Andrzejki
St Andrew’s Eve, the fortune-telling night when people pour melted wax through a key into cold water to read the shapes.
Andrzejki is the evening of 29 November, the eve of St Andrew's Day, and Poland's night of fortune-telling. Once it was reserved for unmarried girls curious about their future husbands; today it is a party for everyone, with schools, clubs and offices holding an andrzejki dance. The heart of the evening is lanie wosku: hot wax is poured through the hole of an old key into a bowl of cold water, and the hardened shape is held up against a lamp so that its shadow on the wall can be interpreted as a ship, a heart, a crown or a face.
Other games are just as old. Shoes are lined up heel to toe across the room and the first to cross the threshold shows who will marry first; slips of paper with names are placed under the pillow, and a paper heart is pricked with a pin to find a name. Apple peel thrown over the shoulder is read as an initial. Nobody takes the predictions seriously, but the questions are always the same: love, a wedding, a journey, money. The old male counterpart, katarzynki on 24 November, has almost disappeared.
The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.
Same words in both. Beginner gets more help: matching and completing. Advanced listens and spells it out unaided. Pick it in practice; it locks when you take the scored run.
Practise as often as you like, all year. The scored run happens once, while the competition is open, and cannot be retaken.