Over the millennia of human history, many rituals and holidays have been forgotten and disappeared without a trace. There are, however, celebrations over which time has absolutely no control. States, religions and rulers are changing, but Shrovetide still drives winter away, establishing the power of the sun on earth.
Slavic ancestor of Maslenitsa
Although the history of the Russian Maslenitsa dates back many centuries, even before it the southern Slavs celebrated Kolodia - a pagan holiday of farewell to winter and "inviting" spring and sunny days. Many features of this holiday were preserved later in Maslenitsa: baking ritual pancakes, riding "salting" on horses, ritual fist fights designed to help Yarila defeat Veles and establish the beginning of spring on earth.
Kolodiy was considered a great holiday for unmarried people and widows. Women took a block (log) for the ceremony and on Monday morning they gathered in the house of the most respected widow to "block". The block was laid on the table, then each of those present took turns wrapping it with pieces of cloth. This meant that the block was "born", and a feast was arranged on this occasion. On Tuesday, the “consecration of the stock” was celebrated, on Wednesday - “after the sanctuary”, on Thursday the stock “died”, on Friday it was “buried”, on Saturday - mourned. The cry, however, was not entirely sincere, since the block symbolized winter, and a solid weekly goodbye was her farewell.
Also, the block served to punish those young people who were in no hurry to tie themselves by family ties. On Kolodia, a stick, a symbol of the holiday, was tied to their hands, and it was possible to get rid of it only by giving a ransom. This tradition is not accidental, it says that Kolodiy encouraged our ancestors to enter into family unions, inspired them with the desire to have many children and continue the human race. For the same reason, preserved in the Maslenitsa rules, during the festive week it was customary to strengthen family ties, visit each other, and gather at a common table.
It is interesting that along with widows, lonely mothers with illegitimate children were revered on Kolodia: it is obvious that a woman's fertility at that time was put higher than her marital status. In addition to sweets, the children of such women were supposed to be presented with clothes, shoes and various household supplies.
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Come, Maslenitsa, lie in pancakes, make fun of your heart
How did the Slavic Kolodiy become Shrovetide? The festive week began to be called Shrovetide after the baptism of Russia, since it precedes Great Lent and the church prohibits the consumption of meat at this time. But dairy products, including butter, and fish are allowed. That is why the main ritual dish of Shrovetide was a ruddy pancake “bathing” in melted butter - a symbol of the divine power of the sun and the nourishing, prosperous earthly life of people.
The main purpose of the festive rituals was to attract fertility to the land reborn after winter sleep and to people full of new strength. The main protagonist of the holiday was a stuffed animal of Maslenitsa - a symbol of fertility and fertility. The ritual of her sending off included scattering the debris of a burnt effigy and ash from it over the fields in order to transfer its properties to the earth and ensure a good harvest in the new year.
Maslenitsa has one more side - the memorial. Remembering the ancestors was considered the most important ritual in order to honor them and enlist their help in peasant affairs. As a sign of respect for the ancestors, the rituals of Shrovetide week included visiting cemeteries and ritual memorial meals.
But in Russian everyday life Maslenitsa took root primarily as a cheerful holiday filled with joy of life. All the "Shrovetide nicknames", of which a multitude have been invented, speak about the same: drunk, gluttonous, - even a ruiner, since "Shrovetide is a waste of money, money is bought." However, no matter what excesses she brought with her, no matter how many costs she required, Maslenitsa coped throughout Russia, in cities and villages. Her celebration
was considered mandatory for everyone, without exception, and those who ignored the general fun risked attracting all sorts of misfortunes on their heads.
You feast on butter for a week, you get drunk for seven
Since each day of the oil week had its own special meaning, it included its own daily rituals and customs. From Monday to Wednesday, the holiday was just gaining momentum, and from Thursday a wide Shrovetide began, when all work on the farm stopped, and the time of general fun came.
Monday in the "Shrovetide" terminology was called "Meeting". This day was dedicated to the last preparations for the holiday: they erected snowy mountains, built swings and fairground booths. A scarecrow of Maslenitsa was built from straw, bright rags and other "recyclable materials", which was then carried around the streets all week. Housewives began to bake pancakes, and the first portion was given to the beggars to commemorate the dead.
On Tuesday, called "Flirting", during the festivities of young people and skiing from the mountains, brides were shown. If you could find a match for your heart, after Lent you could have a wedding.
Wednesday was called "Lakomka", and then the sons-in-law had a lot of freedom, because it was on Wednesday that each mother-in-law had to feed her son-in-law with her own pancakes.
On the "Rampant Quarter" the Wide Maslenitsa began, and the holiday took on a nationwide scale. It was from Thursday that fist fights, triplets, various comic competitions and continuous widespread feasts with plentiful eating of pancakes were traditionally held.
The folk game - the storming of the snow town - stood apart among the customs of Maslenitsa. Usually the town was built on the shore of a reservoir or on a square and consisted of two walls connected by a gate. The entire male population took part in the fun, which was divided into defenders of the fortress and attackers. The "military operation" resulted in general turmoil, and often, like fistfights, ended in injuries to the participants. The winner was the one who was the first to break into the fortress, after the end of the battle he was “bathed” in the snow.
On Friday, the mother-in-law came to the sons-in-law at the "Mother-in-law's evening" with a return visit. True, men were not forced to bake pancakes, their wives were engaged in this, but every son-in-law was obliged to demonstrate his favor to the “second mother”.
On Shrovetide Saturday, young daughters-in-law invited her husband's sisters to “Zolovka's gatherings”. For the company, more friends were usually called from both sides, and the feast turned into a real bachelorette party. To show her good feelings, the daughter-in-law had to present her sister-in-law with some kind of needlework of her own.
Forgiveness Sunday was considered the culmination of the festive week. Not only close people, but everyone around them asked each other for forgiveness for voluntarily or involuntarily inflicted offenses, to which the answer was “God will forgive”. In the evening they remembered the dead, went to the cemetery to bow to their ancestors. The remains of the holiday were destroyed so that no detail of the pagan holiday would violate the severity of Great Lent the next day.
Where pancakes - here we are, where with butter porridge - here is our place
As already mentioned, pancakes were the specialty of the Pancake week. We are most used to pancakes made from wheat flour, yeast or unpaired. But it is wrong to believe that the hostesses on Maslenitsa were limited only to these variations. In total, several dozen varieties of pancakes are known, and the best craftswoman among the housewives has always been the one who has never been repeated in the recipe for Maslenitsa. Pancakes with whey and sour cream, buckwheat and cottage cheese, cabbage and rye, thin and hot, were served to the table - in a word, an amazing variety of this seemingly quite simple dish reigned on the tables of our ancestors. It is not at all possible to list the fillings served with pancakes, there were so many of them. The main one gave the name to the whole holiday - this is butter, usually melted, with which the pancakes were poured on top.
Each housewife kept secret recipes for pancakes, passed down in the family from generation to generation. Kneading the dough for them was supposed to be away from prying eyes, it was best to go to the river bank or into the yard to the well. In order for the dough to rise well and the pancakes to turn out especially good, you should have read the plot, addressed to the month. It is not surprising that as a result of all these culinary and ceremonial mysteries, pancakes went out to fame and were absorbed by households in incredible quantities. The general gluttony gave rise to one of the Pancake week competitions - eating pancakes by quantity or by speed. The champions in this game could easily destroy dozens of pancakes and eat, say, milk porridge.
Over time, some of the customs of Maslenitsa were lost, but what has survived to this day makes it possible to celebrate this warm family holiday on a grand scale, saying that winter is coming to an end and spring is already on the doorstep.
Ekaterina Kravtsova