Maslenitsa Festival

If you are in Russia for the week of February 16-22 this year, you are particularly lucky, since you’ll have the opportunity to participate in Maslenitsa, one of the most popular Russian festivals.

Maslenitsa, the week before Lent, marks the border between winter and spring and includes many elements of pre-Christian pagan rituals. Street parties traditionally take place on the last two days of Maslenitsa, which in 2015 fall on February 21 and 22. The main dish of the festival is pancakes, which are served with meat, fish, caviar, sour cream, and all kinds of fruit and berry jams. Popular hot drinks include medovukha, a honey and spice drink, which may be alcoholic (like beer) or non-alcoholic.

Street parties include parades, open-air concerts of folk music, unusual sports competitions, dancing and fairs.

The culmination of Maslenitsa will take place on Sunday. Street parties traditionally end with the burning of a huge straw figure of Maslenitsa.

Here are a few of the locations that have announced Maslenitsa celebrations in Moscow (entrance to all these events is free):

Patriarshie Prudy (between Malaya Bronnaya Ulitsa and Maly Patriarshy Pereulok). Mayakovskaya or Pushkinskaya metro stations.

February 21 and 22, from 1 pm to 6 pm

Kuznetsky Most (from Rozhdestvenka Ulitsa to Petrovka Ulitsa). Kuznetsky Most metro station.

Pancake Fair: February 16 – 20, from 10 am to 9 pm; February 21 and 22, from 11 am to 9 pm

Sokolniki Park.Sokolniki metro station.

February 21, 1 pm – 6.30 pm; February 22, 1 pm – 7.30 pm

Gorky Park. Park Gorkogo metro station. Location: Pushkinskaya Naberezhnaya (Moscow river bank).

February 21 and 22, Midday – 7 pm; burning of the Maslenitsa straw figure: February 22, 8.30 pm

Hermitage Garden. Pushkinskaya metro station.

February 22, Midday – 5 pm

Museum of Moscow. 2 Zubovsky Bulvar. Park Gorkogo metro station

February 21 and 22, Midday – 6 pm