Shrovetide week: its stages. Shrovetide by day - all about pancake week When oil begins

Spring is coming, and with it the national Russian holiday, called Maslenitsa. She was very fond of the Russian people and has firmly taken root in our history, since she has been met for more than one century. It is customary to have fun at the celebration, arrange folk festivals, sing songs and dance, in a word: spend time provocatively and carefree. To find out when Shrovetide begins in 2020 for the Orthodox and when it ends, you need to subtract 56 days from the date of Easter. This year, the main celebration will take place at the very beginning of March, on the 1st.

Maslenitsa falls on the last week before Lent. Then, after its onset, the Orthodox abstain from animal food until the most important day in church calendar- Easter. Due to the close interweaving of paganism and the Christian religion, traditions overlapped, and new customs were born.

So, for example, Maslenitsa is preceded by Maslenitsa Week, which believers call Cheese Week. You can’t eat meat at this time, but you can still eat milk, dairy products and eggs. The Maslenitsa itself is popularly called the “shelf”, “bowl”, “yasochka”, “cheerful”, “sugar lips”, “kissing lady”.

The essence of Maslenitsa is the end of the cold winter and the long-awaited arrival of warmth. People welcome spring with joy. Pagan ancestors idolized the god of the Sun Yarilo and even made sacrifices to him so that the heat would come faster and the snow would come down from the fields. The festivities were always accompanied by the kindling of large fires. At the end of the ritual ceremonies, an effigy was burned, symbolizing winter.

In our time, some of the traditions are still observed. In cities, on the central squares, mass festivities are held with songs, dances, and at the end of the celebration, just like in the old days, they burn an effigy of winter. The Orthodox faith does not forbid this. Although the church accepted this holiday, it filled it with innovations. During Pancake Week, which in 2020 will last from February 24 to March 1, the soul must let go of old grievances, cleanse itself, and the mind must be enlightened. Thus, the Orthodox are preparing for Great Lent.

With Maslenitsa, many interesting signs arose among the people, here are the most memorable:

• the holiday must be celebrated on a grand scale, with a rich table and fun. Then the whole year will pass carefree;
• if they turned out beautiful, then the harvest will be rich;
• the more pancakes the housewives bake, the more sunny days there will be in spring;
• one should not refuse help and alms to the homeless and the poor;
• It is customary to commemorate deceased relatives, to go to the churchyard. If you do not honor the memory, the souls of the departed will be offended.

On Maslenitsa, it is not customary to take care of the house, build, do any physical labor. On the contrary, you need to relax, spend time with your family and enjoy the imminent warming. As for drinking alcohol, it is not forbidden, but only in moderation and with good company.

Maslenitsa week

Before Maslenitsa itself comes, it is preceded by a pre-holiday week (in 2020 from February 24 to March 1). It lasts annually from Monday to Sunday, but the dates may vary, depending on the data of the church calendar. In Russia, this time was considered special, and signs were even associated with it, for example, it was impossible to marry on Shrovetide week, such a marriage was unsuccessful.

Each day of the Maslenitsa week has its own meaning:

• on Mondays they made the first gala dinner, finished with the preparation of entertainment and baked pancakes. They were usually distributed to the homeless as a token of remembrance for the dead;
• on Tuesdays arranged matchmaking. The young people got acquainted, and after Easter they played a wedding;
• On Wednesday, sons-in-law go to their mother-in-law for pancakes. The richer the table, the more the hostess is happy with the guests;
• on Thursday, they already met the carnival with might and main: they rode the slides, sang, danced, had fun;
• on Friday, the mother-in-law was already waiting for a visit, now the son-in-law must feed her pancakes;
• Saturday is the time for girls' home gatherings. Unmarried friends and sisters-in-law were invited to the house;
• Sunday is the climax of the celebration. They lead round dances, dance, see off winter by burning scarecrows and prepare for the onset of spring.

On a note! Each day of the week has its own name: Monday - meeting, Tuesday - flirting, Wednesday - gourmet, Thursday - revelry, Friday - mother-in-law evenings, Saturday - sister-in-law gatherings, Sunday - seeing off.

