Page "Slavic mythology" Paragraph 33

No valid scientific methodology by which folklore accounts could be interpreted was known before the mid-20th century, and with sparse historical and archeological sources, the doors were thus opened to wild and unwarranted speculation.

One of the best examples of overall confusion and complete misinterpretation is a fake deity of love, Lada or Lado, constructed from meaningless exclamations in Slavic wedding songs.

Gods such as Koleda and Kupala were constructed from misinterpreted names of popular Slavic folk festivals ; Koledo was the Slavic name for Christmas processions of carol singers, whilst the source of the name Kupala is from kupati meaning " to bathe ".

Christian sources claim that it comes from Ivan Kupala ( literally: John the Baptist ) however this claim is as baseless as the claim of those who choose to interpret it as a pagan holiday.

This festival day is celebrated at the summer solstice in many Slavic, and also western European countries, such as France and Italy.

These customs indeed do have more than a few elements of pre-Christian beliefs, but simply inventing gods based on names of customs is not considered a valid method for reconstruction of lost beliefs.