Salty Dews is our artistic interpretation of Ivana Kupala rituals and festivities, inspired by authentic rites that are still being practiced today in Ukraine. This project was filmed in 2019.

The Kupala festival marks the time of the year when the boundary between the realms is as thin as a morning mist over a river. Imps, witches, rusalky, werewolves, and the undead come out to cackle, whistle, and dance in the fields and woodlands. Plants and animals chatter, and trees walk around. 

To protect their households from these otherworldly forces, the villagers would put stinging nettle on their windowsills or place a felled aspen tree in the yard. The homemakers would lock cows and calves in the stables to prevent the witches from milking them. Young women and girls would head out at dawn to pick flowers and weeds for making divination wreaths; they’d also keep a branch of wormwood in their armpits to fend off rusalky. 

The festival culminated with a Kupala night, when the archaic rites were steeped in erotic exaltation. The village youth would gather on the riverbanks to dance, divine, and jump over ceremonial bonfires. At daybreak, the willow-covered ravines hid those waking up after a night of sexual initiation. 

Photo credits:

Kristina Podobed

Daria Svertilova

Genia Volkov

Anastasiya Lazurenko

Art works:

Sana Shahmuradova Tanska

Published by Mriya publishing /

184 pages / 210x250 mm Including A2 poster inside

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Art direction / Design and Layout:

Anna Kuts

Text:

Veronika Hvoika-Grechkosiy

Translation:

Hanna Liudvichenko

Edition of 800 / Printed

in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2025