Maslenitsa - imminent end of the winter!

I don't know if you ever saw the movie, "The Barber of Siberia". It was screened out of competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

The love story of Jane Callahan (Julia Ormond), a beautiful American lady and a handsome young cadet Andrei Tolstoy (Oleg Menshikov) that she met on her travels to Russia.

I just want to share one video from the film about Maslenitsa, a week long festival literally translated as "Butter or Pancake" week, that inspired my outfit.

 

Maslenitsa - a religious and folk holiday- is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent—that is, the seventh week before Eastern Orthodox Pascha (Easter). So it started this week. 

Actually, this video just shows how it was in the old days. Trust me, right now it is not so wild, just one more  opportunity to prepare crepes (bliny) with all sorts of fillings and coverings, and to eat them with friends, as well as have some outdoor celebrations.

Maslenitsa has its origins in both pagan and Christian traditions. In Slavic mythology, Maslenitsa is a celebration of the imminent end of the winter. On the Christian side, Maslenitsa is the last week before the onset of Great Lent. It is the last week during which milk, cheese and other dairy products are permitted, leading to its other name of "Cheese-fare week" or "Crepe week". During Lent, meat, fish, dairy products and eggs are forbidden. Furthermore, Lent also excludes parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from the spiritual life. So Maslenitsa represents the last chance to partake of dairy products and those social activities that are not appropriate during the more prayerful, sober and introspective Lenten season.

 more pictures from the other days