Maslenitsa

An ancient Slavic festival, Maslenitsa (Ма́сленица) is essentially a sun outing, which celebrates the imminent end of winter. While it doesn’t necessarily happen on the day of the Spring Equinox, it is a spring-welcoming Slavic mythology holiday, which also corresponds to the Western Christian Carnival. It occurs during the last week before Lent—that is, the seventh week before Paskha – Easter.

Maslenitsa originates from the word Ма́слo (butter), and is also known as Pancake Week. Maslenitsa has a dual ancestry – pagan and Christian – with their traditions tightly interwoven. For example, eating meat during Maslenitsa is not allowed by the Russian Orthodox Church, but since milk, cheese, and other dairy products are permitted, people make the traditional blinis – pancakes; their round yellow disks symbolize the sun, which is certainly a pagan observation. Historically, the holiday had its own mascot: Lady Maslenitsa (sometimes known as Kostroma), represented by a brightly dressed straw effigy. As a culmination of the week-long feast on Sunday evening, Lady Maslenitsa is given to the fire, and all the leftover blintzes are thrown into it as well – for a good reason: the ashes are buried in the snow to "fertilize the crops."

Maslenitsa is a fun holiday: people eat, drink, dance, play instruments, and engage in strength contests – all to welcome spring. Traditionally, the Russian Maslenitsa also included masquerades, snowball fights, sledding and lots of horse sleigh rides. Some regions and villages followed a certain schedule – each day had its designated activity: one day for sleigh-riding, another for the sons-in-law to visit their parents-in-law, another day for visiting the godparents, and so on.

During the Soviet era, Maslenitsa, like many other religious holidays, was not officially celebrated; however, everyone made blinis and pancakes and shared them with families and friends. After Perestroika, the outdoor festivities resumed, even though some people considered it an artificial restoration of a dead tradition. Lady Maslenitsa seems to have made its comeback – it was simply too much fun to miss.