On June 24, Ukraine celebrates the feast of Ivan Kupala, and the world celebrates International Women’s Day in Diplomacy and World History Day. Also, this day witnessed numerous events that significantly influenced the history of Europe, world politics, culture, art and science.
Feast of Ivan Kupala
In 2025, Ukrainians will celebrate Ivan Kupala on the night of June 23-24. The date change is related to Ukraine’s transition to the New Julian calendar, which moved religious and national holidays forward by 13 days. Ivan Kupala used to fall on the night of July 6-7, but now the date is closer to the summer solstice, a moment that has always been key in the pagan ritual cycle.
Despite the change in the calendar, the very meaning and spirit of the holiday remained. People in all regions of Ukraine continue to celebrate Ivan Kupala with jumping over the fire, throwing wreaths into the water, singing Kupala songs, searching for a magical fern, night fortune-telling and purification rituals. This holiday traditionally combines the elements of fire, water and grass, symbolizing the merging of natural forces and the magical transition into a new phase of summer.
Ivan Kupala has always been an unofficial, folk holiday with pre-Christian roots. In the Christian tradition, the day of John the Baptist (June 24 according to the old style) overlapped with ancient magical practices, but did not replace them. Ukrainians have preserved a peculiar combination of both worlds — church and pagan — in rites, songs and beliefs that are still handed down from generation to generation.
Kupala traditions are characteristic of all regions of Ukraine. In Kyiv region and Poltava region, there were rites of night vigil by the bonfire and driving “live fire” through the village. In Podilla, girls used to make fortune-telling by throwing wreaths on the water, and boys tried to catch them – they believed that this symbolized future marriage. In the Slobozhan region, there was a widespread tradition of drowning the symbolic doll Kupaila, which represented the end of the spring cycle. In the steppe regions of the south, the rites were adapted to the open landscape: instead of the forest, they went to streams, to streams, celebrated near wells and large fires. Even in the industrial cities of the East, where the traditions were partially destroyed by the Soviet system, elements of the holiday were preserved – especially the gathering of herbs and the fortune-telling of girls.
Interesting facts
In some villages of Central Ukraine, the Kupala fire was considered “alive” — it symbolized not just purification, but a sacred fire generated from three different home fires. It could not be extinguished with water – only left to extinguish itself. If one of the peasants refused to give “fire from the house” for the Kupala bonfire, it was believed that his family would bring disaster – illness, infertility, or “tuberculosis death”.
Midwives in Polissia in the 19th century were afraid to give birth on the night of Ivan Kupala – they believed that children with a “black soul” or “werewolves” could be born on such a night. If the child was born on the night of June 23-24, it was baptized not at home, but immediately in the river – knives, aspen and chalk were thrown into the water to “burn out the unclean”.
Although this night is popularly considered magical for gathering herbs, some of them were strictly forbidden to touch. For example, plaun and warthog. They believed that they “have the blood of a snake” – they were left on the borders, because it seems that the devil sits on them when he rests after going around the village. If someone still fails, “he will sleep with an unclean person.”
On the Left Bank, there was a belief that only once a year – precisely on Kupala – the water at dawn is “silent”: it has no echo. If you shout, there will be no response. It was believed that at this moment all mermaids are “sleeping” in the water, and it is then that you can swim without the risk of drowning. But if a girl loses an earring in the water, it was considered a “mark” for death.
In the Carpathians, in Bukovina, and partially in Podillya, a strict custom was preserved: a girl who took off her bathing wreath and released it into the river had to do it so that no man saw it. If he saw it, it “cut off” her fate. There were cases when older women beat boys with vines for spying on this ritual.
According to ancient legends of Slobozhanshchyna, a real fern flower is not just a firefly in the grass. She has an “eye” – like a shiny seed. If it is plucked, it will fall into the palm “along with the heart” – the one who cannot stand the fear will die on the spot. That is why only boys who have passed initiation into the huntress, or those who have seen death, went to look for her.
