Wide Shrovetide, Krivosheyka, Pancake maker, Gingerbread Man, Shrovetide - this is the same holiday that is celebrated almost all over the world. The meaning of this holiday is to distinguish between winter and spring for the common people and the definition of Lent for Christians. For a whole week people walk, sing songs, ride a sleigh, bake pancakes, go to visit each other and at the end of the festival they burn a scarecrow.
What is this holiday - Wide Shrovetide?
Shrovetide is a traditional seven-day holiday celebrated by the Slavs before Lent. He got the name because of the fact that during this period you can eat butter, dairy products, and fish. This period in the Orthodox Church is also called the Cheese Week.
The date of the holiday is constantly changing, but it always goes before fasting, at the end of winter. Therefore, the people of this holiday (Wide Shrovetide) marks the seeing off of winter and the meeting of spring. People make stuffed animals, prepare contests, bake pancakes. On the squares they arrange a whole performance with songs and round dances, where everyone can participate in any event.
Shrovetide is celebrated for 7 days. This is a meeting, flirting, gourmand, revelry, mother-in-law's parties, Zolovkin gatherings, seeing off. The end of Shrovetide always falls on Forgiveness Sunday. Therefore, the meaning of the holiday is not simple mass walks around the guests, but the cleansing of the soul from insults with sincere forgiveness.
Narrow and Wide Shrovetide
Shrovetide is divided into two periods:
- Monday to Wednesday is the Narrow Shrovetide;
- Thursday to Sunday is the Wide Shrovetide.
In the first period, it was allowed to work, and in the second, people devoted themselves to the holiday. The Wide Shrovetide began with ceremonies.
- On Monday early morning, the daughter-in-law was sent to her parents. In the evening, the mother-in-law and the father-in-law came to the pancakes to the shrines and discussed the composition and where the Shrovetide will be celebrated.
- On Tuesday, bride weddings were held. People went home, ate pancakes, sleigh rides.
- On Wednesday, the mother-in-law invited the son-in-law and other guests to pancakes.
- Mass festivities began on Thursday. These days, people participate in fist fights, ride horses, sing songs, carol, jump over a bonfire, storm snowy towns, scare passers-by, play each other (props the door with a log, drag a cart to the roof, etc.).
- On Friday, the son-in-law was to greet the mother-in-law and her relatives.
- On Saturday, the daughter-in-law invited her sister-in-law and other relatives of her husband to her.
- On Sunday they asked everyone for forgiveness, washed in the bathhouse, burned a scarecrow, said goodbye to the dead in the cemetery.
What countries celebrate this holiday?
Congratulations on the Broad Maslenitsa are relevant not only for the Russian people. This holiday is celebrated in other countries, only has a different name.
- In Finns, Shrovetide is called Laskiainen.
- Croats celebrate Fascist.
- Among the Greeks, this is Apocries.
- Estonians, Norwegians, Germans in the north, Latvians, Danes celebrate Vastlavya.
- Americans and francophone Europe celebrate Mardi Gras.
- English-speaking Europe and Australia call this holiday Penitential or Pancake Day.
- For Armenians, this is Bun Barekendan.
- Germans in the south and German-speaking Europe celebrate Fastnacht.
- For Czechs and Slovaks, Shrovetide is called Meat-Pust, or Fashanka. By the way, the Catholic Slavs also call this holiday Meat.
- Poles mark Residues, or Launches.
The meaning of the holiday is the same for all peoples, regardless of differences in food and competitions. For example, on a Russian and Belarusian table, a mandatory dish is a tortilla or pancake, while Ukrainians cook cottage cheese pancakes and dumplings.
The connection of Shrovetide with fertility, procreation and the departed
Originally Pancake week was a pagan holiday, the essence of which was to stimulate the beginning of the fertile cycle. That is why peasants scattered stuffed ashes scattered in their fields.
The stuffed animals were made from birch stakes and straw, which symbolized the beginning of life. The birth of children was also associated with fertility. That is why homeless carnival dolls were presented to childless couples, family celebrations were celebrated, and single people were condemned. In Ukraine and Belarus, sticks were tied to such bachelors and forced to drag this deck. The meaning of this rite was that girls and boys think about legal marriage.
And the third meaning of the holiday was associated with the commemoration of the dead. That is why the first pancake was given to the deceased, and on the last day even crumbs were not removed from the table, as it was believed that dead relatives came at night and ate.
Harvest, fertility of cattle, the birth of children and commemoration of the dead were associated with the fertility of the land. However, many ceremonies in our time are purely symbolic in nature and are included as a historical reference in the script. Broad Maslenitsa at the same time did not lose its scope and revelry.
Unsaved or rare rites
- Grandfather’s funeral. Belarusians on the first day of the holiday, when it is necessary to take the first pancake to the cemetery, bury a stuffed grandfather with a pronounced male organ. Children and bachelors were not invited to this event, since hypertrophied funerals were accompanied by stinging jokes and ambiguous ditties. Today, this rite has not been preserved.
- Bear fun. Traditionally, the bear danced with a disguised artist, then “mimicked” a girl who dresses up, and then fought with her master. Nowadays, this rite is sometimes narrated by buffoons and mummers.
- Cooker. The burdened youth frightened passers-by and went home. Some arranged Pancake week mischief: they would drag a cart onto the roof, tack the door with logs ... Nowadays, this ritual has passed to Kolyada, and is sometimes played by artists in performance.
- Street trading. Earlier, congratulations on the Broad Maslenitsa were accompanied by the sale of pancakes, drinks and other goods. Currently, events from the city administration are organized for the holiday for free (usually pancakes without filling and tea), but there are also private trays.
