Maslenitsa: Blini Week

Maslenitsa is not only a week’s celebration, but also the entire period of preparation for the Lent, which includes two more weeks. During the first week the ferial and maigre days change each other in succession. The third week, which was called “butter”, or “cheese” week, it was prohibited to eat meat except dairy products.
Maslenitsa week in itself is not homogenous. During the first three days of Maslenitsa peasants still continued doing their domestic chores, whereas on Thursday it was prohibited to work since on this day Generous Maslenitsa began. Thus, Maslenitsa consisted of the two parts, which were “Maigre” and “Generous” Maslenitsas.
Every day of Maslenitsa had its own name:
Monday — The Greeting
Tuesday — Popular Games
Wednesday — The Sweet Tooth’s Day
Thursday — The Lavish Day
Friday — Good Mothers’ Evenings
Saturday — Good Daughters’ Parties
Sunday — Forgiveness Sunday
Maslenitsa is not simply a holiday. This is the end of a very important stage of life of both men and nature. This is the day of summing up of the past events and the beginning of the New Year.

Maslenitsa (Pancake week) is the only purely Russian Holiday that dates back to the pagan times. For seven days Moscow jingles with bells, sings with garmoshkas and glares with gaily-painted dresses. The people are letting the long-annoying winter out and the long-awaited spring in.
The counters in the Maslenitsa town are groaning with various dainties. There are the paunchy samovars with mellow tea, bunches of sweet-scented barankas, nuts and honey pies with different signs: "Whom I love - to those I give", "A present of the sweet-hart is the dearest". Salted foods, various fish, caviar - choose and eat anything however much you like!
But the essential elements, of course, are pancakes (blini). Pankacke is a symbol of sun. It is as round, gold and warm as the sun. Pancakes are served hot with either butter, or sour cream, or caviar, or mushrooms, or sturgeon - to any exquisite taste.
Where else can you take a horse-drawn sledge ride that will take your breath away? Or take a jaunty slip down an enormous ice slope? Or go round on a giant carousel? The Great Maslenitsa will reel you round in a dancing fairy-circle and your feet won't be able to keep still to the sprightly chastooshkas (gaily songs) and byword. Clowns and skomorokhs (histrions) will make you laugh to tears. The show goes on and on in the balagans (Punch-and-Judy shows) and theatres. And those who will not want to be simply a spectator can take part in the masquerade: to dress up beyond recognition or to muffle in a long fur coat and to drink a glass of vodka with a bear.
On the last day of the Great Maslenitsa the feasting and drinking ends up by burning down the scarecrow symbolizing winter thus saying goodbye to winter till the next year.
For the Russians Maslenitsa is like a carnival for the Italians, especially because the initial sense of festivals is the same: the Italian word "carnival" (carne-vale) means "farewell the beef!", and Maslenitsa that precedes the Great Lent, in old time was called "Myasopust" because it was forbidden to eat meat during this week.
The last day of Maslenitsa is called the Forgiveness Day. Everybody ask one another for forgiveness in order to redeem themselves from their sins before the Great Lent. They bow to one another and say, "God will forgive you". Maslenitsa is over and so is the winter giving way to the spring.
Everybody knows what the Russian Soul is! This is prowess, dare-devilry, and, of course, the famous Russian hospitality. Everybody is welcome to Moscow to see the Russian winter off!