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In Polish traditions there were two festivals celebrated, namely:
”Saint Katherine’s Eve” (24th November) called „Katarzynki” and
“Saint Andrew’s Eve” (29th November) called „Andrzejki”.
They were fortune telling evenings devoted to love and marriage.
During the first evening single men could find out, who was going to be their wife and during the second evening single women could find out, who was going to be their future husband.
„Katarzynki” does not exist any more in the Polish customs but „Andrzejki” is still celebrated.
It changed its form and date. Now it is celebrated on 30th November - the last day before the Advent, the period of peace and waiting for Christmas.
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People usually celebrate it in a form of games connected with fortune telling and the most popular are: Telling fortunes by pouring hot wax into water. After it set people take out the form – the figure or picture that was made on it.
It is used to predict the people´s future, not only love and marriage but also what will happen in the next year or it is used to answer the questions that we ask.
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Drawing lots with different names – in the past, the day before „Andrzejki” single women had put small pieces of paper with different names under their pillows, at „Andrzejki” they drew one card and found out their future husband’s name.
Today this kind of fortune telling takes place during the Andrew’s Party and is used for matching dancing pairs.
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Sometimes these pairs do different tasks to have more fun:
Putting shoes in a line – from each pair we take one shoe and we put them on the floor in a random order. We make a line starting from the wall that is the farthest from the door. The person whose shoe reaches the doorstep first will get married in the following year.
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A fortune telling with four mugs - in the past married men and women put different things under plates and single women took them out randomly:
a ring or ribbon from a married woman’s bonnet meant a wedding,
a rosary or a prayer book meant a convent,
a leaf or flower meant staying single,
a doll meant an illegitimate child and
some ground meant death.
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Edited by Danuta Szuwarowska
Bearbeitet von Danuta Szuwarowska
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