Podbliudnye Pesni

folk songs associated with fortune-telling at Christmas. The term podbliudnye pesni is derived from bliudo, the word for a dish or cup filled with water, from which a ring or other object belonging to a participant in the fortune-telling was pulled at random. The song performed at this time supposedly predicted the fate of the object’s owner (success, good harvest, a wedding, old maidhood, misfortune, illness, or death). Many of the songs were riddles. Podbliudnye pesni are mentioned by V. A. Zhukovskii, A. S. Pushkin, and other writers.