Springtime is a period rich in events of traditional Slovak folk ceremony. In particular, the Sundays leading up to Easter -Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday - are associated with the banishing of winter from the community. Winter is here symbolised by a straw figure dressed in female clothing and known as Morena, Marmuriena, Marjena, Kyselica or Smrť (Death). In the past, the young - sometimes only the girls - would parade it, singing the while, around the village, before finally throwing it into water or burning it. This custom was practised not only all over Slovakia, but among Slavs generally, and...