Wide carnival!

In the last week before the Great Lent in Russia, from the earliest times celebrate the merry holiday of the winter wire and the meeting of spring. In the people it is called a wide or rousing Maslenitsa. Earlier in the days of the Carnival, funny songs and laughter were heard everywhere, in the big cities and villages there were fairs where you could buy all kinds of treats, teas, sbittens and compotes. Russia these days rang bells, in the sun the domes of churches were shining, glowing samovars were burning like heat, everywhere there were festivities, buffoons and tasty tea-parties!

This merry holiday came to us from pagan times. At the end of winter, they celebrated the feast, dedicated to the gods of fertility Veles and the Sun-Yarile. It seemed to the Slavs that the Sun arouses the earth from winter hibernation, gives new life and hoped for a rich harvest in the new year. In this regard, almost all the rites of that time were associated with the circle - the symbol of the sun. In this festive week, burning fires, burning the wheels and the main symbol of the holiday, of course, was a pancake. After the adoption of Christianity, the holiday was called the Cheese Week, later, in the 16th century, it received the present name, Pancake week, familiar to everyone.

Over time, the feast gained new customs and rituals. So, every day of the Cheese Week got its name and the rules of its conduct. The first day of Maslenitsa is called a meeting. Previously, children from early morning made a straw doll, dressed it up in bright clothes, dressed in bast shoes and weaved braids. Then Maslen was put in a sledge and, under loud songs and jokes, was taken along the street. And along with it they brought all kinds of treats: for children, small rolls, pancakes, sweets and hot tea, for adults bread and pancakes with butter and cheese, wine and beer. The second day of Maslenitsa is called "flirting". On this day, all honest people rushed to the ice hills, ice rinks and booths, where they slept on slides, sculpted snowmen. On Wednesday, his mother-in-law invited her sons-in-law to pancakes. Usually on this day the whole family, relatives and friends gathered for a festive dinner with pancakes and expensive treats. The most cheerful day of Maslenitsa is Thursday "Broad Quarter". On this day, as a rule, no one worked, and everyone, both old and young, indulged in all sorts of winter fun, from riding on the drow and ending with fist fights. Remember the film "The Siberian Barber", where the Carnival of those times is very well illustrated. On Friday there was a responsible day for the sons-in-law, who invited their beloved mother-in-law to their home. And the mother-in-law had to be invited on the eve of the evening and by all means personally, and on Friday morning, early in the morning, it was necessary to send to the house the mother-in-law of special people whom the people called "called". The holiday did not end on Saturday, when all the relatives gathered in the house of the young daughter-in-law (on the zolotkin's parties) and already she treated all the numerous relatives and friends. And then came Sunday "seeing off the Maslenitsa," or as it is also called "Forgiveness Sunday." On this day, people ask each other for forgiveness for all the involuntary or involuntary injuries suffered during the year, after which it was absolutely necessary to kiss To be cleansed from all offenses, the laity with open heart approached the Great Post, which lasts forty days.