Russian traditions and superstitions

Russian traditions, superstitions and beliefs include superstitions and customs of Russians. Many of them are now inseparable parts of every day life, or simply common social etiquette, though they often have their origins in superstition. The awareness of them, and their perceived importance, depends on various factors including region and age. Some are extremely common and practiced by the vast majority of the population, while some are extremely obscure.

Customs that are more often regarded as superstition

• Mothers typically do not show their baby to anyone except the father, the midwife and other close relatives for forty days after the baby is born.
• Many nationalities have a set of rituals for the guests that they have to follow to see the baby for the first time.^[1]
• Before leaving for a long journey travelers, and all those who are seeing them off, must sit for a moment in silence before leaving the house. It is often conveniently written off as a time to sit and think of anything one may have forgotten.^[2]
• After someone has left the house on a long journey, their room and/or their things should not be cleaned up until they have arrived, or at least a day has passed if they are guests in a house.^[2]
• Knocking on wood is practiced in Russia as in other countries. However Russians tend to add a symbolic three spits over one's left shoulder (or simply with the head turned to the left), and Russians will often knock three times as well. Traditionally one was spitting on the devil (who is always on the left).^[3]
• Breaking a mirror is considered bad luck in Russia, as is looking at one's reflection in a broken mirror. The effect is also more severe than 7 years of bad luck (as in American culture).^[4]
• On examination day, it is bad luck to make your bed, wear anything new, or cut your fingernails.^[3]
• It is bad luck to use physical hand gestures to demonstrate something negative using oneself or someone else as the object. For example, when describing a scar you saw on someone's face you should not gesture on your own face or someone else's. If you must, you can demonstrate in mid-air. If one does it without realizing, it can be countered by making a hand motion towards the body part used and then an abrupt motion away (as if to pick up the bad energy and throw it away).^[3]
• If one person accidentally steps on another person's foot, it is common for the person who was stepped on to lightly step on the foot of the person who stepped first. It is said that they thus avoid a future conflict.^[3]
• Birthday parties should be celebrated on or after one's birthday, not before. So when one's birthday falls during the week, it's best to celebrate the following weekend. And never give someone birthday wishes before their birthday.^[3]
• Talking about future success, especially boasting about it, is considered bad luck. It is considered better to be silent until the success has been achieved or to even sound pessimistic.^[3]
• Returning home for forgotten things is a bad omen. It is better to leave it behind, but if returning is necessary, one should look in the mirror before leaving the house again. Otherwise the journey will be bad.^[4]
• Many Russians consider giving sharp objects, like knives or scissors, as gifts, to be taboo. You can avoid this taboo taking symbolic little money, for example one Russian ruble, in exchange as if it is a trade, not a gift.^[4]
• Birds that land on a windowsill should be chased away. If they tap on the window, or fly into it (open or closed) it is considered a very bad omen (often of death).^[5]
• If a chicken crows at you three times before noon, the death of a close family member can be expected within a fortnight. The chicken should be killed, but not eaten, as consuming it will bring about further misfortune.^[5]
• Things bought for a newborn baby (such as clothes, toys, furniture, etc.) should only be purchased after the baby is born. This is usually done in a big hurry.^[1]
• It is often considered taboo to step over people, or parts of their body, who are on the ground. It is often said that it will prevent the person from growing (if they are not fully grown already). It is better to politely ask the person to move or to find a way around them. If one accidentally steps over a person (or people), it is sometimes standard to step backwards over them.^[3]
• Unmarried people should not sit at the corner of the table. Otherwise they will not marry. This mostly applies to girls, and often only young girls. Sometimes it is said that you will not marry for 7 years, making it all right for young children to sit there.^[6]
• When giving an animal as a gift (a cat, dog, bird, etc.), the receiver should give the giver a symbolic sum of money, for example one Russian ruble.^[5]
• A purse (or any other money holder) as a gift requires a little money inside. Given empty it causes bad financial luck.^[4]
• A funeral procession brings good luck. But one should never cross its path or it is bad luck.^[7]
• A woman with empty water buckets coming towards you is considered a bad omen.^[3]
• A group of two or more people should not walk on different sides of a tree. They should all keep to one side or the other.^[3]
• Bread should only be cut with a knife, not with your hands. Otherwise, it is said, that your life will be broken. The opposite is held true by some people.^[4]
• Two or more people should never use one towel at the same time to dry their hands or bodies, or it is said to bring conflict.^[4]
• A stranger should not look at a newborn baby before it is a certain age (between two months and one year). If one looks at the baby it is considered bad luck to compliment it. Instead, one could say, "Oh, what an ugly child!".^[1]
• It's good luck to trip on your left foot.^[3]
• One should never hand a knife directly to another person, as it is said that the two will get into a fight. Instead a person should always place the knife down on a surface, and only then can the other person pick it up. In several cases you can give it directly, but only pointing the sharp end to yourself and making the knife's handle accessible for the opposite person.^[4]
• If one feels that he or she may have been cursed by someone (had the "evil eye" put on them) or just has the feeling of a hostile presence, it is recommended to remove one's coat and then put it back on starting with the hand opposing the usually used one. It is also recommended to pin a French Pin inside your clothing to avoid the curse of the evil eye in the first place.^[3]
• It is considered bad luck to put one's keys or cap on the kitchen table.^[4]
• It is considered bad luck to leave a knife on the kitchen table.^[4]
• One should not to shake hands or give something through a threshold.^[3]
• Whistling in a house would bring misfortune to that household (see origins below).
• It is considered taboo to give something that is broken or has a defect as a gift.
• Before one takes an exam, someone else would say, "ни пуха ни пера!" which roughly translates to "neither fur, nor feather!" which means good luck. To this, the one taking the exam would reply, "К чёрту!" which means, "Go to the Devil!" or "To the Devil!" which is a way of securing good luck. ^[8]

