First day of Spring! (drowning of Marzanna) :D

"Drowning of the Marzanna ("frost maiden") is a pagan tradition still popular in Poland. For my ancestors, the custom was associated with the everlasting rhythm of life. It expressed their joy at the coming of spring, which meant a rebirth of nature, promising crops and abundance. The marzanna was a representation of winter, a straw female effigy, dressed in white and adorned with coral beads and ribbons. In Silesia, she was clad in a beautiful wedding dress with a wreath on her head. Villagers carried the marzanna from house to house, then stripped her and scattered the clothes over the fields. Eventually she was drowned in a river, pond, and lake or simply in a big puddle. Sometimes before throwing her into the water the effigy was set on fire. As the Marzanna was carried out of the village one way, on the opposite side the villagers carried in the maik - green branches adorned with ribbons, coral beads and flowers. Over centuries this ceremony evolved into a form of amusement. Today drowning the marzanna is mainly done by children on the first day of spring and an unofficial truants' day."

BTW
same place, same day, a year ago...
http://www.photoblog.com/Bushman/2008/03/20/