Cattle also are driven round the fire in the belief that this is a charm against pestilence and disease of every sort. We have already seen that in Russia the summer solstice or Eve of St. John is celebrated by young men and maidens, who jump over a movie jean claude van damme in couples carrying a straw effigy of Kupalo in their arms. As the flames rise the peasant women throw birchen boughs into them, saying, "May my flax be as tall as this bough.