March 03, 2019

Painting Maslenitsa


Painting Maslenitsa

This year, Maslenitsa (aka “butter week,” or a time of gluttony preceding Lent) will be celebrated across Russia from March 4-10.

Maslenitsa originated as a pagan holiday to welcome spring. Later, the holiday attained significance in the Orthodox faith. Varying in dates from year to year, Maslenitsa falls eight weeks prior to the Orthodox celebration of Easter. The week-long homage to spring is now become a time of merriment before the somber, 40-day Great Fast: Lent.

Blini – thin, pancakes served plain or with sweet or savory toppings – are the traditional food eaten during Maslenitsa. Each blin is cooked to a buttery-gold hue, as it is a symbol for the sun, which has returned after the long winter.

Although photographs may well capture the festivities of this important holiday week, there is much to be said for how paintings can help us understand the spirit of a place. And Russian artists, like artists of other countries, turn to their folklore and holidays as an inspiration for their work. In doing so, they have each captured something unique. Here are a few signal examples.

Konstantin Makovsky

Fair Booths on Admiralty Square, St. Petersburg, 1869

The large-scale realist genre painting by Makovsky is set in St. Petersburg and captures hundreds of people – from bundled children, actors, and peasants, to government officials, and true ladies and gentlemen – all gathered in a town square to celebrate. And indeed, celebration is in the air: with all the depicted movement and pushing through crowds, you can almost hear a flurry of shouts and cheering, arguments and laughter, rumbling off the canvas. Critic Vladimir Stasov, Makovsky’s contemporary, praised the painting for the way it captured the flurry of activity amid the cold air, with pink reflections of the winter sun.

Boris Kustodiev

Kustodiev
Maslenitsa, 1919

Maslenitsa is a recurrent theme in many Kustodiev paintings. This brightly colored image is not set in a specific city. The crowded fairgrounds are tucked behind the theater on the right side of the painting. At the center, we have the cheerful atmosphere of the comings and goings of red-faced townspeople. The rolling, snowy hills add drama and movement to the painting. But, interestingly, the angles and the composition of the painting draw our eyes up to the small church at the top of the painting. Does Kustodiev want the viewer to recall the coming Lent?

Vasily Surikov

Snow Fortress
Taking a Snow Town, 1891

Surikov’s painting focuses in on one specific activity: a game roughly translated as “capturing the snow fortress.” The game consists of a snow town, often built in an open field or on a river bank, then doused in water that becomes ice in the sub-zero temperatures, fortifying the construction. On the last day of Maslenitsa, two teams are organized—the defenders and the attacks of the “town.” As Surikov depicts it, branches can sometimes be used as a means of defense. The event is, of course, a draw not only for participants, but a cause for joyful cheers from the many spectators. You can still find variations of this game played in cities across Russia.

Simon Kozhin

Kozhiin
Maslenitsa. Farewell to Winter, 2001

Artist Simon Kozhin captures another key activity of Maslenitsa in his painting: the torching of a large straw Maslenitsa-scarecrow, the symbol of winter. This pyrotechnically activity is laden with symbolism, from the way it is built to the meaning behind burning it. Many think of the act as expressing the centuries-old idea of renewal: burning away the old and preparing to start anew. Similar to the tradition of Groundhog Day in the US, the way the Maslenitsa burns is also said to be an indicator on the arrival spring. After all, the faster winter burns, the sooner spring will come.

Igor Shaimardanov

Shaimardanov
Maslenitsa. Farewell to Winter, 2001

Maslenitsa has not only been an inspiration for artists historically, but continues to permeate into the imaginations of contemporary artists. In the case of Igor Shaimardanov, it takes on a satirical tone. After what appears to be a night of drink-filled celebrations, a large sun, depicted as a blin, rises to the center of the painting.

◎ ◉ ●

Although modern life, especially big city life, can often feel less community-oriented, Maslenitsa is still a holiday that people are eager to celebrate together. Nearly all Russian cities still have fairgrounds, outdoor skating and games to celebrate, as well as the burning of Maslenitsa. There will also be many occasions to eat blini, whether it’s with classmates at school, one’s family, or in crowds at a fair. But if you can’t make it to a fair, maybe you can try your hand at making some of those golden-sun pancakes.

You Might Also Like

Bliny
  • February 20, 2012

Bliny

In honor of Maslenitsa, we offer this great story/essay by Chekhov on bliny: "Did you know that bliny have been around for over a thousand years, since what is known as the old Slavonic ab ovo...? They appeared on earth before Russian history began and have lived through it all from the beginning to the last page, without any doubt, invented, like the samovar, by Russian minds...."
Who Invented the Ancient Slavic Gods, and Why?
  • March 15, 2017

Who Invented the Ancient Slavic Gods, and Why?

How it was that in the eighteenth century Russian mythology was trumped-up in the Western manner? Who wanted it? And where did we get Lel, Yarilo and Zimtserla? We explain everything you'd want to know about Russian fakelore.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
The Little Humpbacked Horse

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955