The holiday has a rich interesting history, so you will soon have the opportunity to immerse yourself in it and feel the approach of spring for yourself. Be sure to take part in the festivities: go to the square with your family, go to the camp site. Events dedicated to seeing off winter will be held in such places. And do not forget to bake little "suns" - delicious fragrant for tea, please the household.

Maslenitsa is an ancient Slavic holiday with customs and rituals, preserved from pagan times and merged with Christian culture, it is a loud, cheerful holiday with pancakes, music, songs and entertainment before Lent.

Following Maslenitsa comes Forgiveness Sunday- the time to ask for forgiveness from loved ones and to forgive those who voluntarily or involuntarily offended you.

In 2020 Maslenitsa will be held from February 24 to March 1. This is a cheerful farewell to winter and the expectation of spring warmth. On Saturday before Maslenitsa - "parents' day", the Slavs worship the souls of their deceased ancestors.

The Orthodox Church adopted the pagan Shrovetide, allowing the use of cheese and butter, milk and eggs for Shrovetide every day, even on traditional fast days - Wednesday and Friday. The celebration takes place a whole week before Lent, and in the church calendar is called "Cheese Week".

The main attributes of the holiday are a stuffed Maslenitsa, sleigh rides, festivities, ruddy and hot pancakes - a symbol of the sun in tribute to the god Yarila. On the last day of Maslenitsa week, a ritual of seeing off Maslenitsa is held with the burning of an effigy of Maslenitsa to wake up spring nature and melt the cold ice.

Shrovetide week consists of two parts - Narrow, until Wednesday, and the time from Thursday is called Broad Maslenitsa.

Every day of Shrovetide has its own name: Monday - “Meeting”, Tuesday - “Fun”, Wednesday - “Treats”, Thursday - “Wide Shrovetide”, Friday - “To mother-in-law for pancakes”, Saturday - “Seeing off”, the last day of Shrovetide - "Forgiveness Sunday".

Maslenitsa begins on Monday - dress up a stuffed doll.
Tuesday - build snow fortresses, sing songs.
On Wednesday - sons-in-law come to their mother-in-law for pancakes.
Thursday - they carry a stuffed animal on a wheel, they start caroling.
Friday - the son-in-law treats the mother-in-law with pancakes.
Saturday - they burn the effigy of Maslenitsa and finally say goodbye to winter.

The last day of Maslenitsa is Forgiveness Sunday, forgiveness is asked to cleanse the soul of sins at confession before Great Lent and meet Easter, the day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, with a pure heart.

The main dish of Maslenitsa is pancakes. For the Slavs, pancake is a symbol of the sun, round, ruddy and hot. Pancakes are baked from wheat, corn, rye or oat flour on the night of the first day of Maslenitsa or on Monday. They are eaten with butter, sour cream, honey, caviar, and vegetable fillings. It is customary to give the first pancake to a poor or needy person so that he remembers all the deceased relatives.

What to do on Forgiveness Sunday in 2020

Forgiveness Sunday does not have a specific date on the calendar. This is due to the fact that the beginning of the fast falls on different days of February or March, depending on the date of the Resurrection of Christ - Easter.

There has long been a fair belief among our people that if there is no mutual forgiveness of offenses, then fasting, reduced to a simple abstinence from food, loses its lofty meaning. No matter how long it is, Lent lasts for seven whole weeks! – asceticism and hardships may not be counted by God as deeds of faith and repentance, therefore, one must first of all forgive others and ask for forgiveness oneself. As a consequence of this approach - the emergence of the traditions of Forgiveness Sunday.

Since Forgiveness Sunday is the last day of Maslenitsa, when people celebrate the farewell to winter and, finally, before Lent, they “speak” with a hearty meal, many believers and not very believers visit each other or congratulate relatives and acquaintances by phone, in e-mails.

