In folk belief, the cuckoo plays an important role as a messenger from the otherworld. Women who have lost loved ones or are separated from them often turn to the cuckoo to communicate with their family. In the Russian-Belarusian border area, there is a custom of lamenting with the cuckoo: women go deep into the forest and, hearing a cuckoo, begin to wail and weep out their grief. According to belief, the cuckoo itself flies over to such a woman and begins to join in her lament. Women ask it for news from the otherworld about their loved ones and pass on requests and instructions to them.

For example, in Pskov Region women may say: “Come flying, my dear friend, / hurry to me!” (Usvyaty District), or: “Fly up, gray little cuckoo! / Fly to a distant foreign land! / Coo and pass on to my own dear brothers / my humble greetings” (Kunyinsky District, Kresty). In a Polish song, a bride flies as a cuckoo to her beloved’s grave: “And the cuckoo flew there: / ‘Coo!’ it cried. / ‘Give me your hand from the grave, my dear, / I will wait here’” [translation of the Polish] (Maj.K: 394).

The cuckoo also acts as an intermediary between the living and the world of the dead, helping people communicate with the deceased.

— Gura. Animal Symbolism in Slavic Folk Tradition, p. 707