The religious scholar listed the main traditions of Kupala night
Kupala Night is a complex system of rituals in which key actions are associated with ideas about purification, fate, and the mythological cycle of dying and rebirth of nature. Of particular importance in these traditions are fire and water rituals, as well as symbolic images associated with vegetation and anthropomorphic figures of the holiday. Religious scholar Nikita Pavlov told Izvestia about this.
"Lighting bonfires is not just fun: fire was considered a living being with purifying power, capable of burning everything evil and painful. Jumping over a campfire was both a demonstration of prowess, and a magical purification, and divination about the fate of a couple in love," he said.
A separate place in the description of traditions is occupied by the ceremony with wreaths, which were launched on the water. As the religious scholar explained, in the scientific reconstruction this element is considered as a "complex oracle ritual", in which the movement of water and the behavior of fire on wreaths were interpreted as signs of the girl's fate.
In addition, the researcher drew attention to the ritual of the Kupala tree — Madder or Kupala, its subsequent destruction in the form of burning or drowning. According to him, this ritual symbolizes the "funeral" of an anthropomorphic effigy and reflects archaic ideas about the dying and resurrecting deity of vegetation.
Read more in the Izvestia article:
"Ivan Kupala – 2026: the true story of the most mysterious holiday of summer"
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
