The beginning of the oil week of the year. Maslenitsa week. Why do we celebrate Maslenitsa seven weeks before Easter?
Maslenitsa 2017: what date, when, the history, traditions and customs of the holiday, as well as much more, read in the TopNews review.
When is Maslenitsa in 2017: what date?
vid_roll_width="300px" vid_roll_height="150px">In 2017, on February 20, one of the most traditionally reckless and beloved holidays among the people starts - Wide Maslenitsa. It ends on the 26th, and on February 27, Orthodox believers enter Great Lent.
Maslenitsa in 2017 coincides with the long weekend on the occasion of the celebration of February 23, so many people will celebrate their favorite holidays in a big way.
Maslenitsa 2017: the history and traditions of the holiday
According to one version, the very word "Maslenitsa" comes from the Russian custom of baking intcbatch oiled pancakes, which were traditionally considered a symbol of the sun. In addition to this round and so beloved dish, pancakes and pies with various fillings are served on Maslenitsa. Treats are prepared throughout the Maslenitsa week and treated to friends, relatives and guests.
It is also customary to have fun on Shrovetide, arrange festivities. skiing, you can indulge in the pleasure of singing and dancing, and another tradition of Maslenitsa is burning an effigy at the stake, which symbolizes the departure of winter and the arrival of the long-awaited spring.
Before the adoption of Christianity, Maslenitsa was celebrated for 14 days, and today it lasts a week.
Maslenitsa 2017: Do's and Don'ts
On Maslenitsa, you should definitely visit relatives, invite and go to visit friends. In no case should you be sad and indulge in despondency. It is believed that if you spend Maslenitsa fun and full, then the year will pass in abundance and with a rich harvest. In addition, on the eve of Great Lent, you should heartily eat and work up, have fun until you drop in the company of dear people.
Maslenitsa 2017 by day of the week
Traditionally, each day of the Maslenitsa week has its own name and meaning.
So, Monday- This is a meeting. On the first day of the week they started baking pancakes and the first pancake was always given to the poor. On this day, booths, ice slides, wooden swings and roundabouts were completed, a scarecrow was made of straw and carried in a sleigh along the street.
Tuesday called the Gamblers. People went to fairs, had fun at the performances of artists, and young people rode slides, built ice fortresses, fought in fistfights.
Wednesday- Lakomka. On Wednesday, mother-in-laws baked pancakes for sons-in-law.
On Thursday- Take a walk - a wide Maslenitsa began. On this day, celebrations and festivities gained strength and prowess.
On Friday on Mother-in-law's evenings, the mother-in-law already came to her son-in-law for pancakes.
Saturday- Zolovkin gatherings. On this day, young daughters-in-law were supposed to invite their sister-in-laws and other male relatives to visit them. On this day, the daughter-in-law should give something to the sister-in-law.
Sunday considered forgiven. On this day, they see off Shrovetide, kiss three times and ask each other for forgiveness. In response, they say: "God will forgive, and I forgive." Also on Sunday, an effigy is burned, and the ashes are scattered across the fields.
Compared to previous years, this time we celebrate Maslenitsa quite early, namely from February 20 to 26. By tradition, from the very first day, all the people begin festive festivities. It is customary to meet and celebrate every day in a special way, each nation does this with its own flavor and local traditions.
Maslenitsa by day of the week
First day Maslenitsa is usually called "Meeting" - this is the day when the general festivities begin. It is today that it is customary to make a scarecrow, which is traditionally installed in the very center of the city. We can observe this kind of tradition today in modern versions of the festivities.« flirting"This is the second day of the celebration of Shrove Tuesday. All citizens come out of their homes in order to have a good time, namely to play snowballs, ride a roller coaster. On this day, it was customary to distribute all the pancakes that were prepared to all the poor and disadvantaged.
Wednesday has the name "Gourmet" today they laid a rich and beautiful table, they invite all their friends, acquaintances and relatives. As for Thursday, this day was considered the beginning of the Broad Maslenitsa, and it had the name "Razguly".
This day just a gift for sons-in-law. It was at this time that they could go to their mothers-in-law and eat pancakes. But a relative cannot refuse such a pleasure to her son-in-law and must definitely feed him. Men, in turn, should prepare some kind of gift for their mother-in-law. It is not good to come empty-handed.
But in Friday already the mother-in-law came to her son-in-law for pancakes. The action should take place at the daughter's, where the table must be set, of course with pancakes. It is better if the son-in-law cooks pancakes himself, it is much more pleasant for the mother-in-law.
« Zalovka's gatherings"- this is Saturday and the day when relatives and friends of her husband came to visit. Usually this is a huge feast that brings together all relatives at one table.
IN Sunday Shrovetide ends, and people gather to see her off, burn an effigy, ask each other for forgiveness, since this day is also called “Forgiveness Sunday”.
