Maslenitsa is a cheerful and satisfying folk holiday, which takes place seven days and is associated with people with folk festards, hot pancakes and burning stuffed. In 2020, the carnival week will last from February 24 to March 1. The editorial office of 24cmi will tell about the history of origin and how Maslenitsa is celebrated.
The history of the emergence, the essence and symbols of the carnival
The holiday arose in times of paganism and preserved with the arrival of Christianity on Russia. The history of the emergence is associated with the God of the Sun Yarila, whom people called on to drive cold and frost, and asked for the arrival of spring. To Christianity, Maslenitsa was celebrated on the day of the Spring Equinox in late March, when the day became longer than the night. At this time, the weather is capricious and unpredictable, frosts are replaced by thaw, and soon the blizzard sweeps again. Maslenitsa became a kind of frontier between the winter and in the spring and embodied the idea of cyclicity, which was the basis of pagan beliefs.After the baptism of Russia, the Church did not fight and eradicate until the end of the pagan holidays and the customs associated with them, rites and traditions, and introduced a new meaning and transformed into a Christian veneer. Over time, the sacral paternal meaning of the holiday was lost, and positive and joyful meanings (respect for a woman, to nature, reverence of ancestors) - preserved. The Orthodox Church does not consider the Maslenitsa the Christian holiday, but also does not rebel Christians to have fun and relax in the circle of relatives and friends, participate in feasts and folk festivities. Maslenitsa is a joyful holiday and should pass in the spirit of love and good, to unite people, "the priests consider.
The holiday has many titles from different Slavic peoples. The most common names: Oil, cheese week, pancake week, boyfriend or Mrs. Carnival, Maslenka, shoe.
Pancakes who are baked on the passenger week every day, symbolize the sun - round, yellow and hot. Slavs also considered pancakes to remember with a deep symbolic meaning. On the first day of the holiday for late relatives, the first baked pancake was left on the window.
Straw scarecrow symbolizes the winter that is inferior to the spring. Scarecrow burned on the square during folk festivities in forgiveness Sunday.
Traditions of passenger week
Each of the seven days of the Maslenkaya week has its own name, which states what to do on this day.
- Monday - "Meeting" with a holiday and cheerful entertainment for children. Together with adults, the children were poured on the street of ice slides and mastered the straw scarecrow - the main symbol of the carnival.
- Tuesday - "Blash". Young people have fun on the ice slings and treated pancakes.
- Wednesday — "Landek". The mother-in-law invited a son-in-law on pancakes with sour cream, caviar, fish and other fillings.
- Thursday - "ragble". Running the winter, arranging horse riding around the village clockwise, "by Sunny". Children and men built snow fortresses and satisfied snow battles and fist competitions.
- Friday - "Lathetins of the evening." The son-in-law invited mother-in-law with girlfriends to visit and in every way cared his wife's mother.
- Saturday - "Castle of the gatherings." Invited to visit the relatives of her husband or unmarried girlfriends.
- Sunday - "Wires". Forgiveness Sunday. On this day, they remembered the dead, asked for forgiveness from loved ones and relatives for all offenses. Holiday climax is a solemn rite of burning the straw stuffed, meaning the care of winter and the arrival of spring. At the end of the guys, youth competed in the bonfire jump.