Maslenitsa Festival

Month : March
Place : Russia
Famous For : Religious Festival
Attractions : Fast of Meat, Last Week for permitted for Milk, Cheese and other dairy products, Lady Maslenitsa, Snowball Fights, Sledding etc.

Maslenitsa festival is a much awaited celebration in Russia. Also known as Butter Week, Pancake week, or Cheesefare Week, it is a Russian religious and folk holiday. Celebrated during the last week before Great Lent, that is, the seventh week before Pascha (Easter), the Maslenitsa corresponds to the Western Christian Carnival. The festival is observed every year during the month of March. The festival of Maslenitsa has a dual ancestry in its advent " the pagan and Christian.

Major Attractions

In Slavic mythology, Maslenitsa is a sun festival, celebrating the imminent end of the winter. On the Christian side, Maslenitsa is the last week before the onset of Great Lent. During Maslenitsa week, meat is already forbidden to Orthodox Christians, making it a myasopustnaya nedelya. It is the last week during which milk, cheese and other dairy products are permitted, leading to its other name of "Cheese-fare week" or "Butter week". The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is bliny (Russian pancakes), popularly taken to symbolize the sun. Maslenitsa also includes masquerades, snowball fights, sledding, riding on swings and plenty of sleigh rides. In some regions, each day of Maslenitsa had its traditional activit,: one day for sleigh-riding, another for the sons-in-law to visit their parents-in-law, another day for visiting the godparents, etc. The mascot of the celebration is usually a brightly dressed straw effigy of Lady Maslenitsa, formerly known as Kostroma.