Maslenitsa Blini Week

Maslenitsa falls in the week before Lent, its date moving with Easter, and it is the last stretch in which butter, eggs and dairy are eaten before the fast - so the food is blini, thin pancakes, eaten in quantity with butter, sour cream, jam, honey, curd, salted fish or caviar. The round shape is often explained as a sun symbol, part of the older spring festival that the church week was laid over. Each day of the week has a name and a role - visits between in-laws, sledging, and by tradition a Thursday of games including fist fighting and the storming of a snow fortress. It ends on Forgiveness Sunday, when people ask forgiveness of one another, and with the burning of a straw effigy of winter in a field or square. The largest events are at open air museums and in villages; Nikola-Lenivets burns a large art structure instead of an effigy.

What you actually see

• The blini - thin pancakes eaten all week with butter, sour cream, jam or fish.
• The burning effigy - a straw figure of winter burned in a field on the last day.
• The named days - a week structured by visits, sledging and games.
• Forgiveness Sunday - the day people ask forgiveness before the fast begins.

When to go

Late February to March, dated from Easter. A day for the main events, or the whole week.

Honest expectations

Dates move each year, so check. Large public events are commercialised, crowded and cold. Traditional games including fist fighting still happen in some villages and are rough. Weather is deep winter with slush underfoot.

Nearby

Open air museums and village events across the country hold the best versions.