The shrow-tide personage in the Tver calendar ritual of send-off of winter

This article is connected with the studying of semantics of Shrow-tide scarecrow, that is one of the universal elements of the Shrow-tide ritual complex. The investigation is made on the authentic Tver folk-ethnographic material, received by the author during of many years' standing expeditions in Tver region. Moreover there are analyzed the examples of Tver folklore from reserves of SASC and native museums, and also editions about Tver rituals from different sources of past years.