Celebrate Maslenitsa in 2017 with February 20 to February 26, and already on the 27th, Great Lent begins for the Orthodox.
Shrovetide is celebrated every year a week before Lent. It is believed that this holiday originated in the period of Kievan Rus. The exact date is unknown. But what is known for sure is that it is customary to eat pancakes on Maslenitsa, have a lot of fun and burn a scarecrow.
The holiday was so iconic that neither the arrival of Christianity, nor wars and revolutions, nor even "communism" could cancel it. Moreover, most of the customs have come down to us practically unchanged. They say that in ancient times there were two effigies - Shrovetide and Maslenitsa - symbols of certain deities, the embodiment of a man and a woman.
The celebration fell on the spring solstice and personified the arrival of the New Year. It is generally accepted that it was then that the saying “As you meet the New Year, so you will spend it” was born. Most likely, this is the reason that the whole week was full of all sorts of fun and plentiful food, symbolizing a prosperous life.
With the adoption of Christianity, this cultural heritage received a new name "Cheese Week" and became a kind of preparation for Lent. With the beginning of Maslenitsa, it is forbidden to eat meat, except for fish, but dairy products are still allowed. The main dish is pancakes. Pancake symbolizes the sun. At this time of the year, we said goodbye to winter and welcomed spring.
Femininity of Maslenitsa
The peculiarity of the holiday is its certain "femininity". In the people this period was called "Woman's Week". It was believed that women played the main role in most of the rituals. Many engagements fell on Maslenitsa, and marriages were often entered into. Particular attention was paid to girlish innocence, motherhood, female wisdom.
Procreation is an important element of Maslenitsa. The pagans greatly appreciated the idea of the cycle of life. Mother Earth gave life to the food with which man was saturated. In turn, a person is obliged to give life to another, continuing the race.
The holiday was also a memorial. The pagans were sure that their ancestors, whose soul was in the land of the dead, and the body in the earth, influenced the fertility of the latter. In order not to anger them, they performed a sacrifice, which was accompanied by mourning weeping and plentiful meals. All this was called a feast.
Forgiveness Sunday
Shrove Tuesday ends with Forgiveness Sunday. It is customary on this day to ask for forgiveness from friends and relatives, to do good deeds.
Maslenitsa is not a church holiday. With the advent of Christianity, its sacred content has practically disappeared, leaving us only its external entourage and gaiety.
The holiday itself, Maslenitsa, came to people from pagan times and earlier our ancestors called it the Cheese week or the week, but still we are more familiar with such a name for the holiday as Maslenitsa. Maslenitsa is celebrated at the end of winter and as a threshold for the long-awaited warmth and spring - in Rus', Maslenitsa is celebrated a week before the start of Lent and 7 weeks before Orthodox Easter. In 2019, Maslenitsa will be celebrated during the period March 4th to 10th.
history of the holiday
Our ancestors believed that it was precisely such pancake feasts that would help spring wake up from hibernation faster and come to people with warmth, and the body to reorganize harmoniously and tune in to an active way. The Orthodox Church did not begin to eradicate the holiday itself, rooted in deep paganism, so as not to quarrel with folk traditions and because of which the festival goes on for a whole week and does not contradict the traditions of Christianity and Great Lent.
Our ancestors compared spring renewal with new life and the Sun - giving warmth, light and new happiness. It was in honor of the heavenly body that pancakes were baked, as its reflection - round, warm and yellow, and everyone who ate them received a piece of strength and warmth from this planet.
Basic rules for celebrating Shrovetide
The holiday itself in its celebration provides for the observance of certain rules adopted by our ancestors. At the very beginning, it is worth remembering that our ancestors did not eat meat dishes throughout the week - only dairy products and fish.
The second rule was that it costs as much as you want, without limiting yourself. Food is a symbol of life and longevity, and therefore there were no restrictions during this period. It was customary to invite guests to the holiday and go to visit them for pancakes and other goodies.
And the third rule for Maslenitsa is the festivities themselves - cheerful and provocative, when everyone, from old to great, takes an active part in it. Now in cities and villages they organize all kinds of festivities and concerts, competitions and round dances, and in this respect you definitely won’t be bored.
Rites and traditions of the festival
Many rituals and traditions on this holiday have their own, special connotations and are very diverse, and therefore it is worth considering some of the ancient customs of our ancestors in order to know their sacred meaning. The most interesting in this regard is the custom to consume dairy dishes - cottage cheese, milk, whey, and so on. Such a custom has a purely material connotation: during this period, the cows are still corpulent and begin to calve at the end of March, and meat supplies are already running out, and because of this, no one thought to slaughter cattle out of economic interest. For this reason, people switched to flour and dairy dishes.
