World Festive

Maslenitsa

Russia · Late winter · Butter Week

Golden blini Lacy, yeast-raised pancakes eaten by the stack — round and golden as a tribute to the sun whose return the week celebrates.

The tradition
Butter Week sees out the cold before the Lenten fast, a last week of richness, sun-worship and welcome to spring.
Customs & rituals
A week of pancake feasts, sledding and snowball fights, closing with the burning of a straw effigy of winter.
What people wear
Bundled-up folk colours for a festival still spent out in the snow.

On the table

1 recipe to cook for Maslenitsa.

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