On February 8-14, the Committee for Tourism of Moscow will organize for the 9th time the citywide festival “The Wide Maslenitsa”. According to the existing tradition, the main event will take place at the Kremlin walls on Vasilievsky Spusk of Red Square, where the Maslenitsa Town will work all week long. They plan to conduct the concerts of folk ensembles and pop groups, the performances of theatrical companies, the ritual programs with participation of mummers and skomorokhs. In the cold weather the guests will be able to refresh themselves at the specially erected pavilions – “Blinnaya” (The Pancake House), “Tchaynaya” (the Tearoom), “Bulionnaya” (The Bouillon House) and “Medovukha” (The Mead). Supposedly, the visitors will be able to get for free pancakes with honey and sour cream, as well as hot drinks and juices. All the week through, the numerous entertainment and souvenir shops will work.

In compliance with the citywide program of “The Wide Maslenitsa” celebration, the events will take place at more than 200 grounds in all administrative districts of the city. Traditionally, the most popular places are the Izmaylovsky Kremlin, the All-Russian Exhibition Center, the “Sokolniki”, “Kolomenskoe” and “Tsaritsyno” Parks, and the Gorky Park.

 

The Wide Maslenitsa sculpture will appear in Moscow

Very soon, a sculptural composition named “The Wide Maslenitsa” will appear in the capital. The existing traditions of the festival will be personified in a statue of a good-natured bear cud which eats up pancakes with honey. The sculptural composition made of bronze will be about 1 m tall. According to the idea of the Moscow Committee for Tourism, the sculpture should remind the Muscovites and the guests of the capital about the tradition of sending-off the cold and meeting spring, and will become a symbol of satiety and wellbeing. A joyful and playful mood of the bear cud will definitely put the passersby in good spirit.

A choice of a particular animal to characterize “The Wide Maslenitsa” Feast was made not by chance. Bear is a hero of many fairytales and myths, you can find it at the ancient Russian town emblems, and it is a symbol of gluttony, which is especially encouraged during the Maslenitsa Week. The Maslenitsa feasts in Russia never happened without bear shows and entertainments. In addition, all over the world a bear is often associated with Russia. Many remember the bear cud which became a talisman of the Olympics 1980 in Moscow.