During the Maslenitsa week, our ancestors held courtship and engagements, praised both girlish beauty and youth, as well as mature and wise motherhood, and the experience of elderly grandmothers. In addition, the pancakes that are baked on Maslenitsa have other connotations in their subtext - they also had a funeral significance, acting not only as a symbol of spring and the Sun. So the first pancake and other gifts were given to the poor, as a commemoration of the deceased ancestors - they believed that its round oval is a symbol of eternity, warmth is earthly grace, and the fact that it was baked from flour, milk and eggs is a hint of a well-fed and happy life.
The main tradition of the festival is the construction of an effigy of Maslenitsa - it was made of straw, dressed and shod in clothes. So on the first day such a straw effigy was rolled on a sleigh through the streets, and on the very last day they were burned at the stake and thus symbolized the victory of spring over winter. Fistfights were no less interesting - so to speak, village against village, held in a field or in a square, and were rather comic manifestations of strength, such a fun. Before these fights, they were obliged to take a steam bath, they were allowed to eat meat and bread, despite the fact that this was a ban - this gave them strength and courage.
On Sunday, the last day of the feast, Christians attended church and asked each other for forgiveness, hoping for a new beginning, without offense and anger, and in the evening they burned a straw effigy on fire. While the effigy was burning, they danced around it - so everyone who created a closed circuit received from the fire their piece of heat, energy, a certain protection from flames.
Holiday week and the meaning of each day
So Monday called Meeting when in the morning the father-in-law and the mother-in-law gathered the daughter-in-law and escorted her to her parents, and in the evening they themselves visited the matchmakers. Until that day, swings and slides, barricades for festivities had already been installed in the squares, and the housewives baked pancakes, while the first one was always left for the poor - it was a funeral pancake and was baked and given to the poor as a funeral pancake. Also on this day, a straw effigy was installed in the central square.
Tuesday - Games when on this day young people of both sexes organized joint sleigh rides, slides and other fun and fun. It was on Tuesday that mass brides of future brides and engagements were organized - this was a kind of preliminary preparation for the future wedding after Easter.
Wednesday - Lakomka when the guests were treated with special attention, a rich table was laid. In particular, it was on this day that they went to their mother-in-law for pancakes, also taking goodies with them.
Thursday - Wide walk. All the days of the oil week until Thursday were not as significant in their meaning as this one - it was during this period that they did not work and completely rested from all their affairs, having fun and rejoicing. People organized contests and danced round dances, conquered a tall pillar with prizes hung on its top, and so on.
Friday counts Mother-in-law evenings when many ceremonies and rituals are aimed at accelerating the future marriage between the young. On this day, it was the mothers-in-law who went to the son-in-law for pancakes. So the mother-in-law before that gave her son-in-law everything that was needed to prepare the main dish of the holiday - pancakes, in particular, a frying pan and a ladle, and the father-in-law - butter, milk and flour. If the son-in-law does not accept such an “invitation” and does not treat his mother-in-law with pancakes on Friday, he will greatly upset his future relatives.
Saturday was considered a day Sister-in-law gatherings. It is on Saturday that daughters-in-law are obliged to invite sister-in-laws to gatherings, i.e. husband's sister and without fail give her something. In addition, it was customary to invite other guests to the house, treating them to goodies and pancakes. Even on this day, a very interesting ceremony was held - a kisser. The future newlyweds climbed the highest mountain, bowed to their relatives, kissed and sled down together, where they also continued to kiss to the cheers of the crowd.
Sunday was considered forgiven, and it is with it that the oil week ends. Sunday itself, the ancestors called wires - they ended the cycle of feasts and festivities, when people made fires, melting the ice and driving away the winter. On these bonfires they also burned a scarecrow, and also asked for forgiveness from God and their relatives and friends.
Pancake secrets
Agree, after all the festivities and downhill rides, merry round dances and fist fights, the appetite is sure to flare up and here you can’t do without laid tables and, of course, pancakes, which were served both poured with butter and with all kinds of stuffing.
The flour itself for future pancakes should be sifted without fail just before cooking - so the dough will be softer and without lumps. Eggs should be taken exclusively fresh, just before entering into the dough, beat, sugar and salt should not be added immediately to the dough, but first dissolved in water or milk and only then added to the flour.
When preparing the dough, it is worth observing a certain sequence - first of all, liquid ingredients are mixed together, and only after a thin stream the mixture is introduced into the flour, while constantly interfering with the future dough for pancakes. Oil is introduced into the dough at the very last turn - otherwise the dough will turn out to be dense and too heavy. You should also be careful about the amount of sugar in future pancakes - if it is not enough, then the dough will be sour, and if there is too much, then the pancakes themselves can burn.
A pan for baking pancakes should be taken with a thick bottom and fry them over medium heat for about 30 seconds. from each side. It is worth turning over the pancakes with a wooden spatula and only when the first bubbles appear in it, and the edge becomes brownish.
