I am back!
I want to dedicate this fic to NordicsAwesome, who submitted the prompt and also makes some very good things. Thank you!
Also, I don't own Hetalia.
Kupala Night
The time was slowly ticking away until the festivities would start. I was definitely not actually bouncing in excitement. You can't prove it! I couldn't believe how quickly the summer solstice had arrived. It seems to come around faster each year! Kupala Night is always fun, with its dancing and singing and huge bonfires that the kids like to play around. And that's where this story I'm telling takes place, right before it started. It was sometime like ten to eight and lots of people were already there, talking with friends and such. The sun was just starting to set, lighting up the sky. It looked like fire. Like a phoenix! Shut up, it's clever. So we were there, and some people were starting to pile up branches and sticks and stuff for the bonfire, and ten minutes pass a lot faster than you would think, so by the time they were done the sun was basically gone, just a little sliver, and it was eight. People were already wandering off for their own celebrations. I personally was over with a bunch of kids, helping them look for mullein leaves and wormwood to throw in the fire. It helps ward off bad spirits! And they were cute kids, they were making little figures out of the branches they found and having mock sword fights. Their form was totally wrong, but I didn't say anything. Because I'm a nice person!
... I can hear you laughing. Hmph.
So I was taking the kids back to the bonfire, and one of them was like, "Imma jump over the fire!". And I was like, "Kid, no bad idea. That is one huge-ass bonfire over there. You'll get hurt." So he didn't jump over the main bit, but I told him he could jump over the edge, and then he was happy. Most of the girls were off looking for pretty flowers and herbs and stuff, to make crowns. They float them in the river to tell their fortune. I never saw the appeal, really, why let such pretty things float away? But it's tradition, so it's fine. Apparently floating steadily means they will be lucky in love, if it's tangled with another it means a friendship, and if it sinks, too bad, you'll be lonely. But the magical floating flower crowns can't be wrong!
I know you're laughing again. It's tradition, I swear. Look it up. Now shush and listen.
So it was almost midnight already, and a bunch of people were preparing to go off into the forest to search for a fern flower. It doesn't seem that strange, but ferns don't normally bloom. So it's a magic fern flower! I think it's meant to bring wealth or something. I've never found one, anyway. Liet and I searched a lot when we were younger.
So then it was almost sunrise, and I was sitting there wondering where the hell the night went, and people were laughing and throwing flowers around and jumping over the embers of the bonfire. And me? I watched the sunrise. It's always so nice this time of year.
God, I sound old. Kay, imma go and let Liet tell you his story.
Saint Jonas' Festival
Midsummer is celebrated differently in my country than in Poland's. Instead of the Kupala Night, we have Saint Jonas' Festival. Poland asked me to tell you about this year's.
The celebration actually is during the day, rather than the night. Although, it is also during nighttime. The festival originated from the feast of Rasos, back before I was introduced to Christianity. Back then, we made sacrifices to our pagan gods, and priestesses lit the altar fire. It hasn't changed much now, it's just called a different name. It isn't ever dark during the solstice. When the sun is gone, the cities are lit up by bonfires. People flock to cities like Kernavė, or Jonava, for the largest celebrations.
...Poland has very nicely reminded me that this isn't a history lesson. Thank you for that, Po.
This year's festival started with people gathering in the streets of Vilnius, where I was staying at the time. They were dressed in traditional clothing, and everything was very bright. The children were running around, looking at all the different booths. People were talking and walking around between the stalls, buying trinkets celebrating the solstice. It was much of the same until the evening when the feasts started. With the feasts came dancing. I always love to stand by and watch the different couples together. The young ones, not yet married, dancing quickly and joyously, laughing as they spun and dipped. The middle couples, the ones with small children, dancing softly, often with their children on their hips or shoulders, exchanging soft smiles. The old ones, with wrinkles and white hair, dancing slowly, with eyes that showed the love of decades together. The dancing lasted until midnight when people started splitting off into groups to search for the ferns flower. It is very similar to Slavic myths, in which the flower brings wealth and happiness. It is mostly the younger people who search now. Others went to gather herbs, believing they have magical powers. The bonfires were lit, and people stayed by to sit and talk and dance until the sun appeared over the hills again. I always love to watch the sunrise. It reminds me of the days of the Commonwealth.
I love the summer solstice.
This took so much research. I wrote this in half an hour. Also, the last line is supposed to be both of them together.