March 07, 2016

Let the Maslenitsa Begin!


Let the Maslenitsa Begin!

Many cultures have grand celebrations to mark the end of winter, the beginning of spring and the onset of the Lenten season. These events are one last big bash before the 40 days of penitence and fasting. Most familiar to Americans are Mardi Gras, Carnival and Fat Tuesday.

In Russia, this celebration is called Maslenitsa ("butter week") and it runs the entire week prior to Russian Orthodox Lent, the season which precedes Pascha (Easter).

During Maslenitsa, the Orthodox abstain from meat.

During Lent all meat, fish, poultry, eggs, products containing animal fat and dairy products are prohibited. Since Lent is a penitential season in the Church, parties and celebrations are also banned.

Essential to Maslenitsa are blini. They are meatless pancakes made of milk and eggs and eaten with sour cream. These are foods which are coincidentally allowed during Cheese Week on the Church calendar.

Blini
Ah, blini!

Maslenitsa, like many Christian holidays, has pagan roots; in this case, the celebration of the sun. Blini are round and golden, like the sun. While Christianity officially came to Russia in 988, Paganism existed in Russia as early as the second century AD.

Maslenitsa was first recorded as such in the 500s AD. The Church knew that it could not completely do away with the pagan holidays and thus would typically align Christian observances with them. Such is the case with Maslenitsa.

Maslenitsa was and is characterized by more than just the eating of mass quantities of blini, however. Each of the days of the celebration feature such things like masquerade parties, visiting friends, sleigh rides and any form of merriment. Often, specific activities were assigned to the days, such as a day to visit one's grandparents.

On the Friday of Maslenitsa, a brightly dressed straw puppet of Lady Maslenitsa would accompany the merry makers as a symbol of the hope of agricultural prosperity to come. Since Maslenitsa leads into Lent, Lady Maslenitsa was burned in a bonfire along with any remaining blini on Sunday evening as Lent began.

You Might Also Like

Orthodox-Catholic Summit
  • February 14, 2016

Orthodox-Catholic Summit

This week, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill met in Havana. Why was this such a big deal?
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

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.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
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.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
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.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

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