The winter meat-eater ends and comes Maslenitsa, which in Orthodoxy is called Meatfare or Cheese Week. Maslenitsa is the last week before Great Lent when you can eat a lot and tasty and have fun from the heart before the long and difficult abstinence of Great Lent.
When is Maslenitsa in 2017
The timing of Maslenitsa is different every year, as it is connected with the Easter of Christ. In 2017 Maslenitsa starts February 20th and ends February 26th Forgiveness Sunday. February 27 will start great post, which will last six weeks (weeks) to end on April 16 with the most important holiday in Orthodoxy - bright Easter.
The history of the celebration of Shrovetide
In fact, the custom of celebrating the end of winter and the onset of spring has ancient pagan roots. These celebrations were usually associated with the vernal equinox on March 21st. Maslenitsa among the ancient Slavs was a holiday of the sun, which means that it had to be celebrated with pancakes, symbolizing the heavenly body that gives life to all things. Well, the pagan custom of burning an effigy of Maslenitsa symbolized the desire to quickly drive away the annoying winter.
After the arrival of Christianity in Rus', folk rituals intertwined with new ones - church ones. Therefore, on Maslenitsa, even in the very side of Orthodox times, it was not forbidden to have fun, as it should: there was plentiful food (albeit without meat) and booze on the tables. Also, various amusements were widespread - riding from the mountains, swings, carousels, taking snow towns, fist fights, burning a scarecrow, etc.
Historically, the ban on eating meat during Maslenitsa and Great Lent, by the way, also has pre-Christian roots: at this time, meat harvested in the fall was running out, and the taboo helped to overcome the temptation to start slaughtering young animals.
Maslenitsa and Orthodoxy
The Church believes that the Cheese or Meat Week (week) is not so much a time of carnal pleasures as preparation for Great Lent, which means that you need to cleanse yourself with prayer and reconcile with those near and far, all those whom you have voluntarily or involuntarily offended. Therefore, Shrovetide Week ends with Asked Sunday. But the church does not approve of the tradition of pancake week gluttony and drunkenness, and it is not good for health either.
Nevertheless, before the revolution, Maslenitsa was celebrated widely, drunkenly, violently and cheerfully, for example, the picture of wall-to-wall fisticuffs and other Maslenitsa entertainments are well shown in the film. Nikita Mikhalkov"Siberian barber".
In Soviet times, the celebration of Maslenitsa, of course, was not officially held, but the traditions were alive among the people: there were always pancakes on the tables at that time, and young people loved to burn stuffed animals and jump over bonfires. Already in the 80s of the last century, the almost official celebration of Maslenitsa began to revive, largely due to various folklore groups that collected and revived various folk customs.
Now Maslenitsa is celebrated widely, openly, with mass festivities and rich treats, the basis of which, of course, are pancakes with various seasonings and additives and pancakes with various fillings. Mushrooms, fish, caviar, cabbage, various jams, honey, sour cream, etc. are especially in demand at this time.
Maslenitsa - names of days
Maslenitsa is divided into two periods. The first period - from Monday to Wednesday - is the so-called Narrow Maslenitsa. And already from Thursday to Sunday, the Wide Maslenitsa begins, in the old days it was accompanied by such a violent revelry that the authorities preferred to declare these days days off.
Each day of Maslenitsa had its own name.
So, Monday is the “Meeting”, the day of preparation for the holiday, when a straw effigy was made, which was then burned on Forgiveness Sunday.
Tuesday is "Zagrysh" - the beginning of mass festivities and folk fun.
Wednesday is "Gourmet" - the beginning of the famous pancake gluttony.
Thursday is "Razgulyay" - the beginning of the Broad or Big Maslenitsa, when the people, as they say, began to revel in full.
Friday is "Teschiny gatherings." On this day, the mother-in-law came to visit her married daughter, and they baked pancakes together, treating their son-in-law to them.
Saturday is "Zolovkin's gatherings." On this day, young people went to visit each other, treating themselves to pancakes and other goodies.
The last day of Maslenitsa is Forgiveness Sunday. On this day, people ask each other for forgiveness for voluntarily or involuntarily inflicted insults, while kissing, so this day is sometimes called "The Kisser". Maslenitsa ended on Sunday evening with the burning of an effigy, and on Monday morning Great Lent began.
thin pancake recipe
Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 400 g.
Sugar - 2 tablespoons.
Chicken eggs - 5 pieces.
Milk - 1 liter.
Salt is on the tip of a knife.
Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons.
Cooking:
Beat eggs with sugar, gradually add flour and salt. Pour in the milk and stir gently until smooth. Let it brew for 20 minutes. Add vegetable oil to the dough and fry the pancakes in a very hot pan on both sides until golden brown.