Ivana Kupala, 7 July 2004

A good Kupala night to everyone marking it.

In July 2004 I had not yet moved to Kyiv, and what I knew of this night was what colleagues had told me — usually with some amusement at my questions.

The descriptions did not sound like a religious holiday. Fire, water, wreaths on a river, jumping in pairs, and a flower that does not exist. I remember asking whether people actually believed the part about the fern, and being told that this was not the point and that I would understand when I saw it.

They were right, though it took me a few years.

A good night to everyone by a river tonight.