On Saturday July 2, the Ukrainian community gathered at UNF camp Zaporizhia on Richard Lake to celebrate the festival of Ivana Kupala.

After a delicious BBQ dinner, visitors enjoyed participating in ancient rituals led by Halia Buba.

These included the building of giant doll effigies of Kupalo and Kupaylitsia, pictured here with Halia.

Women and children participated in floral wreathmaking/vinky.

Birch tree Marena was decorated with paper ornaments and celebrated with various round dances and songs accompanied by visiting Toronto accordionist Volodymyr Dzhala.

As dusk fell, a few young people bravely jumped over the fire to “cleanse themselves”.

The women gathered by the lake to float their beautiful wreaths/vinky on the water, waiting for the men to jump in and retrieve them.

The evening continued with fun song battles between the men and women around the fire until mosquitoes dispersed the crowd.