Wide Maslenitsa. Celebration of Shrovetide

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Wide Maslenitsa, Krivosheyka, Pancake, Obyedukha, Shrovetide Week - this is one and the same holiday, which is celebrated almost all over the world. The meaning of this holiday is to distinguish between the winter and spring periods for the common people and the definition of Great Lent for Christians. For a whole week, people walk, sing songs, ride sleighs, bake pancakes, go to each other's houses and at the end of the festival they burn an effigy.

What kind of holiday is this - Wide Maslenitsa?

Maslenitsa is a traditional seven-day holiday celebrated by the Slavs before Lent. It got its name due to the fact that during this period you can eat butter, dairy products, fish. This period in the Orthodox Church is also called Cheese Week.

The date of the holiday varies constantly, but it always comes before Lent, at the end of winter. Therefore, among the people, this holiday (Wide Shrovetide) marks the farewell to winter and the meeting of spring. People make scarecrows, prepare competitions, bake pancakes. On the squares they arrange a whole performance with songs and round dances, where everyone can take part in any event.

Shrovetide is celebrated for 7 days. These are Meeting, Flirting, Gourmand, Revelry, Mother-in-law evenings, Sister-in-law gatherings, Seeing off. The end of Maslenitsa always falls on Forgiveness Sunday. Therefore, the meaning of the holiday lies not in simple mass visits to guests, but in cleansing the soul from insults with sincere forgiveness.

Narrow and Wide Maslenitsa

Shrovetide is divided into two periods:

• from Monday to Wednesday is the Narrow Maslenitsa;
• Thursday to Sunday is the Broad Maslenitsa.

In the first period, people were allowed to work, and in the second, people devoted themselves to the holiday. The Broad Maslenitsa began with rituals.

• On Monday morning, the daughter-in-law was sent to her parents. In the evening, the mother-in-law and the father-in-law came to the pancakes to the matchmakers and discussed what composition and where they would celebrate Shrovetide.
• On Tuesday, the bridesmaids were arranged. People went from house to house, ate pancakes, went sledding.
• On Wednesday, the mother-in-law invited her son-in-law and other guests to pancakes.
• From Thursday mass festivities began. These days, people participate in fistfights, ride horses, sing songs, carol, jump over a fire, storm snowy towns, scare passers-by, play tricks on each other (propping up a door with a log, dragging a cart to the roof, etc.).
• On Friday, the son-in-law was supposed to greet the mother-in-law and her relatives.
• On Saturday, the daughter-in-law invited her sister-in-law and other relatives of her husband.
• On Sunday they asked everyone for forgiveness, bathed in a bathhouse, burned an effigy, said goodbye to the dead in the cemetery.

Which countries celebrate this holiday?

Congratulations on the Broad Maslenitsa are relevant not only for the Russian people. This holiday is also celebrated in other countries, only it has a different name.

• Finns call Shrove Tuesday Laskiainen.
• Croats celebrate Fashnik.
• Greeks have Apokries.
• Estonians, Norwegians, Germans in the north, Latvians, Danes celebrate Vastlavya.
• Americans and French-speaking Europe celebrate Mardi Gras.
• English-speaking Europe and Australia call this holiday Penance Day or Pancake Day.
• Armenians have Bun Barekendan.
• Germans in the south and German-speaking Europe celebrate Fastnacht.
• Czechs and Slovaks call Maslenitsa Myasopust, or Fashank. By the way, Catholic Slavs also call this holiday Myasopust.
• Poles celebrate Remains, or Starts.

The meaning of the holiday is the same for all nations, regardless of differences in food and competitions. For example, on the Russian and Belarusian tables, a tortilla or pancake is an obligatory dish, while Ukrainians cook cheesecakes and dumplings.

Connection of Maslenitsa with fertility, childbearing and the dead

Initially Maslenitsa was a pagan holiday, the essence of which was to stimulate the beginning of the fertile cycle. That is why the peasants scattered the ashes of scarecrows in their fields.

The scarecrow was made from a birch stake and straw, which symbolized the beginning of life. The birth of children was also associated with fertility. That's whyhomemade carnival dolls were given to childless couples, family festivities were honored and unmarried people were condemned. In Ukraine and Belarus, such bachelors were tied with sticks to their legs and forced to drag this deck. The meaning of this rite was to make girls and boys think about legal marriage.

And the third meaning of the holiday was associated with the commemoration of the dead. That is why the first pancake was given to the dead, and on the last day even crumbs were not removed from the table, since it was believed that dead relatives came and ate at night.

Harvest, fertility of livestock, the birth of children and the commemoration of the dead were associated with the fertility of the land. However, many rituals in our time are purely symbolic and are included as a historical reference in the script. At the same time, the wide Maslenitsa did not lose its scope and revelry.

Missing or rare rituals

• Grandfather's funeral. Belarusians on the first day of the holiday, when they need to take the first pancake to the cemetery, bury a stuffed grandfather with a pronounced male organ. Children and bachelors were not invited to this event, as the exaggerated funeral was accompanied by caustic jokes and ambiguous ditties. Today, this rite has not survived.



• Bear fun. Traditionally, the bear danced with a disguised performer, then "parodied" the girl dressing up, and then wrestled with his master. Nowadays, buffoons and costumed artists sometimes narrate about this rite.
• Cooker. Costumed youth frightened passers-by and went from house to house. Some people staged carnival pranks: they would drag a cart up to the roof, prop up the door with a log… Nowadays, this ritual has passed into Kolyada, and is sometimes played by artists in the performance.
• Street trade. Earlier, congratulations on the Broad Maslenitsa were accompanied by the sale of pancakes, drinks and other goods. Currently, events from the city administration are organized for the holiday for free (usually pancakes without filling and tea), but there are also private stalls.