In a number of villages on the border of Poltava region and Kharkiv region, there was a special belief: mermaids are not drowned girls, as is generally believed, but the souls of unborn children whose mothers were lost due to miscarriage or poverty. On Kupala night, they “rise from the river” and look for their mothers. Their voice was supposedly shouting from the swamp.
In the Kherson region, it was believed that on the night of Kupala all snakes “lose their poison” for a certain time – they can be caught with bare hands. Children deliberately caught snakes and brought them home because they believed that they would bring good luck. But parents forbade carrying a snake over the threshold – it “rearranged the soul” in a person.
In Polissia, on the night of Kupala, boys could take off their clothes and run through the forest “to meet the mermaids.” It was considered a test of courage. If someone returned with a scar or a cut, they said that they had “caught a mermaid by the scythe”. These stories were passed down as a sign of a boy’s initiation and maturation.
International Women in Diplomacy Day
It is a relatively new official holiday, established by the UN General Assembly on June 20, 2022 through the adoption of resolution A/RES/76/269. It is designed to draw attention to women’s participation in foreign policy, peacekeeping, international security, development and conflict resolution. At the center of this day is not only the recognition of the contribution, but also the struggle for the equal presence of women at all levels of the diplomatic service.
Despite progress, globally women make up less than 25% of all ambassadors. The situation is particularly noticeable in the field of security and defense, where key decisions are traditionally made by men. Even among the permanent representatives of states at the UN, the share of women does not exceed a third. Therefore, International Women in Diplomacy Day is not just a day of commemoration, but a reminder: diplomacy needs inclusiveness, diverse voices and experiences, especially in times of global crises.
Interesting facts
For the first time, a woman was officially appointed ambassador back in 1933. It was Alexandra Kolontai, the representative of the USSR in Sweden. She did not just hold a position, but actually conducted negotiations, in particular regarding the Finnish war, and she was considered a “dangerous professional in a skirt.”
In the 1960s, France officially prohibited female diplomats from marrying, as it was considered incompatible with public service. A woman could be forced to choose: either marriage or career. The law was abolished only in 1972.
For the first time, an African-American woman took the post of permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations in 2009 — it was Susan Rice. But during the first votes at the Security Council, some delegations continued to turn to her male deputy, ignoring her status.
In Britain, until 1946, male diplomats were promoted automatically after 10 years of service, while women had to write a separate justification and prove their “professional maturity”.
In Ethiopia, Hirut Zemen, the first female diplomat, started her career as a stenographer, but within 15 years she became the main negotiator in negotiations with the EU and the African Union – despite wearing only one dress for official events.
The UN has Resolution 1325, which formally guarantees the participation of women in peace processes, but in practice, in 2023, women were present in only 13% of official delegations at negotiations on conflicts in war zones.
Israeli diplomat Golda Meir, who later became prime minister, personally wrote letters to Arab leaders in 1956, signing them with a male name, so that they would read the document at all. In the press, she was called “a man in a woman’s body.”
In 1992, the only woman at an international peace conference from Yugoslavia was the Norwegian diplomat Cara Jacobsen, who made headlines not because of her speech, but because she wore pants with pockets – men accused her of “non-sexual behavior”.
In Kazakhstan, the first female ambassador was appointed only in 2007. Until then, the country had an informal attitude: only the “voice of the state” can be an ambassador, and the voice is a man.
At the negotiations with the DPRK in 2018, the American delegation deliberately included a female translator from Korean, because they knew that North Korean generals do not address women directly – in this way, they avoided unwanted pressure and cut off provocative requests, because they were “hanging” in the air.
World History Day
It is an unofficial international holiday dedicated to the importance of history as a foundation for identity, memory and critical thinking. It is intended to remind about the importance of preserving the historical heritage, studying the past without embellishments and manipulations, as well as the need for dialogue between different cultures through a common understanding of historical processes.
History in this context is considered not as a set of dates and events, but as a living tissue that forms a collective consciousness. It serves as a tool of self-awareness and, at the same time, a field of struggle: for truth, interpretation, recognition or denial.
He who does not remember the past has no future. This day is a reminder that history is never final. It must be constantly added to, clarified, checked with sources, discover new voices, restore the injustice of silence and bring to light what was convenient to forget.
