Old Russian Summer Solstice Mythology
Dr. Eileen M. Starr
Valley City State University
Valley City, ND 58072
During July, 1997, I spent two weeks with an EarthWatch team collecting folklore in rural southwest Russia. My own venue was to investigate the astronomical mythology of the region which might then be incorporated into a planetarium presentation. We were located about 300 miles southwest of Moscow, about half way between the Russian city of Bryansk, and the Belarus border. In this part of Russia the peasants are an almost inexhaustible source for folklore because it makes up a substantial part of their belief system. Our EarthWatch tasks included recording (a) the embroidery found on ceremonial scarves, (b) the narratives about witches and wood-goblins, and (c) the folk songs sung while milking.
Most images in the folklore are based on ancient Slavic pagan beliefs. The Russian Orthodox church, founded in A. D. 988, tried but failed to supplant the pagan world view. The Communist regime tried to eradicate the folk customs, stating that in Russians past, there were no cultural or historical values to be preserved. In addition, the establishment of the seven day work week on the collective farm and the limited personal contact between children and their parents meant that folk lore traditions were not passed onto the younger generations. Only the elderly remember the folklore. We visited many elderly, mainly women in their 70's and 80's, in the small villages near Bryansk. Amazing to me, no one knew of any stories about the moon, the stars, or constellations. At a latitude of 53 degrees, the nights were short in July, but the stars were spectacular without the competition of lights or smog. There was Ursa Major and Polaris. Mars lighted the sky in the south. However, each time I inquired about sky lore, I was told that they knew of none. In this very agricultural society, apparently no one used the sky as a calendar. I surmise that when the mud dried out in the Spring, they planted. When the crop was ripe, they harvested. With the Church or collective farm organizing their time, the villagers didn't need a calendar. However, our interviews did uncover some interesting mythology about Summer Solstice beliefs. My references are the villagers in the Bryansk Oblate, and the Principle Investigator of the EarthWatch project, Yelena Minyonok, who holds a Ph.D. in Folklore from the Institute of World Literature in Moscow. She has spent 12 years collecting
Old Russian folklore.
The Summer Solstice is celebrated during the night of July 6/7 because the Russian Julian calendar is now 9 days behind the Gregorian calendar. The Summer Solstice is also known in the church as John the Baptist Day or by the festival name of Ivan Kupalo. The ancient summer solstice ceremony was called Kupalo and expressed the relationship between the sun and growth of the crops and forest, and the reproductive powers of the family. By the end of the 19th century, Kupalo rites were known primarily in Ukraine and Belorus. According to Yelena Minyonok, there was no strict order to the celebration. Young people danced in the afternoon, sung songs, and poured water on each other. Water is a symbol of life so, in the past, the water was thought to increase wisdom and promote good health. Now water is used as a greeting. In Russian Folk Belief, Linda Ivanits mentions that the primary characteristic of the holiday was the lighting of bonfires and jumping through them. She mentions that Kupalo's Day was often represented by a doll or scarecrow which was ritually destroyed by drowning, burning, or was torn apart. In the village of Krutitsy, we were told the story of the Solstice fern. A very brave soul might venture into the forest at night to visit the fern plants which, according to legend, flowered only once a year, at midnight on the Summer Solstice. If one could see the flower, it was believed, one would have a happy life, and all buried treasures were revealed to the person who found the flower and picked it. However, this was also the night of witches on broomsticks and evil spirits who lurked in the forest (similar to our Halloween). Witches gathered on pine trees or linden (basswood) trees ) so it was not safe to be outside. People used wild medicinal herbs to protect themselves from the demons. Inside the house, near the top of the door, people placed plants such as the thistle or Scotch broom to ward off the spirits. One of the village women said that her mother told her that a relative had seen the flower of the fern on the Solstice night. The flower was a small flame. It looked like the fire from a match. But the relative didn't stay in the ferns for very long because the strange noises frightened him.
On the Summer Solstice five centuries ago, the married women organized the celebration which included ritual bathing by men and women in rivers and lakes. Sexual liaisons were permitted by unmarried young people, and children born from such liaison were considered "holy" children. The modern practices for the Summer Solstice celebrations are only the remnants of the traditions of the very old holiday, mentioned in Church chronicles dating from the twelfth century. Fortunately, Russia is now committed to recording what folklore remains, rather than allowing the knowledge of the old traditions to die out. I was pleased to be able to assist in the recording of this mythology.
Bibliography:
Hubbs, Joanna. Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture. 1993.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Ivanits, Linda J. Russian Folk Belief. 1989. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe,
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