Ideally, everyone asks for forgiveness from everyone, admits their guilt to other people and vows to repeat past bad deeds. First of all, the strong repent before the weak, the rich before the poor, the healthy before the sick, the young before the elderly. It would be good for bosses to remember their excessive severity or tyranny in relation to subordinates and ask for forgiveness by phone. One must enter Great Lent with a clear conscience, lightly.

Each day of Maslenitsa has its own special name, traditions and rules: church and folk. Almost all the customs that we will talk about below existed long before Russia became an Orthodox country and often have exclusively pagan or simply folk, everyday roots.

The Church did not make Maslenitsa its holiday, but rethought this period of the year - the days preceding Great Lent. It was under the influence of Christianity that this pagan holiday became Shrovetide in the form in which we have known it for many centuries. Through the efforts of the Church, Maslenitsa lost its former pagan meaning and turned into a simple week of rest and fun (read more about the history and church understanding of Maslenitsa). At the same time, in different countries This holiday has its own national flavor.

In the Slavic tradition, Cheese Week is divided into two periods: Narrow Maslenitsa and Wide Maslenitsa. Narrow Maslenitsa is Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Wide Maslenitsa - Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Monday opens the Narrow Maslenitsa. In the morning, the father-in-law and the mother-in-law sent the daughter-in-law to her father and mother for a day, and in the evening they themselves went to visit the matchmakers. We agreed on the time and place of the festivities. They finished building snowy cities, swings, booths.

On Monday they started baking pancakes. The first pancake was given to poor neighbors to commemorate the dead.

Exclusively pagan and in no way connected with Orthodoxy were all the traditions associated with the effigy of Maslenitsa. It was made from straw and old clothes, carried through the streets on a sleigh.

On this day, brides were held. Parents had to have time to marry the young before the start of Lent, because the Church does not allow to get married in Lent. If everything went well, then immediately after Easter, on Krasnaya Gorka, a wedding was played.

Therefore, on Tuesday of Cheese Week, guys and girls got to know each other, rode down the hills together, came to each other for pancakes.

On Wednesday, the son-in-law came to his mother-in-law for pancakes and brought other guests with him. The mother-in-law watched intently how her son-in-law behaved at the table. The people said that if a man chooses pancakes with salty filling, then he is stubborn and with a difficult character. And if sweet, then with his wife he will be soft and affectionate. But this sign, of course, is also not connected with the Orthodox tradition and is considered superstition.

In general, on this day it was customary to eat pancakes as much as the soul desires.

Thursday is the day of the beginning of the Broad Maslenitsa. Household work stopped, the festivities began.

The entertainment was very different: they rode sleds and sleds, staged fistfights and battles for snowy cities, sang carols, burned ritual bonfires (another relic of paganism) and jumped over the fire.

On this day, the mother-in-law came to visit her son-in-law on a return visit, and she took a company of friends with her. The daughter baked pancakes for her husband and guests.

Young daughters-in-law invited their sisters-in-law and other relatives of their husbands to visit. It is interesting that if the sister-in-law was not married, then the daughter-in-law invited her unmarried friends, and if she was married, then married relatives came to visit. The daughter-in-law had to give her sister-in-law a gift.

Seeing off Maslenitsa, or Forgiveness Sunday, is the main day of Cheese Week, a conspiracy before the start of Great Lent. The rite of forgiveness was performed in the temples, the clergy and laity asked for forgiveness from each other for all the offenses of the past year.

In the evening they commemorated the dead, went to the cemetery.

While the believers were preparing for the beginning of the fast, the holiday was just beginning for the worshipers of pagan traditions. , and the ashes were scattered over the fields so that the year turned out to be fertile. The effigy was transported to the place of burning on a sleigh pulled by horses, this was called the “Shrovetide train”. In some areas, the "funeral of Maslenitsa" was held, it was a parody of the church funeral procession.

Thus, Maslenitsa combines both Christian and completely unrelated traditions with Christianity. The choice is up to the individual. However, it is important that the Church does not prohibit fun at Maslenitsa, warning only against superstition and excessive gluttony.