Interesting facts
The first ever collection of historical archives appeared not in Europe, but in Assyria. In the 7th century BC King Ashurbanipal created the world’s first “state historical library” in Nineveh, which contained more than 30,000 clay tablets. It burned down, but thanks to this part of the texts survived – they were burned, not destroyed.
The oldest known historical deception is the falsification of a genealogy. In ancient China, officials of the 3rd century BC massively fabricated genealogies, attributing to themselves descent from imperial families, because this gave an advantage when entering public service.
Herodotus is called the father of history, but Cicero ironically called him a “liar” in his writings, because he recorded legends along with facts. During the Renaissance, his works were banned in some universities because of his “dangerous love of myths.”
In medieval England, there was an official position of “royal historiographer” who had the right to change or rewrite events to “maintain the glory of the monarch”. Thus, in the English chronicles of the 14th century, references to the treason of the Duke of Lancaster disappeared – it was simply “removed from the texts.”
In the 20th century, the Soviet authorities officially changed school history textbooks three times during one school year. This happened after political purges: mentions of figures who were heroes just a few months ago literally disappeared from the pages.
The first historian who publicly questioned the official version of World War II in the USSR was a Soviet general. In 1969, Petro Grigorenko declared at a private lecture that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a “crime against history”, for which he was committed to a psychiatric hospital.
In the 1990s, historians first began using lasers to read destroyed manuscripts. The technology of ultraviolet spectroscopy made it possible to see faded records that had been considered lost since the 17th century.
French historian Mark Blok, author of the book “Apology of History”, died in 1944 at the hands of the Gestapo for participating in the Russian Resistance. Before his death, he said: “A historian who does not live in his era has no right to speak about the past.”
Archival diaries of Nazi doctors found in Austria in 2003 confirmed that some of their medical experiments were based on the ancient texts of Hippocrates – that is, the crimes of the 20th century were justified by the historical authority of antiquity.
In 2021, archaeologists in Turkey found a tablet with a Hittite text mentioning a “year without war.” This is the first recorded source in human history where peace is mentioned as the exception rather than the norm. The tablet itself dates to about 1230 BC.
Historical events on this day
1099 — During the time of the First Crusade, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem was founded — initially as a religious-hospital fraternal union that cared for wounded and sick pilgrims in the Holy Land. Later, this order turned into an influential military-religious structure that left a deep mark on medieval history and later became known as the Order of Malta.
1717 — A meeting of representatives of several Masonic lodges took place in the London pub “Goose and Rohen”. They proclaimed the creation of the Grand Lodge of England, the first association in history that marked the beginning of organized Freemasonry as an institution. The initiative was supported by architect Christopher Wren, under whose leadership St. Peter’s Cathedral was previously built. From here began the path of freemasonry to a powerful and at the same time shrouded in myths worldwide network of influence.
1793 — During the Great French Revolution, the National Convention adopted the first republican constitution. It laid down the supremacy of the people, the principles of universal suffrage and the abolition of the monarchy. Although it never came into force due to political instability, the document became a symbol of an era of radical change and a source of inspiration for future revolutions around the world.
1894 — A congress convened on the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin took place in Paris, at which a decision was made to create the International Olympic Committee. It was also decided to restore the tradition of the Olympic Games — to hold them once every four years. This date is considered the birthday of the modern Olympic movement.
1901 — In the French capital, in the gallery on Lafitte Street, the first exhibition of Pablo Picasso took place. At that time, the 19-year-old Spaniard did not yet have a big name outside of Barcelona. His 75 works left Parisians indifferent. Years will pass, and this “failed” exhibition will be the starting point for the artist, who will create more than 50,000 works and change the course of world art history.
1917 — In Kyiv, on Sofia Square, filled with thousands of people, Volodymyr Vynnychenko solemnly read the I Universal of the Central Rada, adopted the day before. This document proclaimed the autonomy of Ukraine within the Russian Republic and became a turning point in the formation of Ukrainian statehood in the 20th century.
