German NYE Tradition: Bleigiessen (Fortune Telling through Molybdomancy) – In A Berlin Minute (Week 139)

Bleigiessen (Molybdomancy) is a North European New Year’s Eve (Silvester) tradition that goes back all the way to Ancient Greece.

After you melt a piece of lead or tin on a spoon over a candle you drop it in a bowl of water. You then interpret the resulting shape directly or hold it up to a light to interpret the shadow.

Kits are sold with a list of interpretations – but there are also many online resources that include further suggestions, e.g., List 1List 2List 3List 4.

I’m very grateful to my family (my mom, dad, brother and nephew) for playing along to create this video for you over the Christmas holidays in Berlin.

The peppy song is “Just Don’t Care” by Jason Matherne: https://soundcloud.com/goonygoogoo-productions

Happy New Year!
Frohes Neues Jahr!

Be Brave and Be Kind.

And if you watched all the way to the end you’ll get a little bonus post-credits 3-second clip of my brother saying: “I have the feeling that this is a rather inexact science.”

MIN_139 Bleigiessen tradition

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