Divination, gatanje, ogledanje or falanje with 41 beans is a traditional technique of fortune-telling among Muslim peoples, especially in Bosnia, Turkey, Central Asia – where it has various names such as fasulya fal, nakhoud fal or kumalak – as well as in the Arab world. Today, it is most vividly preserved among Bosniaks.
Since ancient times in Bosnia and Herzegovina, falanje u grah has been the most popular method of predicting luck or destiny. It has always been practised equally by both men and women: if it is a woman, she is called a faletarka, gledalica (from the verb ogledati, “to look into/reflect”) or faladžinica, while if it is a man, people call him faletar, gledač or faladžija.
Why beans?
Why beans in particular? Besides the fact that they have always been easily available to ordinary people, beans are considered in esoteric traditions to be receivers of energy and “counters of destiny”. This is supported by many Bosniak love spells and accompanying rituals in which, with the help of beans that are thrown into the fire at the end of the rite, one attempts to change a person’s fate or “open” their luck.
Why exactly 41 beans?
The number 41 in Islamic tradition symbolizes protection, supplication (dova) and the fulfillment of wishes. In Turkish folklore, stories often mention a hero and 40 enemies whom he fought and defeated. A perfect literary example is Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. In this specific mythical way, the number 40 is presented as the number of destiny, everything that destiny contains, while the forty-first bean marks the transition from the spiritual into the material.
In Sufi practices there are prayers (dove) that are recited 41 times. Among Bosniaks, there exists a belief that Allah, within the first 40 days after a person is conceived in the mother’s womb, prescribes (determines) that person’s destiny, and that on the next, that is the forty-first day, it begins to flow and manifest in reality – and so it continues until death.
Even after birth, the number 41 does not cease to be important. According to Bosniak folk belief, during the first 41 days after childbirth, one pastekija (a prayer mat) is pulled out from under the young mother each day. That is why, in this critical period – which is considered dangerous both for her and for the newborn – she must be cautious and protect herself and the baby from anything that might harm them and thus disturb their destined nafaka (divinely allotted sustenance).
FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE
Although beans are “thrown” or “spread” for all kinds of life questions, they are most often used for love falanje or ogledanje. Therefore, here I will give an example of one love layout of falovi and its interpretation.
In the example shown in the picture below, such a combination of falovi and hatmas in tehir indicates that the relationship between two people (boy and girl, husband and wife), in modern terms, is “quite open” – meaning that both are cheating on each other. However, this does not create a serious problem for them, because they still remain together.
In traditional ogledanje, a faletarka would often interpret the falovi clearly and directly, usually with words like: “Your grah has ‘fallen’ on seven hatmas, that is good, you are nafakali (you have luck/fortune). In tehir it is on four hatmas, ‘on a safe hand’. Your grah is running late, this will not happen quickly, but I see you on the pillow, you are together, and this anger and present sadness are temporary. You are not faithful to each other, each pulls in their own direction, but your ‘kuća’ (home) is strong, nothing is falling apart, you remain side by side…”
THE FATEFUL FÁTIMA’S FAL
According to Bosnian oral tradition, this skill of falanje was first practised in history by Hazrat Fátima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, secretly from her father. She managed to hide it for a long time, until one day, when the Prophet suddenly entered the house just as she was ogledala (reading) the fate of a friend. Taken by surprise, in haste she managed to hide only half of the beans under the folds of her dress, while the other half remained visible. Since the Prophet loved his daughter immensely, he only smiled at her “hobby” and said gently: “My dear daughter, let what you do always be half truth and half lie.” And from then on, according to Bosniak belief, in every falanje there is half truth and half lies.
Furthermore, it is said that the happiest fal in ogledanje – that is 333 – is called Fatimin fal. Faladžije say that it “turns destiny around”.
Every time someone wants to ogledati se u grah (have their fate seen in beans), they should take all the beans into their hand, recite sura Al-Fatiha and dedicate it to the soul of Hazrat Fátima, then blow onto the beans and give them to the faladžinica to read that person’s destiny in them.
Among the people it is also said that grah never lies — only the faletarka can lie, if she does not know how to interpret it properly.
