Lada - "Lepi Ivo" (Beautiful Ivo) – Ivanjdan (Feast Day Of St. John) - With a Special Overview of the Songs and Customs of Podravina Croatians in Hungary

Na samom početku valja zaključiti kako sv. Ivan poznat iz Novog zavjeta sasvim odudara od "lepog Ive”, Ivana, poznatog iz hrvatskih obrednih pjesama. Ovaj drugi naoružan je sabljom, javlja se, dakle, kao ratno božanstvo koje je kasnije poprimalo osobine ratarskog božanstva, naime on "orje duge rali”. Lik sveca i poganskog mladog božastva Ive dovodi se u vezu sa sinkretizmom i kontaminacijom predožbi, arhaičnog poganskog sloja i kršćaskih učenja. S druge pak strane u ivanjdanskim pjesama iz koprivničog kraja u Hrvatskoj jednosmisleno i nepobitno je očuvan trag božice Lade, kao mlade i lijepe djevojke, božice ljubavi, koja sprema svatove i udaje se za svoga brata Ivana, što bi značilo da je posrijedi incest. Opstojnost slavenske, u našem slučaju slavenske Venere, Lade, u etnološkoj znanosti za neke je znastvenike bilo prihvatljivo, dok za neke sporno, dok je posljednjih godina B. A. Ribakov, ruski arhelolog, ponovo obnovio mit o Ladi i Lelji,2 jednako tako i u srpskoj znanosti je skoro jednoglasno prihvaćeno da su Lada i Ljelja slavenske boginje.3 U narečenim zapisanim hrvatskim pjesmama etno-glazbenika Vinka Žganca iz okoline Koprivrivnice Lada ima svoje stanovito mjesto, a pri čemu ne smijemo posumnjati da je riječ o krivotvorenim popijevkama! No u pučkoj tradiciji mađarskih Hrvata sv. Ivan sasvim odudara od sv. Ivana poznatog iz Novog zavjeta, naime, ovaj prvi se i sam smatra poganom, uz kojeg se vezuju razne djelatnosti: umrlim dušama otvara nebeska vrata, vodi Bogorodicu u raj, ore duge "rali” (seksualna simbolika), šeće se po zlatnom mostu (povezuje nebo i zemlju), donosi plodnost i rodnost njivama. Ivanjdanske su pjesme zorno svjedočanstvo kontaminacije arhaičnih poganskih slojeva i kršćanskih učenja o svecima: Marija, Ivan, krštenje Isusa obogaćuje s i drugim osobinama koje ne sadrži Novi zavjet. Ivanjdanski običaji izvodili su se u mađarskih Hrvata, kao i drugdje po svijetu, uoči ljetnje ravnodnevice, dakle, prehodne noći, uz vatru i preskakanje vatre, radi zdravlja i sretne ljubavi, uz obvezatno darivanje zemljinih biljnih plodova vatri, uz "lilanje” i izvođenje arhaičnih ivanjdanskih ljubavnih pjesma koje su bile popraćene neobuzdanim veseljem pa čak nerijetko i snošajem. Uz sv. Ivana vezuje se i kumstvo, kao njegov prepoznatljiv atribut. Duge ivanjdanske pjesme izvodile su se skupno, pjevala ih mladež i mlade snaše i njihovi muževi, dakako, u nekim krajevima čak i stariji, ugledniji građani, dok su djeca potrčala sa zapaljenim "lilama” i oko sebe u noći vrtjeli s njima, tj. "lilala su”, opisujući magične krugove, odnosno, vjerojatno oponašajući i podsrekakvši tako sunčanu putanju na nebeskom svodu, čija je vrućina bila iole potrebna za zriobu jačma, raži i žita.At the very beginning it should pointed out that St. John from the New Testament is the complete opposite of “lepi Ivo”, Ivan, known from Croatian ceremonial songs. The latter is armed with a sword; he appears therefore as a warring deity who later attained the traits of a farming deity, namely he “ploughs long acres”. The image of a saint and pagan young deity Ivo, lead to a connection with syncretism and contamination of images, the archaic pagan layer and Christian teachings. On the other hand however preserved in Ivanjdan songs from the Koprivnica region in Croatia, singularly and undoubtedly remain traces of the goddess Lada, as a young and beautiful girl, goddess of love, preparing the wedding and marrying her brother Ivan, which would mean incest. The Slavic, in our case the Slavic Venus, Lada, in ethnological sciences was acceptable for some scientists, while for others it was disputed, while in recent years B.A. Ribakov, a Russian archaeologist, again renewed the myth about Lada and Lelja, equally so in Serbian sciences, it is almost unanimously accepted that Lada and Ljelja are Slavic goddesses. In the aforementioned noted Croatian songs of the ethno musician Vinko Žganac from the Koprivnica countryside, Lada has a particular place, whereby we must not bring into question that it is a case of counterfeit songs! However in the popular tradition of Hungarian Croats, St. John is the complete opposite of the St. John from the New Testament, namely the first considered himself a pagan, with whom various activities are linked: opens to doors of heaven to deceased souls, leads the Mother of God to heaven, ploughs long “acres” (sexual symbolism), walks across the golden bridge (links heaven and earth), brings fertility and abundance to fields. St. John’s Day songs are a clear portrayal of the contamination of the archaic pagan layers and the Christian teachings about saints: Mary, John, the christening of Jesus are also supplemented with other characteristics not contained within the New Testament. St. John’s Day customs were carried out by Hungarian Croats, like elsewhere in the world, on the eve of the equinox, therefore the night before, with fire and jumping over the fire for health and happy love, with mandatory giving of gifts of fruits of the earth, with “lilanje” (tradition of jumping over the fire) and performing of archaic St. John’s Day love songs which were followed by unrestrained merriment, not rarely ending in intercourse. God-parenthood is often linked to St. John’s Day, as its recognisable attribute. Long St. John’s Day songs were performed together, the youth and young brides together with their husbands sang, of course in regions even older, prominent citizens, while children would run around with lighted “lilama” (torches), spinning around with these in the night time, describing magic circles, that is, probably copying and exhibiting the sun’s path in the heavens, whose warmth was required for the ripening of the barley, rye and wheat