Ivana Kupala: The Night of the Forest-Spirit (Jayne's Nature)

by Jayne Louise

  from Jayne’s Nature:

  Ivana Kupala ;

  the night of the forest-spirit .

  by

  Jayne Louise.

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  A Kindle™ e-text.

  Surf City Source

  New Jersey

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  Ivana Kupala

  Text © 2005 by Girls Of the Dove LLC.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the manuscript or artwork included in this e-text

  may be reproduced, stored or transmitted by any means

  without express written permission from the Publisher.

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  Text edited by Melissa Stockhart.

  HTML edited by The Girls of The Dove.

  From the original America Online journal of June 2005

  Surf City Source media group

  New Jersey

  www.surfcitysource.com

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  Foreword

  The following adventure is actually true. The celebration of Ivana Kupala (Night of the forest-spirit) was inspired by our reading about the Russian tradition on the Holy Nature web site, www.holynature.ru .

  The site is still there but dormant– they have not posted anything new since 2000 or 2001. But we have come to acknowledge a solidarity with our sisters in the cold land of Russia and would love to let them know how their influence has affected some nice Christian girls from New Jersey. If anyone has any information about how to contact them, I will be eternally grateful.

  One more thing– if you hope to read some incredibly sexy story about a bunch of girls indulging lesbian fantasies, look somewhere else. There are no sexual episodes described or implied in this true story. We’re not into that. If you find it hard to believe that ten girls could spend a night naked in the woods without inevitably ‘falling into temptation’, then you don’t understand what we are about at all. I don’t appreciate people trying to tell me I am foolishly repressing sexuality because of my religion, or something else that stupid. Not all unclothed fellowship has to have a sexual element (just like not all virtue has to have a religious component). If you insist that it does, you are welcome to live in denial, but please don’t implicate me in your fantasies.

  Also, a word of caution: there are many dangers for any person, clothed or unclothed, prowling about the Pine Barrens, some of which can be much worse than a mild scratch or a case of poison ivy. Also, technically, some of the activities we have pursued in these adventures are against the rules. To allay any formal concerns, we rely on our intentions to not disturb anyone else and on our conscious efforts to defend the pristine natural environment as citizen caretakers. Therefore we, as The Girls of the Dove, do not endorse anything we have done here, do not advise others to follow our examples or surpass such activities on their own, and do not accept responsibility for anyone who does anything following our examples. This advisory is made for legal as well as for ethical reasons. And anyway we’sre sure you can find your own unique way of having fun without copying what other people have done.

  Jayne Louise

  New Jersey, September 2006

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  The Girls of The Dove,

  in

  Ivana Kupala.

  the night of the forest-spirit.

  by Jayne Louise.

  The ritual

  Monday, June 20, 2005

  Ivana Kupala is an ancient Russian tradition of commemorating the shortest night of the year, June 20th-21st. In fact, in most of Russia, there is no full darkness at all on the evening of the summer solstice. So enthusiastic nature-lovers can celebrate the opportunity to intermingle with the friendly spirits of the forest all night, dancing and singing round the fire till only exhaustion carries all off to sleep. Then Kupala, the forest-spirit, takes on her duty to haunt the wilderness in the form of fireflies and nightingales.

  As Christians, we look upon these ancient pagan ceremonies as something quaint and not quite serious. But reading about the Kupala celebrations on the HolyNature website, Jem and I decided we wanted to invite about 6 or 7 more girls, find a perfectly secret campsite in the woods, and stage one of our own. The first thing we specified was that it would not be godless. We would open with prayer and give thanks to God for the opportunity to be here in the glory of His natural kingdom and ask Christ’s blessing on each of us, His children, that His Holy Spirit would be the one to guide and protect us through this night. So all those whom we would invite would join in that right spirit.

  Our cousin Angel was interested right from the start. It’s been a long time since she joined us for some of our ‘naturist’ antics in the state forest. She has sort of begun seeing someone and hasn’t had much time for camp-outs, but for this she wouldn’t miss it. I only made sure she would not tell the guy, nor any other guys, where it would be. Jem said to be sure we just wouldn’t tell her exactly where. But I trust my cousin Angel.

  Of course Jules and Jem wanted to invite Tina and Naomi. Then Jules asked Gretel, who is a little shyer. But Gretel has sunned with us before and after about two days she rang me and asked me all kinds of questions, like about who would be there and how safe it would be and what we would actually be doing. So I clarified it all for her.

