Celebrating Maslenitsa!

In the beginning of March, the Russian Department celebrated the traditional Russian holiday known as Maslenitsa (Масленица- also called Butter Week or Pancake Week in English).

This holiday is a 7-day festival, traditionally filled with eating, drinking, dancing, games, horse-back riding, and singing. We participated in our own campus-wide celebration, partnered with Sodexo, to make and serve bliny (crepes or pancakes) to the entire UH-Manoa community.

Delicious, rich bliny (Russian crepes or pancakes) are central to the festival and are enjoyed by everyone on all 7 days of the event. The bliny are filled with various toppings. You can enjoy one stuffed with mashed potatoes and onions- or cure your sweet tooth with one filled with sweet strawberry jam and honey.

Sodexo team member helping to serve bliny to UH-Manoa students, faculty, and staff.

The holiday celebrates the transition from winter to spring. The round shape of the bliny symbolizes the sun and the fillings represent fertility and prosperity of the land. Bliny are eaten in copious amounts all 7 days of the festival- as 8 weeks of the Great Lent in the Eastern Orthodox Church are to follow. A really interesting tidbit about Maslenitsa is that on the 7th day (typically called 'Shrove Sunday') people ask forgiveness of others for their wrongdoings.

Students from various Russian classes helped out at the event. We helped serve food, quizzed our guests on Russian trivia, handed out prizes, and my RUS 102 class sang a traditional folk song Москва Златоглавая (Golden-domed Russia). I was personally in charge of the arm-wrestling table, and I'm sad to report that I didn't win a SINGLE match.

All in all, it was a great event! I had a lot of fun (even if I realized how terrible I am at arm-wrestling) and singing was a great success! I'm glad that we all got a chance to participate in this event and help spread the Russian culture in our UH-Manoa community.