Traditions for the use of alcohol

• When you have alcohol, it must be drunk until it is gone.
• One should not put a glass with alcohol back on the table.
• Traditionally alcohol is poured out to all the people present, though they are not required to drink.
• One should not make a long interruption between first and second shots.
• The latecomer must drink a full glass (so-called "penal")
• Outgoing guest must drink last glass, so-called "na pososhok" (russ. "На посошок"). Literally it is translated "On a small staff", really means "For lucky way".
• As a rule, every portion of spirit is accompanied by a touch of glasses and a toast. Funeral and commemoration are exceptions; there the touch of glasses is forbidden.
• It is not allowed to pour out by hand holding a bottle from below.
• It is not allowed to fill a glass being held in the air.
• It is considered bad luck to make a toast with an empty glass.
• It is considered bad luck to put an empty bottle back on the table when it's finished.

"Cause and effect" Russian superstitions

• If your ears or cheeks are hot, someone is thinking or talking about you (usually speaking ill).^[3]
• If your nose itches, you'll be drinking soon. For children they might say, "You'll get hit in the nose".^[3]
• If your right eye itches, you're going to be happy soon. If your left eye itches, you'll be sad.^[3]
• If your lips itch, you'll be kissing someone soon.^[3]
• If your right hand itches, you're going to get money soon. It sometimes means you're going to greet someone. If your left hand itches, you're going to give someone money.^[3]
• If you have the hiccups, someone is remembering you at this moment.^[3]
• If an eyelash falls out you'll receive a gift. If someone finds an eyelash on someone he or she will sometimes let the person blow it away and make a wish.^[3]
• If a fork or spoon falls on the ground, expect a female guest. If a knife falls, expect a male guest.^[9]
• If you eat from a knife, you'll be "angry like a dog".^[3]
• If someone is not recognized when seen or heard, he or she will be rich. So if someone calls you on the phone and you don't recognize them you can cheer them up by telling them they'll be rich.^[3]
• If someone was talking about you before you entered the room/conversation, then you will live a long and rich life.
• If a cat is washing its face, expect guests soon.^[5]
• If a black cat crosses your path, it's bad luck (though not unique to Russian tradition). People will often avoid crossing the place where it crossed, or will at least wait for someone else to cross it first.^[5]
• If a hare crosses your path, it's bad luck. This is much less common than the cat superstition, which is understandable given the lack of hares in urban conditions.^[5]
• If you spill salt, it's bad luck and is said to bring conflict, but no one will throw salt over their left shoulder.^[5]
• If you step on a crack, it's bad luck. This one isn't very common, and Russians who do avoid cracks don't do it in an effort to save their mothers' backs.^[3]
• If it's raining when you leave a place, it means you'll return, and it is considered a generally good omen.^[3]
• If it rains on someone's wedding, it means they'll be wealthy.^[6]
• If someone sneezes while telling something, it means he or she is telling the truth.^[3]
• If one or more birds defecate on you or your property (commonly cars), it's good luck, and may bring you riches.^[5]
• If you find a bay leaf in your soup (commonly Borshch) while eating, it means you'll get mail from someone.
• If you wear clothes (such as an undershirt) inside out, you will get beaten. Your friend should point this out, wait for you to fix the clothes and then punch you symbolically.^[3]
• Lucky in cards not lucky in love. This, however, is only a pre-marital superstition. The reason for the division is that marriage is a sacrament in the Russian Orthodox Church, and this sacrament, ordained by God, eviscerates the pre-marital superstition. Thus, when a man is bonded by divine sacrament to a single woman whom he loves the cause and effect is reversed: namely, his married love for a single woman, and her love for him, will bring him good fortune in all endeavors including cards.^[6]
• If you wear a shirt backwards, you will become acquainted with someone new.^[3]
• In Russian superstition if a couple sets a wedding date and doesn't end up getting married on that date they can not set another date and should not get married as their union will be cursed.^[10]
• Accidentally breaking a glass is considered good luck.
• If one tripped on their left leg and was born on an odd-numbered day, or tripped on their right foot and born on an even-numbered day, one should ask someone else to slap their corresponding hand in order to negate the bad luck.
• If you have ringing in one or both of your ears, ask someone which ear is ringing.
• If someone does something bad, a ghost may take a possession owned by the family. If the sinner repents, the ghost will return the item sometime during the week of their birthday.