On the screensaver, a fragment of a photo

You need to prepare for the holiday in advance, so the first thing that is customary to do even before its onset is to clean up the house. In Russia, housewives whitewashed ceilings, washed stoves, cleaned garbage from corners. It was imperative to stock up on food, so we bought flour, butter, sugar, eggs, nuts and other sweets. The youth learned ditties, songs, dances, came up with a scenario for festivities to make it interesting.

Then, when Maslenitsa came, the fun began. Its main venue is the town square. Children and adults dance there, go sledding, walk on stilts, and enjoy comic pillow fights. Everyone around rejoices at the bright spring sun and the approach of heat. There is still a belief among the people that the more fun you celebrate, the better you will live. next year. You can’t sit at home yearning, because then joy disappears from life.

By tradition, the housewives bake pancakes. This was a tradition from our ancestors: pancake is a historical symbol of the sun. They tried to bake them even, on a good dough and round shape. The more beautiful the pancakes turn out, the more luck will come this year. Therefore, the hostesses did not skimp and prepared more goodies so that everyone would have enough. Pancake eating competitions can still be found in fairs and squares. The one who ate the most of them will be rich and successful.

Since it was customary to say goodbye to the cold on Maslenitsa and prepare for work in the field, there were signs among the people about the weather:

• frost on the holiday foreshadowed a warm summer in the first half;
• if there are a lot of icicles on the street, the harvest will be generous;
• rains, colds are good signs: spring will be warm and summer will be sunny;
• sudden heat means late spring, there will still be frost.

On a note!

Shrovetide is the last chance to eat plenty of homemade tender pancakes made with milk and eggs, since after it comes Great Lent, which means you will have to abstain from food of animal origin until Easter itself.

When and how is Maslenitsa week

Maslenitsa is usually divided into 2 periods: narrow (lasting from Monday to Wednesday) and wide (from Thursday to Sunday). In the first half, it was still allowed to do the main housework: cleaning, doing housework, doing laundry, etc. In the days that followed after Wednesday, household chores were put aside and given over to entertainment.

Every day of Pancake week is special:

• on Monday, when the new week had just begun, they prepared for the upcoming festivities: they learned dances, songs, prepared charades. They made a scarecrow for burning from straw and clothes. On Monday, you need to bake pancakes and give them to those in need. Thus, they commemorated the dead relatives;
• on Tuesday grooms came to woo girls. Brides settled down, families agreed on a dowry. It is customary to play a wedding not earlier than Easter, then the marriage will be successful and happy;
• on Wednesday, in large families, the mother-in-law invited the sons-in-law to pancakes. At a party you need to eat your fill, so the tables broke from home delicious food. And what kind of pancakes the hostesses did not bake: with fillings, and with openwork edges, and from custard dough;
• Thursday was fun time. From the very morning the youth was riding the hills, buffoons and parsley entertained the people. For the most daring, there was a competition to climb an ice pillar and knock down a gift. And in the center of the square they set up an effigy for burning;
• on Friday, sons-in-law invited their mother-in-law to tea, while pancakes were cooked by the young mistress - the daughter. The son-in-law was supposed to behave hospitably and be cordial with the guests. If quarrels and omissions arose at the table, then there will be eternal enmity between the mother-in-law and the son-in-law;
• with the onset of Saturday, young girls invited the sisters of the groom or already the husband - sister-in-law to visit, arranged bachelorette parties, where they kept secret about women. The newlywed should give gifts to those invited and warmly receive them in her home;
• on the last day of the week, the climax of the ancient feast comes. The festivities get louder and bigger, people have fun, and then they burn an effigy as a sign of the end of winter. With the adoption of the Orthodox faith with Shrovetide, Forgiveness Sunday comes. People ask each other to forgive old grievances, even sworn enemies reconcile. On Sunday, it is customary to go to the cemetery and visit the deceased relatives.

Interesting!

The tradition of asking for forgiveness originated with Palestinian monks. Being completely alone for a long time, they understood that they might no longer meet each other, so they asked for forgiveness in advance.