Kupala

Kupala or Kupalo is an alleged Slavic deity who was first mentioned in the 17th century and compared to the Greek goddess Ceres. However, modern scholars of Slavic mythology deny the existence of such a deity.

Etymology

Modern researchers usually deny the existence of a Slavic deity named Kupala. According to Vladimir Toporov, mythological figures known from later sources, such as Yarilo, Kupala, Pogvizd, Lada, Polel and others, cannot be considered gods. Folklorist and ethnographer stated that Kupalo was only a folk holiday, and that recognizing him as a deity is questionable. According to Stanislaw Urbańczyk, Kupala is "literary fiction, persistently upheld by mythologists as truth." There is no information about the deity in earlier sources mentioning the Kupala Night celebrations.
Some researchers, such as Martin Pitro and Petr Vokáč, and Linda Ivantis, believe that Kupalo was not a deity, but a ritual figure or effigy used during Kupala Night. Source material confirms the existence of effigies with such a name, e.g. Ukrainian "ritual effigy, used in Saint John's Eve celebrations," or Belarusian "person leading the way in Saint John's Eve games."