Russia lacks some of the superstitions Westernerns find commonplace. Most Russians are not particularly concerned with the number 13, opening umbrellas indoors or walking under ladders.

Russian Folklore

Elements

Water

Water is the most revered element in Russian folk culture. It provides healing and nourishment and is linked with life and blood. Believers continued to make sacrifices to spring water (“living water”) until the 19th century. Folklore depicts bodies of water as an honorable hero or a protective mother.^[11]

Fire

Fire can be destructive, but it also provides purity and protection. In a Russian household they refer to the fire lit in the stove as their “dear mother.” It protects them from evil forces. Each stove fire is lit by the Tsar-fire, created by friction on wood. After a wedding, the newlyweds would run through a fire for protection and good luck. Farmers would drive sick animals through fires to cure them of disease.^[11]

Earth

Folk culture depicts the earth as a female figure, provider of crops and also a bed of fertility where future life will be planted. The earth deserves much respect. Care is given not to harm her while she sleeps in the winter, pregnant with the spring. People swear to her as they would swear to God. The earth is pure and because of that she cannot accept the bodies of unrepentant sinners or those who died a “bad” death.^[11]

Air

The air listens and responds to the requests of human beings. This trait can be virtuous at times but more often than not it is evil. The wind carries evil things such as curses, diseases, or love spells. Spells, incantations, or the blowing of a whistle can conjure destructive winds. Folklore personifies the wind as an untrustworthy and dishonorable traveler.^[11]

Magic

Healing

Seventeenth century Russians believed sickness have either material causes or magical causes. Magical causes could be demonic possession, displeasure of the Gods, the evil eye or witchcraft called porcha which functions like a hex. Porcha can be transmitted by wind, water, cursing or food.^[12] If an ill person determined the cause of their disease to be magical they sought a healer who could find who caused their disease. Then the healer would send the invalid to see a specialist. Specialists could have been herbalists who used plants, herbs or grasses to cure illness, physiotherapists who attempted to squeeze or steam illnesses out of the body by using steam baths, or surgeons.^[12] Folk tradition also prescribed plenty of self-medicating options. For example, many attempted to scare away demons with loud noises.^[12] People made models of the afflicted body part and burned it.^[11] The healing powers of water were often utilized through hydrotherapy (bathing in a river or lake during a thunderstorm on the first day after the new moon).^[12]

Incantations and Spells

Incantations and spells can be used for a number of purposes and are often confused with prayers due to the common invocations of the names of God, Christ, or other Saints. Despite their Christian elements, they were still considered heresy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.^[13] Incantations were used to heal or cause diseases. During the healing process, the healer would ask the Holy Trinity for help or, in epic incantations, describe Christian or mythical figures performing actions that would attain the desired effect on the patient. Incantations were accompanied by physical acts of removing the disease. They did this by squeezing, scratching, biting, washing, etc. Incantations could also be used to spread porcha, the hexes that were the magical source of disease.^[12]

