Russians have so many superstitions!Which one is more bizarre? You tell us!
In this post you’ll find out about an interesting superstition, which mostly concerns young people, who are not married.
In Russian culture, corners have always played an important role. Traditional Orthodox Russian homes had a special icon corner, called the “red corner”, because the word “red” (КРАСНЫЙ) also means beautiful in Russian. The Red Corner was a home altar, where the family stood in prayer each morning and each evening. The icon area was draped with a cloth with embroidered ornaments. A candle glowed. Upon entering the house, visitors first acknowledged the icons as representatives of God’s presence in the family. They gave a respectful bow, making the sign of the cross, and sometimes offering a short blessing or prayer, before going on to greet the members of the household. Nowadays, there are still “red corners” with icons in some houses, though it’s not as widespread as it was before.
Slavic people believed in mystical properties of corners, for example, they claimed that a place inside of a corner absorbs any energy. That’s why a usual punishment for a naughty child was to stand in a corner – the child calms down more quickly there.
Outstanding corners create, the so-called “energy vortex”, which can “blow away” the energy of a person. That’s why unmarried people should avoid sitting at the corner of a table otherwise they will never get married, according to Russian superstition. Others believe that this will only hold true for seven years, making it possible for younger children to sit at the table corner.
Some modern girls ignore this superstition, and say that if you sit at a corner, your husband will be “with a corner” (МУЖ БУДЕТ С УГЛОМ), which means that the husband will have his own place (house or apartment).
But we all know that any superstition has a reasonable explanation
They say that this superstition comes from the time, when there was a division into honorable and not so honorable guests at a table. The most not important guests, like old maidens, used to sit at the corners (in places where it is not so convenient to sit). Old maidens didn’t have so many chances to get marriend unfortunately. That’s where this believe took its origin from.
But no matter what, if you are young, single, and like to sit at corners, don’t be surprised if you hear from Russians “НЕЛЬЗЯ СИДЕТЬ НА УГЛУ!”. It means you should urgently move to some other place save, where no bad energy is flowing around;)
Find out more about Russian culture, and learn Russian in Petrozavodsk!
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