Matrena/Matrona/matreshka

Sat Nov 24 19:45:08 UTC 2001

Gee, and I was hoping that someone could tell me about Matrena
as a mythical being - or a remnant of one.  My own guess would
be Rozhanitsa because of rod (birth) and all of the mat'/matka
discussion that took place earlier.  Anyway ...

For Mr. Krysal and others who don't know about Ivan Kupalo, it
is a midsummer ritual, performed on June 24 old calendar and
July 7 new calendar.  The constant elements are fire and water:
it is performed near a body of water and a huge bonfire is the
culmination of the rite.  There are obvious sun magic and
fertility magic elements to it.  The rite is quite complex and
I do not have the space to describe or discuss all of the
elements here.  The rite seems to be ancient, as in
pre-Christian, though it became one of the two John the Baptist
celebrations in the Christian era.  The other is Jan. 19 new
calendar and Jan. 6 old.  It seems to have survived the Soviet
era, though in modified and scripted form.  It was not a
favorite Soviet rite because of the hints of sexual license and
revelry that it contains.  It has made a big comeback in
post-Soviet times and I attended a karaoke Ivan Kupalo in 2001
near Kozelets', Ukraine.

Natalie K.

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