Kupala or Kupalo is an alleged Slavic deity who was first mentioned in the 17th century and compared to the Greek goddess Ceres . However, modern scholars of Slavic mythology deny the existence of such a deity.
22-581: The first source that mentions the deity Kupalo is the Hustyn Chronicle dating back to the 17th century: The fifth Kupalo was, as I believe, the God of Abundance, like Ceres for the Greeks , To him, the foolish people gave thanks during harvest-tide. The commemoration of this demon Kupalo is still being celebrated in some of our lands by the foolish, from the 23rd of June, the eve of the birth of St. John
44-599: A few references to Bible stories, including the Genesis flood narrative and the Tower of Babel ; thereafter, the legendary founding of Kyiv by Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv and Lybid' is narrated. This is followed by the history of Kievan Rus' by the reigns of princes, with special attention to Volyn ' and Podolia . After that, it becomes a history of the Ukrainian people and their relations with neighbouring peoples, such as
66-518: A job (and dying from tuberculosis on 11 July 1770). Polenov resigned in April 1771. The Hypatian Codex was forgotten by almost everyone including empress Catherine in the decades thereafter. The Czech scholar Josef Dobrovský probably briefly examined it in autumn 1792. After the Khlebnikov Codex was accidentally discovered in the summer of 1809, Nikolay Karamzin began searching for
88-524: A ritual figure or effigy used during Kupala Night. Source material confirms the existence of effigies with such a name, e.g. Ukrainian dial. kupalo "ritual effigy, used in Saint John's Eve celebrations," or Belarusian dial. kupala "person leading the way in Saint John's Eve games." Hustyn Chronicle The Hustyn Chronicle is a 17th-century chronicle detailing
110-545: Is a compendium of three Rus' chronicles : the Primary Chronicle , Kievan Chronicle and Galician-Volhynian Chronicle . It is the most important source of historical data about Kievan Rus' . The language of this work is Old Church Slavonic with many East Slavisms . The codex was discovered in Ukraine in 1617 by Zacharias Kopystensky , and was then copied by monks in 1621. The codex later known as
132-659: The Hustyn Chronicle could not have been compiled before 1623. Soviet historian Anatoliy Yershov (1930) concluded that Zacharias Kopystensky (died 1627), the author of the Palinodiia , had probably also written the Hustyn Chronicle . But American historian George Perfecky (1991) disagreed, because the Palinodiia and the Hustyn Chronicle present very different accounts of the Christianization of Kievan Rus' , and therefore were probably not written by
154-538: The Hypatian manuscript was first mentioned in S. S. Bashilov's October 1767 letter to August Ludwig von Schlözer (Catherine had previously appointed Schlözer as full professor of Academy of Sciences on 3 January 1765 with a 5-year contract ). At some point after Schlözer left Saint Petersburg on 15 June 1765 (to organise education of Russian history students at the University of Göttingen ), but before autumn 1767,
176-708: The Hypatian Codex was most likely acquired from the Ipatievsky Monastery (Hypatian Monastery) in Kostroma on 15 May 1767. This would have happened during the May–June 1767 Volga voyage of Empress Catherine II ( r. 1762–1796 ), who was highly interested in reading Rus' chronicles, and collecting them all at the capital city of Saint Petersburg (one of the goals of her voyage). Count Vladimir Grigorievich Orlov (1743–1831), then director of
198-537: The Hypatian Codex would not see the light until 1871. The codex contains the second-oldest surviving manuscript of the Primary Chronicle , after the Laurentian Codex . The Hypatian manuscript dates back to c. 1425, but it incorporates much precious information from the lost 12th-century Kievan and 13th-century Galician-Volhynia chronicles. The codex was possibly compiled at the end of
220-541: The Hypatian Codex . It was rediscovered after he asked Academy president Novosiltsev to help find it, and delivered to Karamzin in Moscow in early October 1809. When Karamzin finally began publishing abstracts of the Hypatian Codex as part of his magnum opus History of the Russian State from 1816 onwards, the scholarly community was finally introduced with the codex on a large scale. The first full publication of
242-663: The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences must have acquired it. Schlözer returned to Saint Petersburg in autumn 1766 one last time before settling in Göttingen definitively. Before leaving, he gave instructions to Bashilov, who was dissatisfied with his humble position at the Academy, unable to do and get credit for his own work. In the letter of 12 October 1767, Bashilov wrote that the codex had been delivered from
