This year Maslenitsa (Pancake week) started on 28^th of February and will last till the 6^th of March. The Maslenitsa date changes every year and it depends on the beginning of the Great Lent. Its main goal is reconciliation with relatives and friends, forgiveness. Maslenitsa is a colloquial name of the Cheesefare week which is the last week before the Lent. During this week it is forbidden to eat meat, but is allowed to eat fish and dairy products.

The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is  bliny (Russian pancakes), popularly taken to symbolize the sun. Round and golden, they are made from the rich foods still allowed by the Orthodox tradition: butter, eggs and milk.

Maslenitsa also includes masquarades, snowball fights, sledding, riding on swings and plenty of sleigh rides. Maslenitsa has always been the most favorite Slavic celebration. During the whole week people gave a send-off winter, baked pancakes and visited each other. It is believed that a person that was bored and didn’t have fun during this week would be fortuneless during the whole year.

Every day of Pancake week has its special name. The whole week is divides into two parts – Narrow Maslenitsa (Monday - Wednesday) and Wide Maslenitsa (Thursday - Sunday). It is allowed to keep house and do other kinds of business during first three days of the week but from Thursday all works stopped and Wide Maslenitsa with lots of street festivities started.

• Monday – Meeting

The day when father-in-law and mother-in-law sent daughter-in-law to visit her parents and in the evening all the family discussed details of the celebrations. They started to bake pancakes and the first one gave to poor people. On Monday they made a brightly dressed straw effigy known as the Lady Maslenitsa and put it on a picket. 

• Tuesday – Zaigrysh (A Flirt)

This is a day when a matchmaking taking place.

• Wednesday – Lakomki (Eating dainties)

This day a son-in-law visited a mother-in-law. She baked bliny and in this way showed her favour to her daughter’s husband.

• Thursday – Razgulay (A rakish day)

From this day a real celebration started. All work finished and people had lot fun like masquarades, snowball fights, sledding, riding on swings and plenty of sleigh rides. The meaning of this day is a splashing of all negative energy that is left after a winter.

• Friday – Mother-in-law evenings

This day mother-in law with a family and friends visited her son-in-law to eat her daughter’s pancakes.

• Saturday – Zolovkiny Posidelki (Sister-in-law party)

Young wives invited sisters-in-law, other husbands relatives and gave them presents.

• Sunday – Provody (Seeing off)

The second name of this day is a Kissing Day (Tselovalnik) or Forgiving Day (Proschenny den). This day is a culmination of the whole celebration week. All close people asked for a fogiveness from each other for the previous year. They visited banya (Russian baths), burnt the rest of food after the celebrations. And of course they burnt the Lady Maslenitsa as a symbol of Winter!

Of course today people don’t celebrate Maslenitsa the way they did centuries ago but still there are many traditions left which all guests of Russia can see and take part in all over the country during this special week!