Witchcraft in Bankova
Not only has the former head of Ukraine’s presidential office Yermak, been accused of money laundering, but it turns out he used a fortune teller to make top appointments.
The corruption debacle is unfolding in Kyiv at a very inconvenient time. The recently released NABU tapes are being read out in front of a court and producing fresh sensational allegations every day.
Not only has the former head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, been issued with an official suspicion of money laundering notice to the tune of $10.5mn but yesterday it transpired that he’s been using a fortune teller in order to make key personnel appointments.
This is not a good look as it comes on top of almost certainly true allegations at least $100mn worth of foreign aid money was being siphoned off by Bankova’s elites into luxury mansions amongst other things – NABU released pictures of the so-called “Dynasty” villas belonging to the top guys around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, so it now appears pretty clear they are guilty as charged.
The EU just signed off on a €90bn loan to fund Ukraine for two more years and there’s no way that Brussels is going to back out of that, even if there is massive institutional corruption, as the alternative would be to see Ukraine defeated by Russia. That is beyond the pale for the likes of VDL and Kallas.
Yermak’s dependence on a soothsayer called Valentine Feng Shui looks pretty bizarre, however, if you have spent any time in the east it doesn’t look quite as crazy as it first appears. From my time in Russia, I know that eastern Europeans are actually extremely superstitious- far more than you’d expect. There’s a long list of traditions that are widely followed even today, even by the rich, powerful and the intelligentsia. So, it doesn’t surprise me at all that someone like Yermak would turn to a fortune teller and Tarot cards for advice when running the government.
People follow these traditions, not because they are convinced of magic, but mostly they do it “just in case”. Go to Ukraine or Russia and try and whistle inside the house, for example. You will be surprised at how fast your host will tell you to stop. It brings bad luck.
Some of these traditions will be familiar. Like in the West, people will cross the road rather than let a black cat cross their path. This is a very ancient one, going back to medieval times when black cats were associated with witches and the devil.
Knocking on wood (postuchat’ po derevu) is another widespread superstition and is also very ancient. In pre-Christian Europe, trees — especially oak and birch — were believed to house spirits or protective forces so knocking on wood is supposed to invoke their protection. Later the same tradition became associated with the wood of the true cross, reinforcing the tradition.
And spilled salt is unlucky so you have to throw a pinch over your left shoulder to undo that which is also well spread in the rest of Europe. Why is it always the left shoulder, and not the right? I know we shake hands with our right hand as that is your sword hand and the gesture was a sign of trust and genuine greeting as you can’t kill someone with your sword if you tie up that hand in a handshake.
But what’s striking is how many of these superstitions are still observed casually. If you move to Kyiv one of the first things you will discover is that if you go on a date and want to buy a dozen roses, the shop keeper (and other punters) will helpfully tell you you can’t buy an even number of flowers; it has to be an off number. Even numbers are only for funerals. If you try to give your date a dozen roses, she will be, not offended, but surprised. This one is universal and deeply engrained.
Another widespread idiom is “toi toi toi.” It is a traditional way of wishing someone good luck, and is not limited to Eastern Europe, but also prevalent in the German-speaking European. You say it before a performance, exam, or any risky moment. It’s the equivalent of “break a leg.”
The sound is supposed to imitate spitting (you don’t actually spit) and done over your left shoulder (again) to ward off evil spirits. During the wild days of the 1990s in Moscow, our cleaning lady used to use it almost on a daily basis when talking about how tough life had become. Three is also a magic number and comes up all the time in many cultures; appropriately enough today, such as with the Christian Trinity for example.
Some of these superstitions are rooted in common sense. One of my favourites is the rule that you are supposed to sit on your suitcase for 5mins before you leave on a trip (prisyad’ na dorozhku). The result is a very sensible short period of calm to give you time to tihnk of anything you might have forgotten.
Harder to explain is the rule that you never shake hands over a threshold. However, after years in Russia, this one has been hammered into me and I can’t do it any more. The doorway is seen as a gateway between two worlds. Greeting or saying goodbye across it is believed to bring arguments or bad luck. You have to either step inside or outside the house before you shake. An associated rule that is also widely followed is if you have to return home unexpectedly then look in the mirror before leaving again. Going back home after leaving is unlucky, so to “reset” it, you look in a mirror before leaving again.
Even my mum knew this one: at dinner, if you empty a bottle, never put it back on the table; you have to put it on the floor. This one dates back to the Cossaks in the 19th-century during their time in Paris, but and is now simply regarded as “bad form” and mildly unlucky. Those Cossaks were pretty influential. They used to sit in the cafes of Montmartre and shout at the waiters to bring food “quickly!”, which is bistro in Russia, which is where the word for a Bistro comes from.
Another quirky one is you should never give a knife to someone as a gift without offering a coin in return. I actaully was exposed to this one when I interviewed the former president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, who gave me a knife as a present. Happily I had a coin in my pocket to give him in return. The reason is sharp objects symbolise cutting the relationship, but the small coin turns it into a harmless “purchase”.
However, many other traditions have fallen away: don’t give or lend money in the evening; don’t count money at night, and don’t sit at the corner of a table, especially for women, as it supposedly means you won’t marry for seven years. The NABU tapes show that Zelenskiy’s inner cirlce had no qualms about making and counting money at night, or at any time of the day for that matter.
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