The Mythology of All Races/Volume 3/Slavic/Part 4/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV
THE KUPALO AND JARILO
THE festival called Kupalo now coincides with the Christian feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24). Originally, however, it may have been a purely domestic celebration when marriages were performed, and new members were admitted into the family, thus accounting for the erotic elements of the customs still connected with St. John's Day. In the course of the family feast the memory of the deceased ancestors, under whose protection individuals were received into the household, was revived, and this, in its turn, may explain the funereal elements of the commemoration.
During the Kupalo the girls go to the woods or the fields early in the morning to pick flowers of which wreaths are made; and at the same time they amuse themselves by trying to foretell their future in the following fashion. Choosing the prettiest girl among them, they take her into the forest, singing and dancing. Blindfolding her and decking her with garlands, they seize her hands and dance around her, while the girl, who is now called kupaljo picks up the garlands, one after the other, and distributes them among her dancing companions. Those who receive a wreath of fresh flowers will be fortunate in their wedded life; but those whose flowers are withered are doomed to unhappiness. After all the garlands have been distributed, the girls run away, doing their best to avoid being caught by the kupaljo, since any maiden whom she touches is fated to remain unwed for the year.
Another way of prophesying the future is as follows. The young people meet near the river and bathe till twilight, when a fire is kindled, and the lads and lasses, taking each other's hands, jump over the flame, two by two. Those who do not loosen their hands while jumping will become husband and wife, the same thing being predicted by a spark which comes out of the fire after them.
Funereal elements may be found in the fact that in many parts of the country figures of Kupalo and Marena are made and afterwards drowned and burned like a Rusalka;[1] while in some places Jarilo and Kostroma are buried in a similar way instead of Kupalo.[2]