Kostroma

Kostroma (rus. Кострома) — is an East-Slavic deity, a personification of sping and fertility, who was traditionally portrayed as a beautiful young woman in white clothes with an oaken branch in her hands. She was always followed by a women's khorovod (rus. хоровод — a slavic folk dance, during which dancers form a big circle). In Kostroma's presence everything in the nature was given a new life: herbs begun to bloom, birds flew back to their nests. 

With the beginning of a summer season, however, people arranged a magnificent ritual funeral, during which they burned/drowned/buried Kostroma, depicted by a giant straw doll, as it was giving a fertility and wealth to the earth.

Anyways, slavs deeply believed that Kostroma shall resurrect by the next spring.

P.S. God damn, the word " khorovod" looks monstrous when written in English)

P.P.S. I have to apologize in advance for any grammar mistakes you find in the text. There are almost zero proper articles about a slavic culture in English, so I have to compose and translate the text by myself each time)