On the night of January 13-14, Ukraine celebrates the Old New Year, the tradition of celebrating appeared after the calendar reform and is associated with a discrepancy in the " But the celebration falls on ancient folk holidays: Malanka, Generous (Vasiliev) evening and Vasily's Day.

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Celebration traditions.

On this day, a rich table was traditionally laid, the main dish of which was a generous kutya. In addition, it was customary to serve a lot of pork dishes.. St. Basil was considered the patron saint of pigs, so meat dishes were supposed to promise abundance and wealth to the owners..

There was also a tradition of cooking porridge for the festive table.. The older woman went for buckwheat, and the older man had to draw water from the well. It was forbidden to touch cereals and water before the stove was kindled..

The whole family gathered at the festive table, the older woman took the pot and began to stir the contents, saying special words. Then all family members had to get up from the table, and the hostess with a bow put the porridge in the oven.

After cooking the porridge, it was taken out of the oven and carefully examined:.

The pot is full, and the porridge is rich and crumbly - you should expect a happy year and a generous harvest. The next morning they ate porridge.

Porridge crawled out of the pot or the pot cracked - a bad sign for the owners. Such porridge was thrown into the hole. The people believed that this would help change the fate of the family for the better next year..

In addition, on the old New Year, sowers went from house to house, who sang sowing and wished the owners a rich harvest and health.. The owners treated the sowers with goodies, and the grain that they scattered was collected, and mixed with the rest when sowing..

Divination for the Old New Year.

On the Old New Year, unmarried girls guessed the fate. It was believed that all the fortune-telling of this evening would surely come true.. There were several ways of divination among the people, the girls chose those that were more suitable for them.

Divination for marriage.

Girls at midnight went outside and blindfolded. Each girl was rotated around in turn. If she went to the gate - she will soon get married, if to the porch - she will still be in the girls.

Fortune-telling.

The table was covered with a tablecloth, a plate of water was placed on it, where pieces of bread, salt, and three coals were placed.. All this was covered with a scarf.. The guests put their decorations on the plate. Then they sang ritual songs and took things out of the plate. The owner determined his future by the line of the sounded song.

Another way of spy fortune-telling - various objects were lowered into a bowl or bowl. The guests took turns pulling out one of the items and trying to guess what awaits them next year..