Dark, heavy clouds weigh on our shoulders,” Natalia Korteleva says about winter in Vyborg, her hometown in northern Russia.
On the shortest days of the year, in late December, the sun rises after 10 a.m. and sets before 4 p.m. By mid-February, lengthened days filled with 9.5 hours of light make people absolutely giddy about shaking offwinter.
For more than a thousand years, this giddiness has marked Russia’s annual Maslenitsa festival encouraging spring to hurry along. Today, Russians love their hearty, playful celebration just as people did in pagan times, before Prince Vladimir introduced Christianity in 988. Russians keep ancient Maslenitsa traditions alive and also connect them with their Russian Orthodox Church. Though the pagan Maslenitsa occurred at the equinox in March, when day and night are equal in length, the festival now starts eight weekends before Easter.
During the serious Lenten period before Easter, observant Russian Orthodox followers do not eat meat, fish, dairy products, or eggs for 40 days and refrain from celebrations. What better time to splurge than the entire week before these restrictions begin?
This story is from the May/June 2017 edition of Faces - The Magazine of People, Places and Cultures for Kids.
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This story is from the May/June 2017 edition of Faces - The Magazine of People, Places and Cultures for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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