Traditional Shrovetide games

Wide Maslenitsa in the old days had a number of customs that were repeated from year to year. Burning a scarecrow and making pancakes are the main elements of the holiday. But they also performed the following rituals:

• The capture of snow towns. They made towns out of snow doused with water. People were divided into two teams, where one part was to defeat the "residents" of the city. Such a city was supposed to be built near the river bank, so in some villages they put a pole on which they hung gifts and poured water over it.
• Fist fight. The traditional type of fisticuffs was "wall to wall". When boys came out to fight first, then unmarried guys and then adult men. Its meaning is to show the prowess of men. These days they are being replaced by boxing or tug of war.



• Skiing from the mountains. From the steep mountains on huge painted sledges of six people, two teams rode. The sled was very heavy, so the team that rode the most would have a richer crop in the fields. These days skiing from the mountains is being replaced by skiing onhorses.

Celebration of Shrove Tuesday in modern Russia

Currently, the administration of the city or village organizes a public celebration on the last day of Maslenitsa. On this day, huge platforms are built, on which professional artists work. They not only sing songs, ditties, but also beat all the days of Maslenitsa with all the walks and historical rites.

People can actively participate in various draws and performances. To relieve stiffness and cheer up people, buffoons are constantly snooping around, who are looking for perky and courageous people to participate in various competitions. In the old days, a wide Shrovetide (pictures with costumed actors) was always accompanied by booths and parsley comedies.

Besides the competitive places, there are also several stalls with hot tea and pancakes. From the city administration, refreshments are usually free, while private owners have a variety of dishes, but for a fee. Away from the show, either ice slides are installed, or horses and sledges are provided for riding. The order and discipline must be observed by the police.

What contests are on the holiday

Despite the fact that many rituals and games are outdated, modern farewells to winter also attract crowds of people. The scenario of the holiday "Wide Shrovetide" is designed for different ages and needs. Some watch the performance and walk with the artists from one platform to another, going through all the Shrovetide stages.

The second ones immediately participate in competitions. The most frequently organizedEvents:

• Ice pillar with gifts. People must undress to the waist and climb up the icy slippery column to the very top to the gifts. The competition is considered completed if the package with the gift is not torn off, but removed from the hook. They hang completely different things on a pole, there were cases when the grunting of a piglet was heard from a height.
• Tug of war. People are divided into two teams and must pull all the opponents to their side.
• Pouring water. The men show off their prowess as a few daredevils undress and douse themselves with water.
• Street fighting. These are competitions for men. Previously, entire crowds fought each other. Civilized hand-to-hand combat is being organized at the moment.

What stuffed Shrove Tuesday are there?

Not a single Wide Maslenitsa (photos are presented in the article) is complete without a doll. There are several varieties:

• Big effigy to be burned. They made it from two sticks crossed in the form of a cross, on which they built up a “body” with the help of branches and straw, then put on clothes and painted a face. Here they made two versions of stuffed animals: the image of Winter, where the clothes were old, and the image of the young Maslenitsa with ribbons and beautiful outfits. Usually they burned old things with a scarecrow of Winter.



• Medium Shrovetide doll. It is made small, for children's and student performances, when teachers and children go around the classroom with songs, poems and nursery rhymes and introduce the audience to the Broad Maslenitsa. They make it in the same way as a large scarecrow, only in small sizes.
• HomemadePancake week. This is a small doll no more than 20 centimeters. They make these for gifts to young childless couples or as a talisman for newlyweds. A homemade doll is made without a needle, scissors and other piercing objects. The fabric is torn into pieces by hand, the details are wrapped with threads.

What is the meaning of a scarecrow?

The scarecrow of old Winter was depicted as an old woman. Its burning meant the end of everything old and the meeting of the new. It was especially important to make scarecrows from birch and straw with a pancake in hand, as this meant fertility. Previously, people with this stuffed animal threw their old things, clothes into the fire and said goodbye to their grievances. Fire helps to cleanse people's souls before Lent.

The big doll of the young Maslenitsa participates in mass performances. It is made light so that it can be carried on a stick. This cheerful doll goes from holiday to holiday (Wide Shrovetide). Songs then sound more cheerful and perky.

Home Maslenitsa helps to establish family relationships. When it is difficult for a son-in-law or daughter-in-law to ask for forgiveness from their parents on Forgiveness Sunday, then gifts in the form of Maslenitsa help melt the cold in the heart. A woman can, in case of quarrels and insults, tell them to the doll and tie them in a knot.

Such dolls were burned along with a scarecrow to say goodbye to the negative. There were also those to which red ribbons with made wishes were attached. They were also burned at the stake to make dreams come true.

Summary of conclusions

Wide Maslenitsa (pictures with pancakes and a scarecrow are given above) includesfuneral, agricultural and marriage rituals. In the first case, the burning of an effigy of Marena, round pancakes, fish on the table, a ban on work, fires testified to the reverence of people for the dead. In the second case of skiing from the mountains, burning a scarecrow made of birch and straw with a pancake, scattering ashes on the fields testified to the future harvest.

In the third version, family members were honored, bridesmaids were arranged and bachelors were punished. So, a young wife, married for a year, had to ride her friends in a sleigh with songs and jokes instead of horses. The betrothed were obliged to publicly kiss at the "kissing" pillar. And bachelors in pairs (a girl and a guy) were forced to walk with a hanging deck all day, enduring ridicule. On Maslenitsa, all relatives should visit guests: first, the mother-in-law “oils” the son-in-law, and then he must welcome his mother to his house.

It turns out that the most family and fun holiday is the Wide Maslenitsa! The songs for each day of the holiday were different, but all of them were fervent and joyful. And there were a lot of pancakes with different fillings. The girls even chose their betrothed according to them.