Morana, by Evil Birdy
Morana is a Slavic pagan goddess associated with death, rebirth and the changing of seasons. In the old myths she would die at the end of every winter and her death would signal the beginning of spring. Her Greek counterpart is Hecate, so she is often also associated with witchcraft. In some slavic countries there is a tradition that lasted to this day, the burning or drowning of Morana effigy. Usually little children would gather around to create the effigy, then they would carry it to the local body of water while singing traditional songs. They would either drown the effigy or they would burn it and that would mark the winters end.