Maslenitsa (Russian: Масленица) or Pancake Week, is a folk holiday Slavic which dates back to the pagan era. It is celebrated the week before the Orthodox Great Lent (seven weeks before Easter). It is therefore the Slavic Orthodox Carnival.
Maslenitsa the Slavic carnival
This festival has a double ancestry: pagan and Christian. On the pagan side, it was a heliocentric festival, celebrating the imminent end of winter.
On the Christian side, it is the last week before Great Lent. Since meat is already forbidden for Orthodox Christians during the week, it is a miassopoustnaya nedelya (мясопустная неделя) – meatless week. Meat, fish, dairy products and eggs are forbidden during Lent. In addition, feasts are also forbidden; therefore, the feast represents the last opportunity to celebrate before Lent.
The essential elements are blinis, a kind of Russian pancake. Round and golden, they are made with ingredients forbidden by Orthodox tradition during Lent: butter, eggs and milk.
It is also masked balls, snowball fights, toboggan races, swing games, and lots of troika rides. In some regions, each day of the week has its traditional activity: one day for a troika ride, another for the son-in-law to visit his parents-in-law, another for visiting his godfather, etc.
The "mascot" is usually an effigy dressed in bright colours (red, orange, yellow, etc.) called Lady Maslenitsa, formerly Kostroma.
The celebration culminates in apotheosis on Sunday evening, when Lady Maslenitsa is undressed and placed on a bonfire. If there are any blinis left, they are also thrown into the fire. Lady Maslenitsa's ashes are buried in the snow (to fertilize the earth), everyone asks for forgiveness, and Great Lent begins. The last day is also called "Forgiveness Sunday." For practicing Orthodox Christians, this is the last day when they can eat dairy products, fish, wine, and oil.
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