Red colour is traditionally considered to

FALANJE U be excellent protection from “evil eyes”

that may disrupt everyone’s destiny.
GRAH Besides, probably red colour has, in
Bosnian fortune teller’s interpretation,
power to lift their awareness to the higher
level in order to perceive someone-s
destiny as thorough as possible.

Then she divides the beans into three

BOSNIAN FORTUNE smaller piles and from each takes the four
TELLING WITH GRAIN OF seeds making a figure of three rows with
BEANS nine beans pile where each individual pile
can have 1, 2, 3 or 4 seed. The left vertical
or "throwing beans" line represents a female person and the
(bacanje graha) right male person. The vertical line in the
middle is called the house or heart. In
addition, females and males lines are
divided into three symbols: the head,
arms, legs and the line in the middle is
divided on: the cushion, fireplace and
doors.

One of the most popular methods of
fortune-telling in Bosnia and Herzegovina
is certainly divination with beans or falanje
u grah. Falanje or fortune telling comes
from the Arabic word fal, to bode, or tefaul
which means positive fortune telling. In
Bosnia, a person dealing with the
divination in the beans is called faladžija
or faladžinica if it is a female person.
The method of divination in the bean is
extremely broad and requires much effort
and space for an explanation, however
there are several shorter versions of
divination which people mostly use to get
the answer to a specific question.

According to ethnological data 41 bean

grains fortunetelling originates from
Kazakhstan (kumalak) where from, Turks
brought it to Bosnia. However, when we
today analyse Kazakhstan way of bean
grains divination and the one typical for
Bosnia a huge disparity may be observed.

For divination in the beans fortune teller

needs the red rag on which he or she lines
up 41 grains of white beans. Before she
starts placing the beans on the rag she
takes the beans into the right fist , places
the fist close to her mouth and recites the
prayer: “Rabbi yesir vela tu'asir, rabbi
temmim bil-hayr” three times and then
blows into her fist three times.

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Bosnian fortune telling
The group of 41 beads of white beans the
fortune teller arranges three times:
-The first arrangement is for the past and it
symbolizes childhood and youth
-The second arrangement symbolizes the
clients present and the middle of his life
-The third arrangement symbolizes the
future, and is treated as the most
important part of the complete fortune
telling. It symbolizes the latter part of
someone's life.
A B C that the foretold will come about soon, if
D E F there are four groups each having four
G H I beads then the client has to be patient
TEHIR or TIME
The first row (A,B,C) is called „površina“ or
"the surface", and its characteristic is that it
can only have an odd sum of numbers 5 or
9 beads, when compared to the second
and third row. When there are five beads
in the first row (212, 122, 221), and in the
bottom that symbolizes time (or their) 5
groups each having four beads (or five
hatmi) then that shows speed to the
fortune teller, favorable progress of the
situation, or as they like to say: „the beans
go in your favour!" The first row
symbolizes intelligence, thinking patterns,
thought processes,. and that's why there is
a "male" and "female" head inside and a
"pillow".
The second row (D,E,F) represents
emotion and the house. It can be said that
the second and third row are connected
while the first row is separate and
independent. The one thing that most
people don't know is that only in the
second and third row there can be for
example a combination of infidelity, loss,
moving, tears but also travel, gain, etc.
The third row (G,H,I) is a symbol of the
things that are outside or in front of the
door. It is a symbol of movement and
action which is confirmed by the male and
female foot prints (or legs) and the
Bosnian fortune telling
"threshold". The more beads there are on
the threshold the more guests in the house
or if there is only one bead on the
threshold-the news will arrive inside the
house, two beads "open door" that is the
one whose fortune is foretold will travel or
the like.
Tehir or time symbolizes a specific period
when a prophecy might come true, for
example, if there are five groups that have
four beads in the "time" row, that means
because the prophecy will not come about
soon, etc. Fortune telling of four groups
each having four beads is called „hatma“.
Besides this, each fortune teller with beans
can foretell for three types of persons-
girlfriend, wife, widow or boyfriend,
husband, widower. For example, if a
married person receives the "Hazrat
Fatima fal" it is not interpreted as to the
other groups. While to the other groups it
foretells marriage, to the married ones it
foretells divorce or the like.
When fortune telling is performed in order
to get the answers regarding someone’s
health or even more concrete; whether
certain person will get well or die certain
numbers in 3 rows are monitored and
analysed. Since every fortune telling is
repeated for 3 times (past, present, future)
hence the final answer is obtained in the
third round.
The example in which bean grains
announce death to the sick person follows:
311
112
121
4444444
113
112
422
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444444
122
211
224
444444
In Bosnian way of bean grains fortune
telling particular attention is committed to
the interpretation of each grain
positioning. Direction in which the grain is
directed, its horizontal or vertical position,
whether one grain is attached to another,
or tree or more, is very important data in
the process. An example concerning one
love couple follows:
1. Woman is burdened with love
relationship and displays serious
insecurity. She easily gets angry with the
man and then she terminates
communication with him.
2. Man and woman are together.
3. Man has got similar temper as
woman he gets angry easily and than he
does not communicate to her.
4. Woman loves man
5. Regardless certain problems in
character and communication themselves,
as a couple, go along fine.
Bosnian fortune telling
6. Man is quite introverted; he does not
display enough emotions or affection.
7. Woman is indecisive; she often does
not know what to do to improve their
relationship.
8. Communication seems to be a great
problem. They both communicate more
with others than with each-other.
9. Man is more oriented towards
carrier, income, money.
If this combination of grains appeared in
the first cast of beans than analyse is
interpreted in the past tense. This, in fact,
interprets the relationship of partners in
the past. However, if it appears in the
second cast than it represents their
present, while in the third cast has
negative connotation and may indicate
problematic love relation.
When in all 3 casts of bean grains
committed for love fortune telling
happens that only one grain appears in
one of the 3 rows that is a certain sign that
concerned love wish is not going to fulfil;
partners will not stay together or that the
possibility of realisation of connection
with the partner is very minimal.
In simpler form of divination 38 grains of
white beans is used a piece of bread, one coffee
grain and a metal coin. Before deviation can
begin a grain of bean is highlighted in red
paint which will represent the person who asks
the questions in the process of the divination.
Then the fortune teller takes all beans into her
hand and person who has come for the fortune
telling raises the question she would like to
have answered. After that fortune teller blows
into her fist and throws the beans on the floor.
With this is the first part of the divination is
completed. After that the analysis of the
position taken by a grain marked in red starts.
If the grain fell nearer to the piece of bread it
represents a symbol of happiness - the wish
will be fulfilled, in love ones will marry, work
will progress and etc.
On the other hand if the red bean fell nearer to
the coin, that person can expect the cash gains
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in near future. If the bean falls close to the
grain of coffee it's a bad sign, which represents
trouble, tears, or at least unfortunate event.
This sign also represents a negative answer to
asked question.

Text written by Raif Esmerović

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Bosnian fortune telling