Kupala Night is one of the major folk holidays of the Eastern Slavs, that coincides with the Christian feast of the St. John the Baptist and the East Slavic feast of St John’s Eve. In folk tradition, it was revered as the day of the summer solstice and is celebrated on June 24, although the night before was more ritualized. New calendar has it on July 6.
A number of activities and rituals are associated with Kupala Night:
- gathering herbs and flowers and decorating people, animals and houses with them;
- entering water, bathing or dousing with water and sending garlands on water;
- lighting fires, dancing, singing and jumping over fire;
- hunting witches and scaring them away.
It was also believed that on this day the sun plays and other wonders of nature happen. The celebrations are held near the water, on the hills, surrounding that; chiefly, young men and women participate in these folkloric traditions. The rituals and symbolism of the holiday may point to its pre-Christian origins.
Rituals and Beliefs
On this day, June 24th, (July 6th according to new calendar) it was customary to pray to John the Baptist for headaches and for children.
Kupala Night is filled with rituals related to water, fire and herbs. Most Kupala rituals take place at night. Bathing before sunset was considered mandatory: in the north, russians were more likely to bathe in saunas, and in the south in rivers and lakes. Closer to sunset, on high ground or near rivers, bonfires were lit. Sometimes, fires were lit in the traditional way – by friction wood against wood. In some places, this archaic way of lighting a fire for the holiday survived until early 20th century.
On Kupala Night, “bride and groom” were chosen and wedding ceremonies were conducted: they jumped over the fire holding hands, exchanged wreaths (symbol of maidenhood), looked for the fern flower and bathed in the morning dew. On this day, “village roads were plowed so that ‘matchmakers would come sooner’, or a furrow was plowed to a boy’s house so that he would get engaged faster.
Water
The obligatory custom on this day was mass bathing. It was believed that on this day all evil spirits would leave the rivers, so it was safe to swim until Elijah’s day. In addition, the water of Kupala Night was endowed with revitalizing and magical properties.
In places where people were not allowed to bathe in rivers (because of russets), they bathed in “sacred springs”. In some places, on the day before of Kupala Night, on St. Agrippina’s Day, baths were heated in which people were washed and steamed, while steaming the herbs collected on that day. Water drawn from springs on St. John’s Day was said to have miraculous and magical powers.
On this holiday, according to a common sign, water can “make friends” with fire. The symbol of this union was a bonfire lit along the banks of rivers. Wreaths were often used for divination on Kupala Night: if they floated on the water, it meant good luck and long life or marriage.
A 16th-century Russian scribe attempted to explain the name (Kupalnica) and the healing power of St. John’s Day by referring to the Old Testament legend of Tobias. As he writes, it was on this day that Tobias bathed in the Tigris, where, on the advice of the archangel Raphael, he discovered a fish whose entrails cured his father of blindness.
Fire
The main feature of the Kupala Night is the cleansing bonfires. The youths would bring down a huge amount of brushwood from all over the village and set up a tall pyramid, with a pole in the middle, on which was placed a wheel, a barrel of tar, a horse or cow skull, etc. According to Tatyana Agapkin and Lyudmila Vinogradova, the symbol of a tall pole with a wheel attached to it generally correlated with the universal image of the world tree.
In Ukraine and Belarus, girls and boys held hands and jumped over the fire in pairs. It was believed that if their hands stayed together while jumping, it would be a clear sign of their future marriage; the same if sparks flew behind them. In Gomel, boys used to cradle girls in their arms over the Kupala bonfire to protect them from spells. Young people and children jumped over bonfires, organized noisy games: they played gorelki.
In addition to bonfires, in some places on Kupala Night, wheels and barrels of tar were set on fire, which were then rolled down the mountains or carried on poles, which is clearly related to the symbolism of the solstice.
In Belarus, the Galician Poles and Carpathians called baptismal bonfires Sobótki after the West Slavic sobota as a “day of rest”
Herbs
A characteristic sign of Kupala Night are the many customs and legends associated with the plant world. Green was used as a universal amulet: it was believed to protect from diseases and epidemics, evil eye and spoilage; from sorcerers and witches, unclean powers, “walking” dead people; from natural lightning, hurricane, fire; from snakes and predatory animals, insect pests, worms. At the same time, the contact with fresh greens was conceived as a magical means providing fertility and successful breeding of cattle, poultry, yield of cereals and vegetable crops.
It was believed that on this day it was best to collect medicinal herbs, as the plants receive great power from the sun and the earth. Some herbs were harvested at night, others in the afternoon before lunch, and others in the morning dew. While collecting medicinal herbs, magic spells (zagovory) were recited.
The fern and the so-called Ivan-da-marya flower ( Melampyrum nemorosum; literally: John and Mary) were associated with special Kupala legends. The names of these plants appear in Kupala songs.
The Slavs believed that only once a year, on St. John’s Day, a fern blooms. This mythical flower, which does not exist in nature, is supposed to give those who pick it and keep it with them miraculous powers. According to beliefs, the bearer of the flower becomes clairvoyant, can understand the language of animals, see all treasures, no matter how deep they are in the ground, and enter treasuries unhindered by holding the flower to locks and bolts (they must crumble before it), wield unclean spirits, wield earth and water, become invisible and take any form.
Kupala Tree
Depending on the region, a young birch, willow, maple, spruce, or the cut top of an apple tree was chosen for the Kupala. The girls would decorate it with wreaths, field flowers, fruits, ribbons and sometimes candles; then take it outside the village, stick it in the ground in a clearing and dance, walk and sing around it. Later, the boys would join in the fun, pretending to steal the Kupala tree or ornaments from it, knocking it over or setting it on fire, while the girls protected it. At the end, everyone together was supposed to drown the Kupala tree in the river or burn it in a bonfire.
(Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupala_Night)
Why I quit my job 