Ukrainians celebrate midsummer traditions with song, dance and fire

Hundreds of Ukrainians observed the longest day of the year on Saturday with a midsummer celebration of some of their oldest traditions, a display of cultural perseverance in a nation threatened by war.

Rooted in Ukraine’s ancient past of Slavic paganism the event, Ivana Kupala, features rituals and symbolism to honor the summer solstice, related to fertility, nature, purity and renewal — values that predate the region’s Christianization at the end of the first millennium.

At the open-air National Museum of Folk Architecture and Ukrainian Life on the outskirts of Kyiv, participants in embroidered shirts and blouses strolled among thatched-roof cottages, wooden churches and windmills dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. Women and girls wore vinoks — wreaths made from wildflowers — as they took part in folk dances, games and craft workshops.

Viktoria Phi, a master of folk art at the museum, taught visitors to weave the colorful flowered headdresses. She said that Ivana Kupala, which also has variations in other Slavic countries from the Czech Republic to Bulgaria to Russia, was a “small oasis” in the war in Ukraine, where people can “walk and enjoy nature, architecture, songs and dances.”

“It’s most popular among young people, and I am very happy when a family comes with young children,” she said.

As the sun began to set over the wheat fields and wildflower meadows, hundreds formed a circle around a pyramid of logs. When the bonfire was lit, flames climbed into the twilight sky as music swelled and people spun around the pyre hand in hand. In a purification rite, some leapt over the burning embers.

With Russia’s war in Ukraine now in its fourth year and aerial attacks on cities intensifying, for some the observance of old folk customs holds deeper meaning.

Saba Alekseev, 25, said the event gave her a chance to “breathe some fresh air without thinking about (the war), for some time at least, because it’s impossible to put it out of your mind under shelling.”

For 18-year-old Sofia Orel, it was a reminder that “it is crucial to support Ukrainian culture and traditions, especially since the war started, because this way we preserve what is ours.”

“As I am weaving a wreath, I’m thinking that I will teach my daughter how to do it,” she said. “These are our traditions and they have to be passed on and honored.” JUSTIN SPIKE, KYIV, MDT/AP