1941 — In the prisons of Lviv, which were under Soviet control, mass executions of 2,072 prisoners were carried out by order of the NKVD. The Soviet authorities explained this by the need for “accelerated unloading of prisons from the counter-revolutionary element” on the eve of the retreat of the Red Army due to the offensive of German troops. This tragedy became one of the symbols of Soviet terror in Western Ukraine.
1947 — In the USA, the appearance of an unknown flying object was officially reported for the first time. The incident occurred in Yakima County, Washington, when pilot Kenneth Arnold saw nine objects in the sky flying at high speed. It was from this case that the world fascination with the topic of UFOs and the formation of ufology as a pseudoscientific direction began.
1973 — Irish leader Eamonn de Valera left the presidency at the age of 90, becoming at that time the oldest active statesman in the world. His name is closely associated with the struggle for Ireland’s independence from the British Empire, as well as with the formation of the country’s republican political system.
1982 — Frenchman Jean-Louis Chrétien became the first French citizen to fly into space. This happened within the framework of the Soviet-French space program “Interkosmos”. His mission was not only a technical breakthrough, but also a significant diplomatic step between countries that belonged to opposite political blocs during the Cold War.
Hryhoriy Kotovskyi’s birthday
On June 24, 1881, Hryhoriy Ivanovich Kotovsky was born – one of the most controversial and at the same time the most colorful figures of early Soviet history. A man who went from a recidivist to a commanding general, from a legendary criminal with the nickname “Ataman Ada” to a hero of Soviet folklore and even an entrepreneur with a fantastic economic sense.
As a child, Kotovsky was engaged in gymnastics, lifting weights, boxing, adored horses and horse racing. Even sitting on death row, he did not stop physical exercises – he used shackles instead of weights. He was noted for his wild endurance, pathological appetite (among his favorite pastimes was scrambled eggs with 25 eggs), craving for the theater, books and card games. Even then, he demonstrated his inherent trait — the ability to turn the most brutal situation into an excuse for self-promotion.
His first popularity came not through politics, but through criminal fame: in Bessarabia he was feared and adored at the same time. In folk folklore, Kotovsky became a “robber with a heart”, a “local Robin Hood”. He robbed the estates of the rich, sometimes shared generously with the peasants, shouted loudly during the raids: “I am Kotovsky!”, and this cry made the guards freeze in immobility.
He dominated the prisons, won a fight with a criminal authority nicknamed “Vanka-Gozel”, and single-handedly gouged out the eyes of another prisoner. It was said about him that he was even crowned a “thief in law” in Chisinau – he allegedly had black dots tattooed on his eyelids. Although the appearance of the institution of “lawmen” as we know it took place later – in the 1930s, the fact that such details have grown up shows the scale of the legend.
He was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, then to the death penalty. He escaped from the remand prison in Kharkiv, becoming the first documented escapee from this institution. He fought in the First World War and was awarded the St. George’s Cross. And already during the Civil War, he became one of the most famous Red commanders, a commander who was feared by enemies and admired by allies.
After the war, during the time of the NEP, Kotovsky unexpectedly showed a phenomenal entrepreneurial flair. He founded a whole military-consumer society under his cavalry corps: a farm that in a few months collapsed the prices of meat in the region, dozens of mills, a sugar factory, an enterprise for the disposal of stray dogs (soap was made from dog fat, hats and mittens were sewn from skins). At the same time, he bought American tractors “Fordzon” and sold hops, in particular to the Czech Republic, which bought it every year in the amount of 1.5 million golden rubles. In terms of scale, it was a quasi-state economy as part of one coffee corps.
And yet the end of his biography was bloody. On August 6, 1925, while resting in the resort village of Chabanka near Odesa, Kotovsky was shot dead by the former adjutant of the famous Odesa bandit Mishka Yaponchyk — Meyer Seider. According to the official version, this was the first political murder in the USSR. At the trial, Seider tried to claim that Kotovsky shot himself by accident, but he was not believed. Condemned But two years later, he was released for “exemplary behavior” on the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. Three years later, he was killed. The case was not opened.
