In 2022 Maslenitsa falls on February 28 – March 6. If you dream of prosperity and abundance in the house, then try to celebrate this holiday according to the traditions! Find out how our ancestors celebrated Maslenitsa and what to take care of on the holiday.
Kolodiy, Maslyana, Syrnitsa, Cheesy week, Zagalnitsa, Babi holiday – all these are the names of the merry Maslenitsa, seeing off winter and meeting the spring sun. These are the days of the beginning of the spring rebirth, bringing love, joy, and prosperity.
History of the holiday
Some ethnographers trace the Maslenitsa tradition back to the Tripoli era, others believe that it is even older and is rooted in the times of matriarchy.
One thing is clear: Maslenitsa is a pagan holiday. After the meeting, on February 15, our farmer ancestors “opened the new season”, because it was believed that Winter was already ending, the new Spring had overcome it, and soon the cold would completely lose its strength. It was customary to greet the sun of a new spring long, cheerfully, and abundantly.
In ancient times in Russia, this holiday was associated with the glorification of the sun god Yarila, but there are also theories that the Slavs worshiped the god of cattle and cattle breeding – Veles. The festivities were loud and long: our ancestors burned bonfires, and also burned the effigy of Winter to remind us: it’s time to go home and give way to Spring.
Orthodoxy, however, reduced the holiday to one week – the so-called Meat Week, or “Cheese Week”, designed to facilitate the transition for Christians to a strict seven-week fast.
According to tradition, Maslenitsa includes a “turning point” Monday, “broad” Thursday, and Forgiveness Sunday. But in general, every day of the holiday is considered special – here you can find out how to celebrate Maslenitsa by day.
Today this holiday is considered cheerful and satisfying: the housewives bake pancakes, treat the family, and feast on themselves. Someone guesses, and someone just eats deliciously.
Note to the owner
Before Meat Week, it is customary to visit relatives, friends, neighbors and invite them to visit.
The right Maslenitsa begins at home with the preparation of pancakes or dumplings.
A round pancake is a symbol of the sun, masculinity, happy days, and good harvests. An appetizing pot-bellied dumpling with cheese is a symbol of the new moon, female fertility, and strong children. Cooking dumplings or baking pancakes is a matter of taste and skill for every housewife. The main thing is to cook a lot of them and eat as much as possible.
The filling of the festive dish depends only on the chef’s imagination: sweet cottage cheese, salty cheese, berries, mushrooms, cabbage, potatoes with dill … Only meat is excluded. A week is a meat-and-eat week.
By the way, there is a belief that during the Maslenitsa week everyone should try at least 10 varieties of pancakes baked by different housewives or at least with different fillings. Allegedly, this will provide health, luck, and prosperity for the whole coming year. So there is a reason to become an experimental culinary specialist or just visit relatives more often!
Cheerful tradition for Maslenitsa – Kolodiy
Maslenitsa in Ukraine is called Kolodiy or Kolodka for a reason. According to the ideas of our ancestors, all living things should be in pairs.
Before Maslenitsa, the time for weddings was ending. And just these days it was customary to “blame” the guys who did not have time to start a family. Women tied a small block to the hand of a bachelor, saying: “If you didn’t marry, then wear a block.”
It was possible to remove the “decoration” only by paying the musicians or by offering treats to everyone. Also, young people had to take part in the rite of “swaddling the shoe”, in many regions of Ukraine to this day they carry out a festive ethnographic reconstruction of the rite.
Maslenitsa by day of the week in 2022
In 2022, Pancake week begins on February 28. Let’s remember how to celebrate Maslenitsa by day. Find out how our great-grandfathers called and celebrated every day of it, and let’s celebrate spring according to ancient folk customs!
Shrovetide by day of the week. Day one – “Meeting”
On Monday, the first day of Maslenitsa, it was customary to discuss the time and place of the upcoming festivities. They were finishing preparations for the farewell to winter – they made a scarecrow and began to bake pancakes.
Shrovetide by day of the week. Day two – “Game”
On Tuesday, brides were organized to have a wedding right after Lent. In large villages, performances were staged, the main characters of which were Shrovetide Grandfather and Petrushka.
Shrovetide by day of the week. Day three – “Gourmet”
On Wednesday, the mother-in-law invited her son-in-law to pancakes. The main entertainment on this day was baking and eating pancakes. On Lakomka, you could eat as much as you wanted.
Shrovetide by day of the week. Day four – “Rampant”
From Thursday it was forbidden to work. People completely and completely indulged in festivities – they rode sleighs and horses, organized fisticuffs.
Shrovetide by day of the week. Day five – “Teschiny evenings”
On Friday, the mother-in-law with other relatives and friends visited her son-in-law, and her daughter treated her to pancakes. The young wife was supplied with equipment and consumables for baking pancakes by her parents.
Shrovetide by day of the week. Day six – “Zolovkina gatherings”
On the sixth day, the newly-made daughters-in-law received the spouse’s sisters. It was allowed to invite your unmarried girlfriends to visit only if the sister-in-law had not yet had time to start families.
Shrovetide by day of the week. Day seven – “Forgiveness Sunday”
On Sunday, people asked each other for forgiveness for all insults and quarrels. In the evening, the dead were commemorated. In addition, on the seventh day, they went to the bathhouse, burned the effigy of Maslenitsa, personifying fertility, as well as all unnecessary things.
Burn brightly: rites for Shrovetide
The most fun has always been the last weekend of Pancake week – the people said goodbye to the festive winter cycle, ahead was a long and difficult Great Lent, which will last right up to Easter.
Huge fairs were traditionally held in the villages, where you could sing and dance with beautiful girls or measure your agility and strength with cheerful lads. And, of course, be sure to eat up pancakes.
Toward evening, a scarecrow of winter, Madder, was burned. When the fire lights up, according to tradition, they become in a common circle to throw all the sorrows, sorrows, and anxieties of the past winter into the fire.
And do not forget: there is a belief among the people that those who refuse to celebrate Shrovetide will live in need all year. But this, of course, is not about us!
Forgiveness Sunday – the end of Maslenitsa
The Shrovetide weekends with Forgiveness Sunday. On this day, the fun is on the decline. People are beginning to prepare for the beginning of Lent, which, as you know, involves not only food restrictions, but also spiritual cleansing.
It is on this day that it is customary to ask for forgiveness from everyone to whom you are guilty, and even from those who have never told you about their grievances. In response to an apology, according to tradition, they answer “I forgive – and God will forgive.”
