Kupala or Kupalo is an alleged Slavic deity who was first mentioned in the 17th century and compared to the Greek goddess Ceres . However, modern scholars of Slavic mythology deny the existence of such a deity.
12-566: The first source that mentions the deity Kupalo is the Hustyn Chronicle dating back to the 17th century: The fifth Kupalo was, as I believe, the God of Abundance, like Ceres for the Greeks , To him, the foolish people gave thanks during harvest-tide. The commemoration of this demon Kupalo is still being celebrated in some of our lands by the foolish, from the 23rd of June, the eve of the birth of St. John
24-585: A few references to Bible stories, including the Genesis flood narrative and the Tower of Babel ; thereafter, the legendary founding of Kyiv by Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv and Lybid' is narrated. This is followed by the history of Kievan Rus' by the reigns of princes, with special attention to Volyn ' and Podolia . After that, it becomes a history of the Ukrainian people and their relations with neighbouring peoples, such as
36-512: A ritual figure or effigy used during Kupala Night. Source material confirms the existence of effigies with such a name, e.g. Ukrainian dial. kupalo "ritual effigy, used in Saint John's Eve celebrations," or Belarusian dial. kupala "person leading the way in Saint John's Eve games." Hustyn Chronicle The Hustyn Chronicle is a 17th-century chronicle detailing
48-637: The Hustyn Chronicle could not have been compiled before 1623. Soviet historian Anatoliy Yershov (1930) concluded that Zacharias Kopystensky (died 1627), the author of the Palinodiia , had probably also written the Hustyn Chronicle . But American historian George Perfecky (1991) disagreed, because the Palinodiia and the Hustyn Chronicle present very different accounts of the Christianization of Kievan Rus' , and therefore were probably not written by
60-850: The history of Ukraine until 1598. It was written in Church Slavonic . The Chronicle covers Ukraine's relationship with the Principality of Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the impact of the Turks and Tatars , and the origin of the Cossacks . It ends with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (1582), and the Union of Brest (1596). The original chronicle has not survived, but three copies of it have been preserved: The Hustyn Chronicle begins with
72-461: The Baptist, up to the harvest and longer in the following way: in the evening, the plain folk of both sexes come together, and they wind wreaths from edible herbs or from roots. When they have wound the herbs around themselves, they light a fire. In another place, they erect a green branch and, holding hands, they circle around this fire, singing their songs in which Kupalo is mentioned. Then they jump over
84-621: The Belarusians within the Lithuanian principality, the Tatars and Turks, until the emergence of the Cossacks . The last date mentioned is 1597. The Hustyn Chronicle is largely a copy of the Hypatian Codex , but the last 25 pages are an independent continuation from 1300 to 1597. The other sources of information have been identified as: Given the inclusion of material from the Palinodiia ,
96-618: The aforesaid fire, dedicating themselves to this demon. In the 17th century, Kupala is also recognized as a deity by the Kievan Synopsis and the Life of St. Vladimir . Modern researchers usually deny the existence of a Slavic deity named Kupala. According to Vladimir Toporov , mythological figures known from later sources, such as Yarilo , Kupala, Pogvizd , Lada , Polel and others, cannot be considered gods. Folklorist and ethnographer Andrey Toporkov [ ru ] stated that Kupalo
108-519: The same author. Instead, Perfecky built upon previous research which suggested that a now-lost, anonymous Ukrainian (Authentic) Chronicle covering the years 1512 to 1648 had existed as one of the unaccounted sources; therefore, the Hustyn Chronicle must have been written after 1648, but before it was copied by Losyts'kyi in 1670. Zacharias Kopystensky Zacharias Kopystensky (born in Przemyśl , present-day Poland – died 21 March 1627)
120-693: Was archimandrite of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in Ukraine. He is best known for his polemic work Palinodiia (1621/3), in which he defended Eastern Orthodoxy against the Ruthenian Uniate Church . He also translated the Horologion and the works of John Chrysostom . He succeeded Yelisey Pletenetsky as archimandrite in 1624. Kopystensky studied at the Ostroh Academy . During his lifetime, Kyiv
132-511: Was only a folk holiday, and that recognizing him as a deity is questionable. According to Stanislaw Urbańczyk , Kupala is "literary fiction, persistently upheld by mythologists as truth." There is no information about the deity in earlier sources mentioning the Kupala Night celebrations. Some researchers, such as Martin Pitro and Petr Vokáč, and Linda Ivantis, believe that Kupalo was not a deity, but
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#1732852382750144-497: Was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and Kopystensky belonged to a circle of Orthodox clerics who promoted ideas of national liberation and cultural self-preservation. The authorship of the Hustyn Chronicle , which traces the history of Ukraine up to 1598, has also been attributed to Kopystensky, but there are also some arguments why it may have been written by someone else. The Khlebnikov Codex or
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