Also called Kostromushka.
The tale
In central Russia villagers made a straw figure called Kostroma, dressed her as a woman and held a mock funeral, with a mourner weeping over her before she was drowned or torn apart and scattered on the fields. The mourning turned suddenly to laughter and dancing. Her name is linked to kostra, the husks of flax and hemp. Vladimir Propp saw such rites as a way of passing the effigy's life back into the crops.
When they are met
- Semik and the Rusalka week
- Kupala Night
- the end of spring
Staying on their good side
- flowers
- bread
- songs of lament and joy
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Make a small straw doll to mark the end of spring and return it to the earth or water.
- Sing or play a mourning song and then a merry one, as the rite did.
What their tales teach
- letting go
- marking seasons
- renewal after loss
Symbols
- a straw effigy
- a white dress
- an oak branch
Kostroma is a ritual figure, not a recorded goddess, though some modern writers treat her as one.
Sources
- Vladimir Propp, Russian Agrarian Festivals
- Linda J. Ivanits, Russian Folk Belief
More Slavic folklore
- Baba Yaga The witch in the hut on hen's legs
- Domovoi The grandfather who lives behind the stove
- Leshy The master of the forest
- Rusalka The maiden of river and birch
- Kikimora The spinner in the dark corner
- Koschei the Deathless The sorcerer whose death is hidden
- Dodola The rain-bringing girl of summer
- Kolyada The spirit of midwinter carolling