Maslenitsa
Maslenitsa | |
---|---|
Eastern Slavs Mostly Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian diaspora communities | |
Type | Ethnic |
Significance | Seeing off winter, last week before Great Lent |
Celebrations | Making blini (crepes), making visits, sleigh rides, dressing up, bonfires, snowball fights, the capture of the Snow Fortress, burning of the Maslenitsa Scarecrow In Ukraine and Belarus: eating varenyky with cottage cheese |
2023 date | 20 February to 26 February |
2024 date | 11 March to 17 March |
2025 date | 24 February to 2 March |
Frequency | Annual |
Related to | Mardi Gras |
Maslenitsa (
The date of Maslenitsa changes every year, depending on the date of the celebration of Easter. It corresponds to the Western Christian Carnival, except that Orthodox Lent begins on a Monday instead of a Wednesday, and the Orthodox date of Easter can differ greatly from the Western Christian date.
The traditional attributes of the Maslenitsa celebration are the Maslenitsa
.Traditions
According to archeological evidence from the 2nd century A.D., Maslenitsa may be the oldest surviving Slavic holiday.[1] In the Christian tradition, Maslenitsa is the last week before the onset of Great Lent.[2]
During the week of Maslenitsa, meat is already forbidden to
Since Lent excludes parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from spiritual life, Maslenitsa represents the last chance to take part in social activities that are not appropriate during the more prayerful, sober and introspective Lenten season.[1]
In some regions, each day of Maslenitsa had its traditional activity. Monday may be the welcoming of "Lady Maslenitsa". The community builds the Maslenitsa effigy out of straw, decorated with pieces of rags, and fixed to a pole formerly known as
Sunday of Forgiveness
The last day of Cheesefare Week is called "Forgiveness Sunday" (Прощёное воскресенье). Relatives and friends ask each other for forgiveness and might offer them small presents. As the culmination of the celebration, people gather to "strip Lady Maslenitsa of her finery" and burn her in a bonfire. Left-over pancakes may also be thrown into the fire, and Lady Maslenitsa's ashes are buried in the snow to "fertilize the crops".[4]
At
Modern times
Due to cultural factors in the Russian Empire, large public celebrations of Maslenitsa were no longer as common by the turn of the 20th century. After the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the following state atheism in the Soviet Union, public Maslenitsa celebrations became even less common, although Maslenitsa continued to observed particularly in smaller private celebrations in homes and villages. In the 1960s and 1970s, as the USSR brought back some traditional folk holidays, Maslenitsa was again observed in large public celebrations that retained some of the holiday's secular elements, but with additional "contemporary socialist elements grafted onto it".[3]
After the start of
With increasing secularization, many Russians do not abstain from meat and Maslenitsa celebrations can be accompanied by shashlik vendors. Nevertheless, "meat still does not play a major role in the festivities".[1] Many countries with a significant number of Russian immigrants consider Maslenitsa a suitable occasion to celebrate Russian culture, although the celebrations are usually reduced to one day and may not coincide with the date of the religious celebrations.[citation needed]
Gallery
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Vasily Surikov. Взятие снежного городка Taking a Snow Town, 1891.
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Leonid Solomatkin. Maslenitsa, 1878.
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K. Kryzhanovsky. Sunday of Forgiveness, 19th century.
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Scenery at Celebration of Maslenitsa
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Maslenitsa celebrations in Kharkiv, 2014.
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Maslenitsa festivities inSt. Petersburg, 2018.
Adaptations
in 2012, Russian-Canadian composer
See also
- Candlemas
- Slavic carnival
- Fašiangy (in Slovakia)
- Rio Carnival (in Brazil)
- Carnaval (in the Netherlands)
- Fat Thursday (in Poland)
- Mardi Gras (in other countries)
- )
- Marzanna (in Poland)
- Meteņi (in Latvia)
- Patras Carnival (in Greece)
- Tsiknopempti
- Shrove Tuesday or "Pancake Day" (in the United Kingdom and Ireland)
- Petrushka (ballet)
- Užgavėnės (in Lithuania)
- Farsang (Hungarian carnival)[7][circular reference]
- Shrovetide
References
- ^ a b c Maslenitsa, Blin! The Food and Celebration of the Russians Archived 2008-01-09 at the Wayback Machine By Josh Wilson, Newsletter, The School of Russian and Asian Studies, 9 March 2005.
- ^ Maslenitsa by Margaret McKibben, Russian Folk Group of Seattle, WA, Seattle Community Network. undated.
- ^ ISBN 9781903018897.
- ^ Ruslanguage School Moscow (22 February 2012). "Malenitsa, a Week of Festivities". Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ Arthur Kaptainis. "Ichmouratov; Overtures/Symphony" (PDF). www.eclassical.com. Chandos Records Catalogue CHAN 20172- Booklet. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ Beaucage, Réjean. "Orchestre de la Francophonie & Jean-Philippe Tremblay Airat Ichmouratov: Symphony". panm360.com. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ Busójárás
External links
- Lives of the Saints The Orthodox Church in America, undated.
- Marks, Gil (2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Wiley. pp. 56–58. ISBN 9780470391303