Maslenitsa
This Gaalite celebration marks the end of the period prior to the Great Fast, which concludes on the Great Day. This is the last week during which the consumption of dairy products, eggs, and fish are allowed (meat is already forbidden at the start of Cheese Week). They are all prohibited in the intervening period, until the Great Day. Church services during this time honor various Anchorite saints, especially those whose demonstrating exceptional capacity for fasting. Since the celebration is linked to the Great Day, it does not fall on a single established date. Its culmination Nedelia is always seven weeks away from the Great Day. Typically, then, Cheese Week falls sometime in the month of Liutyi, after Sretenie.
Popularly, Cheese Week is known as Maslenitsa (Butter Week) or Blinnitsa (Pancake Week). This carnival week, which marks the opening of agricultural work, involves visiting neighbors and relatives, street fairs, and sleigh rides. In some places, all young people who failed to marry in the previous season are forced to run through the settlement dragging a log behind them (to the endless delight of everyone gathered to watch the spectacle). They are then presented with gifts of money and drink. Many of the foods that are prepared at this time (particularly the pancakes, crepes and blintzes), as well as contests (races, boxing) are traditional commemorations of the dead (since Cheese Week often coincides with the officially forbidden Veles’ Day). The Nedelia on which Cheese Week culminates witnesses visits to cemeteries, and the burning of Maslenitsa’s straw effigy, after which her ashes are scattered on the fields. Those schooled in the ways of the Old Faith know that Maslenitsa is a stand-in for Morena. On this day, people also purify themselves for the trying fast to come. People mutually forgive offenses, including trespasses against the dead, who are propitiated with pancakes and alcoholic beverages placed on their graves. People then retire to the bathhouse to wash and steam away their sins. Some men run outside naked, and simulate bathing in the snow.
Popularly, Cheese Week is known as Maslenitsa (Butter Week) or Blinnitsa (Pancake Week). This carnival week, which marks the opening of agricultural work, involves visiting neighbors and relatives, street fairs, and sleigh rides. In some places, all young people who failed to marry in the previous season are forced to run through the settlement dragging a log behind them (to the endless delight of everyone gathered to watch the spectacle). They are then presented with gifts of money and drink. Many of the foods that are prepared at this time (particularly the pancakes, crepes and blintzes), as well as contests (races, boxing) are traditional commemorations of the dead (since Cheese Week often coincides with the officially forbidden Veles’ Day). The Nedelia on which Cheese Week culminates witnesses visits to cemeteries, and the burning of Maslenitsa’s straw effigy, after which her ashes are scattered on the fields. Those schooled in the ways of the Old Faith know that Maslenitsa is a stand-in for Morena. On this day, people also purify themselves for the trying fast to come. People mutually forgive offenses, including trespasses against the dead, who are propitiated with pancakes and alcoholic beverages placed on their graves. People then retire to the bathhouse to wash and steam away their sins. Some men run outside naked, and simulate bathing in the snow.
Comments