Maslenitsa

"Maslenitsa Festival is a religious and folk festival celebrated during the last week before Great Lent which is the seventh week before Easter. Maslenitsa Festival has both Pagan as well as Christian ancestry. In Slavic mythology, MaslenitsaFestival is also known as Sun Festival. Maslenitsa Festival is also known as Butter week or pancake week or cheese-fare week.

Maslenitsa week is the week in which meat is forbidden to orthodox Christians. It is also the last week during which one can consume milk, cheese and other dairy products before the onset of great lent and hence the festival is also known as Butter week or cheese-fare cake. The most popular food of Maslenitsa Festival is the Bliny or Russian Pancakes made up of eggs, milk and butter. Pancakes are of round shape and golden colour which represents the sun and the long-awaited arrival of spring.

Maslenitsa Festival is a week-long festival and also includes other events celebrated over the week like sleigh riding, snow ball fights, sledding and other snow events. During the week, people pay visit to their relatives and pay their regards to the elders and shower the Youngers with love. The festival ends on Sunday which is celebrated as “forgiveness day” when people meet each other and ask for forgiveness symbolizing the desire of god’s forgiveness that lies at the heart of great lent. The festival is concluded by putting brightly dressed straw effigy of Lady Maslenitsa to flames. The ashes of the lady Maslenitsa are buried under the snow to give good produce of crops."  not sure of the source, R's translator E sent me this info. . .