Slavonic mythology became the ancestor of the Carnival - when during the week spring gradually entered its domain, and winter was chased away, burning an indispensable attribute of the holiday - a scarecrow, stimulating the growth of future fertility. Christians added to it the church's background. The Shrovetide week became the preparatory and last before the Great Lent .
Folk features on Shrovetide
Signs and traditions for Shrovetide start from the doorstep of the house, these days every owner who wants prosperity and well-being for his house and family should prepare for the meeting of the guests. Unexpected visitors are especially welcome at this time, in fact they deliver luck and happiness. Moreover, the legend says, if you do not walk up, as it should, then do not wait then for a good life, you will grieve and suffer.
The holiday is celebrated for seven days, every year at different times, it all depends on Easter. The week preceding the beginning of Lent is Maslenik. The signs about Shrovetide are contained in every new day of the holiday, which have different names from traditional ones:
- Monday is called "Maslenitsa meeting";
- Tuesday is called a "flirtation";
- the environment is called "gourmet";
- Thursday - "walk";
- Friday is called "mother-in-law's evening";
- Saturday - "zalovkinymi seating";
- Sunday was nicknamed "forgiven".
The first day of Maslenitsa - signs
Monday marks the beginning of the Carnival, and the first sacrament began. It is customary to bake the first pancakes for Shrovetide at the beginning of the week, not in the morning, but on the eve, with the appearance of the first asterisk. The most adult woman from the family went out into the street to a living water source or simply to a well and prayed a month to look out the window and blow at the dough. In the morning they baked pancakes, but they did not eat the first one, they took it out on the porch, saying that it was a treat for the dead, and then they carried it to beggars, asking them to pray for the dead.
Signs for Shrovetide for the sake of fertility, on the first day did not end. It was necessary to make a scarecrow out of straw and dress it up in old women's clothes. Then he was put on a stake and, singing along, was carried on a sleigh across the village. After the scarecrow was installed on a snowy hillock, in the most prominent place of the village. At dinner, the whole family gathered at the same table, they took her daughter-in-law home to visit her tomorrow.
Signs on Shrovetide - weather
Since ancient times the weather in Maslenitsa has marked a state of things for the whole year to come. When Maslenitsa week is accompanied by frost and cold, it means to wait for summer warm, but without drought. If one week before the holiday:
- will be kept gloomy, cold weather, then this year destined to collect a lot of harvest and the family is waiting for prosperity - so say signs to the Shrovetide about the weather;
- if the week before falls out rainy, then a good mushroom picking is expected.
Pancakes on Shrovetide - signs
Pancakes are the traditional and all favorite dish during the Shrovetide week. They are baked every day with all kinds of fillings, and due to the fact that they can not do without any family, the signs for Pancake week are considered to be the most important pancakes and they should be listened to. For cooking, they come with all seriousness and responsibility, in order to attract the family all the best.
Common signs.
- The pancake is associated with the Sun, therefore, the more pancakes will be, the warmer and sunnier the year will be. If the pancakes are not pressed for a week, then the weather will not please.
- When pancakes on Shrovetide fry with difficulty - expect disappointments and obstacles. If they come out beautiful, the year will be pleased with the well-being and richness of the harvest.
- Particularly revered are the signs for Shrove Tuesday about the pudding pancakes. In the middle of the week my mother-in-law invariably baked pancakes for her son-in-law, she treated him so that for the next year in the family peace and reconciliation prevailed, there was no quarrel between son-in-law and mother-in-law.
Signs for women on Shrovetide
With the help of a baked pancake, you can determine the sex of the future child , who is already under the breast of his mother.
- If at the table the first one who takes a pancake turns out to be a guy, then a boy will be born, if a woman is then a girl.
- If the pancake comes out with holes, then by the number of holes you can judge the number of heirs.
- Signs for the widow on Shrovetide were promised on the last day of the holiday to clear mentally from the whole past, so that bad memories and sorrows burned with the effigy, and in the new year a new mutual feeling appeared.
Signs of marriage to the Carnival
Without romance and love, there is not a single holiday! Pancakes were the center of the table and the signs for Shrove Tuesday about love and future marriage were inevitably formed on the basis of these "sunny" cakes. The first pancake could tell about the impending fate. Lonely girls and unmarried women on Saturday guessed at pancakes and looked for answers to their questions in them.
