“Maslenitsa” Done by Maria Elagina.

Pancake week. Maslenitsa (Pancake week) is a holiday to mark the passing of winter. This tradition of parting with winter has remained since heathen times. Every day of Maslenitsa week has its own name, and all week Russians cook bliny (pancakes), treating their relatives and friends to them.

Chuchelo. On the Sunday at the end of Maslenitsa week, a “chuchelo” (a straw figure representing Winter) is burned. This Sunday is called Forgiveness Sunday. On this day Orthodox Russian people beg each other’s pardon, since the next day marks the beginning of Lent.

National dish. Bliny are a Russian national dish made from flour. There are a great number of recipes for cooking bliny: ones made with unleavened and leavened batter, ones from wheat, buckwheat and millet flour, ones with various sweet fillings, such as jam or honey, and ones with non-sweet fillings, such as curds, meat, fish and even caviar. Bliny are a very delicious and filling dish, so foreigners coming to Russia should always seek them out.

Simple Bliny (or Palacinky) (or Palacinky) 1 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour 1 1/3 cups milk (not skim) 1 egg pinch of salt 1 teaspoon sugar (optional- only for sweet fillings) Butter for pan  

Thank you for my attention. Links and literature. http://fotki.yandex.ru http://www.scn.org/russfolk/maslenitsa.htm http://www.maslenitsa.nl/