About Kupalo Fest

Kupalo Fest is a modern revival of the ancient Ukrainian summer solstice tradition, also known as Ivana Kupala, or St. John's Day.

Born as a grassroots initiative in the small town of Garland Manitoba, the festival is a welcoming space for folks of all backgrounds to participate in authentic Kupalo traditions and experience solstice rituals from a variety of other cultural communities. Through hands-on workshops, live performances, shared meals and a whole lot of fun, we invite you to reconnect with nature, discover living culture and celebrate the longest day of the year!

Kupalo Fest is located on Treaty 2 lands. These are the territories of the Anihšinnāpēk (Anishinaabe), Nêhiyaw (Cree), Anisininew, Dakota, Nakoda, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Dene (N. Navajo) peoples, and the homeland of the Âpihtawikosisân (Metis, meaning "My other son" in Nêhiyawewin). We are dedicated to reconciliation and seek restorative, equitable relationships with original caretakers of these lands and waters.

Programming

Workshop and Festival Schedule to come!

• Kupalo Rituals

• Wheat-weaving

• Petrykivka painting

• Italian divination

• Sash weaving

• Music jam

• Broom making

• Juggling

• Wildcrafting

• Music jamming

• Polyphonic singing

• Dancing

...and much more!

Where to Sleep

Whether you’re coming for one night or all three, we’ve got you covered. You can tent on-site or bring your RV.
There will be water stations around the festival site.

Quiet camping zone for kids, families, and early birds, or stay with the rowdies to dance and sing until early in the morning.

There are no showers on site.

workshop leaders

Born in traditional Nēhiyawak (Cree) Terr. in Northern Saskatchewan, Gary Edwards is a Indian Residential School Survivor of 3 I.R.S. across the province.

In the late 80's, he began 4 decades of travelling that would cover 100+ countries & 4 continents. Playing throughout as DJ Sasquatch and founder of Poundmaker Soundsystem.

Gary has been creating stages & large scale, high-tension fabric art installations for many progressive global transformational festivals: HillTop (Goa, India), Boom (Portugal.), O.Z.O.R.A (Hungary), P.art.Y.(Ibiza, Spain), Gaia (Mt.Fuji, Japan.), LoveParade (Germany), RainBowSerpent(Australia), TheGathering(New Zealand), WaterWoman (Equador), Envision (Croatia), Ometeotl (Mexico), Tribal Gathering(UK/Panam), Symbiosis (California), OneNationEarthCamp (OregonEclipse 17), TexasEclipse '23(TX), MotionNotion(ALTA), Shambhala(BC), Connect(SK). Spanning 4 decades of music, magic & more, he has also been a cultural advisor within the unity consciousness, of the worldwide trance tribe.

Gary has been a guiding force for this festival and is bringing a super special solstice set to Saturday night festivities!

Myroslava Oksentiuk

Myroslava of Edmonton, AB, is a multi-disciplinary folk artist. She grew up in Ukraine where she sang with the renowned folk group Rozhanytsia for 12 years before moving to Canada in 2018.

Recently, Myroslava founded Kolo Folk Studios, under the UPAS (Ukrainian Performing Arts Society) umbrella in Edmonton, where she and her colleagues lead ceremonies for traditional events for the community around the calendar year, including Andryivski Vechornytsi, Malanka, Kolodiy, Vesniani Tantsi (Spring dances), and Kupalo.

Her studio is called Berehynia Folk Arts Studio where she provides traditional Ukrainian Folk Art Workshops. She currently sings with the Ruta Ukrainian Folk Ensemble and runs the stage at the Heritage Festival in Edmonton.

Myroslava will lead us through the traditional Kupalo rituals during the festival.

Mario Morello is a teacher, researcher, ethnomusicologist and singer based in Montreal and Toronto. He studies the performance practices of various traditional vocal polyphonies, particularly from Italy, Ukraine, and Georgia.

Currently, he engages in ethnographic research projects focused on the Salento region of Italy, collecting and analyzing materials in Salento since 2015. He has to several Toronto-based and Montreal-based ensembles in an eclectic variety of musical projects that focus on traditional polyphonic singing, including Ukrainian polyphony ensembles Kalendar and Mumurosi Choir, the Balkan troupe Meden Glas, Georgian ensembles Darbazi and Supra, the Ontario-based folk collective Kosa Kolektiv, and the Toronto-based musical activism initiative Sing with Ukraine.

His current research interests include the study of repertoires of polyphonic song in Italy and their contemporary transformations, semiotics in polyphonic song, and the study of traditional polyphonic singing in diaspora communities.

Mario Morello

more coming soon...

What to Eat

All weekend passes include a late lunch at the social on Friday evening and two meals on Saturday; lunch and a verenyky/perogy feast for dinner.

Friday night will be a potluck around the campfire! Bring a dish for 5-6 people, complete with an ingredient list. Come early if you'd like to cook your food on the fire.

Sunday morning the Ethelbert Fire Department will be putting ona pancake breakfast fundraiser at the hall. Cost $15 (you can pay by cash at the door or buy a ticket online in advance). This is NOT included in weekend pass.

There will be a market on Sunday where fresh organic sourdough bread from our woodfire oven will be sold, along with other goodies

Day passes include meals being served to attendees on that specific day.

Please bring plenty of snacks that don't need to be cooked up, as there will be no access to the kitchen for attendees.

Festival Site

Garland, Manitoba
Highway 10 between Dauphin and Swan River


Questions? hello@kupalofest.ca

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