Traditional Shrovetide Games
The wide Maslenitsa in the old days had a number of customs, which were repeated from year to year. Burning a scarecrow and making pancakes are the main elements of the holiday. But they performed the following rituals:
- The capture of snowy towns. They made towns out of snow drenched in water. People were divided into two teams, where one part was to defeat the "inhabitants" of the city. Such a city should have been built near the riverbank, so in some villages a pillar was placed on which gifts were hung and doused with water.
- Fist fight. The traditional form of fist fighting was “wall to wall”. When the boys first went out to fight, then the unmarried guys and then grown men. Its meaning is to show the daring of men. These days they are being replaced by boxing or tug of war.
- Catania from the mountains. From the steep mountains on a huge painted sleigh of six people, two teams rode. The sleigh was very heavy, therefore, whose team rode most of all, the one in the fields will have a richer harvest. Today, mountain riding is being replaced by horse riding.
Celebration of the Wide Shrovetide in modern Russia
Currently, the city or village administration is organizing a public celebration on the last day of Shrovetide. On this day, huge platforms are built on which professional artists work. They not only sing songs, ditties, but also beat all the days of Shrovetide with all the walks and historical rites.
People can actively participate in various rallies and performances. To remove the tightness and cheer people up, buffoons constantly scurry around, who seek out the courageous and courageous to participate in various competitions. In the old days, a wide Shrovetide (pictures with mummers) was always accompanied by booths and parsley comedies.
In addition to competitive places, there are also several trays with hot tea and pancakes. From the city administration, refreshments are usually free; private traders have varied, but paid dishes. Away from the view, they either set up ice slides or provide horses with a sleigh for riding. The order and discipline must be observed by representatives of the police.
What contests are on holiday
Despite the fact that many rituals and games are outdated, modern winter farewells also attract crowds of people. The scenario of the holiday "Wide Shrovetide" is designed for different ages and needs. Some watch the performance and go with the artists from one platform to another, going through all the Pancake week stages.
The second immediately participate in competitions. The following events are often organized:
- Ice pillar with gifts. People should undress to the waist and climb the icy slippery pillar to the very top before gifts. The competition is considered completed if the gift bag was not torn off, but removed from the hook. They hang completely different things on a pole, there were cases when the piglet grunted from above.
- Tug of war. People are divided into two teams and must drag all opponents to their side.
- Water dousing. Men show their daring: several daredevils undress and doused with water.
- Street fighting. These are contests for men. Previously, whole crowds fought with each other. At the moment, they are organizing civilized hand-to-hand fighting.
What stuffed Shrovetide are?
None of the Wide Shrovetide (photos are presented in the article) is complete without a doll. There are several varieties:
- Big stuffed animal for burning. They made it from two sticks crossed in the form of a cross, on which they built up the “body” with branches and straw, then put on clothes and painted a face. Two variants of stuffed animals were made here: the image of Winter, where the clothes were old, and the image of the young Maslenitsa with ribbons and beautiful dresses. Usually with a scarecrow Winters burned old things.
- Medium doll Maslenitsa. It is made small for children's and student performances, when teachers and children go to songs, poems and nursery rhymes in classes and introduce the audience to the Shrovetide Shrovetide. They make it the same way as a large scarecrow, only of small sizes.
- Home Shrovetide. This is a small doll no more than 20 centimeters. They make such gifts for young childless couples or as a charm for the newlyweds. A home doll is made without a needle, scissors and other piercing objects. The fabric is torn to pieces by hand, the parts are wrapped with threads.
What is the meaning of a scarecrow?
The scarecrow of old Winter was depicted as an old woman. Its burning meant the end of everything old and the meeting of the new. It was especially important to make stuffed animals from birch and straw with pancake in hand, as this meant fertility. Earlier, people with this stuffed animal threw their old things, clothes and said goodbye to their grievances. Fire helps to cleanse the souls of people before Lent.
The big doll of the young Maslenitsa participates in mass performances. It is made light so that it can be worn on a stick. This funny doll goes from holiday to holiday (Wide Shrovetide). The songs then sound more fun and fervent.
Home Shrovetide helps establish a relationship. When it is difficult for a son-in-law or daughter-in-law to ask forgiveness from his parents on Forgiveness Sunday, gifts in the form of Shrovetide help melt the cold in the heart. In the event of quarrels and grievances, a woman can tell them to the doll and tie them in a knot.
Such dolls were burned together with a scarecrow to say goodbye to the negative. There were also those to which red ribbons were tied with made wishes. They were also burned in a bonfire to fulfill their dreams.
Brief conclusions
The wide Shrovetide (pictures with pancakes and a scarecrow are given above) includes memorial, agricultural and marriage-family rituals. In the first case, burning a stuffed Marena, round pancakes, fish on the table, a ban on work, bonfires testified to the reverence of people for the dead. In the second case, skiing from the mountains, burning a scarecrow made of birch and straw with pancake, scattering of ashes in the fields testified to a future harvest.
In the third version, they honored family, arranged weddings and punished bachelors. So, a young wife, married for a year, had to ride her friends in a sleigh with songs and jokes instead of horses. Those who were captured were obliged to kiss in public at the “kissing” pillar. And bachelors in pairs (a girl and a guy) were forced to walk with a suspended deck all day, suffering mockery. All relatives should go to Maslenitsa for guests: first, the mother-in-law “oils” the son-in-law, and then he must greet his mother in his house.
It turns out that the widest Pancake week is the most family and fun holiday! The songs for each day of the holiday were different, but all - perky and joyful. And there were a lot of pancakes with different fillings. Girls on them even chose a married man.