  It was to begin after suppertime, about 7:00 or 7:30. We would drive out to the campsite, in as many cars as we could– which meant Angel and I would both be driving. We would set up camp and get ready. That meant we would all take off our clothes. Ivana Kupala is traditionally celebrated au naturel– naked and vulnerable but at the same time free to bond naturally with the spirits of the forest. Gretel said on the phone, ‘I figured it was something like that.’

  ‘But it’s nothing bad,’ I told her. And I said how we would open our service with a portion of Evening Prayer, out of the book. Then we would have a few fireside activities. We would offer intercessions on behalf of ourselves and those whom we love, then ask a blessing on the gathering that we might please God by coming together in peace, innocence and safety. Then, in no special order, we would tell stories, share jokes, sing songs, and dance.

  ‘Dance?’ Gretel asked. ‘With whom?’

  ‘Well with each other. That is, with no one. By ourselves.’

  Then I told her Jem’s idea, that everyone who shows up would have to do a solo dance for the forest-spirits– which really meant doing some goofy serious dance around the fire for everyone else to watch and clap for.

  That just about put Gretel off. Then Jules got on the phone and told her how much fun it would be.

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  The congregation

  By the beginning of May– the week of her 17th birthday– Arabella was interested too. Arabella is a very sweet, gentle soul who honestly doesn’t have a lot of friends– I befriended her only this school year because she looked so lonely sitting at lunch one day. I found her to be very sincere and thoughtful, as though all her goodness were wasting away on people who did not care to know her or appreciate her. So I introduced her to my crowd– really Jules, Jem, Naomi and a few others, almost all of whom are younger than me– and everyone welcomed her as I knew they would and now she has half a dozen friends who think she is terrific. Arabella became part of the ‘Homework-On-The-Beach’ club in late May and even though she lives off the island she’s been to the beach with us here a dozen times since before school ended.

  When I told Arabella about the Ivana Kupala thing she said s
he thought it was ‘cute’. I was very careful to let her know it was just for us girls, that there was nothing weird going on, and that we were not all Wiccans (hah!) and she just said, ‘I believe you.’ –because she really did. So I made sure she knew she was invited and very welcome. The first thing she said then was, ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that. I look awful naked.’

  I laughed and said, ‘Dear Arabella, it’s not about what we look like! It’s about feeling free and comfortable, appreciating nature as God intended us to. And no one who will be there will care one bit about what you or anyone else might look like.’

  She thought about and said, ‘I’ll let you know.’

  I just let it alone for a while till we’d talked about it a few times, just as a casual topic of conversation, like when Jem or someone mentioned it, and finally she said she was still interested in coming along. I’m glad I didn’t press the issue– but then that is not like me to try to convince anyone too strongly. Arabella won’t be forced into anything, especially not anything immoral, but if it really is a good idea she will accept it eventually. And that’s what happened.

  Sarah we know from Youth Group at church. I’ve known her since about 5th grade but she is a grade behind me, which makes her between Jem and me (we are 20 months apart) in age. Sarah is the one who makes everyone laugh– well she and I do. I guess she sort of looks up to me– she is only the second 10th-grader to ask, or offer, to teach a Sunday-school class and is one of the summer Prayer Warriors leaders like I am. We were very wary of asking her about it, since she takes her faith very seriously, but after Jem mentioned it she said it sounded very healthy– she called it ‘female bonding’. We all laughed at that. Well, she is right– if there’s one way to get to know other girls, it’s being naked all together. There really is nothing left to talk about, or even do together, except the things that are most real and most valuable.

  Sarah called me that night, saying she was sitting naked in her room trying to get used to it. She said her sister thought it was just silly. But Hannah, Sarah’s sister, became the most enthusiastic convert ever. She just finished 8th grade and– probably thanks to her older, more mature and responsible sister– is pretty much out of that awkward period when you’re not quite sure about what your body is supposed to do or look like. I guess Hannah is lucky that she can already tell what hers is supposed to look like. Sarah told her one or two things about what we said about Ivana Kupala, and then apparently Hannah looked it up on line, found the HolyNature website, and the rest fell into place. Sarah said she saw her dancing naked in the family room after school one afternoon. ‘So,’ she said, ‘I guess this means you’ll want to come too?’

  Hannah nodded eagerly. So we had a full ten people signed up.

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  The preparations

  For ten people to spend a night in the woods, secure and undetected, there has to be a lot of preparation. First there was the question of where and how we would sleep. I said, ‘Don’t worry about that– we’re going to be up all night. That is the point.’ But no one thought that was a good plan by itself. Arabella said she had a canvas pup tent at home. We have one and Angel has one. They are each big enough for two people. Then Mom and Daddy let us borrow the screen room, which is 10 feet square and about 6 feet high, and the other four people could sleep in that.

