The sacred meaning of Maslenitsa and Slavic celebrations

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Shrovetide was the only time of the year when eating, hawking, and even fighting were encouraged. Any seemingly riotous entertainment had a sacred meaning. “Culture. RF”tells why in the old days they skated from the icy mountains, according to what rules they beat wall to wall and why they buried the newlyweds in the snow.

Shrovetide is a symbol of the end of winter and the beginning of spring. After the adoption of Christianity, the date of the holiday began to depend on the beginning of Lent, which, in turn, is tied to the rolling date of Easter. In ancient times, Maslenitsa was celebrated at the same time. According to one version, it was the day of the vernal equinox, according to the other - Vlasyev day, February 24 in a new style. The name of St. Blasius, the patron saint of cattle, appeared in the name of this day instead of the pagan cattle god Veles. All Shrovetide rituals were dedicated to fertility.

Overeating and bratchina

On Shrovetide, they ate and drank a lot. Special attention was paid to a peculiar ritual meal before Lent - this is how people “simulated” a future well-fed life. The most famous Shrovetide dish - pancakes - was part of the memorial table. Remembering their departed ancestors, the peasants asked for their support during the upcoming sowing season. In many regions, bratchina was widespread: for a feast they brewed beer in a club by a large company or a whole village. The whole village drank him. In the northern provinces they fermented "on high flax", and in the vicinity of Kharkov - "so that the cattle was born."

At Maslenitsa, every owner brews home brew and beer from Perm, and the wealthy also buy wine. Then, starting from Cheese Monday, pancakes, cheese pancakes (curd) are baked every day; and some also fish pies, scrambled eggs, hodgepodge and cook fish soup. Men and women go from house to house, go from village to village to visit relatives and friends for refreshments.

From the book "Russian people" by ethnographer Mikhail Zabylin.

It is worth remembering that even 100 years ago, people were constantly engaged in physical labor, and food was not something easily available. Therefore, overeating for a peasant of the XIX century and for a modern person are different concepts.

Sledding

The rite of skating was closely connected with the custom of visiting near and distant relatives. This lesson originally had a sacred meaning: riding horses around the village "in the sun", that is, clockwise, people helped the sun move faster, bringing spring closer. By the 19th century, this understanding had already been lost.

During mass rides, trains were composed of dozens of sledges and logs, young people packed into the "transport" side by side and with songs they drove around the neighborhood. The whole district gathered in the largest village or town where the fair was held. Prepared for the "congress" in advance: the guys who were going to look for a bride bought new sledges, the horses were decorated with smart harness, the girls borrowed sleds from relatives and were dressed up for a general gathering.

Most often, "congresses" were organized starting on Thursday, Shrovetide week. The main event was the gathering on Forgiveness Sunday. This is how the Ethnographic Bureau correspondent described it at the end of the century before last: “Horseback riding, like all the festivities of visiting young people in the village, takes place only during the day and ends suddenly, as if by a signal. The first sound of the bell for Vespers serves as a signal. Everyone literally rushes out of the village and usually drives them off like a fire, so that in some 5-10 minutes not a soul remains in the village, and there is such a silence as in Great Lent. " On the evening of Forgiveness Sunday, preparations for fasting began, the first ringing of the bell was a sign of the end of Maslenitsa.

Skiing down the icy mountains

This custom was supposed to ensure the harvest: "the further you go, the longer the flax will take." Ice slides were built in each village, and sometimes a separate slide on each street. They usually rode not one at a time, but a whole gang, sitting on sleds, skins or matting (coarse cloth such as burlap. - Ed.). They made "ice" - poured water on a wicker net or a basket and put it out in the cold. Dashing guys could skate, or even stand on their feet, grabbing each other with a "train". This was called "skating with yuru". Benches were often used instead of sleds and ice floes, and to make them roll better, they were doused with water and frozen. Special "boats", "spools", "spines" were hollowed out of wood.

The hill was a meeting place for young people who had not yet started a family. In the old days, bachelors were ridiculed and condemned, and on Maslenitsa young people were again reminded that it was time to get married. The guy who rolled the girl down the mountain on his knees had the right to kiss her in public. It was not considered reprehensible when a guy rolled down the mountain with two girls at once - one on each knee.

Games with newlyweds

The main characters on Maslenitsa were the newlyweds. In some districts, only “newlyweds” were invited - those who got married in the new year, after Christmastide. More often, everyone who played a wedding after the previous Maslenitsa was considered "young". They certainly took part in sleigh rides, visiting all relatives - they turned to their ancestors for protection and "rolled out" the sun - the source of life and fertility. Hence, by the way, and the modern custom to ride on the wedding day in memorable places.

