About: Kupala Night

Kupala Night is one of the major folk holidays of the Eastern Slavs that coincides with the Christian feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and the East Slavic feast of Saint John's Eve. In folk tradition, it was revered as the day of the summer solstice and was originally celebrated on the shortest night of the year, which is on 21-22 or 23-24 of June, and according to Julian calendar on the night between 6 and 7 July. The name of the holiday is ultimately derived from the East Slavic word kǫpati "to bathe". A number of activities and rituals are associated with Kupala Night, such as 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; and hunting witches and scaring them away. It was also believed that on this day the sun plays and other wonders of nature happen.