Maslenitsa
The Maslenitsa ( stress on the first syllable; Russian Масленица; German: Pancake week ) is a traditional Russian feast at the end of winter, which lasts one week. She is originally a pagan and not Christian Orthodox celebration, but since the Christianization of Russia it corresponds with the Christian feast cycle. While related customs exist in all the Orthodox cultures, this article deals specifically with the Russian form of this tradition.
Origin of the name
Maslenitsa refers to the week before the start of Orthodox Lent. The name - Maslo means in Russian butter - is because this week the Orthodox faithful of the consumption of meat is already forbidden, but is still allowed from milk, dairy products, eggs and fish.
Time course
The Maslenitsa is a very boisterous celebration in which before fasting again extensively gluttony is indulged. In its traditional form, it is associated with various domestic sanctuaries that were linked in part to fixed days in the week running. Central and the people are the most widespread burning of Maslenitsa doll and blinis ( pancakes) as a feed at this time. These are both neat and eaten with a variety of fillings to the feast. The traditional full course of Maslenitsa in Russia is as follows:
- Monday was the day of welcome, to which the Maslenitsa, was joyfully greeted, especially by the children, and one straw welcome a large doll that Maslenitsa doll tinkering.
- Tuesday was the day of the games, where there were all sorts of street performances, plays and balls and the young people themselves went looking for a wife.
- On Wednesday, the day of Leckermäulchens, the sons found the solemn Bliny food at a their in-laws, for which the sons but also had to reciprocate with a Bliny meal on Friday evening the mother.
- Thursday was especially the young married couples. The last year newlyweds gathered public and put themselves in pairs, to express their love for each other under the cheers of the spectators.
- Saturday, the day of parting, was celebrated with visiting relatives.
- His conclusion was the festival on Sunday, the day of forgiveness, with the ceremonial burning of the Maslenitsa doll. Under hugs they asked each other for forgiveness for past sins in order to be exempt from contaminated sites can begin the spring.
The doll, which is burned in the end, has traditionally had different forms. In the new Russia, a figure in female form has prevailed in earlier times also animal or fur coat dolls were regionally common. They are usually made of straw.
History
The festival dates back to pre-Christian Slavic traditions. It was celebrated from the beginning to the adoption of winter and before the Christianization of the East Slavs in honor of the god of fertility Slavic Veles. It received its current name in the 16th century, to which it at the same time a kind of extended New Year represented and was comparable to the German New Year's Eve. According to the then valid in the Russian folk tradition, the year began with the beginning of spring. From this, the Maslenitsa developed after the enforcement of the western calendar to a pure fixed to the adoption of winter, as in Germany, carnival, carnival and carnival, but with different content. Among other things, there have been attempts at street festivals in cities not to sell alcohol. The highlight of the Maslenitsa tradition was the 17th to 19th centuries.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the exercise of the custom fell sharply. She held mainly in rural areas on a smaller scale. However, the Maslenitsa tradition lived shortly after the end of the USSR again and developed after the Millennium, people celebrated with fairs and parades, were integrated into the traditional elements of the ceremony from the Tsarist era. Huge Maslenitsa celebrations there are in and around Moscow, where the festival is being promoted as a tourist attraction by the city authorities. A venue for the celebrations is a central stage in the Red Square.