According to ancient belief, the holiday of Ivan Kupala symbolizes the flourishing of nature's forces
So, Ivan Kupala Night. Before the advent of Orthodoxy, the Slavs worshipped many gods. Among them, Ivan Kupala is the god of fertility. According to legend, Kupala was separated from his sister, and, meeting her many years later, married her. He did not suspect that he had married a relative. The story ended tragically. Upon learning the truth, the couple drowned themselves.
Hence the erotic nature of this day. The Slavs even drank special decoctions to prepare for the holiday.
At the festival itself, people girded themselves with flowers, put wreaths of herbs on their heads, sang songs, and danced in circles. At this time, the elders lit a fire from sacrificial herbs. In the middle of the bonfire stood a pole with a burning wheel, a symbol of the sun. Boys and girls had fun by the bonfires and jumped over them in pairs and singly. And to cleanse themselves of filth, they jumped over nettle bushes. Mothers burned the shirts of their sick children on the bonfires so that they would recover faster.
Beliefs about the holiday of Ivan Kupala are very numerous. This is a day of purification, spiritual and physical. It was believed that herbs and animals are filled with miraculous power this night. Trees, animals, and even herbs converse among themselves.
In the Kupala dew, people washed their hands and face to drive away diseases from the body, as well as pimples and blackheads from the skin. To keep illnesses and bedbugs out of the house, walls and furniture were sprayed with the same Kupala dew. This dew was also used for eye diseases. It was enough for the patient to wash with it.
At night, cattle were driven through the bonfires to rid them of pestilence.
And intimate relations between people were supposed to cleanse them. To prepare for the holiday, the Slavs even drank special decoctions that acted like modern Viagra.
Lowering birch wreaths with lit candles into the river, women told fortunes about love. If the wreath sank, it meant that the beloved had fallen out of love. If it floated to the middle of the river without hindrance, it promised an early marriage. But if the wreath immediately drifted to the shore, it meant a long bachelor life ahead.
Many still believe that on this night, the fern blooms with a fiery magical flower, indicating all treasures, no matter how deep they are hidden.
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