Hello God!

Thank You for Kupala today. We celebrate Kupala Night or Kupalle in Belorussian, one of the oldest folk holidays dedicated to the sun and water. Kupalinka, daughter of the god Kupala and the Earth opens the door to the magic time.

It is the only time of the year when Mother Nature reveals its secrets and the only time when trees speak and even move and when witches gather. White witches, of course.

Kupalinka discovers some interesting facts about her father –  Jacob Grimm in his book Teutonic Mythology (1835) notes that the word kupala describes the bonfires slavonic folk lit at the summer solstice, and records that some people explained the word as the name Kupulo, a harvest god.

Although the word kupala (or kupalo) is usually explained as “bather” (from kupat(i) ‘to bathe’). According to Russian philologists Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov, the name Kupala is derived from the same Indo-European root as the name of  Cupid, Roman god of love, which means “passion” or “desire”. Kupala is Slavonic Cupid!

There is an ancient Kupala belief that the eve of Ivan Kupala is the only time of the year when ferns bloom.

Thanks to the fern flowers, which blossom for only several moments at midnight, all the buried treasures could be seen, no matter how deep they were in the ground. Prosperity, luck, discernment and power would befall on whoever finds a fern flower.

Please listen Kupalinka song and enjoy the video below where Kupala is celebrated!

Kupalinka, Kupalinka
It’s dark in the night
It’s dark in the night
Where is your daughter, Kupalinka?

My daughter is in the garden
She weeds the rose
She weeds the rose
And wounds her white hands.

She picks the flowers
She picks the flowers
And weaves garlands
She weaves garlands and sheds tears.

I wish you to find your blooming fern flower tonight, and your dearest wish will come true.

Thank you for sharing with me this very magical moment!