performed at transitional times by transitional people. While people do set out to curse people, very often they are inadvertent. For example, there is a Russian story in which a mother coming home from church says, May the devil take my son Ivan, and the devil does. Note that this curse is effective because she has a special relationship with her son and because she is at a transitional point, she has just arrived from church. If someone has been cursed, they need to do a charm or a cure to get rid of the curse.

Proverbs:
    While jokes are destructuring, proverbs are a device used to provide a structure for us in ambiguous situations. They are similar to jokes in form, but not in function. Proverbs are also characterized by motif and variation. The basic structures are:
    1)  X equals X
    examples: Boys will be boys. Business is business. 

    2)  X equals X, but Y equals Y
    examples: A man works from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done. A son is a son for the rest of his life, but a daughter is a daughter until she’s a wife.

    3)  X does not equal non-X
    examples: Two wrongs don’t make a right. One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

    4)  X does not equal Y
    examples: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

    5)  X does not equal Y and Z does not equal W
    examples: A mother-in-law is not a mother and a daughter-in-law is not a daughter.

    6)  X equals Y and non-Y
    example: A glutton, even when full, is hungry.