Per Smirnitsky's.

Maslenitsa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia- [ Перевести эту страницу ]Maslenitsa (Russian: Ма́сленица), also known as Cheesefare Week, Butter Week, or Pancake week is a Russian religious and folk holiday. ...




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Note added at 48 Min. (2008-08-04 18:19:46 GMT)
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Traditional Russian blinis.
Maslenitsa (Butter Week) is the only ancient pagan celebration still included in the calendar of festivals of the Orthodox Church. In the pre-Christian age, at this time of year when the days were getting longer, tribes all over Europe celebrated the revival of nature, with pagan rituals for seeing off the winter and greeting the spring. Today, the festival is always on the last week before Lent (this year it runs from March 7 to 13).

The old word for Maslenitsa, ‘Myasopust’ means “empty of meat;” the Orthodox Church, however, which dislikes people enjoying themselves too much, calls it ‘Cheese Week,’ because the meatless diet still allows cheese, butter and cream, which are also then forbidden during the seven weeks of Lent. But church or no church, and knowing what was to come, people would indulge in feasting and wild merriment right up to the very end of Butter Week. Each day of Maslenitsa had its own name and was spent in specific ceremonies, most of them related to family affairs and marriage. The week was spent in visits to relatives, and newlywed couples were greeted with various ceremonies. Many activities were dedicated to household matters and some of them were magic rituals believed to strengthen the land’s fertility. Even a simple slide down an ice slope by a woman was a part of the ritual – “the longer the ride, the taller the flax will grow in the summer.” Maslenitsa week was spent in dressing up, riding sledges, building snow fortresses and heavy drinking.

The Maslenitsa doll, made out of straw, was an important figure in the celebrations. During the week it was carried around on a pole and driven in sledges. Many songs were sung about the Maslenitsa doll, who was cursed for its deceiving nature, and accused of prolonging the winter cold. The doll was burnt in a big ritual fire on the last evening of Butter Week, along with old rubbish in numerous fires across villages and towns. In many regions of Russia, pancakes, butter and milk were also burnt during that day, which signified the end of the Maslenitsa feast. Pancakes (bliny) also played their part during Maslenitsa. The pancake is a symbol of the sun and rebirth; in old Russia a pancake was given to a woman in childbirth, and today it is still a ritual funeral repast in many homes. In olden days bliny were cooked from buckwheat flour, which gave them a red colour, making the significance even more evident

Russian term (edited): Масленица

the pancake week can be somewhat close but Maslenitsa is what one should call a festival so dear to a nation. A holiday is not a festival. Russia has changed from the Soviet regime when it was not made popular but now even in India we celebrated on the 6th March 2008

Don't translate, just transliterate. Maslenitsa is the Orthodox equivalent of Catholic Shrovetide which precedes Lent (великий пост in Orthodox chuch). Both Maslenitsa and Shrovetide have prechristian pagan roots and were coopted by the church in order to connect with the masses.