It is believed that the Balkan word “gatanje” comes from Sanskrit, from the word gad (gadāmi), which means: to speak. In Bosnia, the term “ogledati” is more often used among the Bosniak people, which could be translated into English as observation or analysis. This is an adequate name as it convincingly describes a person who foretells destiny by analyzing the position of cards or beans. Another popular word is “falanje”, which comes to the term “faletati”, or foretell destiny, which I wrote about in the last edition of the book.
It could be stated with great certainty, that the basis of the whole prediction of the future is based on the fatalistic belief in the existence of destiny, something that must happen, and is determined by divine power before human birth. For example, in Bosnia, it is believed that Allah determines the entire destiny of every human being in the first 40 days while they are still just an embryo in their mother’s womb. And here comes the innate human curiosity that desperately wants to know, at least a small part, of what Allah has ordained to happen in one’s life.
Of course, people try to see certain, discreet divine signs in everything, which resulted in many divination methods appearing in ancient times, each of which in its own way removes the veil of mystery before human eyes and reveals small parts of destiny.
The famous Persian poet Firdusi, real name Hakīm Abu’l-Qāsim Firdawsī Tūsī, beautifully described destiny, which is omnipotent and irresistible. The poet says that man is powerless and tiny according to the eternal order in the world, before what will be and what must happen. In the Iranian national epic Shahnama (Book of Kings), of which he is the author, Suhrab loses his life by the hand of his father’s sword because “so it was written on his forehead by the command of an inexorable destiny!”
It is known that the Persians are the founders of palmistry and divination in coffee, but among them, more precisely among the nomadic tribes Bakhtiari, a kind of fortune-telling identical to the Bosnian “falanju u grah”, is practiced. It’s called nakhoud fal or chickpea divination. The only difference, as we can see from the name, is that the prophets from there used 41 grains of chickpeas instead of white beans. Traditionally, with this method, older women and men have been discovering their destiny for centuries and predicting the future for everyone who turns to them for advice.
Quite expectedly, nomads from Persia added a religious aspect to divination, so in most houses and tents in-between women smoking hookahs, one could hear the fortune-teller speaking prayers and calling on Allah and seeking His mercy while the fortune-teller distributes chickpeas on the surface of a towel. As could be assumed, divination spread relatively quickly among the Iranian people, so that in the recent past, literally in every city, dozens of individuals who were publicly engaged in divination could be found. In some descriptions of their practice, minimal differences in the use of auxiliary props were observed, depending on where the fortune teller was located. For example, in Sirjan, in the south of the country, chickpea grains were arranged on an inverted sieve, which would serve as a substitute for a table or flat surface. Before beginning the practical part of fortune-telling, fortune-tellers must pray to Allah, beginning with a blessing on Muhammad, followed by the first Qur’anic prayer, and Ihlas, a prayer that glorifies monotheism.
Interestingly, even in Bosnia, fortune-tellers have a habit of giving the client beans in hand to say the first Qur’anic prayer above them, and in their mind, present it to Hazrat Fatima after which, the beans are placed on the surface of a red cloth, where the fortune-teller picks it up. The symbolism of this ritual gesture is not only that the prayer of Al-Fatih is worshiped by the souls of the dead, in this case, Hazrat Fatima who is considered the patron saint of this type of divination, but alos that its magical feature is to open the door to the invisible world, the world which is considered to reveal the secrets of the future.
Another similarity between the Iranian and Bosnian folklore traditions lies in bringing Hazrat Fatima into direct connection with this mantic skill. Namely, there is a legend in Iran that says that one day Fatima lost her children, Hassan and Hussein, so she thought of trying to find out where they are with the help of chickpeas. In doing so, she succeeded in making her divinatory talent legendary. In her honor, as a reflection of respect for all other fortune-tellers, in the practice of divination, the middle vertical order represents Fatima, and the right and left order represent Hassan and Hussein.
The method of separating a group of chickpeas into three smaller piles, from which 4 grains are then taken, and thus forming three rows, is identical to the Bosnian way. Falgir, in other words, when a fortune-teller arranges chickpea grains in three rows (9 houses in total) determines the arrangement of vertical columns in this way: the right column is the row representing the client (CFI), the middle column is his house (BEH), and the left column is the row that symbolizes enemies (ADG).
A-B-C
D-E-F
G-H-I
The reading of destiny begins with the interpretation of the first horizontal row, ie three boxes (A – B – C), where there can be a total of 5 or 9 grains. If there are a total of five grains of chickpeas in that first, horizontal row, that is a great sign, especially if one grain is on the right side: 221 or 311. Such a number is called “Al-ABBA” and is considered the best of all. Also, if the number 333 appears in the first horizontal row, it is called “Hazrat Nuh” – a symbol of success and marriage. If 444 appears in the third line, then that number is called “The Twelve Imams” and it’s meaning is very auspicious for the one to whom destiny is foretold: it literally signifies great happiness and God’s blessing. The client’s wish is fulfilled, the job will be successfully completed and love will be returned.
Despite the fact that, in the Bosnian version of looking at beans, the vertical number 111 has no positive connotation, among the Iranian people it is quite the opposite. All these meanings foretell the fulfillment of a wish or a plan. However, there are also numbers that have a completely opposite meaning, such as 234, which is called “spindle” and wherever it is formed, vertically or horizontally, it signals to the client that they must postpone their plans or else they will fail and be disappointed.
In Iran, this type of divination is considered to have 64 forms or numerological combinations of chickpeas, each of which individually has a special meaning. All those not mentioned in this text, according to Iranian fortune-tellers, are not fatalistic and unhappy for the client but are insecure and unstable, so they cannot be trusted to bring happiness or the fulfillment of a wish. Perhaps it is for this reason that it is suggested that at the end of divination all chickpea grains must be washed in water before a new divination takes place, in order to erase any trace of negative energy present in them.
In Tehran, before 1979, chickpea divination was one of the occupations publicly practiced on the plateau around Shah Mosque, where individual fortune-tellers sat and offered their divination services for a fee. The described method of divination is especially popular today by many women on the pilgrimage to Shahrbānū (“Lady of the Land”), where men are not allowed to enter, so they can pursue their own hobbies without hindrance.
Finally, it should be emphasized that 41-grain divination is a widespread phenomenon in an extremely large geographical area that stretches from Bosnia (the Balkans) through Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Iran, ending in India. Therefore, this mystical path can be viewed from the aspect of a sociological phenomenon that basically connects different cultures and religions in a very unusual way.
