Debating the Cultural Significance of Kupalo Festival Folk Art
Target Group: Ages 14-16, CEFR B1
Objective:
Students explore the cultural significance of the Kupalo Festival through a folk painting and debate the role of traditional customs in modern Ukrainian identity.
Artifact: A folk painting depicting Kupalo Festival rituals, displayed at a Ukrainian folk museum.
Thesis Statement: Festivals like Ivan Kupala are losing their relevance in today’s modernised world.
Activities:
- Object Exploration: Students analyse the painting’s portrayal of Kupalo rituals and symbolism. What are Kupalo rituals? Why do people have rituals?
- Debate: Split into two groups. One group argues that festivals like Kupalo are essential to preserving Ukrainian identity, while the other group discusses their diminishing relevance in a modern, globalised society.
Materials:
- Images and background on the Kupalo Festival
- Debate prompts on cultural heritage and modernisation
Homework:
Reflect on the balance between maintaining traditions and embracing contemporary cultural shifts. Write a 100-word paragraph on your perspective on this balance.
The painting “Ukrainian Midsummer Celebrations: Ivan Kupala Eve” by Ukrainian artist Ivan Sokolov (1856) is housed in the National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv.
Traditional Ukrainian festivals, such as Kupalo, preserve cultural identity, but their relevance in modern Ukrainian society sparks debate on cultural continuity versus modernity.
This presentation explores the collaborative potential of teachers sharing lesson plans across borders and working with museum educators to utilize object learning in museum debates. By focusing on cultural artifacts, we can engage students in critical discussions that enhance their understanding of heritage and identity. We will highlight the call for Ukrainian teachers to contribute their lesson plans, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and resources. These contributions will be published on the Challenges Leiden platform, promoting cross-cultural collaboration in education. Join us in creating a vibrant community that supports innovative teaching practices and celebrates cultural diversity. For more information, visit Challenges Leiden.
Teachers from Ukraine: Call for museum debate lesson plans with your students. Do you want to share your lesson plans? Send them to Marleen Spierings | LinkedIn via messages. Learn about a Dutch tradition here:
Dutch cultural tradition: 3rd of October The city of Leiden: eating herring on white bread, and, carrots&onions&potatoes.
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Jochem Myjer – Lalala Leiden (youtube.com)
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More than 100 objects described on Things That Talk: ‘It’s super cool to be a part of this’ – Leiden University (universiteitleiden.nl) ‘We use many objects in science. Archaeologists dig them up and we reconstruct whole societies and histories from them, but normally you have students read articles and you look at them through text. By starting with the object, you get a completely different approach. Students really enjoyed this. They learned to ask completely different questions because the object was suddenly central to the research. That’s something else than a paper with footnotes.’