Kupala

Kupala (Kupalo) is the midsummer festival of the Slavs, held on the eve of St John the Baptist, and the being after whom it is named. On the Kupala night people lit fires and leapt over them, rolled burning wheels down into the rivers, bathed, gathered magic herbs and looked for the fern flower, while witches were believed to be at their most dangerous. A straw figure of Kupala, often with Marena, was carried about, then drowned or burned. Afanasyev reads the festival as the summer solstice, when the sun begins to turn towards winter.