Kupala Night is one of the major folk holidays in some Slavic countries. It coincides with the Christian feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and the East Slavic feast of Saint John's Eve. In folk tradition, it is revered as the day of the summer solstice and was originally celebrated on the shortest night of the year, which is either on 21-22 or 23-24 of June in Czechia, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria. These dates were also adopted in Ukraine as of 2023. Following the Julian calendar, it is celebrated on the night between 6 and 7 July in Belarus, Russia, and parts of Ukraine. The name of the holiday is ultimately derived from the Proto-Slavic word *kǫpati, meaning "to bathe".
