What begun as a pagan festival, the week long Maslenitsa Festival is now very much a part of the Orthodox Churches preperation for the days of fasting for Lent.
Taking place on a central lane, the street fair provides entertainment and most importantly the traditional carnival treat, blini (pancake) in Moscow.
Master pancake chefs will be holding master classes on how to prepare and roll the perfect blini, but specially made huts will be serving 35 different types of the small pancakes.
‘Maslenitsa is a joy for people. It’s expressed in different ways, because the Russians have a wide soul. They can beat each others’ faces out of joy, eat blini and sled over the hills,’ Professional musician Andrei Zvonar said.
Ah, Mr Zvonar, you sir have a very humorous turn of phrase. “Beat each others’ faces out of joy”, what a distinctly Russian phenomenon.
No Maslenitsa could possibly complete without the historic custom of the buttered goose fight either… Quite what the geese are fighting for is unclear at the moment, presumably the winner is the one who gets eaten last?
Image: Getty
