Kupala Night (also known as Ivana-Kupala) is a traditional holiday in Slavic folk calendar, which was actually celebrated on the shortest night of the Year and falls on 21-22 or 23-24 of June in Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia and on 6-7th July in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine (i.e. in Eastern Slavic Countries according to Julian Calendar). It is an opposite holiday calendar-wise with regard to the winter-festival Koliada. The Kupala holiday was originally a native fertility rite, which was later reestablished being intertwined with local folklore. The vast rituals of this holiday is connected with function of water in fertility and ritualistic purification, in continuation of ancient Kupala rites. Young population on this day jump over the raging flames of bonfire as a ritualistic test of faith and courage. Girls may float flower garlands (sometimes lit with candles) down rivers in an effort to predict the future of their romantic relationships based on the patterns of the flow of the flowers in the water. In an effort to pique the interest of the woman who floated the wreath, men would often try to seize it. There is a legend regarding the Kupala festival that ferns only blossom on the eve of Ivan Kupala. Whoever finds a fern flower obtains wealth, luck, wisdom, and power. As a result, on that night, residents of the village prowl the forests in quest of enchanted plants and, in particular, the elusive fern flower. Unmarried ladies are typically the first to enter the forest; this is indicated by the garlands in their hair. Young males are next to follow them. As a result, the search for herbs and the fern flower may cause relationships between partners in the forest to blossom. [Info and Image Credit: Kupala_Night, Wikipedia] [Image: Simon Kozhin. Kupala Night, Divination on the Wreaths] [Image Availed Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (Please Relate to Individual Image URLs for More Usage Property)] [Source Image URL: https://bit.ly/3DfKqL2 ]
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