Russian National Holiday Of Shrovetide Celebrations In The Kaluga Region. Editorial Image

Russian national holiday of Shrovetide celebrations in the Kaluga region. Maslenitsa is an Eastern Slavic traditional holiday celebrated during the week before lent, which has preserved a number of elements of Slavic mythology in its rites. In the folk calendar of the Eastern Slavs, the holiday marks the border of winter and spring, as well as Lent. Similar to the carnival in European countries. On the last day of Shrovetide week, there was a ritual of seeing off Shrovetide, which in different provinces of Russia consisted of burning an effigy of Shrovetide. The effigy of Shrovetide was carried by participants of the Shrovetide train sometimes there were several hundred horses in it. Traditional funeral food pancakes, eggs, tortillas was thrown into the fire with a burning effigy. Today, the rite is preserved and consists of folk festivals in the folk style, cooking traditional dishes-pancakes and tea, and ending with the traditional burning of an effigy. This shot was made during Shrovetide 2020.