The results were as follows:
- when the first pancake came out lumpy, stuck to the frying pan, then for the next three years the girl will be left without an offer of an arm and a heart;
- pancake will come out with even edges, then the union will be happy;
- if the edges of the pancake turn out to be ragged, uneven, then it is worth considering whether the groom has chosen;
- if the pancake in the center is taken care of, then the spouse will be faithful, if at the edges - it becomes to stare at other girls.
Signs for Shrovetide to attract grooms were accompanied with cooking, as the woman practically all days stood at the stove and baked pancakes. All the processes, from kneading the dough to pouring it into a frying pan, should be accompanied by circular movements clockwise, sung warm, sweet words about the desired bridegroom, about how he should be, what the bride sees him.
The girls who wanted to marry in the coming year should have treated all the familiar and unfamiliar men with booze that they were on their way. After all, it was thought that if you meet a drunken young man, then in the new year, not only a combination but a strong and happy bond will be waiting for her. If the girl on Sunday at the holiday will not be distributed pancakes, then according to the number of the rest judged on the years of loneliness.
Signs on the Carnival for love
Love pancakes are accepted to bake on Tuesday, when there were fun with flirting, during which young guys and girls chose from the crowd their soul mate. Filling pancakes, which the girl will treat the guy, must be sweet. Love signs and rituals for Shrove Tuesday could be read on the last pancake on the table, but rather on its filling:
- If inside curd, then the stripped-down will be economic, thrifty, a beautiful father will emerge from it;
- jam is a cheerful husband;
- sour cream - timid husband;
- caviar - rich;
- oil - gentle and attentive.
Another sign for the carnival was preparing a frying pan in front of the hot pancakes. At night, on the eve of the baking, the girls put a frying pan under the pillow of my mother softly under the pillow and sentenced him to come to the mother-in-law for pancakes, and in the morning they asked whom the mother fed in sleep with pancakes-that would be the future husband. If no one comes to Mom in a dream, then the daughter is destined to remain in the girls for another year.
Wedding for Pancake week - signs
Pancake week is a great time for a wedding celebration. Having signed the festive week, the newlyweds doom their family life to serenity, conflict-free, passion and happiness. If on the day of the wedding the weather gives snow, then it promises unconditional luck for the young. The main thing is that the snowstorm does not prevent to get to the place of painting. The only "but" may be that in the Shrove week and until Easter, the newlyweds can not be married.
Signs of the Maslenitsa for luck
People's omens associated with the Carnival, for a fortunate fortune, were called to be merry and hearty to celebrate the coming year in the same way, not recalling the sorrows. It was believed that luck and success can be wished for Shrovetide, if you bake pancakes, add cinnamon powder to them. This spice attracts luck, however, it is important to feed these pancakes all members of the family.
Signs of carnival for well-being
People's signs of carnival for money tell how this holiday requires abundance and does not like stinginess.
- If the owner generously covers the table and meets the guests with a smile and cordiality, then the whole next year he will not experience financial difficulties, the family will have prosperity and pacification.
- The found coin in place of the celebration of the first day of Shrovetide will attract money and prosperity. The next year it needs to be lost in the same place.
Birthday in Pancake week is a sign
Born during the Shrovetide festivities, fate predicts a very interesting and rich life. Signs and beliefs in carnival say that the mother made the greatest gift to herself and the world.
- The boy born these days will be a real protector, everything will be easy for him in life, he will go his way with luck on an equal basis.
- A girl will become a princess, an ideal of tenderness and love.
Signs on the last day of Maslenitsa
The last day of the Maslenitsa week is called "forgiven Sunday" or "tselovalnikom", on this day the village saw off Shrovetide and burnt the prepared scarecrow. The ashes, from the burned scarecrow, were sprayed on the field and pressed into the snow. Signs associated with the Carnival should awaken the earth and induce it to fertility. So that the family lived in peace and harmony for the whole year, the last supper was left on the table, covered with a white cloth and sheep skin with fur up. Necessarily that evening asked for forgiveness from relatives, after kissing, visiting the deceased, leaving them pancakes and going to bathe in the bath.