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Happy Pancake week

 

About Blini week festival

   Maslenitsa (Pancake week) is the only purely Russian Holiday that dates back to the pagan times. Cheerful holidays were spent with accordions, songs and dances. The people are letting the long-annoying winter out and the long-awaited spring in.

At «Maslenitsa town» all counters are always full of different delicacies. 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). Pancake 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 taste.

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!

 

Scarecrow

   Many people think that it's the Scarecrow of Maslenitsa that is consigned to fire on the last day of winter, but that is not so - this is not Maslenitsa that is burned - this is the rite of saying goodbye to winter.

Aforetime, each men and woman used to take one sheaf of straw from their yards, they made a big Scarecrow, which they dressed like a woman — in bright skirts, blouses and scarves and carried it in sledges around the city thus saluting madam Maslenitsa. After that, the Scarecrow was burned and people threw pancakes into the fire. Parents said to their children that all the fat food had burned thus explaining why people eat only meagre food during the Lent.

Sometimes instead of the Maslenitsa Scarecrow a well-dressed girl or a brightly made up old woman played the role of Madam Maslenitsa and was sledged along the streets. At the end of the festivity the sledge with the actress was drawn out of the city and there the woman was thrown into a big snowdrift to hilarious laughter and hooting of the onlookers. Thus, they were «burying» Maslenitsa.

 

Snow fortresses («Tsar of mountain»)

   It is traditional to build snow fortresses. Many children gather round these fortresses and divide themselves into two groups. The «First group» occupy the fortress and the «Second group» prepare for the attack. At last after the sign from their commander the «Second group» starts the assault of the fortress. The fight begins. The besieged bravely defend their fortress against the «Second group» throwing in them snowballs.

 

Petrushka’s comedies

   In the ancient times in Russia during Maslenitsa the Petrushka (Punch) comedies were quite popular. Sometimes it even so happened that several Petrushkas performed one and the same comedy several times on end on one and the same day. Petrushka's comedies' success lied on the one hand in their relevance and on the other hand in their satiric character. They were quite charming and understandable because of their simplicity to most of the people of all ages and mentalities.

Usually such performances began with a loud laughter or a song from behind the curtain and after that Petrushka appeared. He was clad in a red shirt, velveteen trousers tucked into the dandy boots and wore a fancy cap on his head. The indispensable details of his appearance were one or two artificial humpbacks and a long crooked nose.

 

Balagans

   The center of the Maslenitsa Square were Balagans (show-booths). Maslenitsa balagans were the main attraction though not always affordable. Balagans were the face of the carnival. The number of balagans, the pomposity of the finery and the names of their promoters - all were the signs of the degree and importance of the event.

Initially the word «balagan» meant «an upper extension of a building». In the beginning of the XIX century the word meant «a convertible shopping construction». The term acquired the nowadays meaning, which is a construction for traveling shows, or booths, only in the second half of the XIX century.

Professional actors, state functionaries, craftsmen, as well as circus actors performed on these light theatrical constructions.