Ivana Kupala 2018
Midsummer, and the observation that this is the one festival where the young organise and the old attend.
A good Kupala night.
An inversion I have noticed. In most of the calendar, the older generation organises and the young attend — the Christmas table, the Easter basket, the memorial days. The structure comes down from grandparents.
Kupala runs the other way. The young organise it, decide where, gather the wood, and the older generation comes along if they feel like it and watches from a distance with an expression that suggests they remember doing the same thing.
A tradition that is transmitted by the young rather than to them has a different kind of durability. It does not depend on anybody feeling obliged.
Fire, water, the shortest night.
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