UKRAINIANS CELEBRATE MIDSUMMER WITH PAGAN-INSPIRED FESTIVAL DESPITE WARTIME RESTRICTIONS

Thousands of Ukrainians have marked midsummer with a pagan-inspired festival that featured folk dancing, floral decorations and jumping over bonfires. 

The Ivana Kupala festival was held on Sunday as Ukrainians start their third summer at war, with Kyiv and other cities still being hit by regular blackouts and remaining under nightly curfew.

But despite the war-time restrictions, several thousand people joined the celebration, many of them wearing shirts and dresses embroidered with traditional patterns.  

The event was held just outside Kyiv at a national heritage park, where windmills, thatched houses and other traditional buildings have been reassembled after being dismantled and transported from all the regions of Ukraine. 

The festival of Ivana Kupala is similar to celebrations for St John’s Eve or San Juan in many Western countries — a fusion of fire, water and nature that ties pagan traditions to the Christian calendar.

2024-06-24T13:22:08Z dg43tfdfdgfd