Something I never knew about, being the good Jewish girl that I am, was Maslenitsa, or Butter Week. Apparently this is the week before Lent, when you are supposed, at least in Eastern Orthodox tradition, to eat as many блинчики (blintz or pancake) as times a dog wags its tail. For anyone who knows my puppy Maggie, and how often she wags hers, this would indeed be impossible.
For Maslenitza (масла meaning butter) small stands are set up in various areas around the city. Kamergersky Pereulok, the street where the Moscow Art Theater School (MXAT) is, is renamed "Gluttony Row" for this week of indulgence.
Set up with the blintz-shacks are a row of rather creepy scarecrow-like statues. The festival ends on Sunday with the burning of these effigies, who represent winter, in order to welcome the spring. Unfortunately, as per Russian spring, we are supposed to have snow from Thursday through Sunday. At least there is the promise of straw witch burning, a CHEESE FESTIVAL and St. Patrick's Day on Sunday to look forward to! As well as our, supposed, first entire day off!
Also, my dear friend Leslie made the cover of the Internet edition of the Moscow Times, since we were the only ones brave (or stupid) enough to sit outside and eat our блинчики, hence the photographer's excitement. At first we thought he wanted to take a photo of the design behind her, then he switched to English (our Russian is not nearly up to par for "out of the ordinary" encounters). Leslie smiled with her plate of food, to which he replied, "No. Taste it!" which led to the picture below. A fragment of my obnoxiously orange coat can be seen in the bottom left corner across from her. Immortalized forever: American grad students love to eat tasty (and cheap) food.
Image 1 of 2
Russian tradition might dictate that this week marks the start of spring, but weather forecasters are warning Moscow residents to brace for heavy snowfall.
The frosty, dry weather that the capital has been enjoying for the past week will change Wednesday as clouds roll in and snow falls on parts of the Moscow region, the federal weather bureau said.
"We forecast snowfall of up to two centimeters," a weather bureau official told Interfax, adding that in Moscow, residents should be on the lookout for black ice.
Snow will start to fall heavily Thursday and continue coming down through Saturday, dumping up to 18 centimeters in the city over three days, the weather bureau said.
Russians celebrate Maslenitsa this week, a holiday with pagan roots that marks the beginning of spring and traditionally includes the copious consumption of blini, whose round, warm shape symbolizes the sun.
But weather forecasters said Tuesday that warmth from the sun would be in short supply for the next few days. Temperatures are expected to hover between minus 17 and minus 22 degrees Celsius before Wednesday night, then warm up to plus 1 degree Friday afternoon and zero degrees Saturday.
The cold has led to 27 deaths in Moscow this winter; 265 people have been hospitalized for hypothermia, Interfax reported.
Read more:http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/heavy-snowfall-forecast-for-moscow-this-week/476771.html#ixzz2NOH5VNVp
The Moscow Times
For Maslenitza (масла meaning butter) small stands are set up in various areas around the city. Kamergersky Pereulok, the street where the Moscow Art Theater School (MXAT) is, is renamed "Gluttony Row" for this week of indulgence.
Set up with the blintz-shacks are a row of rather creepy scarecrow-like statues. The festival ends on Sunday with the burning of these effigies, who represent winter, in order to welcome the spring. Unfortunately, as per Russian spring, we are supposed to have snow from Thursday through Sunday. At least there is the promise of straw witch burning, a CHEESE FESTIVAL and St. Patrick's Day on Sunday to look forward to! As well as our, supposed, first entire day off!
Also, my dear friend Leslie made the cover of the Internet edition of the Moscow Times, since we were the only ones brave (or stupid) enough to sit outside and eat our блинчики, hence the photographer's excitement. At first we thought he wanted to take a photo of the design behind her, then he switched to English (our Russian is not nearly up to par for "out of the ordinary" encounters). Leslie smiled with her plate of food, to which he replied, "No. Taste it!" which led to the picture below. A fragment of my obnoxiously orange coat can be seen in the bottom left corner across from her. Immortalized forever: American grad students love to eat tasty (and cheap) food.
Heavy Snowfall Forecast for Moscow This Week
12 March 2013 | Issue 5086
The Moscow Times
Vladimir Filonov / MT
Leslie, 23, of Boston, Massachusetts, eating a pancake Tuesday at a Maslenitsa fest on Kamergersky Pereulok.
Image 1 of 2Russian tradition might dictate that this week marks the start of spring, but weather forecasters are warning Moscow residents to brace for heavy snowfall.
The frosty, dry weather that the capital has been enjoying for the past week will change Wednesday as clouds roll in and snow falls on parts of the Moscow region, the federal weather bureau said.
"We forecast snowfall of up to two centimeters," a weather bureau official told Interfax, adding that in Moscow, residents should be on the lookout for black ice.
Snow will start to fall heavily Thursday and continue coming down through Saturday, dumping up to 18 centimeters in the city over three days, the weather bureau said.
Russians celebrate Maslenitsa this week, a holiday with pagan roots that marks the beginning of spring and traditionally includes the copious consumption of blini, whose round, warm shape symbolizes the sun.
But weather forecasters said Tuesday that warmth from the sun would be in short supply for the next few days. Temperatures are expected to hover between minus 17 and minus 22 degrees Celsius before Wednesday night, then warm up to plus 1 degree Friday afternoon and zero degrees Saturday.
The cold has led to 27 deaths in Moscow this winter; 265 people have been hospitalized for hypothermia, Interfax reported.
Read more:http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/heavy-snowfall-forecast-for-moscow-this-week/476771.html#ixzz2NOH5VNVp
The Moscow Times
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