Sit back, enjoy a cup of java and have your fortune told
By Xu Chi |
July 31, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Turkey Pavilion's fortune teller promises a glimpse into the future by reading the shape of coffee grinds in a small cup.
Turkish fortune telling is a centuries-old ritual still very popular among Turkish women who pick up the skill as a hobby at a young age and use it to have fun with families or friends during coffee breaks after meals.
Deniz Genez Aydin, the 45-year-old fortune teller at the Turkey Pavilion, won fame after videos of her work spread via the Internet.
The coffee method of fortune telling has become so famous that visitors who want to learn their fortune now have to wait in line to make an appointment with her.
Aydin works three days a week from Tuesday to Thursday, accepting only eight customers every day from 2pm to 5pm.
She said most of her customers were young girls curious about their future life, or those who were unable to make an important decision in their life.
The service is particularly welcomed by some visitors from the Middle East, where similar traditions are shared.
"Many young students ask me to tell them whether it will be good to study abroad, and very often I am shocked why so many people want to leave the city," said Aydin.
She chats with visitors while they take sips of a special Turkish coffee, and when they finish the coffee, she will hold their hands to turn the cup counter-clockwise a few times at chest level.
Then she turns the cup upside down onto the saucer, leaving the hot coffee grinds to cool down.
Unlike Chinese fortune telling, she never asks any information from a visitor, not even a name or age.
"I get the information from the various shapes of coffee grinds in the cup," said Aydin.
She will tell a visitor about critical moments when decisions are to be made and she will advise the visitor to make the choice wisely.
But she will always tell visitors not to take it too seriously as the cup reading is just for fun. "It's impossible to see the entire life of a person because it's up to you to lead the life you want, we can change our destiny by making decisions by ourselves," said Aydin.
Turkish fortune telling is a centuries-old ritual still very popular among Turkish women who pick up the skill as a hobby at a young age and use it to have fun with families or friends during coffee breaks after meals.
Deniz Genez Aydin, the 45-year-old fortune teller at the Turkey Pavilion, won fame after videos of her work spread via the Internet.
The coffee method of fortune telling has become so famous that visitors who want to learn their fortune now have to wait in line to make an appointment with her.
Aydin works three days a week from Tuesday to Thursday, accepting only eight customers every day from 2pm to 5pm.
She said most of her customers were young girls curious about their future life, or those who were unable to make an important decision in their life.
The service is particularly welcomed by some visitors from the Middle East, where similar traditions are shared.
"Many young students ask me to tell them whether it will be good to study abroad, and very often I am shocked why so many people want to leave the city," said Aydin.
She chats with visitors while they take sips of a special Turkish coffee, and when they finish the coffee, she will hold their hands to turn the cup counter-clockwise a few times at chest level.
Then she turns the cup upside down onto the saucer, leaving the hot coffee grinds to cool down.
Unlike Chinese fortune telling, she never asks any information from a visitor, not even a name or age.
"I get the information from the various shapes of coffee grinds in the cup," said Aydin.
She will tell a visitor about critical moments when decisions are to be made and she will advise the visitor to make the choice wisely.
But she will always tell visitors not to take it too seriously as the cup reading is just for fun. "It's impossible to see the entire life of a person because it's up to you to lead the life you want, we can change our destiny by making decisions by ourselves," said Aydin.
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