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#1732771872949264-887: The history of Ukraine until 1598. It was written in Church Slavonic . The Chronicle covers Ukraine's relationship with the Principality of Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the impact of the Turks and Tatars , and the origin of the Cossacks . It ends with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (1582), and the Union of Brest (1596). The original chronicle has not survived, but three copies of it have been preserved: The Hustyn Chronicle begins with
286-411: The 13th century. The title page, written in red letters, names it Лѣт̑писеч̑ Рускии . съ Бм҃ъ починаємь . ѡч҃е блгс̑в ("Rus' chronicle. Let us begin with God. Father, bless us"), and continues in black letters with Повѣсть временныхъ лѣт̑ ("The Tale of Bygone Years"). The flyleaf contains, in relatively recent handwriting, the title Лeтoпиceц Киeвcкий ("The Kievan Chronicle"), and includes
308-675: The Academy of Sciences, accompanied the empress on the voyage and wrote in his diary that three chronicles were acquired from the Ipatievsky Monastery on 15 May 1767, which were subsequently sent to Moscow and ended up in the Petersburg Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences . Ever since, the Hypatian Codex has been preserved there with registration number "16.4.4". According to the Istoriia Biblioteki Akademii Nauk SSSR ,
330-466: The Baptist, up to the harvest and longer in the following way: in the evening, the plain folk of both sexes come together, and they wind wreaths from edible herbs or from roots. When they have wound the herbs around themselves, they light a fire. In another place, they erect a green branch and, holding hands, they circle around this fire, singing their songs in which Kupalo is mentioned. Then they jump over
352-644: The Belarusians within the Lithuanian principality, the Tatars and Turks, until the emergence of the Cossacks . The last date mentioned is 1597. The Hustyn Chronicle is largely a copy of the Hypatian Codex , but the last 25 pages are an independent continuation from 1300 to 1597. The other sources of information have been identified as: Given the inclusion of material from the Palinodiia ,
374-610: The Ipatievsky Monastery to the Committee of the Academy of Sciences, where Alexei Yakovlevich Polenov (1738–1816) was given the task of describing and copying the Hypatian Codex in order to prepare it for publication. In response to Schlözer's request for more information on the codex, Bashilov provided more details, leading the excited Schlözer to write An Abstract from a Report from St. Petersburg dated 16 (27) December 1767 , which Johann Christoph Gatterer (1727–1799) included in his 1768 book published in Göttingen. Because Schlözer
396-629: The aforesaid fire, dedicating themselves to this demon. In the 17th century, Kupala is also recognized as a deity by the Kievan Synopsis and the Life of St. Vladimir . Modern researchers usually deny the existence of a Slavic deity named Kupala. According to Vladimir Toporov , mythological figures known from later sources, such as Yarilo , Kupala, Pogvizd , Lada , Polel and others, cannot be considered gods. Folklorist and ethnographer Andrey Toporkov [ ru ] stated that Kupalo
418-664: The same author. Instead, Perfecky built upon previous research which suggested that a now-lost, anonymous Ukrainian (Authentic) Chronicle covering the years 1512 to 1648 had existed as one of the unaccounted sources; therefore, the Hustyn Chronicle must have been written after 1648, but before it was copied by Losyts'kyi in 1670. Hypatian Codex The Hypatian Codex (also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis ; Belarusian : Іпацьеўскі летапіс ; Russian : Ипатьевская летопись ; Ukrainian : Іпатіївський літопис , romanized : Ipátijivśkyj litópys , IPA: [ipˈɑtʲijiu̯sʲkɪj lʲiˈtɔpɪs] )
440-521: Was only a folk holiday, and that recognizing him as a deity is questionable. According to Stanislaw Urbańczyk , Kupala is "literary fiction, persistently upheld by mythologists as truth." There is no information about the deity in earlier sources mentioning the Kupala Night celebrations. Some researchers, such as Martin Pitro and Petr Vokáč, and Linda Ivantis, believe that Kupalo was not a deity, but
462-494: Was that after Schlözer left Saint Petersburg to continue his work in Göttingen, Bashilov and Polenov were assigned to continue work on the Nikon Chronicle ' s publication instead. The Academy tried to get Schlözer to return to Petersburg as late as February 1769, and eventually terminated his contract per 1 January 1770, which effectively terminated the work on Rus' chronicle publications, and leaving Bashilov without
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#1732771872949484-462: Was working in Göttingen and could not proceed to study the Hypatian text further until he had received a complete copy, Schlözer incessantly wrote letters urging Bashilov (who did not respond for over six months) to hurry up and send him a copy ("I am waiting for the requested copy of the Hypatian Codex every mail day" in an August 1768 letter), which finally arrived a few days later. The reason
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