Spring holidays, which arose in ancient pre-Christian times, exist for different peoples. If the Romans and Greeks celebrated the Saturnalia with splendor, then it is not surprising that the pagan Slavs also had such celebrations. Although the Christian priests tried always to eradicate customs that are in conflict with the canons of Orthodoxy, but some of them have been slightly transformed and have not disappeared from the life of commoners. These include the holding of the most popular Shrovetide festival, which neither church leaders nor revolutionary propaganda could destroy.
How to celebrate the Shrovetide festival?
The holiday of the Carnival day for the Slavs was associated with the spring renewal, the wires of the harsh winter, and also with worship before the departed. "Meeting Maslenitsa" was celebrated on Monday, dressing up the effigy of Winter in women's apparel. Then he was taken by the village on horseback, bringing them to a high hill, where noisy and funny sledging was arranged.
The second day of this week was called "Flirt". In addition to sledge entertainment, puppet shows were arranged, buffoons entertained the people with their jokes and songs. People were driving a sleigh through the city or village, and in various masquerade outfits they visited acquaintances with concerts. Traditionally, bearish fun was organized, when trained animals in a girlish dress imitated the girls in front of mirrors or hostesses baking treats with pancakes.
"Gourmand" was the third day of the Maslenitsa holiday. In each house feasts with tasty dishes were arranged, among which pancakes were necessarily present. In addition, the streets were full of shopping tents with different delicacies in the form of gingerbread, roasted nuts, hot sweet drinks.
If you wanted to amuse yourself in fisticuffs, you had to wait until Thursday, which was called "Broad revelry." In addition, on this day the people were amused by storming snowy cities, sledding and other fun entertainment.
"Evenings of the evening" fell on Friday, the son-in-law had to respect his relatives from his wife and come to the feast. If a man neglected tradition, this could lead to family feuds. By the way, the Shrove Tuesday is strongly associated with marital relations. It was then that it was customary to celebrate a couple who married last year, and also to hold a show for the youth.
The families that had recently broken up had to exchange courtesy visits this week. "Zolovkin sitting" fell on Saturday, this day the young wife arranged a feast for the sisters of her beloved husband.
"Seeing Maslenitsa" was on Sunday, when the effigy of Winter was solemnly burned at the people. People, throwing pancakes and remnants of festive food in a huge fire, said goodbye with nourishing food and prepared for the post. On the last day of the week, it was necessary to remember the deceased relatives and in the evening to honor them with their arrival at the cemetery.
How does the official church belong to Shrovetide?
In church calendars, you will not see the Russian Shrovetide festival, it is officially called Cheese Week. This name is associated with the fact that in these days the charter prohibits
Cheese week is a floating date, so some people sometimes get confused with an exact definition of the number of the Maslenitsa holiday. This is due to the mandatory binding to the date when the Bright Resurrection of Christ is celebrated. Therefore, it can be easily remembered that these gay folk festivals always fall for the week preceding the Great Post . To play weddings the church on the Shrovetide festival is already forbidden, but a little fun and enjoy the joy of communication is not forbidden.