Also called Kupala, Ivan Kupala, Kupajlo.
Their story
The seventeenth-century Hustyn Chronicle claims that the old Rus honoured Kupalo as a god of earthly fruits on the eve of St John. In folk custom Kupala is a straw figure dressed and carried to the midsummer fire, then burnt or drowned, while young people leap the flames, float wreaths and search for the magical fern flower. The name comes from the Christian feast of John the Baptist, Ivan Kupala, "John the Bather".
Best times to give to them
- Kupala Night (23 to 24 June, or 6 to 7 July in the Julian calendar)
What they like being given
- a flower wreath floated on water
- herbs gathered at dusk
- bread
- a candle on the wreath
How to honour them
- Make a wreath of summer flowers and float it on a stream with a candle, safely.
- Gather herbs on Kupala eve and dry them for the year.
- Jump a small, safe fire or step over a candle with a friend.
How they can help you
- love and courtship
- cleansing
- celebrating summer
Symbols
- bonfires
- floating wreaths
- the fern flower
- a straw effigy
Kupalo is best seen as a personification of the festival; the Hustyn Chronicle's claim that he was an ancient god is late and doubtful.
Sources
- Hustyn Chronicle (17th century)
- Linda J. Ivanits, Russian Folk Belief
- Vladimir Propp, Russian Agrarian Festivals
More Slavic gods
- Perun The thunder god of oak and axe
- Veles Lord of cattle, wealth and the underworld
- Dazhbog The giving god, the sun
- Svarog The heavenly smith, father of fire and sun
- Jarilo The youthful god of spring and growth
- Rod The god of kin, birth and fate
- Stribog Grandfather of the winds
- Khors The bright disc of the sun