This week we had Maslenitsa. It's a kind of a carnival before the great fast. The speciality of the weak are pancakes. So you cook them the whole weak with all kinds of stuffings. My favourits are pancakes with meat and pancakes with redcurrant. Sorry, I took the photo of the last pancake left (they are so tasty, that you just forget about everything, while eating), but we made a whole lot of them during the weak.
Another thing about Maslenitsa, is that each day of the weak has some special name and has a special activity connected with it. Usually the activity is inviting or going to visit your relatives (with pancakes, of course). On Sunday, the final day of Maslenitsa, one has to ask all of his relatives and friends for forgivness for all his faults. And as it is the end of the carnival, there're lots of festivals organized in different parts of the cities and towns, which finish with the Maslenitsa (the embodiment of winter) being burnt. Since the day it's considered that the winter shall end soon, though usually it takes not less than a month.
PS: when making a photo of the last pancake with meat, i noticed a bottle of Tarhun, so I thought it's worth being mentioned. It may look like some acid, beacuse its green. But actually it's a kind of a non-alcoholic sweet/sour sparkling drink, which was very popular still in soviet times. It's colour is explained by the fact, that it's made on the basis of the plant called tarhun. Though now most of the producers use some chemicals to reach such a color. I like it, it's really refreshing.
I have never known about Maslenitsa until now. I learned it from your this article and other web site. Thank you for good information. Someday, I would like to try the pancake.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice carnival, I guess you might have seen or tried crepes. This is also a pancake, but in french, such name is more frequent in Europe at least.
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