Maslenitsa is the last week preceding Great Lent and was originally a celebration of the equinox, which is why the traditional Maslenitsa pancake symbolizes the sun. Eventually it became tied chronologically with the Orthodox calendar, morphing pagan and Christian traditions into a Slavic cultural holiday. It is named after butter because meat was traditionally not eaten that week. Maslenitsa culminates on Sunday, when a doll symbolizing winter is burned, and people ask each other for forgiveness to go into Lent with a clear conscience.
No dolls will be burned near Red Square for security reasons; instead the doll will "transform" from winter to spring, according to the organizers. Additionally, a parade will proceed from Triumfalnaya Ploshchad to Vasilyevsky Spusk starting at 3 p.m. on Sunday. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the weeklong Maslenitsa activities, a news release said.
On March 8 and 9, Maslenitsa celebrations will also take place in other Moscow locations. At Kolomenskoye, the program will start near the main gates at noon on Sunday and will take guests back in time to a traditional Russian fair with acrobats, a puppet theater and the Defense Ministry choir. Lefortovo will hold Maslenitsa events starting at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, and Lyublino invites visitors to the main estate building at 11 a.m. to show how Maslenitsa was celebrated 200 years ago.
Contacts:
Kolomenskoye Estate,39 Prospekt Andropova,M. Kolomenskoye
Lefortovo Estate,1 Ul. Krasnokazarmennaya,M. Aviamotornaya
Lyublino Estate, 1 Ul. Letnyaya, M. Volzhskaya
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