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O how shall we part from thee? What is
life without thee? Arise, if only for a brief hour. But he rises
not, he not." At last the Yarilo was buried in a grave.

7. Death and Revival of Vegetation
THESE Russian customs are plainly of the same nature as those which
in Austria and Germany are known as "Carrying out Death." Therefore
if the interpretation here adopted of the latter is right, the
Russian Kostrubonko, Yarilo, and the rest must also have been
originally embodiments of the spirit of vegetation, and their death
must have been regarded as a necessary preliminary to their revival.
The revival as a sequel to the death is enacted in the first of the
ceremonies described, the death and resurrection of Kostrubonko. The
reason why in some of these Russian ceremonies the death of the
spirit of vegetation is celebrated at midsummer may be that the
decline of summer is dated from Midsummer Day, after which the days
begin to shorten, and the sun sets out on his downward journey:

"To the darksome hollows
Where the frosts of winter lie.


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