IVAN KUPALA - A MYSTERY OF LOVE AND FIRE

Holiday of Ivana Kupala is as ancient as the Ukrainian nation. The holiday our ancestors had celebrated before the fall of Kievan Rus and which our descendants will have celebrate after the fall of pseudo-Ukraine when the Great Ukraine will be reborn! Now all we have to appreciate what we have because far not each of the European nations could boast such an ancient holiday. Neither modern "Helloween," nor the "Victory" Day of the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, but the real one, our native! Exactly that kind of values they try to destroy. Because exacly the preservation o our ancient traditions is the key to oppose globalism and multiculturalism.

The feast of Ivan Kupala celebrated in the night from 6th to 7th of July. SInce the ancient times it strongly associated with the sun, fire, nature and indomitable energy of youth. 

Every element of the feast is full of deep mysterious symbolism. First of all it usually celebrates in the middle of summer symbolized the final victory of day over night, the triumph of life, the culmination of the solar cycle. Every element of the feast is full of deep mysterious symbolism. First of all it usually celebrates in the middle of summer symbolized the final victory of day over night, the triumph of life, the culmination of the solar cycle. That is a wonderful time to to go through purification by fire and water, to plunge into the both elements, isn't it? That's why a bonfire, around which we dance our roundelays and over which we jump, is an essential attribute of the feast. This is a purification with fire. According to the feast's custom young couples holding hands jump over the bonfire and if they would not break their hands during the jump this would indicate that the couple is strong and faithful. Similar custom also prevails in another part of the Indo-European world - in Iran.

It is customary for girls to hold mysterious Kupala rites of divination at rivers or lakes. Laying of wreaths with fire on the water is the main part of Kupala's  divination; by this rite a girl tries to find the place where she will find her husband. Association of water and fire in the ancient Kupala custom represents the union of two elements, two opposites, a man's and a women's nature.

In their turn boys, according to the tradition, go to a forest in the Kupala night in search of a fern flower. Fern flower is a symbol of male initiation - the complex and almost impossible challenge for a young man, that he has to accept to temperate his character and step to the next level of his male essence.  The legend of searching a fern flower fits into the Indo-European cycle of legends about a hero his searching of an enchanted treasure, so it rising back to ancient times. Searching for charming treasure in the dark forest - isn't this an echo of ancient legends of the Holy Grail? In terms of conventional science, we know that the fern is a plant that has no bloom, and multiply by spores. However, interesting that there is such kind of fern, that produces a spore-bearing stalk in the midsummer. In Ukrainian this kind of fern called Vuzhatchka (Ophioglossum vulgatum). Perhaps this flower was the prototype a Kupala fairy fern. Vuzhatchka is present in the Ukrainian legendarium, it is believed that it is protected by the Natrix king.

And, undoubtedly, the union of two elements is a symbol of love - irrepressible magnetism between the male and female which is the key to a new life. The Kupala's night is short, but its enought to do a lot. The flame of hearts as well as cosiness of the summer forest and pleasant splash of water - all these things promote to creation of young Ukrainian families!

Source: Zentropa Ukraine