Mysterious and mystical, the day of Ivan Kupala is rooted in ancient times. Very few people today know about him. Researchers believe that the mid-summer festival, characteristic of most pagan beliefs in Europe (the analogue of which is the day of Ivan Kupala), is one of the oldest religious cults on Earth.
The basis of this cult is the eternal confrontation and attraction of two opposing principles, not able to unite into one whole, but also not existing without each other. So, heaven and earth, fire and water, man and woman, are indivisible and incompatible. This love, this attraction of opposites, is the basis of the ancient holiday.
The ancients revered Kupala - a good and generous god, who patronized the fertility of the earth and childbirth, giving refreshing rains, bringing love turmoil to the most chaste hearts.
Initially, this day, like many other holidays of the ancient Slavs, had cosmic significance. Kupala night was celebrated on June 25, during the
summer solstice. This night was the shortest of the year and was considered special.
The ancient Slavs believed that on Kupala night the line between the obvious (real) and Navi (mystical) worlds was thinning, and all dark gods and spirits could penetrate the world of people. On this night, medicinal herbs gained tremendous healing power, intoxicating wines intoxicated more than usual, but most importantly, the magic adonis blossomed - a fern flower that reveals secrets, gives wisdom and leads to unearthly treasures of someone who can get it. The search for this flower was given special attention during the celebration.
But the main event of Kupala Night is a wedding. The role of the newlyweds are Lelya and Yarilo, young lovers who are not destined to be together, because they are each other's brother and sister. The girls chose a low birch or willow and dressed her with a “bride”, decorating them with variegated ribbons, and the guys at that time made a straw “groom”. The wedding ceremony was accompanied by traditional re-singing and dancing, the wedding itself also happened.
Believing in the power of fire and water, after sunset, the ancient Slavs jumped over a cleansing Kupala bonfire, and at dawn they washed themselves with dew and bathed in rivers. It was believed that the clothes in which a person jumped over the fire and bathed becomes a guard and gains the ability to protect its owner from evil eyes and ailments. Another part related to water is the launching of wreaths across the water. On these wreaths floating in the dark, unmarried girls wondered about their fate.
Unfortunately, information about possible specific dishes of this holiday was not preserved. But we can confidently assume that according to the Slavic hospitable tradition, the treat was plentiful and generous. And on that day, they began to drink antimony - a ritual Slavic drink that was prepared from honey and herbs, and then insisted for several months in sheep’s wineskins buried in the ground.
With the advent of
Christianity in Russia, like many other pagan traditions, this holiday was banned, but not forgotten. For many centuries, young people gathered in the glades of nearby ponds, sang songs and burned bonfires, praising the good god Kupala and asking him for harvest and offspring.
However, along with the ancient gods, Orthodox saints were revered in Russia. And Kupala night, like other holidays, soon gained church features. And Kupala himself received the name Ivan - in honor of the Orthodox St. John the Baptist. And so the name of the holiday appeared, widespread today - the day of Ivan Kupala. However, its initial date was postponed to July 7. This is due not only to the imposition of pagan and Orthodox cults on each other, but also to the transition of Russia to the Julian calendar.
The night on the eve of Ivan Kupala, as in antiquity, is considered magical. It is at this time that miracles happen. Like many centuries ago, today's youth celebrates the day of Ivan Kupala, greeting the warm summer with cheerful songs about love, wealth and a rich harvest, and lovers, wanting to preserve their feelings forever, jump over bonfire, as did their distant ancestors.