Maslenitsa

Maslenitsa
Maslenitsa, Boris Kustodiev, 1919 (Isaak Brodsky Museum, St. Petersburg)
Also called	Butter Week, Crepe week, Cheesefare Week, Syropust, Kolodiya, Masnytsia
Observed by	Eastern Slavs Mostly Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian diaspora communities
Type	Ethnic
Significance	Seeing off winter, last week before Great Lent
Celebrations	Making blini (crepes), making visits, sleigh rides, dressing up, bonfires, snowball fights, the capture of the Snow Fortress, burning of the Maslenitsa Scarecrow In Ukraine and Belarus: eating varenyky with cottage cheese
2023 date	20 February to 26 February
2024 date	11 March to 17 March
2025 date	24 February to 2 March
Frequency	Annual
Related to	Mardi Gras

Maslenitsa (Belarusian: Масленіца; Russian: Мaсленица; Rusyn: Пущаня; Ukrainian: Масляна or Масниця), also known as Butter Lady, Butter Week, Crepe week, or Cheesefare Week, is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday which has retained a number of elements of Slavic mythology in its ritual. It is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent; that is, the eighth week before Eastern Orthodox Pascha.

The date of Maslenitsa changes every year, depending on the date of the celebration of Easter. It corresponds to the Western Christian Carnival, except that Orthodox Lent begins on a Monday instead of a Wednesday, and the Orthodox date of Easter can differ greatly from the Western Christian date.

The traditional attributes of the Maslenitsa celebration are the Maslenitsa effigy, sleigh rides, and festivities. Russians bake bliny and flatbread, while Belarusians and Ukrainians cook pierogi and syrniki.