Black Magic

To perform “black magic” one had to forsake everything holy which involves inverting Christian symbolism used in “white magic.” To do this one could turn his or her icons to face the wall, pray facing west instead of east, refuse to wash before and after sleeping, spit out the gifts of Communion or hold conversations with demons. Sorcerers primarily use black magic to summon devils. The goals of summoning devils include attaining wealth, fame, approval of superiors, sex, or harming another person. Those that rejected Christianity and sought the Devil felt that the Devil was as strong as God and impious spells were more powerful than prayer.^[13]

Love Magic

Romance was connected with magic and sorcery even until the 18th century when it became a prevalent literary theme. Neighbors suspected magic to be the cause of people so passionate they lost their senses. Christianity supported marriage and child-rearing, but it did not support the pursuit of pleasures of the flesh. Romantic love was considered the antonym to Christian love and the Church forbade it. This ban did not stop people from employing the Devil to get their share of pleasure. For men the usual aim was sex, but for women it could have been to get married, exact revenge, or regain a husband’s affection. ^[13]

Death

There are many interpretations of death in Russian folk tradition. It can be reversible, and it sometimes resides outside of the body. It is also closely related to sleep. It is believed that when one sleeps on can traverse the “other world” and come back alive. There are two kinds of deaths. A person who dies in his or her old age surrounded by family died a “good” death, a death that was “their own.” They depart when God says they should. A person who dies a “bad” death, or a death “not their own,” died too soon before the time God assigned them. These persons might have been murdered, committed suicide, died of illness, or in war. Because of the nature of these deaths the earth cannot accept them until their time comes which means they do not receive a proper burial and are sometimes not buried at all but covered with rocks or sticks. Russians associate “good” deaths with bringing good harvests while attributing storms, droughts and other forms of destruction to “bad” deaths.^[14]

Funeral Rites

Several steps must be taken once a person has died so their body can be buried and their soul can travel to the “other world.” The first step is washing the body. In a Dual-Faith setting (in which Orthodoxy and folk tradition are combined) this ritual prepares the deceased’s for his or her meeting with God. They then dress the body in all-white, handmade clothing left slightly unfinished because it belongs not in this world but the “other world.” In Christianity, the white clothing worn by the corpse represents the pure life the deceased promised to live when he or she was baptized.^[15]

The body must wear a belt during its burial because the deceased will need it when he or she is resurrected during the Last Judgment. Belts are significant in both Christian and folk rituals. Christians value them babies receive them, along with a cross, at their christening. Thus, it symbolizes a person’s commitment to Christianity. In folk tradition, belts mark out an individual’s private space and prove that he or she is a member of society and protect the wearer from dark forces.^[15]

After washing and dressing the body, the body is laid out in the house for three days before it is put it in the coffin. Orthodox households and Old Belief (pre-1650 Orthodoxy) households perform this ritual slightly differently. Orthodox families lay their dead loved one so his or her head points towards the icon corner. In the houses of Old Believers the feet are placed closer to the icon corner so the deceased faces the corner and can pray if he or she desires.^[15] Old Believers believe that the dead can still feel for a time after their death. For fear of waking the newly dead, mourning does not begin during the washing or dressing. Inappropriate funeral etiquette can also wake the dead.^[11]

The coffin, sometimes referred to as the “new living room,” is very comfortable, made like a bed with a pillow stuffed with birch bark or wood shavings. Mourners place objects in the coffin that the body might need after death such as money, food, favorite belongings, and reflections of status or occupation. Traditionally, men carry the coffin on their backs to the cemetery where the funeral will take place.^[15]

At the funeral, a priest performs the “seeing off” ceremony, praying over the body and allowing mourners to throw dirt on the grave, symbolically incorporating the corpse into the earth. The priest then places a paper crown on the head of the deceased and the mourners throw soil and coins into the grave (the coins are either to pay for transit to the “other world” or for the space in the cemetery). After the funeral, mourners sing laments depicting the deceased leaving his or her family and the soul departing from the body.^[15]

The Soul

Russian folk culture depicts the soul either as small and childlike, or having wings and flying. For forty days after a funeral, the soul of the deceased visits places it liked or faceland places where it sinned to ask for forgiveness. After forty days the deceased’s family sets a place for their loved one at dinner, inviting him or her join them for his or her own commemoration. When the family sees that the meal goes untouched they know their loved one has gone.^[15]

See also

• Slavic mythology
• Russian culture

Notes and references

External links

• Russian superstitions at the Slavic Paganism Encyclopedia (Russian)
• Russian supertitions in an article (Russian)
• Another article
• A collection of Russian superstitions
• Another article
• A collection of them
• Twelve Russian superstitions