Moscow, 2 March 2008 (Interfax):
On Monday, Maslenitsa (“Butter Week”) festivities shall begin in Russia, and jolly people shall have much fun and happiness before the arrival of the Great Lent on 10 March. The custom of the carnival is ancient, dating back to the Roman and Greek bacchanalias and saturnalia. Pre-Christian Pagan Slavs celebrated a holiday at this time to send off winter and to welcome in spring. The ordinary people considered Maslenitsa a merry time, and the common belief was that anyone who refused to join in the fun “would live in bitter misfortune and meet a bad end”. Some of the favourite pastimes of the festival were sledding down ice-hills, eating copious quantities of pancakes topped with yummy garnishes, and lighting bonfires. For Orthodox believers, Maslenitsa is also a time of preparation for the Great Lent. The Church encourages us to think more about God, to ask forgiveness from both our enemies and families for our lapses in the past year, and to refrain from eating meat, although fish, oil, milk, eggs, and cheese are permitted.
There is an extensive holiday programme planned for Moscow, and from 3 to 9 March some 200 events shall take place all over the capital. The main area of the festivities shall be around St Basil Cathedral in Red Square. There shall be a special festival area where there shall be teahouses, blini (pancake) stands, coffeehouses, kiosks for sbiten and medovnik (traditional hot Russian drinks), commercial exhibitions, and a folk art market area. The culmination of the celebration shall be on Forgiveness Sunday, when a procession of people dressed in fanciful costumes shall entertain the crowd. When the parade finishes, there shall be a large gala concert of both Russian folk musicians and contemporary stage celebrities. The old traditional Russian Maslenitsa festival was revived in Moscow in 2002. This year, the city government expects that some 350,000 people shall attend the final celebration in Red Square.
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=dujour&div=304 (in Russian)