Kotovsky remained in history as a romantic hero and at the same time as a shadowy, dangerous figure. He himself often said that he had no nationality – “I am a Bessarabian.” He indicated his descent as “from the nobility”, although his father was a commoner. He called himself an “individualist anarchist”, “anarchist-communist”, “spontaneous Bolshevik”, but the main thing is that he always remained an actor of his own life, who wrote his own role, plot and ending.
Establishment of the DKE student fraternity
On June 22, 1844, within the walls of Yale University, fifteen students gathered not to throw a party or discuss exams, but to found their own fraternity—as an alternative to the rules and regulations they felt were unjust. This is how Delta Kappa Epsilon appeared – or, as they later began to say in the student environment, DKE, or simply “Dixie” for their own.
They declared their motto to be the Greek phrase “Kerothen Philoi Aei”, which means “Friends with all our hearts, forever”. According to the idea, it was supposed to be a republic of equals, where true brotherhood, intellectual growth and gentlemanly manners reigned. The idea proved so viable that within five years, DKE opened new chapters at Princeton, Bowdoin, Colby, and Amherst. And in 1898, the fraternity crossed the border for the first time – a branch appeared in Toronto, and from that time American student idealism acquired an international dimension.
It is worth noting that the brotherhood was exclusively male from the beginning. Formally, it contributed to the development of literary culture, supported intellectual growth and laid the idea of respect for the opinions of others – which, let’s face it, was a rarity both then and now. But informally, DKE quickly turned into a symbol of prestige, a gathering of like-minded people, where, along with books, there was always a place for a loud party, connections for the future, and a tie, which was recognized without words in the evenings.
Five future US presidents came out of DKE. Theodore Roosevelt is a traveler and reformer who started with bar fights and ended with the construction of the Panama Canal. Gerald Ford is the only president who became president without an election. Rutherford Heiss is the name most often mentioned on quizzes when discussing the presidents of the 19th century. And of course the Bush family—George Sr. and George Jr., two generations, two Yale degrees, two DKE ties.
Today, Delta Kappa Epsilon has over one hundred active chapters in the United States and Canada, with many alumni working in business, politics, law, and science. The status of a prestigious fraternity is not lost: it is accepted only on the basis of high academic performance, initiation remains strict, and internal rituals are semi-closed to outsiders. DKE is actively involved in charity projects, social initiatives and leadership programs.
And although from the outside it may look like another student union, in fact it is a mechanism for creating an informal elite, where former “dyks” help each other decades after graduating from university.
Transfer of the capital of Ukraine from Kharkiv to Kyiv
On June 24, 1934, the capital of Ukraine was officially moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv. This day in Kyiv was celebrated with a parade and festivities — not only as a symbol of administrative change, but as the beginning of a new period in which the capital was to combine a political role with deep historical roots.
The decision to postpone was approved at the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on January 18, 1934. The initiator was Pavlo Postyshev, second secretary of the Central Committee of the CP(b)U and, at the same time, first secretary of the Kharkiv Regional Committee. He directly stated that such a proposal comes from the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) and Stalin personally. The formal basis was the need for “historical correspondence”, because Kyiv was considered a natural capital — an ancient center with a thousand-year tradition. In practice, it was also a political decision related to the need to control Ukrainian society after the Holodomor and to strengthen symbolic power in a city that had previously shown no loyalty to the Bolsheviks.
It is interesting that Kharkiv received the status of the capital back in December 1917, when the Central Rada still controlled Kyiv. In January 1918, Soviet power was proclaimed in Kharkov, and later the Donetsk-Kryvorizka Soviet Republic appeared as part of the RSFSR — a temporary and controversial entity. Only in December 1919, Kharkiv was again officially recognized as the capital of the USSR. And during the next 15 years, this very city became the political, cultural and administrative center of Soviet Ukraine.
In most of the official messages and decisions of that time, the official language was Ukrainian. This was the period of the so-called “Ukrainization”, when the state formally recognized the Ukrainian language, and the decision to move the capital was also accompanied by Ukrainian-language documents.
