In the last week before the beginning of Great Lent in Russia, for a long time, they have been celebrating a cheerful holiday of seeing off winter and meeting spring. The people call it wide or reckless Shrovetide. Earlier in the days of Shrovetide, funny songs and laughter were heard everywhere, fairs were held in big cities and villages where you could buy all kinds of treats, teas, meals and compotes. Russia these days rang bells, the domes of churches shone in the sun, burned like heat, samovars, festivals, booths and grand tea parties were everywhere!
This fun holiday has come to us since pagan times. At the end of winter, they celebrated a holiday dedicated to the fertility gods Veles and the Sun-Yarila. It seemed to the Slavs that the Sun awakens the earth from hibernation, gives new life and hoped for a rich harvest in the new year. In this regard, almost all the rites of that time were associated with a circle - a symbol of the sun. In this festive week, we burned circular bonfires, set fire to the wheels and, of course, the main symbol of the holiday was a pancake. After the adoption of Christianity, the holiday was called Cheese Week, later, in the XVI century, it received the current name, familiar to everyone - .
Over time, the holiday overgrown with new customs and rituals. So, every day of the Cheese Week got its name and the rules for its implementation. The first day of Shrovetide is called a meeting. Earlier in the morning, children made straw dolls early in the morning, dressed them in colorful clothes, put them on bast shoes and weaved braids. Then Maslen was put in a sled and to loud songs and jokes they drove along the street. And with it, all sorts of treats were carried: bagels, pancakes, sweets and hot tea for children, bread and pancakes with butter and cheese for adults, wine and beer. The second day of Shrovetide is called "tricks." On this day, all honest people rushed to the ice slides, skating rinks and booths, where they sleighed on slides and sculpted snow women. On Wednesday mother-in-law invited sons-in-law to . Usually on this day, the whole family, relatives and friends gathered for a gala dinner with pancakes and expensive treats. The most fun day of Shrovetide is Thursday "Wide Four". On this day, as a rule, no one worked, and everyone, old and young, indulged in all kinds of winter fun, starting with riding on sleepyheads and ending with fist fights. Remember the film "The Barber of Siberia", which shows Shrovetide of those times very well. On Friday, a crucial day came for the sons-in-law, who invited their beloved mother-in-law to their home. Moreover, it was necessary to invite the mother-in-law to visit on the eve of the evening and certainly in person, and on Friday morning in the morning, it was necessary to send special people to the mother-in-law's house who were popularly called "shouted". The holiday did not end on Saturday, when all the relatives gathered in the house of a young daughter-in-law (for Zolovka gatherings "and she already treated all her many relatives and friends. A variety of rich treats were put on the table that day, because you had to show your skill and please your relatives of the husband’s relatives. Then came Sunday “Shrovetide Shrovetide” or as it is also called Forgiven Sunday. On this day, people ask each other for forgiveness for all the free or involuntary offenses caused during the year, after which they certainly had to kiss and having bowed to one another, having cleansed themselves of all insults, the laity with an open heart approached Lent, which lasted forty days.