A Journey Through Divination and Astronomy by Publishing Pottermore

Author:Publishing, Pottermore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pottermore Publishing
Published: 2019-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

Even though they were dolls, they weren’t created as playthings for a child’s bedroom, but as a centrepiece at social events where guests and friends could rip off a strip from the skirt and read their fate. Plans for modifying fortune-telling dolls were in newspapers and books, and they wouldn’t just suggest the design of the clothes; they would also advise on the type of social event the dolls could appear at. One suggestion was to use them at a charity bazaar, where a small fee could be paid to pluck at the dress, or – into the 20th century – at occasions like engagement parties.

At the same time, there were suggestions published as to what fortunes to include on the strips of paper. Some supposedly came from a surprising source: Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon is said to have consulted The Oraculum or ‘The Dream Book’ on a daily basis after he discovered it while on an expedition in Egypt in 1801. It is said that he found it in a sarcophagus, in which a mummy was holding the book clasped to its chest. Napoleon had a scholar translate it from the hieroglyphics and it was then translated into English in the 1820s. It was republished in various versions throughout the 19th century in English, but whether Napoleon discovered it, and whether it came from a sarcophagus, no one is really sure.

Still, Napoleon’s Oraculum might have told you that ‘The luck that is ordained for you will be coveted by others’, or ‘Beware of friends who are false and deceitful’. Wherever the advice came from, it was clearly popular, as it’s hard to find many examples of doll skirts that have not been torn to shreds. An intact skirt must have held a compelling plethora of fortunes.

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