St. Andrew’s Eve fortune-telling and stones — tradition, classics, and an idea for the evening

Andrzejki take place on the night of November 29–30, and classic fortune-telling traditions — pouring wax, lining up shoes, and cups with hidden objects — are now a social pastime and a piece of folklore, not a way to predict the future. Stones have no documented place in this tradition: drawing them is a contemporary idea for an evening, built on associations that culture has assigned to colors and minerals for centuries.

This caveat takes nothing away from Andrzejki. An evening of fortune-telling does exactly what it should: it provides an excuse to gather people in the middle of November, turn off the overhead light, and spend an hour laughing at the shapes of wax on the wall.

When are Andrzejki, and where did the tradition come from?

An Andrzejki evening is the eve of Saint Andrew’s Day, meaning the night of November 29–30. The date is not accidental: Advent begins on the Sunday closest to November 30, so Andrzejki fall exactly on its threshold — they were often the last opportunity for loud festivities before several weeks of quiet reflection. That is why the celebration has remained so elaborate in Polish homes and schools to this day.

In the past, however, fortune-telling looked different from today. It was intended for unmarried girls and revolved essentially around one question — marriage. It was also taken more seriously: it was closer to a ritual than to a party game played beside loud music. Young men had their own occasion: Katarzynki, held on the eve of Saint Catherine’s Day, several days earlier. This division gradually blurred, and today Andrzejki are enjoyed by everyone together.

No one has established exactly when the custom came to Poland or where it came from. The oldest Polish reference is considered to be a fragment of a sixteenth-century work by Marcin Bielski, in which girls tell fortunes on the eve of Saint Andrew’s Day. Anything older is already a hypothesis: the custom is sometimes traced to ancient or Germanic rituals. We would rather say this plainly than invent an origin story for the tradition that it does not have.

Classic Andrzejki fortune-telling: wax, shoes, and cups

Three fortune-telling games return in every description of Andrzejki, and they are the best place to start. None requires buying anything — you already have everything at home.

Pouring wax through the bow of a key

Melt a candle, then pour the liquid wax into a bowl of cold water through the bow of an old key. Remove the solidified shape, hold it up to a lamp, and look not at the wax itself but at its shadow on the wall — it is in the shadow that everyone suddenly sees a profile, a sail, a dog, or a ring. Hot wax can burn, so an adult should pour it when children are present. Don’t have a key with a hole? You can pour the wax through a metal strainer or straight into the water — the shape will be different, but the fun is the same.

Lining up shoes

Everyone takes off one shoe, and all the shoes are placed one behind another, starting at the farthest wall and moving toward the door. The shoe at the end of the row is moved to the front, and this continues until one crosses the threshold. Traditionally, unmarried girls arranged the row, and the owner of the winning shoe was expected to be the first to walk down the aisle; today, everyone’s shoes are used, and winning obliges no one to anything.

Cups with hidden objects

Turn several cups upside down and hide a small object beneath each one. The historical set was easy to interpret: a ring foretold an imminent wedding, a leaf or twig — remaining unmarried, a coin — money, and a rosary — a religious life. Today, anything that suits the company can go under the cups: a ticket, an apartment key, earphones, or a stone. The person drawing does not peek, but points to a cup, and the rest of the table interprets the result.

Aside from this historical set, no meanings are fixed — and that is the whole fun, because you make them up yourselves on the spot.

Stones in an Andrzejki evening — a contemporary version of the game

An honest caveat is needed here. We do not know of any ethnographic sources describing Andrzejki fortune-telling with stones. Wax, shoes, and cups have long been present in descriptions of the custom; drawing minerals has not. It is a contemporary idea that grew out of the fact that stones have been assigned fixed associations for centuries, making them easy to turn into objects for a drawing. If you hear about a “proto-Slavic stone ritual on Saint Andrew’s night,” treat it as part of a story, not history — we have written separately about where the belief in the power of minerals came from.

The game itself is delightful: it works like the cup game, but leaves you with a keepsake. The process is simple:

1. Prepare 5–8 clearly different stones, ideally one per person plus a few extra.
2. Put them into a linen pouch or a bowl covered with a cloth so no one can peek.
3. Before you begin, agree on the messages — one short sentence for each stone, written on slips of paper.
4. Everyone draws blindly, reads their message aloud, and keeps the stone as a memento of the evening.

You can choose the messages however you like — this is a convention of the game, not a property of the mineral. We find these work well: amethyst means calm and a cool head, rose quartz — matters of the heart, aventurine — a new beginning, tiger’s eye — the courage to make a decision you have been putting off, agate — patience, and citrine — ideas and conversation. If you want to choose stones more thoughtfully, we have gathered some guidance in our article about which stone tradition points to for good luck.

The stones used for drawing do not have to be expensive — small tumbled stones are enough. It is worth knowing what you are buying, though: in inexpensive sets, opalite, an iridescent glass, is sometimes included alongside natural minerals. It looks striking, and we offer it too, but it is glass, not a stone from the earth, and we say so plainly.

An Andrzejki gift idea

Andrzejki is not a gift-giving holiday, and no one waits for a package on this evening — which is why a small token works especially well. Three options are a good fit: a favor for every guest, one nicer gift for the person who organized the evening, and a stone drawn during the game, presented at the end with the message card.

We have gathered broader ideas for a gift made from natural stones in a separate guide, organized by occasion and budget. And if you would rather see everything in person, our Warsaw boutique is located at Grzybowska 61, unit 5, in Platinum Towers (00-844).

Frequently asked questions about Andrzejki

An Andrzejki evening needs no elaborate setup: all it takes is a November date, a few people, and an excuse to laugh together. Wax, shoes, and cups are the documented parts of this tradition; stones are a lovely contemporary addition that stays in your pocket long after the candles have burned down.