Thus, in many places, it is still the custom to carry a figure
representing the Vegetation Spirit on a bier, attended by mourning
women, and either bury the figure, throw it into water (as a rain
charm), or, after a mock death, carry the revivified Deity, with
rejoicing, back to the town. Thus in the Lechrain a man in black
women's clothes is borne on a bier, followed by men dressed as
professional women mourners making lamentation, thrown on the village
dung-heap, drenched with water, and buried in straw.[4]

In Russia the Vegetation or Year Spirit is known as Yarilo,[5] and is
represented by a doll with phallic attributes, which is enclosed in a
coffin, and carried through the streets to the accompaniment of
lamentation by women whose emotions have been excited by drink.
Mannhardt gives the lament as follows: "Wessen war Er schuldig? Er
war so gut! Er wird nicht mehr aufstehen! O! Wie sollen wir uns von
Dir trennen? Was ist das Leben wenn Du nicht mehr da bist? Erhebe
Dich, wenn auch nur auf ein Stundchen! Aber Er steht nicht auf, Er
steht nicht auf!"[6]

In other forms of the ritual, we find distinct traces of the
resuscitation of the Vegetation Deity, occasionally accompanied by
evidence of rejuvenation. Thus, in Lausitz, on Laetare Sunday (the
4th Sunday in Lent), women with mourning veils carry a straw figure,
dressed in a man's shirt, to the bounds of the next village, where
they tear the effigy to pieces, hang the shirt on a young and
flourishing tree, "schone Wald-Baum," which they proceed to cut
down, and carry home with every sign of rejoicing. Here evidently the
young tree is regarded as a rejuvenation of the person represented in
the first instance by the straw figure.[7]