The Kupala night will be met in the Vitebsk region with a parade of unclean spirits, a torchlight procession, and a bouquet competition

July 6, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The ritual folklore festival "Kupalle Pazerye" will bring together folklore groups from the Vitebsk region in the Glubokoye district today, the Glubokoye District Executive Committee informed the correspondent. Keepers of ancient rituals from Gorodok, Senno, Polotsk, Glubokoye districts and Novopolotsk will introduce the festival participants to the specifics of celebrating Kupala night in their regions. In accordance with established traditions, the groups, to the sounds of Kupala songs, will gather flowers, meet the sunrise, and conduct ritual games. The honor of lighting the large Kupala bonfire will be given to guests from the Minsk region. The mystical ceremony will be preceded by a torchlight procession: young men in national costumes, accompanied by elegantly dressed girls, will walk around all the bonfires with torches, and only after that will they light them, symbolizing the expulsion of evil spirits and unclean forces. The last chord of the festival also promises to be bright. In the morning, all groups will take part in the "song defense": simultaneously, each of them will begin to perform their Kupala song. Merging into a single cacophony of sounds, the melody will become a greeting to the sunrise, to the new day. The city of Barany also invites everyone to spend Kupala in an interesting way. Here, participants of Kupala night will be entertained by unclean forces. At the very beginning of the festival, the Witch, the Devil, the Water Spirit, the Domovoy, the Leshy, and other forest, swamp, and water spirits will spectacularly arrive on catamarans along the river. In full regalia, they will solemnly march among the gathered guests to the concert venue, where they will have fun until midnight, until Kupalish and Kupalochka drive them away with Kupala fires. Residents of Vitebsk and the Vitebsk region will go to celebrate Kupala in the urban settlement of Ruba, located in the suburbs of the regional center. Here, the traditional contests for the best Kupala pie and bouquet will be held, which will be judged by a specially formed jury. These amusements are most popular among exemplary housewives and young maidens, who always prepare their exhibition items in advance and approach this matter with great imagination, noted at the Ruba Palace of Culture. -0-