Kupalo: a god of vegetation and the center of the celebration called Kupala. The festival was timed to midsummer night, which marked the summer solstice and the height of the growing season. Loosely translated, the word kupala means bathed, and ritual bathing was part of the celebration. The coming of Christianity did not completely erase the worship of Kupalo, as he became Ivan Kupalo, or John the Bather, better known as John the Baptist. Kupala is still celebrated as “the merriest, sexiest night.”