  Of course that brings me to the parental approval. No one thought it was a bad idea– but that is probably because no one– really none of us– mentioned that we were all going to be naked. We called it a girls’ camp-out and everyone used my ‘spotless’ reputation to show how appropriate and respectable the whole thing was, and once the parents all talked to each other, all of them granted their permission. We all promised to take cell phones and Mace and to keep all food wrapped up and away from wild animals and to use the ‘buddy system’ when wandering off even to pee, and Daddy told them all how we’d done similar things before and how much he trusted us... especially me. So it sounded like a lot of responsibility for me to take on all of a sudden, but I expected that and I promised everyone I would be worthy of all their trust in me.

  We called a meeting a few weeks before to go over the whole plan. Jem gave everyone instructions about what to bring. The list would be really short. Besides everyone’s separate contributions of food, drink, ice, utensils and tools, safety things, and so on, each girl would bring her own summer sleeping bag, a beach towel and a blanket big enough to sunbathe on, toothbrush and toothpaste, and whatever soap or shampoo for showering the next morning. Jem was really insistent about one point– no one was to bring any clothes, at all. And that meant no swimsuits! There was no reason to.

  Everyone sort of looked a little wide-eyed at each other then. It seemed like such a serious moment. I guess somehow some of us were thinking about how much underwear or socks to pack, and this sort of shut that right down. It was only for one night, and we’d go home the next day in the clothes we wore the night before.

  I did remind everyone to bring a rain jacket, just in case. But the camping area is not very far away at all and in the event of really terrible weather we would not die of exposure before we could make it into a car and get at least one of them moving towards home.

  It was agreed that I would drive three of us in the Volvo, Arabella would be able to take three more in her mom’s minivan, and Angel and someone else would ride in the Mustang. We’d meet at our house at about 6:30 and get all the camping stuff packed into or onto the cars.

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  Getting there

  The big screen room with all its poles and two of the pup tents went on the roof rack of the Volvo. We stuffed one of the coolers behind the seat with four sleeping bags and other stuff, including two guitars. The other tent, the other two coolers, and all the other sleeping bags went with Arabella. Angel brought her guitar and her stuff in the Mustang. Jem ended up riding with her. I took Jules and the other two, Gretel and Tina, and Arabella took Naomi, Sarah and Hannah. Daddy gave me a big hug, reminded me to phone him tonight, and watched us drive off.

  Technically it was the first weeknight of the high season, because school was out, but there was not much traffic anywhere. We stopped for ice at the deli in New Gretna and proceeded up 542 towards the park. I am not going to tell any more about where this spot is, except to say that it’s not anywhere we’ve camped before but Jem and I checked it out about a week ago and decided it was safe and comfortable enough for our purposes. By the time we got there, about 7:30, the woods was cool and still. I really believe we were the only people here. We stopped three times to make sure, at the campsite, at the boat ramp, and at the canoe-launch place, and there was no one anywhere. The little church yard on the other side of the creek where we turned around was empty. So we drove slowly back till we got to the turn and managed to get all three vehicles into the woods before any rangers or other cars came down the road.

  We backed all the cars into the place that Jem and I had investigated so that we could easily unload them and just as easily pull out if we had to in a hurry. Jem leaped out of the Mustang to help direct us. That was about 7.40, and she was already naked, having got out of all her clothes in the front seat of Angel’s car– who knows how long before this? So she had the honor of being the first one to greet the forest spirits!

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  Setting up

  Some of us worked with shovels and rakes clearing a fire pit. Some of us set up the small tents. Some of us put up the screen room. The coolers got arranged in front of the screen room so that we could drag them inside when we all turned in. But I was still really counting on staying up all night.

  Of course there is no ‘facility’ at this spot– it is not intended as a campsite and it’s over a mile’s hike down the road to the boat-ramp where the showers and potties are. But we solved this problem in the simplest way of all. We’d been discussing how we were going to get the others comfortabl
e to peeing in the great outdoors, as we three already are, and finally Jules hit upon the perfect idea. ‘I just wish we had a little potty like on the boat,’ she said. ‘We could put it behind a bush or something.’

  Jem and I pointed at her together. ‘That’s it,’ we said at once.

  So I went down to the boat and took out the plastic portable toilet, emptied it at the official waste station, and put in a new bottle of treatment chemical after cleaning the whole thing. It would definitely be big enough for one night, even for ten of us. And there was always the creek, or a nearby tree anyway. I found a good place for it, just as Jules had suggested, directly behind the screen room beside a bush that would shield it from the center of our little camp area. The potty even had a nice view of the water.