They did not do without the newlyweds and skiing from the mountains. For example, in the Perm and Vologda provinces, the groom was pushed onto the bast (the inner part of the tree bark. - Ed. Approx.) Or the skin, the guys piled on top and the whole gang - about 15–20 people - moved down the mountain. In the Arkhangelsk province, a young spouse was clicking his wife from the top of an ice slide, sitting in a sleigh. She climbed the mountain and sat on her knees with her husband. The people around did not let the sleigh roll down until the wife kissed her husband the named number of times. The rite of burying young people in the snow was widespread, sometimes they were thrown out of the sleigh into a snowdrift. Some researchers ascribe to these rites a purifying and test value.

Fist fights

Fights on Shrovetide were also ritual. Were measured by force so that “a strong harvest was born”. The most convenient place for fighting was the ice of the river. It was forbidden to deliberately injure each other and take revenge for personal grievances. They had to fight "with their bare hands", that is, without sticks, knives and other heavy or sharp objects. The rule was observed: a lying person and a smear (on whom there is blood) is not beaten. The strongest men did not participate in the battles, but played the role of "observers" and "rescuers", intervening in the fight only when necessary.

Fist fights were most often carried out wall to wall. Each team had its own "chieftain", who placed the "fighters" and thought out the strategy. First, two parties of boys from 10 years old and older converged on the ice, then boys-suitors and, finally, men. In the Nizhny Novgorod province, married women fought wall to wall, "so that the flax was born."

The most ancient type of combat is the "jumper-dump". Here, everyone chose an opponent for himself in height and strength and fought with him until complete victory or defeat. Then he "grappled" with a new enemy. This type of fist fights was not very common: it was considered the most brutal, often provoking participants to settle personal scores.

Taking a snow town

It is believed that this fun was invented in Siberia, from where it spread to some central provinces. It arose relatively late, at the beginning of the 18th century. The Cossacks, the oldest Russian population of Siberia, staged a kind of "historical reconstruction" in memory of the conquest of distant lands. A snow fortress with a gate was built in advance. For strength, logs were driven into the base of the town; so that the walls and gates were frozen over, they were poured with water. On Forgiveness Sunday, the participants were divided into two teams: footmen defended the fortress, horsemen - attacked. There was another option:

“In the Yenisei province guys are building an ice fortress with a gate on the ice; they put a guard guard there. On foot and on horseback go on the attack; pedestrians climb the wall, and horsemen burst into the gate; the besieged defend themselves with brooms and whips. After the capture of the fortress, the victors walk in triumph, sing songs and shout joyfully. Those who have distinguished themselves are led in front, then they all feast. This is how the capture of the snow town was described in the 19th century by the ethnographer Alexander Tereshchenko. Sometimes the main character of the assault, who was the first to break into the fortress, was doused with water or forced to swim in an ice-hole.

In the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk, the town was a gate without walls. One of the attackers had to break through the gate and destroy their upper crossbar. This kind of fun was portrayed by the descendant of the Yenisei Cossacks Vasily Surikov in his painting "Taking the Snow Town".

Seeing off Shrovetide

As a mythological character, Maslenitsa symbolized winter and death. An effigy of Maslenitsa - a huge straw woman - at the beginning of Maslenitsa week was greeted with magnificent songs, carried in a sleigh, and rolled down hills. On the last day of the holiday, Forgiveness Sunday, Shrovetide was seen off: buried, torn to pieces or burned. Often this ceremony took place without any stuffed animal at all. For example, in the Poshekhonsky district of the Yaroslavl province, during the whole Maslenaya week, people collected firewood for a giant fire, this was called "to burn Maslenitsa". The incineration was to ensure the rebirth of a young new world.

In some places they jumped over the “farewell” fire, in others they burned all the garbage collected in the village or threw pancakes, butter and other fast food into the fire. Coal and ash from the Shrovetide fire were buried in the snow or scattered over the field. It was believed that this way the earth would warm up faster and give birth better.

The Shrovetide "funeral" rite, according to the folklorist Vladimir Propp, was closely associated with ritual laughter. Therefore, the burning was accompanied by a procession of mummers, folk comedies were played. The peasants weaved real events into the story about the life of the main characters - Maslenitsa, Pancake and the Voevoda - they made fun of the well-known misdeeds of their fellow villagers. On Maslenitsa it was possible to "pull" even the master, the police and the governor.