In contemporary East Slavic ethnology (ethnography, folklore, ethnolinguistics), the study of the folk calendar still occupies an important place. This article, based on field, archival and published ethnographic materials, analyses the phenomenon of harmful magic in the period of Ivan Kupala in the traditional culture of the countryfolk of the Vitebsk-Pskov borderlands. The functional pragmatics of witchcraft and its features are revealed, the techniques of apotropaic magic are analysed. The material for the work was a set of descriptions of the rite and folklore texts recorded on the territory of the borderlands in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The analysis of folklore and field materials allows us to characterise the functional pragmatics of harmful magic, its gender specificity, as well as take into account the peculiarities of witchcraft in the conditions of modern developed communication. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of magical practices dedicated to the day of Ivan Kupala, in the area of the Belarusian-Russian (Vitebsk-Pskov) ethno-cultural border. The transboundary status of the region (borders on Russia, Lithuania and Latvia), makes the study of Kupala rituals seem to be even more relevant.
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Anastasia S. Tsygankova (2021) studied this question.