“Shrovetide (Farewell-to-Winter Festival) The Secondary School №5 Project. “Shrovetide (Farewell-to-Winter Festival) or Russian Maslenitsa.” Altaisky 2008

Russian Maslenitsa

In Russia winter is rich in festivals In Russia winter is rich in festivals. It is time to celebrate thought it’s cold, frosty and snowy.

We want to tell about one Russian winter festival called Shrovetide (Maslenitsa). It is celebrated in late February – early March. People all over the country don’t work. They just have fun. Usually it is celebrated on Sunday.

The highlight of the festival is the scarecrow of Maslenitsa. Maslenitsa is an old Slavonic pagan festival. It isn’t a holiday. It has deep roots. But nowadays people hardly remember about them.

Ancient Slavonic people celebrated new year in spring. Now it is a day when people say goodbye for winter and welcome to spring.

Maslenitsa is a holiday for friendly and open- hearted people. Russians have a carnival: they tell fortunes, build a townlet, climb a pole for gift, wear fancy costumes, ride a troika. They just have a fun.

In the evening Russians take scarecrow of Maslenitsa and burn it.

Russians eat bliny (pancakes) with butter, caviar and cream. It is the national traditional dish, which is very popular that day.

Welcome and enjoy! It is very tasty! Russian “bliny” (pancakes) is a symbol of the Sun.

Project was done by Druzhinin Dmitry and Manaev Aleksey 8”A” form 2008