Maslenitsa is considered the ancient Slavic holiday. In fact, it is a festive farewell to winter and a holiday welcoming of spring. There is no actual date of celebration in the calendar, but it’s easy to calculate it yourself.

Just subtract 56 days from the Orthodox Easter, you will get 48th day of the Great Lent. From that take a week, and here you go — the first day of Maslenitsa week. In 2020, the holiday week starts on February 24 and Maslenista will be celebrated on March 1.

If you are interested in the history of Maslenitsa, I advice

Maslenitsa 2020 in Saint Petersburg

This year there will be several Maslenitsa celebrations in different parts of Saint Petersburg. Check at least one of them to get the idea of what this truly Russian holiday is like.

March 1 at 15:00-20:00 | Park of Saint Petersburg 300 Anniversary

There will be a wide-scale celebration with various delicacies, hot tea and traditional dish of the holiday — blini. Apart from traditional games and amusement activities for children and adults, there will be a contest for the best Maslenitsa doll and a concert. The music group «Buranovskiye Babushki», well-known after their Eurovision-2012 performance, are the special guests of the concerts. The program promises to be very entertaining, thus, highly recommended for a visit.

March 1 at 13:00-20:00 | Elagin Island

All visitors of Maslenitsa can take part in active games, participate in contests with prizes and taste traditional holiday meals. There will be special shows of folklore teams as well as a fair with hand-made goods and products, and a workshop «Secrets of a glassblower». The holiday is to end with burning a symbol of Maslenitsa — a straw doll.

February 29 and March 1 from 13:00 | Babushkina Park

During the weekend, all guests of the festival will have true fun. The program includes various contests, circus, concerts and many warm pancakes with different filings and hot tea from samovars.