Fortune-telling

During New Year's Eve peeps may spend time "playing fortune telling games". The idea is of course not to take it seriously but just have some fun and keep traditions alive. One of these games is called as "predicting the future from small items hidden under coffee cups". Several symbolic items are hidden under the cups turned upside down and then one of the players leave room while others shuffle the cups. Then the person is called back in to the room and asked to lift three cups and find out her/his future for the next year.

The following nine items are what my mother has used:

Black (string or yarn) = Sorrow and loss but not as extreme as in case of conifer branch.

Baby (doll) = Children, fertility or beginning of something completely new. Can mean also beginning of a successful project.

Conifer branch = Death, which means definite end of something like a project, friendship or even life.

Copper (coin) = Wealth in form of money and richness.

Silver (cuff-link in this picture) = Troubles in projects or any kind of obstacles in life like accidents or loss of material.

Key = Ownership of something like a house, real estate, pet, or anything that requires major investment.

Bread = Secure income, carefree living. This does not mean one is getting money but more like security in life and butter on the bread.

Red (string or yarn) = Happiness and joy in life.

Ring = Engagement, marriage or friendship. Start of some sort of good relationship in general.

One can of course make own "house rules" and choose a set of own items and explanations. Here's one Web page where the game is explained for 17 different items: www.dlc.fi/~marian1/gourmet/season6a.htm

However, I prefer nine because otherwise one runs out of the cups in a small household when trying to find 17 of them.