Maiden Fortune-Telling within St Catherine’s and St Andrew’s Vechornytsi: Traditions and Modernity

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyse maiden fortune-telling within Ukrainians’ autumn–winter calendar ritual tradition, using St Catherine’s Day and St Andrew’s Day as case studies, and to identify its key functions in the structure of vechornytsi (traditional evening gatherings), the symbolic codes involved (verbal, object-based, and procedural), as well as the main directions of contemporary transformation. Research methodology. The study applies a culturological approach to ritual tradition as a system of symbolic practices and ritual communication; elements of semiotic analysis are used to interpret the verbal, object-based, and procedural codes of divination; a comparative method is employed to juxtapose the functional and semantic emphases of the St Catherine’s and St Andrew’s ritual complexes; and an interpretive method is used to outline the transformations of traditional practices in today’s socio-cultural context. Scientific novelty. The research interprets maiden fortune-telling as a ritualised mechanism of premarital communication; clarifies the differences in emphasis between the St Catherine’s and St Andrew’s ritual complexes; and demonstrates that, under contemporary conditions, these practices are being reoriented from a sacral–magical function toward symbolic, communicative, and representational forms. Conclusions. Maiden fortune-telling in the autumn–winter cycle constitutes a component of vechornytsi, which traditionally functioned as a space for youth communication and premarital socialisation. These practices are most actively performed in the pre-Christmas period (St Catherine’s Day and St Andrew’s Day): Catherine-related divinations tend to be restrained and discipline-marked, whereas Andrew-related ones have a more playful, performative, and collective format. Oneiromantic (dream-based) as well as object-based and procedural codes attest to the stability of a symbolic system associated with notions of Fate and the marriage transition. In contemporary contexts, the sacral–mantic dominant weakens while the communicative and representational role of the practices increases; calendar shifts additionally reshape the rhythm and context of their reproduction. At the same time, the coexistence of different calendar reference points does not erode tradition but rather actualises it as a marker of cultural identity.