It's Trinity Sunday, and here's a priest in #Ukraine blessing people who have brought greenery to the church. They'll also put branches around their homes, to protect against spirits from before Christianity arrived. kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html

Dangerous spirit alert ⚠️ Today is the start of Rusalnyi Week, when #rusalka water spirits emerge onto dry land. They can be deadly, so ⚠️ Keep away from rivers, pools etc ⚠️ Also fields ⚠️ Put bread, milk, shirts out for them Stay Rusalka-Safe! #folklore kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html

Since it's Rusalnyi Week, when #rusalka spirits come out of water, we'd just like to point out that rusalky are❗️not #mermaids❗️Key differences: Fish-tails: mermaids✅ rusalky❎ Complex, tragic backstories: rusalky✅ mermaids ❎ More: kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html #MythologyMonday

As it's Rusalnyi Week, when #rusalka spirits come out of water, and sea-themed #FolkloreThursday, we'd like to point out it's a myth that rusalky are #mermaids. Key diffs: Fish-tails: mermaids✅ rusalky❎ Complex, tragic backstories: rusalky✅ mermaids ❎ kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html

We found a new place to celebrate Kupala this midsummer, and wrote a new piece to accompany it as well 🌿kupalabrighton.org/kupala25.html

We made it, 2700km from Brighton to the birthplace of Kupala in the middle of Ukraine!

'These are not images of this reconstruction': renovation work in Lviv's old town confronts passers-by with a street screen showing the aggressor's destruction of #Ukrainian built heritage.

A week ago I was eating grapes from a Ukrainian kitchen garden (= small farm in UK city terms) and thinking I should follow the example in my own small way back home so ... rose hip syrup soundtrack: The Ukrainian Shelf 5: Food youtube.com/watch?v=lwODG8…

"The rise of the city's #underground nightlife." Today's book pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to author Marek Kohn & Granta Books! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe

All these brilliant performers, and we'll be there too! Looking forward hugely to the Summer Fusion Festival at the Jubilee Library in Brighton, Sun 7 Sept, 11 – 3, free, all welcome! bestfootmusic.net/2025/07/10/sum…

Loved Marek Kohn’s book. Reading it felt like walking through Central Europe itself - Warsaw, Vilnius, Prague, Frankfurt. Cities rebuilt from ruins of WWII, yet still carrying the memory and scars of war in their reconstruction.

Russia has destroyed tens of thousands of homes in Ukraine. Now, Ukrainian architects are helping communities rebuild authentically. With Craft Story, we show how they preserve regional architecture through an online tool that lets people design homes rooted in tradition.

I bought some dried mushrooms in the Ukrainian Carpathians, but not the ones in the tub on the right, this isn't a fairy tale 🍄

We travelled to the Ukrainian village that is the deep inspiration for our project, and talked on the edge of its wetlands: about nature, childhood, imagination, the sounds of war in the air, and why places must not be stolen from people. youtube.com/watch?v=Vx_XP2…

also on Spotify open.spotify.com/episode/4loHgX… audio-only: Apple, Amazon podcasts YouTube has English subtitle option

'I heard the air siren from the nearby village, and that was a really surreal experience, because you know that place where you grew up, running with friends, swimming in the river, herding cows, going for walks, and then that surreal sound …' youtu.be/oB_HOjDeUyQ

The sounds of war just reached deep into the Polish countryside too. Surreal experiences are often previews of a new reality. #Poland #Ukraine

War has changed how Ukrainians speak — and what they refuse to. For Da Vinci Wolves commander Serhii Filimonov, language is central to his transformation and to his children’s. In this video, he explains why his son doesn’t speak Russian — and why it matters.

My book about #climate and the British Isles is in the new Bookshop.org ebook range; turns out the 2100 future I imagined in 2009 is approaching faster than scheduled. Climate breakdown and Britain's national identity crisis are on course to merge. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/turned…

Nature, belonging, and drones in the night: moments from our conversation at the edge of a wetland in the middle of Ukraine kupalabrighton.org/trubaitsi.htm