Kostroma (tradition)
From Freepedia
Kostroma is a straw scarecrow of a girl burnt by East Slavs during the carnival season, or maslennitsa.
There are various interpretations of the custom. Some scholars believe that the scarecrow symbolizes Mokosh. Others regard kostroma's burning as a sacrifice to Jarilo. It is assumed that the custom of burning a scarecrow replaced human sacrifices formerly practiced by Slavic pagans.
In modern Russian language, the word denotes a children's game, with one of players faking death. It may also denote a person who died violently and whose corpse may be harmful for the living. In some villages of Russia, a corpse of kostroma is buried solemnly on the Whitsuntide Eve.
The term is probably cognate to the Slavic word for "bonfire". It is also likely that the Kostroma River and the town of Kostroma were named after the ancient custom.
