A common tradition in Russia was to celebrate the passing of winter and the start of spring, something that my mother did with her family every year. This celebration lasted one week. This tradition goes back to a time when people still prayed to the sun, but was adopted by the Russian Orthodox Church. The winter in Russia was very harsh so people were excited for spring to finally come.

“There was still snow on the ground, but we knew that spring was coming so we played in the snow while we still could. We had snowball fights and rode around on sleds.”

“My mother made pancakes for my family and friends. The pancakes represented the sun. They were as round and as hot as the sun. We hoped that the sun would melt the snow quickly and that spring would arrive soon and be as warm as the pancakes were. We ate them with caviar, butter, jelly, or sour cream and drank hot tea. Sometimes we ate the pancakes and drank the tea outside.”

“The culmination of the celebration was the burning of a scarecrow that represented winter. Many people came out to the center of our town to watch this ceremony and say goodbye to winter. Everybody was excited to see each other.”

(Quotes from Irina Polunina)

Bibliography

Beecroft, Kelvin. Blini, the Russian Pancake. N.d. N/A, N/A. flickr. Web. 18 Sept. 2011.

Gunn, Dave. Children Playing in the Snow. N.d. N/A, Cambridgeshire. flickr. Web. 18 Sept. 2011.

Krevenets, Eugene. Chucelo. 2007. N/A, Belgorodsky. flickr. Web. 18 Sept. 2011.