Holidays

A few weeks ago people in Russia and many in Uzbekistan celebrated Maslenitsa. Maslenitsa is similar to Mardi Gras as it proceeds Lent and includes some decadent festivities. It is the only purely Russian holiday that dates back to the pagan times and is the only pagan holiday admitted by the Russian Orthodox Church. My Russian teacher, Milana, gave a presentation on this holiday today. I’ll share what I learned.

The first Monday of Maslenitsa, during the monthly spouse’s coffee hour, we made blini (crepes). They represent the sun (round, golden and hot). They are a Maslenitsa staple and are stuffed with anything from caviar or salmon to sour cream or jam. At the coffee morning we ate them stuffed with spiced ground beef or mushrooms. During the week of Maslenitsa there is a saying to ‘eat as many times as a dog would wag its tail.' I like that! The wealthy people would begin making blini on Mondays, the less fortunate on Thursday or Friday. Each day of the Maslenitsa week is special. How many of these traditions are kept today and how many are outdated, I’m not sure.

Monday: the greeting. Snow forts are built. Families are visited. In the morning the husbands' parents sent their daughters-in-law to visit her parents and in the evening they join her. They discuss where to go for the celebration and go sledding.

Tuesday: popular games. This includes more sledding. In one game, two rows of men face each other and, at the crack of a whip run at each other and fight fisticuffs. The women were a little gentler; they raced each other while flipping blinis. Matchmaking traditionally played a huge roll during Maslenitsa.

Wednesday: sweet tooth day. The mothers of wives invited their sons-in-law and their relatives for a party. I don’t know what these people did if they had huge families. Fought a lot, I guess. Either that or house-hopped all day. There is a saying: “Sell your house, but celebrate Maslenitsa!” No mention was made of eating sweets.

Thursday: lavash day. One activity on this day is kind of like trick-or-treating. The kids roam from house to house singing and asking for treats. A ‘joker’ rides in a troika (buggy pulled by three horses) leading a parade of followers whom he treats to wine and various delicacies.

Friday: Good Mother’s (wife’s mother) evenings. Husbands treat their mother-in-law to blini and treats.

Saturday: Good Daughter’s (husband’s sister) parties. On this day, the wife invites her husband’s family for an evening party. If her husband’s sisters were not married she invited all her unmarried friends. If they were married, she invited all her married relatives and this whole train went from house to house. I don’t know how these people keep up with all this!

Sunday: Forgiveness Sunday. This is pretty self-explanatory. Gifts are given to matchmakers and relatives. The most honorary gift for a man is a towel; for a woman it is a piece of soap. A fire is made in which winter is set to burn as in a funeral pyre. People burned things they did not need so as “to get rid of anything redundant.”

Following the final day of Maslenitsa is clean Monday on which steam baths are traditionally taken. Also traditional is a sort of spring cleaning ritual.

The following weekend we had a four-day weekend because Tuesday was Women’s Day. In Uzbekistan, they do not have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day; they have Men’s Day and Women’s Day. I noticed that Men’s Day is not a national holiday for which people get a day off. We had a spa day the Friday before the four day weekend for the women. I got a manicure and pedicure for about $14! We also had a bazaar where local artists bring in their goods to sell: carpets, ceramics, jewelry, cards with hand painted silk, hand made musical instruments, suzani (hand embroidered fabrics used to hang or lay on tables or cover pillows, etc.) wood carvings and more. On that same Friday, a line of male employees of the Embassy stood at the door to hand each woman a daffodil. I also got a small bunch of daffodils from one of the guards. I'm not sure why. Intriguing.

March 21 was Navruz, the spring “New Year” holiday stemming from the ancient Zoroastrian religion. It is celebrated when the sun enters Aries which frequently coincides with the spring equinox. It announces the awakening of nature after its winter sleep. It is celebrated during daytime hours unlike our New Years festivities. The main celebration is on March 21, but for 13 days people gather and visit and plant seeds. Women make the traditional dish of sumalyak. Sumalyak is made of sprouted wheat and sugar and needs to cook while being constantly stirred for 24 hours over an open fire. It looks like molasses and tastes sweet and gritty. Doug and I bought some at a bazaar. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t care for it.

Now I will leave you with a treat. Doug and I have been taking folk music lessons at the Embassy. I’ve been singing Uzbek folksongs as has Doug, plus he is learning to play the doira, an Uzbek folk drum. The drum is made of ox skin (and smells like it) and has rings surrounding the open side. I should tell you that Doug’s playing is more complicated than it may sound on this recording. He holds and plays the drum with both hands. There are two basic sounds he has been taught; a lower sound (boom) and a higher pitch sound (bak). Usually he plays with the middle finger of his left hand. Listen for the two quick 16th notes. On the second he is striking the drum with his right pinky by snapping it off the other fingers. This is not easy for those tiny muscles to do in rhythm. I hope you enjoy it.

Click the black triangle below (on the left) to hear me singing an Uzbek folk song called "Urik Gallaganda," accompanied by Douglas playing the doira (Uzbek drum)